I saw my first Ottawa Fringe Festival show last night: Art DeXo. I chose it at random from the program. I figured since it came from out-of-town (heck out of the country), they could probably use the attendance for an 11 pm slot on the opening night of the festival. I was right. There were only ten people in the audience of this 100+ seat theatre. A quick glance around at the 10 and I knew two were billets, two were Fringe staff and the people with notepads where probably media. All in all, I'd be surprised if more than 2 people paid to see that show. So, these four dancers who came in from New York probably made $20 last night... $10 if those two used the 2 for 1 deal. It breaks my fucking heart.

This is a dance show. The extent of my dance experience comes from gyrating in front of my mirror as I get ready to go out, bopping along to tunes in the car and watching So You Think You Can Dance. Basically, I don't feel qualified to review this show because, frankly, I didn't understand it.

I have so many questions about it still: Was I suppose to look for a narrative or should I have taken each individual piece on it's own merit? Why did they choose this weird music? Why did some pieces include vocabulary, but some didn't? Why was there so much neon? Talking with some of the others who saw it last night, I realized I wasn't the only one who was confused.

The best bit of the show was this incredible dance solo by the blond in the gray dress (a dress which I actually covet). Again, I don't know what was going on, but I liked that part.

The great thing about Fringe though is that I can get exposed to stuff that I normally wouldn't go out to see. I wish Art DeXo all the best with the rest of their run and I hope they have a lovely time in Ottawa.