Surround Sound to Dance

The first piece of the Trisha Brown Dance group started in silence, with several dancers onstage in metallic costumes. I thought at first that something happened to the sound. Then it was obvious that this was a piece without music. A bit later in the piece, the dancers continued to do their yoga/pilates-inspired gestures while I heard what sounded like a marching band from the right, outside corridor. Could it be that the UofMN marching band was practicing outside while hundreds of audience members were trying to concentrate on the dancers on stage? The band must have passed on to the next street. People were whispering about the clashing performances of the reknown dance group and the somewhat off-tune marching band. The dancers moved toward the next segment; their legs and arms jerking and flowing almost in time with the patriotic blasts of the trumpets and constant rat-a-tat-tat of the snare drums. All of a sudden the marching band was behind the audience in the corridor, moving at a slow pace; the volume coming and going as the band circled the outside perimeter of the audience and dancers on stage. During the pause until the next piece, nearly everyone reached for their programs to find out if the marching band was indeed part of the performance.