IndyFringe Blog: Broken, Fragile Mind

I walked into Broken Fragile Mind perfromed by Indy's Motus Dance Theater without doing any research. I was immediately impressed with the stillness of the three performers on stage waiting for the music to start; they were posed in a frame suggestive of a family portrait. The show seemed to both tell the story of one girl's experience and explore the complexity of family interactions and how they effect us.

My guess would be that the three performers in the frame represent Mother, Father, and Brother. The central character is a girl dressed in purple. She also seems to have an alterego who enters at times to represent her or another side of her. The image of a "Broken, Fragile Mind" or someone on the edge of insanity is brought out clearly in the second song when the alterego appears to be trying to dance provocatively while in a straight jacket. Yet the piece is introduced with a routine showing that those family relationships or the hauntings of those relationships can control us. The repetition in the choreography may suggest how we often get stuck in habits and modes of operating that get us nowhere.

Throughout the 45 minute show I had many guesses about what they were trying to communicate wordlessly through dance. The strongest part of this show for me was how the portrayed the complexity and multiple levels of interaction within a family. It was also a pleasure to take in a show at the Earth House collective, a historic church on East Street and New York.