Still/Here by Bill T. Jones

This month marks 15 years since former New Yorker dance critic Arlene Croce scandalized the arts world by writing a scathing review of Bill T. Jones’ “Still/Here” without actually having seen it. Croce dismissed the piece, which featured terminally ill people talking about their illnesses, as victim art and refused to see it on the grounds that Jones had crossed a line between performance and reality, thereby making it “undiscussable” as a work of art. In short, she said, she could not review people she was forced to feel sorry for.

Coincidentally, on the occasion of this ignominious anniversary I, too, have found myself with an opportunity to review a dance work without seeing it. Unlike Croce, I have no ideological objections to this piece. Also unlike Croce, I plan to attend the performance. The reason I won’t see it is that I will, like the rest of the audience, be wearing a blindfold while the dance takes place.

Dana Salisbury

The piece is Dana Salisbury’s Unseen Dance, and it’s happening Saturday night at Green Space in Long Island City. I interviewed Salisbury a few months ago for an article that appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, and we spent a rainy afternoon talking about how she came up with the idea to create dances for audiences who can’t see them. As it turns out, the idea evolved from a project she created called Dark Dining, in which participants experience a four-course meal and entertainment–musicians, singers, tap dancers, beat boxers–while blindfolded.

I’m excited about finally getting to experience Salisbury’s strange sensory world for myself on Saturday night. I also have to admit that the prospect of literally putting myself in the hands of a bunch of strangers who I’ll never actually lay eyes on (Salisbury calls her dancers the No-See-Ums) is kind of scary. Tune in for my report next week.