National Hall of Fame Teen Champions 2013 Choreographed by Shannon Mather Performed by Simone Cameresi and Alyssa Allen Mather Dance Company Disclaimer: This video was uploaded with permission.
I have seen this a million times and come back to it sometimes. The first time I heard this song was watching this vid. The music and choreography and the emotion just captivated me and I cried. My interpretation, is less obvious...I see it as two parts of the same person...not exactly bad or good as much as your past self and your current self (or your current self and your future self depending on your point of view) and how they both make up who you are...to not fight either...just let yourself be both. No matter your interpretation, it is beautiful.
Just parousing the comments and I thought I'd throw my interpretation in the ring.. I saw it not as two beings, one being an addict and the other being the one trying to help, but rather as a battle between the light and dark parts of your mind. Both dancers make up two parts of a struggle inside one addict. The dancer in black represented the part of the addict that is hooked, always going back to the drug - just based on a move in the beginning of the dance in which the dancer in black extended her arm and rolled up her sleeve, I took to be heroine, but that might not be defined. The dancer in white is the part of the brain that tries to get off the drug and tries to get you to listen to the people trying to help, the part of the brain that wants to quit. The two sides are battling it out, like often happens in a drug addict, until the end the dancer in white, or the part of the brain that has hope or attempts to quit, gives up. The dancer in black, which now in a way represents the entire addicted brain, has realized they've hit rock bottom, and is reaching out for some hope, but there is none. Hence the reason the white pushes her away, and the black is left crawling away and curling up - what honestly looked to me like it could have represented an overdose. In regards to the dance... BEAUTIFUL. I was truly in tears.
Daniela D The more I watch it the more I see it much more as that.. I think it depends on what you've struggled with in life. Just as beauty, meaning is in the eye of the beholder.
i agree with you but you can honestly view it either way. your way or as self harm and addiction with someone trying to help but either way its beautiful!
It seems like it's one person fighting himself/herself..the way they were always connected throughout every transition makes it seem that way. Beautiful piece.
I love this dance so much.. and in my opinion, The girl in grey is addicted to drugs, and the one in white is another version of the girl trying to stop the other from the drug use. She gets too deep into the drugs and then her good side finally gives up on trying to help and falls into the drugs with her/disappears. Then at the end the girl tries to reach out and get her good self back. And when the girl in the white backs away she's kinda saying "There's nothing i can do" Your too far into this and you're on your own. Just my view on the whole thing.
I love this. I thought was such a brilliant representation of depression (my interpretation). The whole fact that even on medication it's still there, lurking, pulling you under. The girl in white is depression, she's sapped all the color and life out of the girl in grey for herself and she pulls and pulls on her, stopping her from being able to do things, making her want to give up and end it all. I thought it was amazing.
This was so strong, emotional, empowering, and you can relate to it in your own way. It has everything a great dance should have. It makes you think.. This is perfect!
Absolutely gorgeous. The dancers were seemingly flawless, they're technique was amazing. The choreography was inspiring and it actually gave me the idea for a duet I want to choreograph. Thank you for sharing this.
I thought girl in black had depression of some sort and the girl in white was the version of herself trying to be happy. When we showed her wrist I thought it was hinting at her scars but I could be wrong. In the end the better version of her just left her behind.
I think this is the first comment I really write under a video, but now is the point where I found a video that it's worth writing about. This made me cry, this dance is touching my soul completely and is ripping my heart apart. In my first view the story behind that is about two friends. The grey dressed person is having a very bad time in his life and is beginng to give up on life. Escaping it. (Maybe with medicine?) The white dressed person is a friend who is trying to rescue her, every time the grey person is falling down again, the white one helps her to find the way back to life. First the grey one is falling down again completely, when the other pulls him up. Then he can do it with the help of the white one. And then they do it together (the dance) and in my interpretation the life. Both of them are living their life, together. Then the grey one falls down again and as he tries to find help by the white one, he doesn't want to help anymore. And the grey one keeps staying down in her depression. People will let you down, never trust anybody. I guess I can identify myself with this dance and especially with the grey one. That's the reason why I cried. And why I love this dance so much. Thanks to the person who created this beautiful choreography.
I've watched it a few times, makes me cry. I think it is one person, in the depths of despair and depression. She is hurting insanely, wanting to cut to relieve the pain inside. I'd say there is inner torment and conflict with her body, anorexia, bulimia. The extremes and anguish with this. She is desperate to be free, she prays to her angels, her higher self, any shred within herself that holds self love. Within herself she longs to be free, she imagines it, she dances it, she folds in on herself and weeps for it. Does she achieve it?...
when I see this dance I see the girl in grey as a child/teen cancer patient and the girl in white is her mother. They (the doctors) keep giving her medicine to get better and soon she becomes to relient on the medicine ( to bring her out of the pain and make her feel better) that she becomes addicted. although the medicine can help to much can help her, she is taking to much and her brain is disentagrating and she cant do much of anything and her mom is trying to help her but she dosn't want help all she can do is except the fact that she is going to die.
Every one can see different things in the same interpretation. In this dance I see the coexistence and conflict, into the same person, of two different personalities that tenderly rock and sustain each others until one rebels against the other. The white girl tries to save the other half of herself, she is full of love as the grey is empty of life and hope. But the scission is insanable, the soul is deeply hurt, and there is no medicine that can cure the cancer which is devouring the grey part...so the white is finally forced to go away and abandon her, not to die herself too.
since everyone is sharing the storys they take from this dance I want to share what I get from this dance... Welll every time I watch it I see a different story but the one I keep going back to is... that the girl in the grey becomes relient on drugs/medicine, and the girl in the white is her bestfriend and she is trying to help her and she keeps telling her ' you can still be what you want to be'. But the girl in the grey tries but just cant stop she then ends up passing away or just becomes so consumed by medicine she loses her self.
Just look at the comment section. Dance is amazing because everyone understands it differently. It’s what they see and feel. Everyone has a thought or opinion or feeling and they can dance it the way they want
Just to throw my own interpretation in: The girl in the white is the medicine. She is the support. The girl in grey is in a deep depression and is too ashamed to seek help even though she knows she needs it. The girl in white tries and tries to get through to her, but by the time the girl in grey truly wants her help, the girl in white is already exhausted and can do no more for her.
This dance is so beautiful! When I see this dance I see a battle with mental illness. I see the girl in the white as the person with the illness or who she was before and who she wants to be again. I see the girl in the grey as the illness, as who she is now.
I see the girl in the white dress as what the other girl has always dreamed herself becoming and throughout this dance, she tries to live upto her younger self's hopes and dreams.
I see it as the white one is the dead/angel version of the black one and the black one is a selfharmer and is depressed... And when the black one rolls up her sleeve and shows her cuts and at the end the black one commits suicide by overdosing and the white one walks off the stage This is my personal opinion no hate please... This dance was beautiful btw😍
I see that the girl in grey is already too deep into her addiction and the white is another version or perception of her. It's like the stage she wants to reach or that she was but she finally reaches the point where she's too deep, and her good side disappears like the rest go her and all that's left is grey
I saw the person in white who represents God, and he's the one telling her to stop, and the one in grey is the person who is the one with the addiction. And God keeps trying to pull her back, and she keeps going back to her addiction, and at the end she feels like she's alone, but she's not really alone.
The way I see it, I can sort of relate. There was no one when they were suffering, they got worse and when someone came to help, they tried to reject it maybe out of spite, maybe they're too worn down. Once they finally accept the help, the person trying to help is sick of them not wanting help and leaves.
Loads of people have mentioned things like addict and even the girl is dying of cancer or something similar. The way I see it is that the girl in grey is depressed and suicidal. The girl in white is a personification of the anti depressant drugs which are medicine for people with depression. And as the dance goes on the girl in black tries to stop taking the drugs and tries to be happy on her own. But whenever something bad happens or she stops taking the drugs she falls back on them and hates herself more. Everytime she falls to the floor and the girl in white tries to pick her up its her going back to drugs.
I was thinking the girl in black is a drug addict and the girl in white is trying to help saying the drugs are just medicine and she's stronger than it but in the end she's tired of trying to help her
I saw it as kind of a struggle with depression. the white being the happiness deep in side of her and gray being the depression. i feel as though it was her struggle to be happy. she was trying to pull herself from the dirt, but being unable to she stops trying but that little bit of her still wants to be happy again.
