Save The Robots! – a contemporary dance performance by Gerald Casel Dance at Dance New Amsterdam on Chambers street borrows its title from a 1980’s Lower East Side club. As expressed by the choreographer, the original idea behind the dance’s creation, was the process of gentrification. From there, different paths were taken, and the end result, is a conceptual mixture. The defining feature of the show is the contrast between the two parts separated by a short period of silence in the dark.

The first part presents dancers in white robes engaging in repetitive, although complex movements, which after a while become monotonous, especially combined with music of the same character. The back of the stage is covered with transparent plastic bands, like in a grocery store. Light effects, enacted by several wall arrays of lights, gave this part of the show much of its electric, cold feeling, which together with the unobtrusiveness of the movements, allowed me to feel very comfortable, not being outside in the freezing cold.

In the second part, dancers are dressed very casually, non-uniformly, in a variety of bright colors. The music is also rather different. Instead of a collection of noises faintly resembling the electronic music style, this music engages the audience. It has feeling. It awakes you from the sleep of the first part and makes you feel good. The dancers interact differently, more involved with each other, with a degree of improvisation present. The light is stable, strong and red in contrast to indigo flashes in the first part. On the whole, the performance makes a very good use of juxtaposition of the two parts, for without the first, the second would not be so out of the ordinary and different. It is a very pleasant experience sensually, one that contains plenty of metaphorical meaning. However to enjoy it, delving into deep thought is not required, for simple things are clear while others are not hidden.