Word: somniloquy
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Nikolais's choreography becomes more involved at times when he de-emphasizes the light and slide show. (Some of his dances fuse light and movement at their most essential level; others use costume and light traditionally, as secondary arts.) Somniloquy, an all-dance duet, turns Suzanne McDermott and Gerald Otte into fast-moving comic caricatures, Nikolais's way of treating a potentially sexual situation. He has the couple move with such highly-charged energy that they forget their partner is of the opposite sex. At these times Nikolais emphasizes traces of movement rather than the precise shapes of movements...
...traversal of the sleepwalking scene proved to be highly controversial. Miss McKenna injected a lot of agitation into it and pitched it high--an approach that drew the fire of some of the critics in the daily press. These evidently conceive of somnambulism as always graceful, and of somniloquy as exclusively a lyrical, if not whispered nocturne. This is, to be sure, the customary way of doing the scene; but Miss McKenna's way was valid and convincing, too. Her critics should have remembered that one can do violent things in one's sleep; and that Lady Macbeth's mind...
This approach to the scene has drawn the fire of some of my colleagues in the daily press. They evidently conceive of somnambulism as always graceful, and of somniloquy as exclusively a lyrical, if not whispered nocturne. Well, this is the customary way of doing the scene. But Miss McKenna's way is valid and convincing too (though she should not have to be told that "Out, damned spot!" requires four syllables, not three). Her critics should remember that one can do very violent things in one's sleep; and that Lady Macbeth's mind has disintegrated and is tormented...
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