Section I: Prologue
The Richmond Dance Explosion’s latest installment illustrates a continuation of
the saga of striving men. In last year’s “Unmasking Masculinity Through Dance: A
Critical Re-examination of the Current Popular Cultural Paradigm Regarding Gender(s)
and Male Social Norms,” the Explosionaires represented a group of men experiencing the
shortcomings of dominant societal trends in masculinity, then going on – through
tribulation and Freud’s repeated conniving – to shift the paradigm and create a positive
homosocial community.
The launch of this year’s dance, “Seeking the Apex of Masculinity: Attempts at
the Construction and Biography of Normative Man Through Dance” begins with the
unified marching of those men who were not part of the transformed community – for
most of our society remains ensconced in traditional gender roles. The modern norm is a
tough, buff, lawn-mowing businessman who functions as a cog in society’s endless
production of homogeneity in products and persons.
Section II: Introduction of Modern Machine Man
The dance itself begins with a Masculine Stomp where the entire group of
business men clump in a block at the center of stage as the harsh sounds of a cash register
in Pink Floyd’s “Money” get louder and louder. Each man then jolts his hand to his ear,
utilizing the international signal for “phone,” to represent the dependence of constrained,
modern man on technology for interaction. The men then begin marching in time to the
beat of “Money” before suddenly stopping, abandoning the phones, and turning to grope
the buttocks of the man next to him while checking his watch. This hurried sexual
encounter represents the lack of emotion and consideration that accompanies the sexual
world of machine man.
Half of the men depart, preparing to depict another community of men while the
others make their way to the front of the stage, partnering up for a hyper-masculine
display of machine man’s delusions of grandeur. Each man flexes, shakes the hand of the
man next to him, and then arm wrestles his partner, attempting to assert his dominance
over the other. This competitive interaction parallels the interactions of many of the men
in hyper-competitive business society who feel the need to constantly prove themselves
better than all other men, even in mundane superfluities like the handshake.
The men then move to start their lawnmowers before thrusting forward, propelled
into a line by the machine, representing modern man’s stereotypical place in the home,
doing the yard work, working with machines. The men then begin crouching and
standing in a staggered, mechanistic pattern. The ups and downs of this section may
resemble the pistons of a six-cylinder vehicle, representing the sexual energy that often
accompanies references to the powerful engines of automobiles. This mechanistic,
production-based movement is not the natality of the “human condition” as much as
cyclical, soulless production for the sake of production.
III: The Explorer
While the modern machine men are busy are work, rigidly going through their
pre-described routine, the explorer, a rebel perhaps, breaks free and begins to explore
their movements. He is a man, like all rest, but is able to step away and discover the
limitations of the modern machine men by separating himself from them. However, he is
not solely a modern machine man, he is a man. And so, as he continues to explore
masculinity and all of its facets, he comes to the under-the-sea-men and is similarly able
to observe them and their successes and failures. This is an extremely important
character because it represents those who are able to look at their roles from the outside
and explore all that masculinity has to offer. He is a bridge between the two depicted
forms of masculinity, discovering similarities and differences inherent in every form. As
a note, simply because we only show two types of masculinity, we certainly do not mean
that these are the only two. We firmly believe that the many forms are too numerous to
successfully depict and so we had to choose two, which would represent opposite
extremes.
IV: Introduction of The Liberated Sea-Men
We find the transformed homosocial community now living as liberated sea-men.
The structural flaws of the “liberated” community include the real dangers that a number
of the man-dancers experienced; the liberation from stringent homophobic societal
restrictions can lead to a morphed kind of phallo-centrism that contains echoes of the
problematic objectification explored in last year’s dance. As we were wearing spandex to
show the problematic nature of strict male gender norms, the clarity of our message was
diluted by concomintant attempts at “being sexy.”
The liberated sea-men are the necessary counterparts of the modern machine men.
They are wearing very small pants, tights if you will. Floaties are then placed around the
waist. This piece of costume is particularly important because it harks back to the origins
of the liberated sea-men, reminding us of their fluidity, their unrestrained expression of
masculinity. Capes are then tied around the necks and crowns placed onto each head as a
reference to King Triton, king of the seas. It is essential that these men are so loose, so
naked, so free as they represent masculinity as it has been freed from its hypermasculine/testosterone fueled past. These men are not bound by the regimented rules of
the modern man and all his expectations and limitations.
As the lights come up on the liberated sea-men, Boadicea by Enya mirrors the
attire of the liberated sea-men in all its fluidity and motion. The liberated sea-men are
bowed in reverence to the pole. While they represent a much freer masculinity, they are
still obsessed with the phallus, which is their most prominent and problematic aspect.
The two poles on either side can be seen as either a part of the phallus itself or as a
support system for its massive dominance. As Enya continues to flow, the liberated seamen begin to undulate, fanning the phallus with palm fronds to show their affection and
devotion. But this is not enough, they cannot simply fan it, they must dance and frolic
around it with unrestricted enthusiasm. The liberated sea-men do not only go around the
pole, but under its support, through it. They are not only worshipping it, but they are a
part of it, they join its glory.
As the settle in for worship again the pole is dropped, representing a venture from
their phallo-centric selves as they role away and into the exploration of a new role. They
are still free but now show some resemblance to the modern machine men with their
synchronized movement. This movement, which is a thrusting of the hips with an
extended arm, creates the vision of a saw-like motion, perhaps in an effort to create
something, to make something solid that they can use to represent themselves in a
powerful way. This something becomes evident as they rid themselves of their capes,
becoming even more free, even more exposed, and, in solidarity, raise a flag. They have
created this new phallus as something to take their masculinity to new limits, to break
new boundaries. And despite their joyful exuberance, they fail. As they dance around
their new symbol, they are unable to go anywhere; they make no forward progress and
are instead left exactly where they started. This is symbolic of the struggle of individual
masculinities to create a complete expression of masculinity on their own. It is, of
course, a failure because no one masculinity can account for the vast differences in men.
Section V: The Modern Machine Men Return
In the midst of their money-making toughness, the machine men get the feeling
that something isn’t quite right. This nagging insecurity - which the machine men would
claim is merely the desire for progress and adventure, as demonstrated historically in
Manifest Destiny - compels these men to create a vessel. The two men at the end of the
line of machine men assume a broken, bent shape before moving down the line of men
who act as an assembly line, building them into a solid base for a ship that the men feel
compelled to build, working with their hands. The next two men are then sent down the
line to be built into rowers for the boat that these men feel compelled to build. The
rowers are lifted onto the shoulders of the bases, and they begin to row, but are unable to
go anywhere, for their boat is not complete. This building of the boat and inability to sail
represents the incomplete, weak nature of machine man’s masculine façade. Despite his
tools and machinery, he is unable to build a boat of masculinity that is sufficient enough
to sail the waters of positive masculinity.
Section VI: The Meeting of the Men
Through the breaking of thunder and storm clouds arrives the mysterious Silent
Boatman: the epitome of the independent, adventurous male who also is attuned with the
sea and the stars. Of all the men in the world who could bring these polarized men
together, it would be he. He comes with gifts of boat walls to keep out the raging sea as
well as sails to capture the wind. The mysterious Silent Boatman has brought the sea-men
and the machine men together through these gifts. They examine each other to see if they
are friends or foes. Seeing that each group can teach and learn from the other, they trade
garb to represent the exchange of ideas. The sea-men and machine men combine together
to make The Every Man. With their skills combined and co-operation, The Every Man
have a sea worthy vessel. At the encouragement of the Silent Boatman, they travel the
world together in exploration and missionary work. Obviously, theirs’ was a message that
needs to be shared. But what will The Every Man find? Will they succeed in their
journey? Their skills are soon to be tested.
Section VII: The Storm Sequence
The Every Man crew encounters rough and stormy waters. The harsh realities of the
world are not at all like the safe lagoon in which their ship is berthed. The Every Man
crew soon realizes that the world is full of harsh expectations of masculinity. The
expectations to hide their emotions, dominate women, and destroy nature ravages the
ship. The Every Man crew, while brave and strong, finds they cannot hold their boat
together. The expectations of the Real World tear their ship apart. Splintering the wood.
Twisting the metal. Snapping their ropes. Tearing their sails. The HMS Man has been
destroyed. The crew has been scattered around. They awake to find the mysterious Silent
Boatman watching over them. Why couldn’t they survive the choppy waters? Why didn’t
their boat hold tight? What will the Silent Boatman tell them in condolence?
Section VIII: The Truth is Unveiled
As the silent boatman looks out across the shipwrecked men, confusion is abound.
The men turn towards him for the answers to their many questions. But then, the silent
boatman rips open his slicker to reveal that he is actually…FREUD! The men gasp and
scream at the shock. They realize that they were duped once again by phallo-centrism,
patriarchy, and arrogance into believing that they could posit a new “everyman”. Once
coming to terms with the errors of their ways, the men all react in different ways. Some
cry, some have perished in the crash, some hold each other, some walk off in their own
direction, and some cling to Freud, still unable to let go of traditional masculinity.
Section IX: Destination…where?
At the closing of the dance, the question still remains: where do we go from here?
That is a question that we here at the Richmond Dance Explosion still don’t know the
answer to. You see, the dance ended up being as much of a commentary on masculinity
as it was on the actual creation of the dance itself. Most of the way through
choreographing, many of the men felt uncomfortable with the idea that we were trying to
sail towards a new masculinity, when all the while we were not acknowledging that there
can never be only one form of masculinity, even if it seems positive, because that
reinforces the same restricting and harmful effects of contemporary masculinity. Another
problem that many men realized is that we were maintaining the gender binary by
excluding women from the dance and not acknowledging the need to embrace feminism
and women’s liberation as tandem with men’s liberation.
We felt the need to acknowledge that we had failed to sail to a new masculinity,
but succeeded in realizing that all men are different and are all on different paths towards
realizing a more fulfilling, holistic existence. As the lights fade out, the future is in our
hearts and our eyes gaze on to the horizon as we look forward to a day when the
oppressive nature of patriarchy, the gender binary, and traditional masculinities are no
more, and we are truly free. Perhaps a better question to ask is, “Where can’t we go from
here?”