Rijs Taafel

We had a vegetarian Rijs Taafel last night. It was pretty good, but a little on the mild side. The Sambal on the side was nice, but probably should have asked for it hot to begin with. I was surprised to be able to get a Vegetarian version, as I recall it being pretty meat oriented thing when I last had it (almost thirty years ago).

After dinner we went to a Modern Dance show at a theater we had noticed earlier in the day. I was getting really angry at this large older man who cut in front of us in the ticket line, but it turned out for the best, as the people just ahead of us were dancers from another company, who were picking up free tickets and had extras, which they gave to us. It was also fun to be able to talk to them about the performances, one of which was by a choreographer friend of theirs, who came up while we waited in the line.

The first piece was rather dull, in fact I drifted off to sleep at intervals. The second, (by the choreographer I saw) was very interesting. The music was almost industrial techno, and the dancers moved very quickly, except when the dropped to the ground and lay still. Even then you could see how hard they were breathing. One was exceptional, flexible and powerful. I was confused at the end when she was not one of the dancers given flowers, but it turned out that she was the star of the company, and the others were getting flowers because it was their last performance before leaving the group.

The third piece was not great, but not so bad either. I was bothered by a sort of optical illusion created by the set design, which had a grid of sqaures handing down the back and sides of the set. Perhaps not the most incisive criticism, but it was what stuck with me.