The energy wasn't contrived and his performance was the rawest and most impressive component of the show.
Nothing felt, as it often can in Mahler performances, contrived or done simply for effect.
The performers, who frequently comment on their own performance with contrived self-consciousness, guide audience members to new vantage points; it's purposely disruptive, but hardly enlightening.
Chi (2006) has argued that performance on contrived, structured tasks is a key tool in judging the nature of expertise among individuals at different stages of training within a discipline.
Although somewhat contrived, it features a lovely performance by Christopher Denham as a lonely soul starved for intimacy (2 25).
There was nothing contrived or affected about her performance; a few swoony phrases in the slow movement were her only indulgence in an otherwise beautiful, poised, utterly musical performance.
That note served as an unnecessarily contrived introduction to the fascinating performance offered on Thursday night as part of the Dance: Access series at St. Mark's Church in the East Village.
But as compelling as Ms. Pagés can be — and she has an undeniably sexy, jaunty stage persona — her performance always feels contrived and controlled, from the dramatic "Nanas de la Cebolla," which she ends on a chair, arms hugging her body in desolation, to the final rousing dance, which has all the performers clustering around her as they chorus, "María, María".
For me, the film is itself a bit of misfit, full of big stagey speeches, contrived moments and some overemphatic performances, but opened out with muscular style by Huston.
But good intentions go just so far when a movie is hobbled by such risible, place holder dialogue, contrived plot points, wildly uneven performances and awkward camera work.
