Fringe 2004 Early Buzz - Top 10 - On The Beaded Fringe 2: Traveling In Hip Circles
 
If You Held A Gun To My Head (6 of 10)
...or If I Could Only See Ten Fringe Shows...
...what would they be, and why?

On The Beaded Fringe 2: Traveling In Hip Circles
Ammala Dance & Music
In The Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre

Nearly two dozen shows with a dance label this year (including amusing entries like Jaws: The Musical - the mind boggles, but in a good way)

Where to begin? How about one of the most popular dance companies from last year's Fringe, back again to try new and challenging work?

They want to share their love of Middle Eastern dance by fusing it with a wide variety of other styles of dance, music and performance - reaching out to audiences (like me) who are not the traditional belly dancing target demographic.

Having seen a sample of their work from last year's original On The Beaded Fringe when they brought it into the TV studio for "Cue To Cue" last month, they completely won me over. There's a sense of fun and playfulness, both in the sense of comedy, and in the sense of a full and joyous embracing of life itself, that's quite infectious. And on top of all this, they are very accomplished dancers - at least to this novice's eye. They also understand the entertainment value of spectacle with colorful costumes and simple but effective sets and props.

I admitted my ignorance of dance before in last year's blog. Though I'm no closer to being an educated connoisseur of the art of movement, among the shows I most enjoyed in last year's Fringe was Noah Bremer's dance/performance piece Exposure. So I thought it was high time a dance troupe was in my must-see list.

If I've done my job, perhaps they're also now on yours.

Learn more about them at www.ammala.com

And apparently "People who scheduled this also scheduled" such hilariously unrelated shows as: Assassins, Look Ma No Pants, Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat, Whoppers, and Improv A Go Go: Deathmatch. And I have to admit that on nearly all counts, one of those people was probably me. (Though I guess Go-Go comes closer than most, at least semantically).

For a look a the rest of my evolving New Top Ten (If You Held A Gun To My Head and I could only see ten fringe shows, what would they be and why), click below:

Death Penalty Puppetry
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Metamorphoses
Philosophy: The Music of Ben Folds
The Judas Cradle

Plus, 3 Sure Things (shows from artists on my top ten last year that are back again this year)

Plants and Animals
In Defense of Sin (My Friends' Best Stories)
Whoppers, from Kevin Kling

(For more of my writing - plays, past blog entries and more - visit www.matthewaeverett.com)