When the usher at the Joyce Theater handed me a program for the long-awaited U.S. premiere of British choreographer Botis Seva’s BLKDOG, he warned, “It gets louder in the second half, and it’s pretty violent.” This wasn’t news to me, but his grimace made me wonder if it would all be a bit too much.
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I was nervous as the house lights went down and the curtain went up. The music comes first—an atmospheric hum and then bass so deep I can feel it through the floor. In a dim flood light, someone sits alone on the stage, their back to us, their hood up. A deep voice booms: “Maybe we should start with how you’re feeling.” More bass, more stillness. Then a child’s voice asks, “Daddy, can you read me a story?” More stillness, more bass, then the blast of a gunshot and the seated figure falls over. The lights brighten to reveal a group of similarly dressed people standing across the stage. The fallen-over body army crawls to the group, the music bends into a steady beat, and........