Contact is a musical
"dance play" that was developed by Susan Stroman. It ran both off-Broadway
and on Broadway in from 1999 until 2002. It consists of three separate one-act
dance plays. It premiered in 1999 and played for 1,010 performances. The
show won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical (among others). The award was
controversial because Contact contains no original music or live
singing, and in response, a new award for Best Special Theatrical Event was
introduced the following year.
The musical was inspired by an experience that Stroman had "... when
she visited a dance club in the Meat Market district. There she witnessed a
fascinating woman in a yellow dress (it was a very bold color to wear at
night—lemon yellow—the same color you find on a traffic light) who took turns
dancing with different partners throughout the night. Watching from the
sidelines, Stroman thought, 'she's going to change someone's life tonight'”.
"The woman would step up to the dance floor as a song was beginning and
nod or shake her head at the various men asking to be her partner. Then, after
holding everyone's attention with her nervy grace, she would disappear into the
crowd. What came out of this was Contact... “
Contact is made up of three separate dance pieces, each
set to pre-recorded music, including from Tchaikovsky, Stéphane Grappelli, the
Squirrel Nut Zippers, Royal Crown Revue, and The Beach Boys. In each story, the
central character expresses a longing to make a romantic connection. All three
stories concern "contact", or its lack.
Part One - "Swinging"
"Swinging", set in an 18th-century French forest clearing, can be
described as a contact improvisation on Fragonard's The Swing, a print
of which is displayed on an easel when the audience arrives. Sex and concealed
identity are involved in this piece of amoral intrigue - a servant and his
master each seeks the young lady's affection. Much of the action takes place on
a moving swing.
Part Two - "Did You Move?"
"Did You Move?", set in circa 1954 in Queens, New York, takes
place in an Italian restaurant, focusing on the empty marriage of a small-time
gangster and his wife. The wife has extensive dance sequences as she fantasizes
about escaping her verbally abusive spouse, but each time is returned rudely to
reality. Set to recorded orchestral music of Tchaikovsky and Grieg.
Part Three - "Contact"
"Contact" is set in contemporary time, and explores the emptiness
of the career-driven lives of Manhattan apartment dwellers. A lonely
advertising executive on the brink of suicide is somehow transported to a bar,
where he encounters a stunning woman in a yellow dress. To win her and take
control of his life, he must gain the confidence to make contact with another
human being. It helped to create a surge of interest in acrobatic and rock and
roll swing dancing.
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