Dancer's Responding to Aids

When I think about all the diseases that are out there in the world, there is one that rings clear in my head. AIDS. We have been dealing with the issues of this disease since the 1980's, and even before that, but the disease was not documented until the 80's in the United States. When I watched Danny Tidwell's solo called "The Eternal Vow," performed at dancers responding to AIDS, I saw a man dealing with the effect of AIDS.

When the dance first starts Danny is facing away from the audience, as if he were ashamed. He then begins to walk forward and does a movement initiated from his torso or (inside of him), as if to show the disease is in there talking over his body. Throughout the dance he does a lot of movement with his palms facing up and his arms shooting out, as if to say "why me?, why did I get this disease?"

There are specific times in the dance where I feel his struggle with AIDS, and he makes them very clear. At 1:14 in the dance he starts to loose control of his body like something (the disease) is taking over. He begins to sway and stager around the stage and then he does a jump and lands on the ground. He then crawls on his hands and knees and it looks like he can barely hold himself up. This is one of the most influential parts of the dance because it shows that the disease is taking over his body.

Then he begins to roll and he kind of hits this position facing the sky and his arms are kind of bent reaching towards the sky, and his legs are extended to the sky with his feet pointed. He does this flutter thing with his hand towards the sky as if asking God or his God for help, or asking him why.

This dance had a huge impact on me because I am an out gay man, and I struggle with the fear of contracting AIDS.