As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, yesterday I went to the premiere of Three Faces, a beautiful show filled with ballet and performance art in Hagen, Germany. The initiative came from a choreographer, Ricardo Fernando, who also envisioned the third part of the show: an excellent performance that envisioned Battlestar in an orkest, dancers and on stage taiko drum group.

First the journey - Actually, that went pretty okay! It was 1.5 hours only from the little village I live in. We arrived in Hagen on time - after passing stuff like Bremen, Volmarstein (Harry Potter much?), Vier Winden and other awkward places and names - and went to grab some food. We came across a lot of Dutch stores, like a Hema, and a Dutch flowerist. Irony. We finally ended up eating in a cheap kind of Mc Do variant, where they also served Dutch 'kroketten'. Just to see what they tasted like and believe me, German people can't make 'm. When we went into the theater and finally, after getting discount even because we were students, got our seats, it turned out Ruud and I were sitting in the same row as Bear. We were shocked.

The first part seemed a bit conventional, dealt with music such as Beethoven's seventh symphony and a lot of female-male combos. It felt pretty much like the average thing I envision when it comes down to modern ballet, but the dancers impressed me and some bits were very, very inventive. For instance, there was acrobats involved and wonderful bits were the lights dimmed and the dancers formed silhouettes against a dark blue background. I was reminded of the visual language in the Wiener version of Elisabeth's Die Schatten Werden Länger, and that's always good.

Intermezzo. Bear Mc Creary was sitting there still and we went up and claimed our autographs. He was beyond sweet, signed stuff personally to us, was happy we came from far and that we were looking forward to this so much. Meanwhile Raya was already hogged by fangirls, so no chance to speak to her properly. She wore a flower in her hair. I was mightily impressed by her already.

The second part was by a Korean choreographer and involved more of a story and more drama. It started with a fairytale and then a woman, playing a music box. She wore a pink outfit, as opposed to the other women, and a beautiful dance followed. There was a glass house on stage, which they incorporated in the choreography a lot, and later a glass table. All of it was very convincing in a way and impressing.

Another moment for us to relax and in those 15 minutes, the scenery had to change and the dancers had to get into their different outfits. We were beyond excited. I already mentioned the set list in my previous journal, but there was more to it. The actual beginning was a big view of space beamed on the stage, with the stars, the planets, travelling, while an arrangement of the Final Five's song played: Heeding the Call. The dancers could be seen on the background alreayd. Then followed of Prelude of War, which was performed as a warrior song, with an on stage rhytmic battle with the dancers clapping fighting sticks as the wooden instruments in the song itself. The taiko drums were beyond sweet and even with a small orchestra, the music sounded fucking epic. I was already beyond impressed. I expected a lot, but not something like this. All of them wore beautiful red outfits, torn, and schminck that made them look worn as well. Beautiful. This already managed to narrate the dystopian world that is Battlestar Galactica, the destruction of the colonies, the violence.

Passacaglia involved a very beautiful dance in couples struggling, lying down, all of it very much in the fashion of the religious fit of the song. Baltar's followers came as a natural addition to this religious theme, were a few tables were placed on the stage diagonally. One dancer on top of the table, heavy light shining upon it: the ultimate priest-guru that is S. 4 Baltar. All around him women assembled next to the table, clapping the long wooden sticks from Prelude to War. The Resurrection Hub followed, the tables were turned over so they formed a background screen, organic images were projected. The dancers represented the dying cylons.

Among the Ruins was definitely one of the highlights of a show that was already stunning. The tables were still turned and a rock like structure was projected on them as if they were a surface, the dancers started to walk upon them horizontally, supported by their partners. It was desolate, lonely, this landing. The light was not as bright as during previous songs. The dancers pulled out crazy stuff with the screens, walking on them, performing hand stands, making forms. It matched. Fight Night afterwards was hectic, beautiful, with the sticks and the drums again, and dancers running all over the place. Battle time.

Roslin and Adama's theme, then, was performed astonishingly. Before the theme an open glass tank was pulled on stage, floored with water that went up the dancer's legs slightly. In it two dancers performed Wander my Friends, now a deep dance about the fleet, Adama, possibly the Adama-Lee struggle as well. However, since it was played before Roslin and Adama, and wasn't mentioned in the set list, it encorporated a different dimension. In a more dominant reading I would interpret it here as the early days of their love, their profession and the will to stay alive. It blended into the romantic theme we all love. All wet, the dancers performed a sensual dance of support - constantly pulling the other up when he seemed to slip in the water. They wore torn red bathing suit like outfits, jumped on the ledges of the water tank, embraced, struggled. Since the tank wasn't that large, the dance was extremely intimate, and because of the water and torn suits, fragile and painful. A very dependent relationship was formed, one of avoiding each other in a secluded space, then helping each other up, and finally finding solace in each other's arms.

Then came The Signal, a beautiful song and performed without the vocal bits, just like the following Diaspora. Big beacons were formed by turning big mirrors against a bright light. Visual and musical spectacle again. I was ready to be scraped of the floor then and there, but Diaspora became another sensation, first, the rejoice of the crew! Dancers embracing as during the scene of the finale of 4.1. Then, there was the sadness with which this long song ends. With a green light beaming from the stage into the crowd. And then, the dancers on stage, flash lights beaming in their faces, as if they were the stars. And they moved around and slowly started to fade, one by one, the lights went out. Space became desolate and robbed of life. Standing ovations and long claps followed, everyone being called to the stage, Bear as well.

And then, wow, we got to go to the premiere party on stage as well. They purposely invited the audience too, and that was actually a fun experience. There were speeches there by the theater's director and a long line of fans that still needed their Bear autograph. We already had one. Raya was standing there pretty desolate, so I grabbed the opportunity. Because I couldn't deny my A/R nature, after some small talk and an autograph I quickly asked about Mess of Me, the vocal version of A/R, which will be released on an extra BSG-cd after the ost of season 4.

It was very exciting to meet these Raya and Bear in person, their music meant a great deal to me over the years: they were both very nice. Raya had a really strong appeal and was very cute and modest. And Bear, though harrassed by fans non-stop, was constantly calm and sweet and very pleased with the performance. He was really available for pretty long talks and open to answer questions. Also, yes, they made a great couple. When discussing the long line for Bear with Raya she added: 'Well, my bag's pretty heavy though!' And made some swings.