Letty Bassart’s “Good,God, Go” for Miami Made 2013 was a wonderfully entropic, energetic, comedic and well-timed performance packed with a plethora of elements and symbolism that flew over my head like the wooden canaries hovering above me.Those yellow canaries, which served a symbolic backbone for the performance, referenced their proverbial escape from the coal mine. I just didn’t see the coal mine.

GOOD GOD GO | Photo by Lydia Bittner-Baird

“Good, God, Go”, featuring Joanne Barrett, Ivy Bennett, Liony Garcia, Leandra La Greca, Galen Treuer, Cristina Masdueno, singer Gema Corredera and the Hialeah High Marching Band (Yes, a marching band), opened with an intense flamenco number in front of a black curtain. The dancer danced about three feet from the audience and pulled us in. Then, boom! The curtain opened and the marching band came out and set a spirited tone for the rest of the performance.

The rest of the performance was a blur of interesting sound and elements—bodies upon bodies, bodies drawing lines and circles on the floor with chalk, the flamenco dancer kicking up the chalk with her train, the marching band, a duet with a clothing rack, Liony Garcia carrying an egg upon his back across the dance floor, Garcia dropping the egg midway, a go-cart-esque choreography with the dancers, flamenco dancers and the machining band who miraculously didn’t’ step on the egg that was sunny side up, an a capella performance and film & text projected against the back wall.

“Good, God, Go” had lots to absorb.

“At the beginning, I was desperate for an exit” was one of the lines projected against the back wall—an obvious reference to the canary in the coal mine. The enthusiastic and energetic totality of the performance represented the force needed to release the canary from the grips of gravity and fate. But, I didn’t want that bird to exit. I wanted to keep that energy contained and shaped into a more solid performance that was patient, methodical.

“Good, God, Go” was looney, hysterical, fun. It made me laugh, which made me realize I didn’t need the conceptual baggage of the coal mine or the canary. I just needed to let go; and I did. On the other hand, I wanted “Good, God, Go” to settle down. To simmer. To give the audience a moment to absorb the images, the sounds, the movements. To give chaos a chance to communicate its own subtle logic to us through silence and stillness.