iDANZ Critix Corner

Dance Review: Blues, Rock, and Rachmaniov! -Complexions at The Joyce Theater

2010-11-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

On opening night of the Complexions Fall/Winter season at The Joyce Theater, the audience, comprised with many power players of the dance world, not only buzzes with excitement and anticipation, but also disappointment. We hear that dance royalty, the breathtaking brilliant and talented, Desmond Richardson, is suffering from an injury (received earlier in the afternoon) and is not dancing in this evening's performance! ....Eee Gads ...Say it ain't so! Like many audience members, I question if Complexions’ performance will possess the same virility with the absence of Richardson.

The curtain rises, and any doubt in the room dissipates with an exploding big bang as Dwight Rhoden’s Moon Over Jupiter takes shape over Rachmaniov’s score. A meteor shower of momentum and dynamics, the ballet showcases the extreme unique talent and technique of all the Complexion dancers. Like an orbiting solar system, the dancers move in organized chaos into an eclipse of synchronization. Metallic, spider webbed leotards and shorts expose the dancer’s thoroughbred, horse-like muscularity, direct proof that these dancers are pushing their physical means. Clifford Williams, the shooting star of the ballet, demands attention with phenomenal extension and effortless fluidity of movement that only the trained eye would understand the extreme complexity and challenge of the choreography.

On Holiday opens part duex of the evening and relies on the show business aspect of dance. Slightly reminiscent of Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, On Holiday is danced by four couples expressing four stages of love. Each couple embodies the lyrics of Billie Holiday, but Christina Dooling and Edgar Anido really transport the audience to a Love-Hate relationship. Intensity and heartache emanate through the audience as Doling and Amide manipulate each other to provide a heart wrenching performance.

Originally, to follow On Holliday, is Richardson to dance A Goldberg Variation, but instead, Christie Partelow and Mark Caserta dance Rhoden ‘s Spill. Entering with abandonment in a grand jete lift, Partelow and Caserta leave you with no regret from missing Richardson’s performance. In complete unison, they dance in a continuous stream of intricate and exhilarating partnering. Like riding a rollercoaster of constant excitement and unexpected turns, Rhoden’s Choreography escapes all predictability confirming his much revered status in the realm of today's contemporary choreographers.

A fun and lively Moody Booty Blues is like the after hours employee dance scene in “Dirty Dancing” where Baby meet Patrick Swayze for the first time. The dancers dance fearlessly with grounded movement and soulful rhythm. Moody Booty Blues showcases the young talent of Complexions; Gary W. Jeter II sets a very high bar with his opening solo of insane syncopations and intricate isolations and Peter Chursin and Stefano DeMartino match Jeter’s energy. Chursin is especially captivating with his flawless technique and exquisite lines. After grabbing my attention, I couldn’t stop watching Chursin in the finale piece Rise.

Rise, which Rhoden choreographed to various songs by U2, opens with the song “The Streets Have No Name” and one man running in the spotlight. High impact choreography plus Bono and the Edge guarantee an awesome performance. I have seen U2 live in concert several times, and the Complexions Dancers even give Bono some competition.

Complexion dancers are a dynamic breed of physicality that is unparallel to most contemporary and ballet companies. The dancers elevate the choreography and provide a powerful performance of non-stop impressive feats.

Complexions Fall/Winter season continues to run through November 28^th at the Joyce Theater.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Katherine Gibson
Performance: Complexions
Choreographer: Dwight Rhoden
Venue: Joyce Theater, New York, NY
Show Date: Tuesday 16th, 2010
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Dance Review: Treeline’s Show and Tell; the Proper Way to Play

2010-11-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Treeline Dance Works! Although this one-year-old company may be just a baby on the dance scene, kiddos look out because she is growing in vigorous leaps and bounds…quite literally, in fact!

Her first full-length show, In Transit, demonstrates how technical prowess can meet child-like playfulness. Throughout, dancers play their bodies like musical instruments as they weave intricate formations and portray comedic/disturbing narratives. They seem to make games of spatial patterns as they move like scattering marbles or jumping checkers. All is accomplished with outstanding precision and ease. These ladies are not only capable of great feats of agility, but also of an honest connectedness to each other on stage.

All hailing from SUNY Brockport, company members Erin Johnson, Caroline Nelson, Jessica Reidy, Jenny Showalter, and Lyndsey Vader are a fox-force-five to be reckoned with. Lyndsey Vader’s sense of control, for example, in her solo “Pulse/Apology”, is breathtaking to watch. What astounding technical abilities she has with her brilliant execution of delicate balances and sharp, quick movements, all while speaking about the sound of her pulse. My heart stops, like her narrative describes, as she rocks in-and-out of warrior III, flips around to relevé and halts deftly on a dime. The disturbing last image, a fist under open palm, looks like a heart with splayed aortic valves. Oh, Treeline, you’ve kindled my inner-child’s imagination!

Immediately following is another energetic solo performance by Jessica Reidy, in “The (un)Natural Art of Dating.” This rousing jaunt into 1950’s dating has me enchanted from the get-go. Reidy instructs her audience members on the do’s and don’ts of catching a mate by winking, batting her lashes, and, my favorite, wetting her eyebrows! She explains the importance of holding a longing gaze as she performs an Exorcist-like head rotation. Absolutely brilliant! Her ensemble, Erin Johnson and Caroline Nelson, are perfect. The threesome dance-on together with the subtle pin-up sex-appeal of the Andrews sisters. The characterization is complete as nostalgic music plays and house-wife aprons sway, leaving me all giggles and smiles!

“Traveling to Recall A Becoming Of,” choreographed by Jenny Showalter, is another heavy weight champ in this choreographic line up. Here, the playfulness comes forth in the port de bras, as the girls use various arm gestures to draw lines in space. They make pulsing gestures with the hands, long reaches of the fingers and very specific movement like poking, jabbing, threading-the-needle, etc. Here, Showalter carves out space on stage by having the dancers spin in circles and run in diagonals. She also creates the image of hallways as the dancers run upstage to downstage. If Jeffy, from Family Circus, were dancing, he’d leave one helluva dotted-line map on stage!

Beautiful spatiality also appears in the opening piece, “Caged Until”, which is, in my opinion, the most outstanding piece of the evening. This piece represents Treeline’s sense of play perfectly. Audience members are greeted by the upstage right violin trio, whose diagonal bowing movements seem to inspire the entering dancers whose outstretched arms oppose outstretched legs in an off-balance tilt. Lovely! They move in and out of unison, using musical phrasing and quick level changes to create a gorgeous symphony.

Again, Showalter is a master at choreographing spatial arrangements. I find myself so entranced by her patterns that I fail to notice how suddenly, the dancers are lined up at the stage's edge with their backs to the audience. A musical change happens, as the fourth wall is broken, and my experience shifts from spectator to insider. I become engaged in their game.

Yes, the rest of the piece is like a game. A series of place-switching follows as they stir up space like in a game of tag. This leads to another line-up, but this time, a wall line-up for picking teams on a playground. There is a persistent theme of odd-man out, which is perhaps representative of playground politics. Signature to Showalter’s style, specific hand gestures are repeated in motifs, i.e. a head cradled in a partner’s hands, and, most memorably, the fist meeting the open palm as when rock meets paper in “rock, paper, scissors”.

Favorite moment in the entire show: a dramatic lift where one dancer grabs hold of another’s waist and hoists her own lower body into the spot where bodies should collide, but the third dancer ducks in the nick of time! Shocking and yet not shocking at the same time because this is so characteristic of how fabulously these femmes dance together. They dive into near-miss lifts and athletic floor phrases, as fearlessly as a five-year-old does a flying dismount off the swing set!

The playful nature continues well into the second act. In Jenny Showalter’s solo, “Kilter”, weight-play rules. With the music reminiscent of a French bistro or circus, I imagine Showalter as a mime on a tightrope at times. There's an off-balance circular section that conjures the image of a spinning top as it begins to lose steam. Unfortunately, the rest of the second act begins to lose steam as well. I notice an overwhelming music trend throughout the evening: strings. And while nice to start, I find the use of violins and/or cellos (in over half the pieces) to be a bit tiresome by the end, and soon crave something different.

While the music DOES support the playful style—switching drastically from slow and meditative, to speedy and virtuosic—it can be on the verge of melodramatic as is the case with “A Shell of Herself.” In this text duet, Lyndsey Vader and Caroline Nelson pounce around like ferrets, squeaking out lines barely audible above the intense music, which is building unnecessarily. I feel as though I am watching a soap opera, one where the actors are clearly reading cue cards. The text seems superimposed and not at all connected with what the dancers are saying with their bodies. If we put the whole piece on mute, as Lindsey does to herself in the beginning of the piece (a moment I actually love), then the message would read something like this: “Look at this. Look at me. Look at all this dancing. See these tricks? My leaps and kicks? I’m flexing, pointing, leg-extending, rolling and panting… all in my undergarment dressings.” Perhaps this is all intentional, referring back to the title, “Shell of Herself”. The one time Nelson says, “I don’t know what that means,” face-to-face with Vader, I finally believe her. But then, the movements quickly return to that familiar dance/yoga/Pilates vocabulary, and I’m even more anxious to see something different.

Similar are my feelings on the last piece, “Unearthed Moments.” Playful still, it begins with counting, like a young girls’ hand-clapping song. I adore the choice of all heads looking up at the first number, “four.” This reminds me of the attention-catching word “fore” used in golf. But the movement is still all so akin to what came before, and at this point, I’m desperately waiting for them to produce something outside the choreographic sandbox: to get away from codified dance for a moment and explore moving more pedestrian or with more subtlety. The moment of saving grace happens when Caroline Nelson sits perched atop supporting bodies and does a slow pan across the audience. Yes! Slowness. Stillness. A moment to reflect and digest. In fact, I love the subsequent slow motion movement wishing I could see more of it!

Overall, Treeline does a beautiful job of painting the canvas with lots of detail and activity, but one doesn’t necessarily have to show all one’s cards at once. I think they can afford to do less, in some respects. Going back to “Pulse/Apology”, the silent score supports Vader’s moments of suspension beautifully, and I find myself wishing it would last longer when jarringly, a background score of medieval chants is introduced. Although the sounds are haunting, they are also distracting from the text. Perhaps if the music were more sparse, I’d be able to decipher the text better.

In Transit marks a choreographic rite-of-passage; the event where artistic directors Jenny Showalter and Lyndsey Vader show form a synthesis of what they’ve gathered over the past few years—from schoolings at SUNY Brockport, residencies in New York and Chicago, and mentors such as Pamela Vail, and Don Halquist (guest choreographers in the program). What an appropriate title indeed! Congratulations to them as they make this daring transition from the classroom/studio into the professional dance world. And while there are always points to work on, there are outnumbering points of interest that give this company much success!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Teresa Lynn
Performance: Dance by Treeline Danceworks
Venue: Center for Performance Research, CPR
Show Date: November 6, 2010
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Dance Review: Eryc Taylor Dance, Pushing Boundaries

2010-11-15T16:17:00.000-05:00

Eryc Taylor Dance wraps up an amazing sold-out run at Joyce SoHo in Spectacular fashion. With excitement, grace, power, and beauty, this is a company to watch. The company, consisting of Isabelle Fernandez, Gierre Godley, Dillon Honniker, Carly Mayer, Michelle Pellizon and Danielle Schulz, is filled with excellent performers exhibiting with "no holds back" what great dancers they are!

The evening opens with Drowntown. Amazingly athletic and energetic, this is a powerhouse. The dancers weave and dodge one another without missing a beat, yet join each other to prove a point at different times. It is inspiring... Imagine walking through Time Square at rush hour. Watch out or you will get left in the dust!

Next on the program is Wraith. Danced by Michelle Pellizzon and Danielle Schulz, this piece is hauntingly beautiful. With costumes by Tonatiuh Otero, they look like beautiful red Nymphs. Showing their clean and pure technique, they dance in tune with each other ever so effortlessly. Nymphs in a time of loss, they are still, however, hopeful for what is to come... Beautiful!

Moving on to The Polarity, danced by Gierre Godley and Dillon Honiker, all I can say is WOW!!!! Showstopper. They both dance with power and masculinity; it is refreshing. Throwing themselves on each other without a care in the world, they are out to kill! I am immediately put in to the frame of thought of watching “The Matrix”, a wonderful fight scene with all the special effects coming to life right before me. This (The Polarity) is wild abandon at it's best!

The Missing, danced by Michelle Pellizon, is next and what a shocking surprise... She is a revelation in this piece shaking, twisting, and contorting her body into oddly beautiful positions. It’s really amazing. Merging her beautiful technique with the oddest of moves it is like watching a drug addict fight through withdrawal. Happiness, sadness, longing, and cravings she is going through all the emotions right before your eyes. I am happy to report she wins in the end! Congrats!

And finally, Terminus, wraps up this wonderful evening. Danced by the company, they save the best for last taking complete command of the stage and not being afraid of it. The power of the dancers fill the floor bringing the audience to the edge of their seats. Their movements are faster, sharper, and clean, as if to put the final stamp on the evening. Wearing costumes by Keiko, they leave the audience wanting more and ready to stand up and join in! Eryc Taylor Dance is one company not to be missed.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Devin Pullins
Performance Eryc Taylor Dance
Venue: Joyce SoHo
Show Date: November 13, 2010
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Dance Review: Neil Greenberg - Saggy-Crotch Tights are the Cats Pajamas!

2010-11-15T11:03:00.000-05:00

By George—or better yet, by Merce—Neil Greenberg’s got good design; this former Cunningham dancer not only knows how to make a fashion statement, but also how to make statement, a fashion. His past works have made quite the mark, inviting audience members to question status-quo gender roles, ponder common assumptions about HIV/AIDS, and interrogate what society associates with homosexuality. And now, his latest work, (like a vase), continues the expedition into the social-norm jungle.

Take for example the opening section, which brings to light the status-quo obsession with looks, and body image. We see dancer, Johnni Durango, enter and stand center stage amongst the inanimate columns and vases. Suddenly, she is no longer a dancer, but an object: a thing to be looked at, studied, and critiqued… like a piece of art —like a vase!— and perhaps like a candid celebrity beach body shot in US Weekly. Thanks to a humorous recorded narrative by Ruth Draper, “A Class in Greek Poise,” the words guide us further into this judgmental state of mind. As we look at Durango —tall and slender— we hear Ruth say “214 pounds?...oh its 241 pounds? Bloomers please.”

“Ladies, line-up” Ruth continues. And Durango assumes a pose on relevé, hands behind back and elbows bent… like the wings of an exotic bird. (well with plumage like that of her loud, patterned tights, she’d have to be exotic!) Perhaps some abstract ode to Barbie? Or…as Ruth gabs on and on about poise, Durango starts strutting around with delicate, toe-pointed steps; she circles the column-confined area, and I feel as though I’m watching a peacock parading round its pen at the zoo.

Neil Greenberg, who by this point has furtively entered and placed one vase at each column’s base, begins clapping. It’s not, by any means, directed at Durango, but because of her spatial arrangement, the model strut she just gave, and what transpired in the narrative, I connect the dots, and interpret that he is, indeed, applauding her.

Here’s the unique thing about Neil Greenberg’s choreography: many of the goings on—the score, the dancers, the set, the musicians—have the strength to operate independently from one another. But when they do sync-up coincidentally, they suddenly seem intentional… and then there’s meaning in them thar hills! So although Neil’s clapping at that exact moment may seem intentional in relation to Durango, as the piece goes on, clapping returns in other moments as part of the phrasing, and by contrast we see there may be no meaning at all: it’s just a neutral gesture. How about a dancer taking a sip of coffee, followed by a sip of water off-stage? It appears to be a pedestrian gesture of no meaning. But take the same movement, and have two dancers do it in unison, and suddenly, I notice myself trying to “figure it out”.

This is Neil’s other obsession, which now has become mine too: “tensions created by the seemingly inescapable human desire to create meaning.” The eccentric movements may coincide with the score, and by default, I can’t help but draw a connection for them. Ruth says “swing your weight forward” and the dancers do swinging movements with their arms. As musicians, Zeena Parkins and Shayna Dunkelman, tune up the harp and other instruments, the text speaks of using one’s breath like a “musical instrument.” Another cue, via the text: Ruth is “prancing through the forest” with the hypothetical fat girls she is coaching. Greenberg and Luke Miller are prancing about the space too… in the most laugh-out-loud-funny way! And later, Paige Martin’s vibrating palms begin as a move all-their-own; but once paired with the echoing sound of the harp, it looks as though she is struggling to cage the sound between her two hands.

I am tickled by my ability to connect the dots and create meaning. We all are... everyone giggles with delight at the sight of two dancers sipping coffee in unison. We all love to feel like we “get it.” But we also love to be challenged. Several times throughout the show, a dancer brings a microphone stand on-stage, taps and blows into the mike, but says nothing. Hmmm…what does that mean? I question.

Similarly, a move may be repeated several times throughout the show, but in different contexts; the audience is prompted to question why they felt a certain way about it the first time, and differently the second. I watch Mina Nishimura introduce a head tapping solo far upstage left, behind the musicians, and partially obstructed by the light booms. She is clearly lit, so I am clearly drawn to watch her, and yet this is the first time I give my full attention to a dancer who is not dancing on the white marley, “pedestal” stage. Shortly after, Collin Stillwell does this same movement on stage, and I wonder: is it the status-quo to label movement on the marley as “dance,” and movement off the marley as “not dance?” Does placement determine what something is and isn’t?

The exquisiteness of Greenberg’s work is his ability to provoke such philosophical battles. Also noteworthy is his ability to give dimension: the simplicity of his movements, the repetition, the sparseness on stage alternated craftily with crowdedness…also the sparseness in the score alternated with lushness. There is time for movement, and time to digest. Repetition occurs, and we reflect once more; contemplate and re-contemplate. The openness of his dance score allows audience members time and space to think… feel… and ponder….. all while experiencing something truly beautiful! What a wonderful gift!

A cornucopia of beauty, in fact, besides the dancing, there’s a beautiful set to behold! Four black vases are lined up in a row: their stark silhouettes in contrast to the white marley floor. Also prominent are four white columns, arranged in a square, and a giant turquoise harp upstage. This scene harkens to Greco/Roman classical art…a Michelangelo painting perhaps.

The harp is obviously functional: also creating beauty for the ears to hear, thanks to the ingenious musings of harpist and composer Zeena Williams. In this city where time and space are hot commodities, I rejoice in the moments of inserted breathing time to bring notice to all elements…. even the musicians themselves. For example, there is a long instance where no dancers are on stage—just the musicians playing their instruments—and I am perfectly content watching them do their thang!

The openness of Greenberg’s dance score lends itself to be pondered, questioned… and personalized to tastes of the individuals watching it. My neighbor may see one way, and I another. Neil’s work doesn’t limit itself to one definition, and that’s part of the gift as well. Greenberg’s passion for artistic statement is strong… but even stronger is his passion for the audience. He makes his work accessible, choosing to include the public on his exploration of social norms, as opposed to alienating them with high-brow airs. How considerate and generous! (like a Vase) is really like a gift: an hour of pure, thought-provoking stage play, handed to the New York public like a delicately wrapped piece of ceramic art.

So little pilgrims, the thanks-giving season is upon us; and now is as good a time as any to remind ourselves the importance of thank you notes. You may not have liked those pajamas Aunt Millie gave you last year, but you will definitely like Neil Greenberg’s multicolored, psychedelic saggy-crotch tights!... and even more so, his work (like a vase). It is a masterfully crafted gem, certainly worthy of the pedestal he puts it on for all to enjoy. Please thank him by seeing this show!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Teresa Lynn
Performance: Dance by Neil Greenberg
Venue: Dance Theater Workshop, DTW
Show Date: November 9, 2010
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Dance Review: The Strong and the Beautiful, Cedar Lake at The Joyce

2010-11-13T05:20:00.000-05:00

Well, what's there not to say about Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet? A diverse repertory company of exquisite technical beasts would be dream and playground for any guest choreographer; or, so it seems, based on the three works on the bill (Sunday Again, Unit in Reaction, and Hubbub) for one of their evenings at the Joyce Theater.

The evening opens with Jo Stromgen's Sunday Again, a lighthearted, whimsical portrayal of a collection of lovers all dealing with the usual feuds and qualms of being in a relationship paralleled to back and forth quality experienced in a tennis match. Literally. Props used include a tennis net, raquet, and plastic shuttlecocks that randomly appear from underneath clothing. All this in place is a quaint and neat set-up for a perfectly boring piece. However, Stromgen infuses stark humor via unexpected male/female moments of roughness, lesbian eroticism, and other social behaviors such as spitting and gossiping amongst themselves. Overall, these nuances work well together in Strongen's choreography to keep the audience in tune and alert to fleeting moments of wit.

The dancers shift into a much darker and somber mode in the next piece, Unit in Reaction, choreographed by Jacopo Godani. In this adrenaline-driven suspenseful piece, the dancers seem to operate as if they are all apart of a machine, or better yet a group of lab rats under experimentation and our surveillance. The dancers create luscious lines and move intricately between each other in breathtaking duet and solo work. Godani's work digs beneath the surface and accentuates all that is juicy in this company and just uses technique as icing on the cake.

The evening closes with my favorite work, Alexander Ekman's Hubbub. Now although the concept of the piece has been done before (there is no such thing as a new idea) Ekman took it to a new level! This is one of those pieces where no amount of words can do it justice. You just have to see it for yourself. But here are a few personal highlights: the suspended typewriter, rhythmic breathing phrase, accumulation, and a perfectly cute duet performed by Nikemil Concepcion and Harumi Terayama in which we hear a recording of the dancers personal thoughts as they execute each step. Hubbub is one of those pieces that is difficult to walk away not just liking, but also, finding yourself talking about for the next few days!

You're probably wondering how I can critique Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and not highlight any dancers. Simple. They are all ridiculously good looking and beautiful artists. So here we go: Jubal Battisti, Jon Bond, Nickemil Concepcion, Gwynenn Taylor Jones, Jason Kittelberger, Ana Maria Lucaciu, Navarra Novy-Williams, Oscar Ramos, Matthew Rich, Acacia Schachite, Harumi Terayama, Vania Doutel Vaz, Manuel Vignoulle, Ebony Williams, and Golan Yosef... You Rock Fierce!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Simone Sobers
Performance: Cedar Lake Contemporary Dance Company
Choreography: Jo Stromgen, Jacopo Godani, Alexander Ekman
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Show Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
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Dance Review: Garth Fagan Dance at The Joyce

2010-11-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

Garth Fagan Dance celebrates its 40th Anniversary this week at the Joyce. The Rochester-based company, famous for its modern-meets-ballet-meets-Afro-Caribbean aesthetic, delivers a varied program through Sunday. It revives several company classics, premieres two new works, and introduces the choreography of company member Norwood Pennewell. There are some hits and misses in this ambitious line-up.

The evening opens, as it always does with this company, with Fagan's opus Prelude. The piece begins with Pennewell leaping onto the stage in complete silence and hanging still with one leg extended behind him in an almost balletic attitude. He balances for an amazingly long period of time, then, with a flurry of arms, a turn and a somersault, he finds himself casually balancing his leg aloft again. Thus begins our lesson on Garth Fagan's technique. The number is intended to introduce Fagan's unique style, and for anyone who's ever been in a dance class, it reads like... well,... like you're watching a dance class. Not the most exciting piece of theatre. For those who haven't been in a dance class, apparently it's fascinating, at least judging from the rambunctious applause at Prelude's conclusion. But to me, it is plodding and pedantic. I appreciate the technique of Pennewell and the others, but then I want them to let go of it. Dancers go to class to focus on technique, but when we go to see dance performed, we want to see dancers in whom technique is so ingrained that they are able to soar. Unfortunately, in Wednesday's program, I rarely saw that happen.

Prelude is followed by an sensual duet from the company classic Griot. This intricate, slowing-moving duet between the leggy, muscular Pennewell and the equally leggy and muscular Nicolette Depass is one of the highlights of the evening. As disappointed as I had been with the first piece, I couldn't take my eyes off of the dancers in this slow, inventive duet of shifting shapes set to a luscious soundtrack by Wynton Marsalis. Here, in the capable hands (and arms and legs and even chins) of two of Fagan's senior dancers, you see an intensity that overrides the pedantic of the first piece.

Pennewell's choreographic debut, Hylozoic, once again hits you over the head with the Fagan technique. But Pennewell has proved himself to be an excellent at jumps, and this piece gets off its feet-- literally-- in a more exciting manner than Prelude. Set against a backdrop of a single curtain, the dancers defy gravity as they twist, leap and twirl through the space. Nicolette Depasse shines once again on a stage full of lithe, athletic dancers.

After those two highlights and a brief intermission, the program once again descends into a very formal, repetitive exploration of the Garth Fagan technique. Thanks, Forty seeks to honor the company's anniversary, but it isn't until the fourth movement, entitled Fete-Joys, that you get to see the heart and soul of the company. When the three original dancers come out and dance without restraint, you begin to see how this might have been an explosive company twenty years ago.

Still, Garth Fagan is a must-see for any enthusiast of modern dance. Their historic ascent of the New York City dance ladder has become legendary and inspiring for dancers of all ages. The newest members of the company show great promise, while the older ones amaze us with their dedication to and mastery of Fagan technique. Each year they return to The Joyce Theater to make their indelible mark on the dance scene.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Molly Sorohan
Performance: Garth Fagan Dance
Choreographer: Garth Fagan, Norwood Pennewell
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York
Performance Date: November 10, 2010, 7:30 pm
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Dance Review: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet at The Joyce

2010-11-12T21:41:00.000-05:00

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, the ultra-sexy company formed by Wal-Mart heiress Nancy Laurie, burst onto the scene in 2003, garnering innumerable Dance Magazine covers and glowing reviews. On Wednesday night, I impatiently awaited the rise of the curtain on the company's second program of their fall season at The Joyce. The bill featured the company standard Sunday, Again by Norwegian choreographer Jo Stromgren, and the New York premiere of both Hofesh Shechter's The Fools and Didy Veldman's frame of view.

Sunday, Again, which premiered in Oslo in 2008, explores the combative nature of relationships using the slightly random metaphor of badminton. (Who among us doesn't relate to badminton?) However, quite a few of us can relate to dysfunctional relationships and the emotional life of each couple is earnestly expressed with fluent, graceful lines and breathtaking partnering. The opening duet between Jason Kittelberger and Acacia Schachte is particularly elegant. Likewise, Harumi Terayama's playful interlude with partner Jubal Battisti showcases her lightning feet and youthful vitality. But while themes of loneliness and ostracism weave in and out, the piece never really comes together. For all the exacting technique and effortless duets, one is left thinking, "But why should I care?"

The world of the second piece, Hofesh Shechter's The Fools, contrasts sharply with Stromgen's world of badminton and refined aggression. Shechter's darkly lit set creates a menacing atmosphere, and the opening sequence immediately catches your interest, with eight dancers, or Shadows, clothed in what appear to be black straitjackets, dancing wildly to a series of drumbeats. Then the Fools enter: seven characters in their underwear, hunched over, stepping deliberately in riveting slow motion. By part two, the Fools are fully dressed in clone-like office wear, and the choreography becomes more stilted and mechanical to reflect their inner life. Schechter's choreography retains a sense of the unexpected, with breakouts by the Shadows interwoven with the Fool's choreography, which, as the piece progresses, becomes more desperate and absurd. Soloist Manuel Vignoulle steals the show with his gut-wrenching, athletic solo.

In the third and final piece, Didy Veldman's frame of view, nine lithe, sinewy dancers glide between a series of three rather flimsy doors, designed by Miriam Buether. The doorways are meant both literally and figuratively as passageways to happiness and tragedy. Though enjoyable overall, the ballet leans towards the latter half of the term "artsy-fartsy," due mostly to Veldman's tendency to incorporate spoken word into the soundtrack, which in this case was distracting and annoying. Still, several vignettes resonated deeply: the lonely, sexy ballerina dancing a duet with a faceless figure through a rubber-paneled door, a slow-motion fight where Terayama's features and technique are used to maximum comic effect, and two lonely souls sharing a turtleneck in a lovely, pitiful duet. frame of view had the most personality of the evening and offered the most humor, insight and catharsis.

Does Cedar Lake live up to the hype? Not with this program, no. But they certainly proved to be a risk-taking company full of beautiful, powerful dancers. I am curious to see what their next steps will be.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Molly Sorohan
Performance: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Show Date: November 2, 2010
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Class Watch: Camille Brown, “Keep it Simple, Keep it Real and Give a Tendu Soul”

2010-11-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

A major concept that’s branded on your body after taking a Camille Brown master class is that you can get a lot out of the simplest steps by adding soul. Whether it’s injecting a little spirit into the rond de jambe that flirtatiously traces circles on the ground, the port de bras that resists each position, or the tendu that angrily pushes the floor away, Camille Brown will be a very satisfied teacher if she sees this from her students.

If height were measured in spirit, Ms. Brown would be 50 feet tall. Instead, this petite woman walks into a room commanding the presence of a giant with her sparkling eyes, her articulate phrasing (words and dance) and a proud, lifted heart chakras. Every time Camille speaks, fireworks seemingly burst out of the top of her head (for an image, just think of her awesome, colorful firework-like hair) because not only does she put passion into every little thing that she says to the class, but she also does this as a proud, strong dancer with energy bursting in different directions as she speaks. I already knew of her incredibly inspiring performances, but now I know that she inspires just as much as a teacher, which in turn will create the tradition of passing her teachings on and on and on.

A couple of years ago, Ronald Brown taught a master class series at Steps, and a philosophy that this master drills hard is "do the exercise correctly the first time and do it with soul". In a nutshell, he explains that you plain and simply don’t need to work as hard if you do it full out, correctly and with feeling immediately. Having danced under Mr. Brown in his company Evidence, it‘s clear that she has integrated Mr. Brown’s philosophies into her teachings and preaches them in her own style. I can't say that Ms. Brown has a short warm up (her warm-up is 1.5 hours of the 2 hour class), but she sure does keep things simple and emphasize that we should milk every movement with resistance and spirit.

Of course, to be able to rise to the level of adding artistry to the exercises, you have to know the phrase well. Don’t worry, Ms. Brown will be sure that everyone has the combination by thoroughly answering questions before dancing each exercise and emphasizing vocabulary by repeating not only each exercise many times, but also integrating several of her signature African and Limon style steps into several of the exercises! I’ll confess that my upper and lower back is very tender after this Camille Brown repetition ritual. This constant succession of steps helps the dancer get to the point of muscle memory so that the mind isn’t working on remembering the steps, but on adding the icing on the steps that makes them sparkle just like Camille Brown’s movement does.

It is really great to get to a point of effortlessness when studying with a “master” because this is the point when your body truly has begun to absorb the information (the vocabulary) and most importantly, the style. What we really want is for the teacher to transfer a bit of her spirit to us, and I truly believe this can only really happen if the student really understands the vocabulary so that he/she is open to accepting the gift of the teacher’s true artistry. This artistry is what made the teacher so great in the first place and, hence, rise to the place that they’ve risen. Isn’t this one of the main reasons us poor dancers dig deep in our pockets to pay the high master class rate? ($19 at Steps on Broadway!) The answer is, yes, and Camille Brown delivers 100%!

Her warm up begins with a heavy focus on port de bra and upper body contractions and undulations. Ms. Brown thoroughly warms up a dancers each and every vertebrae with her intense focus on torso. Once your torso is warm, elements of African and Limon start to creep in. At one point during the warm up, after having learned several dynamic warm up progressions (including ones that combine a hard hitting charleston and "the wop" with gentle contraction progressions), Camille splits the room in half and has us repeat different exercises back and forth. Not knowing which of the 8 bar combinations the following group would be asked to do next, everyone in class is forced to be alert to everything that is happening in the room. Camille is showing us here that being totally aware of the teacher and the other dancers in the room may be something that’s a bit foreign to a lot of dancers. It’s so easy to get caught in your own head by looking in the mirror at your body or thinking about something that happened before class that day, but Ms. Brown reiterates that you must be wholly present in class. As one half of the room is finishing up a phrase, Ms. Brown hints at what phrase she wants the other half of the classroom to do next by quickly doing the first step of the phrase 4 counts before we need to begin. Each time she demonstrates, the class' energy is rising. Her energy is so infectious as her eyes fill with fire with every word of advice, and her body shoots fire when she demonstrates. I cannot wait to see this fire onstage at The Joyce this week!

After the 1.5 hour warm up in the center, we move to the side of the room to do a few short progressions across the floor that are heavily rooted in African. Ms. Brown stops the class twice to pick on a young girl who obviously has potential, but is not giving the class her full focus. Ms. Brown sternly explains to the class that this student is doing the steps in the way that feel most comfortable on her body and not the way that is being taught. She reprimands her like a child saying, “You better start opening your ears because you can’t just go around doing the steps however you please.” This is the second time that this particular student has been singled out in class in a negative light, which highlights the fact that Ms. Brown will not stand someone walking away from her classroom with a misunderstood version of her teachings. This could have been a real life-changing moment for this singled out student! (I know that’s something I’d carry with me forever.)

Right before we exit class, Ms. Brown emphatically encourages everyone in class to join her Facebook page, get on her email list and most importantly, come to the show at The Joyce this coming week featuring her choreography along with Andrea Miller, Kate Weare, and Monica Bill Barnes. As everyone beat the ground in praise in time with her two drummers, I realize that Camille Brown’s drive to communicate with the world through dancing, teaching and choreography has built incredible momentum that is delivering her goods to a vast number of people. Most importantly, I see a genuineness of heart in her teachings and choreography, from which the people in her class and in her audience will reciprocate by readily absorbing her poignant messages with open arms.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Adrienne Jean Fisher
Masterclass Teacher: Camille Brown
Venue: Steps on Broadway
Class Date: August 6, 2010
www.iDANZ.com

A Note from the iDANZ staff: This piece got lost in the iDANZ internet abyss, and FINALLY has been discovered. Yay!!! iDANZ Staff truly apologizes for the delay in posting this wonderful piece and hopes it brings timeless inspiration and joy.

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Dance Review: Urban Roots Festival

2010-11-08T22:17:00.000-05:00

It's drizzling and I'm walking up to St. Mark's Church for the Urban Roots Festival where there is a healthy line outside of young urban hipsters, house heads, artists, poets, culture heads, and dancers at the ready to enter the space to score a coveted chair, bench, or at least a pillow on the floor like a pre-school game of musical chairs. With the house packed full, emcee NAIMA, of Climbing Poetree performs a hot poem that gets the crowd riled and ready to take in this evening's culture eclectic festival of young and enlightening artists.

For the opening piece, festival host, Kinetic Junglist Movement (KJM), performs a very intriguing work of movement invention enhanced by some creative costume designs as the dancers' human faces are masked and their bodies are covered from head to toe in shimmery insect-like bodysuits with thin finger extensions that appear like long needle-like appendages. Choreographed by Amy Secada, this piece details the metamorphosis of a Cicada, an insect known by it's clicking sounds and ability to molt, shedding it's shell. Combining yoga, capoeira, and some acrobatic movements, about 80% of this fifteen minute piece is done on the floor. No lazy dancers here, dancers roll, balance, and pause in deep squats, and at some points, burst up into the air in eclectic jumps with a sort of creepy yet ethereal undertone. So much demanding floor work, you would think the dancers have knees of steel! Although a bit lengthy and somewhat repetitive, the metamorphosis is absolutely captivating.

Purely a stand-out in the program is the multi-talented performer, Monstah Black, who really knows how to demand attention from an audience. He sings one of his songs, "Black Like Jesus," a fan favorite, fusing in his own very dynamic movement style as he covers the entire space solo with his quick turning leaps and soul slithering, black glama flair. One thing great about Monstah Black is that he truly is a seasoned, professional performer in that he has mastered the art of captivating an audience, knowing when to move fast and when to be still, when to scream and when to whisper. Bravo!

The pick-me-up of the evening goes to a performance by Princess Lockeroo and Akim Funk Buddha presenting an "Urban Opera" interpretation of the famous habanera from Carmen. Whacking, vogueing, and some locking and jazz dance fuse together to create a comical scene heightened by a dazzling chorus of "full-out" dancers.

Spinnin Ronin Martial Arts Dance Theater entertains with a comical story ballet complete with a menacing Samurai, flashy swords, and fight choreography worthy to be seen in the next Jet Li movie. In an awesome battle scene with the very tall Kei Yokoyama, watch out for their underdog, the petite heroine, Pai Wang, as she is a hot one with her Samurai sword in hand flowing through the very acrobatic fight choreography with fury and ease. Although lengthy for a one night multi-act filled festival, the performance successfully blends dance, martial arts, and choreographed fight moves with a delightful beginning, suspenseful climax, and an end. For a dance show, Spinnin Ronin, with its martial arts fused movement and exciting fight expertise, is a welcome addition to a mostly modern/jazz fusion dance festival.

Of course, we can't ignore the grand finale: the energetically uplifting and thoroughly entertaining Babacar M'Baye & Co. presenting a Sabar, (Senegalese dance and drumming style). Because of its innate spiritual nature, Babacar M'Baye's Sabar is a reminder to the audience of the folklore focus of the evening. A grand demonstration of skill and tradition, Babacar M'Baye proves to be a fantastic way to end an evening and of course, a great instigator to incite audience members to jump to their feet to dance the night away.

Overall the evening is very eclectic and full of various genres including an intergalactic geisha named Yozmit, who gradually strips on stage while singing to reveal levels of fake body parts... the private ones! There is no disclaimer or announcement to the audience so many are scrambling to cover the eyes of children. Also on the program is an inspiring poem and vocal performance from Micah Blacklight, a musical performance from Le Soul Afrique, and an Afro Brazilian dance performance from Ginga Da Bahia. However, in my search for the connection between the performance material and the festival's mission, to "breathe new life into ancient traditions" by showcasing artists who utilize the folkloric arts and fuse these forms with contemporary styles, the presentations come up short. There is folklore and there is fusion, but only some pieces accomplish the festival's mission. All in all, while I leave St. Mark's Church a bit unclear, the performances by these young performers possess promising skill and engaging entertainment. I am proud.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by JoiLynn
Contributing Editor: Candice Rox
Performance: KJM Presents... Urban Roots Project
Venue: St. Mark's Church, New York City
Show Date: October 3, 2010
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Dance Review: “Coup de Foudre,” Baker, Van Peebles, and DJ Spooky at the Guggenheim Museum

2010-11-08T09:39:00.000-05:00

Coupe de Foudre, a theatrical reinterpretation of surrealist film maker Jean Cocteau's 1930 film "Blood of a Poet," gives a sudden intense feeling of love as the French title suggests as well as many other emotions as the audience remained in awe of this artistic collaboration of three generations of African American artists at the Guggenheim Museum. Corey Baker, Co-Artistic director of Ballet Noir and performer in Fela! on Broadway, performed as a dancer/actor physically interpreting the onscreen performance of characters in the film blending the present and past of art interpretation. Paul Miller, a.k.a DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, accompanied by Telos Ensemble, rescores the music creating an eerie, haunting, mystical mood to the stage, and Melvin Van Peebles filmmaker/director of “Sweetback” in the 1960's gives a dynamic performance adding dialogue as he interprets the French poetry of the film. It completely appeals to all the senses and takes the audience literally into a whirlwind of a theatrical experience.

The most exhilarating moments occur when Corey appears in the audience on the stairs one moment, as a shadow on screen the next, or a character crawling in space. Melvin's voice gives explanation to the black and white silent film as DJ Spooky takes the audience on a musical journey through time from the days of Josephine Baker to the new sounds of the twenty first century.

"I walk through my blindness the way I saunter down streets in Paris: unfiltered and alive: enchanted and enjoyed by the raw material of the senses. I am a blind flaneur. Come along with me. Just don't try to take my arm, unless I ask," Melvin recites as the film plays and Corey appears at the beginning of the show. The theater is a white sphere with intense lighting design by Scott Bolman focusing on the statuesque, brown muscular body of dancer Corey Baker in contrast to the white statue on film. There is a two-sided mirror, a wooden chair placed in front, a door with the number 17 stage left, and a black wall stage right. A story line begins with a young man, a poet, attempting to draw a series of faces. Suddenly, the mouth of one of these faces rubs off in his hand and starts smiling. Terrified, the poet accidently smears off the mouth of the statue he was working on previously. The statue comes to life and, in return, forcefully sends the young man through the mirror to another imaginary location at a mysterious hotel.

Corey Baker, as the poet, does a series of hand gestures looking into his hand, drawing on the mirror, running to the wall in sync with the actor on screen. A spinning head on the screen symbolizes unconsciousness and the entering of a dream world. Corey floats across the screen in a black silhouette as he falls out of reality. With gorgeous technique, he performs slow controlled spiraling turns, hinges, attitude turns and extensions with beautifully sculpted balletic arms, as if swimming, and climbing up a wall. He becomes each of the characters the poet encounters in a strange hotel: a little boy, a man in a painting, children in a scene throwing snowballs.

Melvin recites lessons of love, speaks of inner silence, deliverance, infinite precaution, and of nothing being premeditated in life. There are references to Homer and other Greek myths as each scene becomes more intense. The audience is stunned as a young boy is beat until he bleeds and the poet shoots himself in the head. Corey slips in an out of each character with ease with moments of still statuesque movement, then spinning, falling, running to a door, jumping off the stage into the audience in a state of despair and disillusion. At the climax of the film the poet commits suicide twice! The final time, after sitting in front of the woman he loves apprehensively with his heart beating out his chest, the gun appears, and, almost like a moment in animation, blood leaks from his temple; and there, stamped at his temple, is the Star of David.

This scene in the 1930’s would have been overdramatic or bizarre but with this theatrical version performed with Corey, Melvin, and DJ Spooky, Jean Cocteau’s film has much more depth. The poet dies and his lover becomes stone like the statue. A black angel comes to the scene reminiscent of the biblical angel Gabriel. In the audience, coming from a staircase is Corey descending from Heaven as the angel. The perfect lighting and ethereal sounds of DJ Spooky and the violinist set the mood for this theatrical ending.

In Jean Cocteau’s film, there are people walking through mirrors where they encounter the deepest psychological aspects of themselves. There are people walking upside down reciting poetry while they are painted into a canvas. The paintings come to life and the sculptures speak. Poetry becomes a film scene and a character's dialogue. In Blood of a Poet, one of the central themes is that inanimate objects possess mortal properties, and subsequently perform a play within a play, a film within a film.

In the post-performance conversation with the creators, we learn that Cocteau's compelling work also inspired the great Russian ballet-master, Sergei Diaghilev, to produce “Parade” with Pablo Picasso as designer. According to Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky, Jean Cocteau has a fascination with the relationship between technology and theatricality which is what DJ Spooky explains as his inspiration for rescoring Blood of a Poet. Corey explains his approach to creating the choreography for this work as done more from an actor's perspective and less about choreographing beautiful dance. According to Corey, he reworks certain elements of the piece following the musical changes while paying close attention on being true to the character. He masterfully incorporates all elements of his dance background (modern, ballet, African, and hip hop) which gives the work a beautiful, honest feeling. Melvin describes the language of the 1930’s and the poetry in Jean Cocteau’s film. Translating French to English words wasn’t enough to get the audience to understand, it requires him also translating the slang or flapper language of that time as he calls it.

All in all, this is a stellar performance, and there are even talks of “Coup de Foudre” touring the nation. As we progress in technology and continue to mix art with the theatrical world, we will see other collaborations such as this one which will greatly be appreciated by those seeking entertainment that provokes strong emotions and sparks the intellect.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Carmen Carriker
Performance: "Coupe de Foudre" with D.J. Spooky and Ballet Noir
Venue: Guggenheim Museum
Show Date: October 10, 2010
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Dance Review: Ballet Preljocaj's "Empty Moves" at BAM

2010-11-01T11:25:00.000-04:00

“Why?” This is the continuous thought running through my head while watching Ballet Preljocaj perform Angelin Preljocaj’s Empty Moves (parts I & II) at BAM. The piece, choreographed to John Cage’s 1977 speech Empty Words, which was recorded in Milan before a vocal and rambunctious crowd, sets a standard for contemporary choreographers. Like abstract artwork, the 63-minute piece of arbitrary movement and Cage’s syllabic, unrecognizable pronunciation of words presents an enigma for the audience to decode.

The costumes, reminiscent of a disco roller rink party, expose the dancers’ liquid lines and dynamic quality of movement. However, I ask, “Why this choice of retro neon color shirts and shorts that would have been worn by Punky Brewster?”

The dancers effortlessly transfer from position to position, but reveal no emotion; their faces remain frozen. At one moment, the two girls toboggan over a man towards the audience and smile. Again, I ask, “Why? Why is that the only moment of expression?”

Randomly, the two men repeatedly stand on their heads, the women push their elbows in the men’s eyes and mouths, and in one moment the couples reach into their partners mouths. I wonder, “Why, what is Preljocaj’s intention?”

As I continue to watch Empty Moves, the answer to my question is that Preljocaj just feels like it, and, in the moment, the arbitrary step appears to be the perfect piece to fit the puzzle. Half way through the piece a dancer leaves the stage to get a drink of water and brings the Poland Spring bottle to other dancers on stage. At that moment, the dancers are thirsty and drinking water is a necessary part of the choreography. Like the simple black dress hanging in the closest, sometimes the least complicated and least contrived things are the most beautiful.

For a dancer, the process of learning and performing a piece with such arbitration presents a huge challenge. As a dancer you rely on the music to rescue you from the “oh crap” moments that occur when the choreography slips away from the body; however, the four dancers Favrizio Clemente, Gaelle Chappaz, Julien Thibault, and Yurie Tsugawa, impress with their flawless performance. They dance with a connective energy that mesmerizes the eyes for the entire 63 minutes. Even though subdued and unremarkable, the choreography perplexes the conception of entertainment and disproves the idea that the flashy choreography seen on So You Think You Can Dance is the future of performance art.

In a poignant moment, the four dancers interlock themselves lying in a straight line across the stage. Who knew that something as simple as this would be as impressive as the Texas Rangers beating the Yankees to play in the World Series?

Anglein Preljocaj and his company are the epitome of innovation and hopefully will inspire more artists to trust their instincts and escape conformity like Preljocaj has done in Empty Moves (parts I & II).

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Katherine Gibson
Performance: Ballet Preljocaj
Venue: BAM, Brooklyn, NY
Show Date: Friday, October 29, 2010
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Dance Review: Ralph Lemon at BAM

2010-10-25T13:40:00.000-04:00

After a six year hiatus, Ralph Lemon and his dancers return to the stage Wednesday night in Brooklyn's own BAM Harvey Theater. The theater is packed and guests buzz words of praise about their expectations for this performance. Some, knowing of Lemon's longer shows, ask about length expectations as well. As I sit, I too am worried of becoming restless, but the performance, although a bit long, is loaded with information and provocative images which inspire intellectual thoughts and dialogue about life and the hereafter.

The show begins with Lemon himself reading a memoir of his experiences during the creation of this project entitled “ How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?”.

Mr. Lemon normally keeps his private life hidden but this time he openly talks about his artistic relationship with Walter Calter, a former sharecropper born in 1908 who he meets in the Mississippi Delta while researching his 2004 work. He also talks about mourning the death of his companion dancer, Asako Takami. Mr. Lemon sees “House” as a four part project (I.Sunshine Room, II. Wall/Hole., III. No Room, IV. Meditation) inspired by his experiences and by Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 science fiction film “Solaris,” with its underlying theme of death. In the film clips, a psychologist ends up on a spaceship with his wife, who commits suicide.

During the film Mr. Lemon narrates as we also watch clips of Mr. Calter in a bunny suit in Mississippi encountering violence reminiscent of the racial tension of the 1960’s. These images are also inspired by Hare and Rabbit tales published in The Gift by Lewis Hyde where Sakka, the ruler of the heaven of sensual pleasure tests the hare by disguising himself. At the end of the film we see video clips of dancers onstage doing improv. The movements and music are inspired by the free spirit, drug, sex, and rock and roll days of the 70’s. A particular clip of his earlier work shows a dancer continuing to dance on stage after being hosed down with water. This made a strong statement about the perseverance of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement.

Six dancers come out and the familiar movements seen on screen are repeated live. There is a moving moment where the stage is bare except for the sound of a dancer sobbing off stage. Though strong, this is a bit disturbing and some people feel it is too much to endure and leave, but the majority who stay experience a performance that completely takes us inside the mind and heart of Ralph Lemon. I commend the dancers for their tirelessness and amazing commitment to movement that is very physical requiring them to spin, fall, and run for a long span of time nonstop!

At the closing of the final section, Lemon returns to the stage in the bunny suit amongst a screen of animals that appear one by one. This moment symbolizes the place we have in this world, the relationship we have with all of mankind, and our search to understand the unknown.

This project is a work-in-progress and will continue with part IV Meditation, an installation on view at the The Kitchen this month.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Carmen Carriker
Performance: Ralph Lemon, "How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?"
Venue: BAM Harvey Theater, Brooklyn, New York
Show Date: October 13, 2010
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Dance Review: Swift Solos at DTW, olive Dance Theatre

2010-10-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

As I walk in New York City's DTW to see olive Dance Theatre's Ken Swift Solos, I'm handed fortune cookies and wonder why, but, as I open one, I see the fortunes say, "Why do you break?" and "What inspires you?" ...Hmmmm.

The show opens with video footage of hip hop dance dignitary Ken Swift, of course, and each dancer is posed on a wooden panel, which the dancers manipulate throughout the show, creating interesting and clever scenery and scenarios. What an excellent usage of props, as I almost forget that the only thing on the stage is the dancers and the panels...

The show progresses into the dancers explaining to the audience how it felt when they first saw Ken Swift dance. At this time, a very interesting part of the show emerges as the dancers view footage of Swift along with the audience, and then stop the tape to execute signature moves or steps that Swift originated. There are very informative parts of the show that I appreciated as it isn't a show that "pimps" the art of break dancing as most mainstream and many other shows do. It's way more than that... It's an exceptional, comprehensive work that isn't necessarily about the obvious tricks that anyone can identify, but about the art of break dancing and its many components.

At one point, it is stated "to be a good b-boy or b-girl, you gotta have footwork." I want to yell out "THANK YOU!" because there are so many intricacies and nuances to break that so often, unfortunately, these skills get overlooked for power moves. The dancers swivel, roll, dove, spun, and sort of tease the audience because they obviously are powerhouses. Their individual personalities and passions are also interwoven into the show as they explain to the audience what inspires them to break.

Ken Swift Solos represents not only a show honoring a legend but, one that informs about and honors an art form.

Photography by Yi-Chun Wu

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by JoiLynn
Performance: olive Dance Theatre
Venue: Hip Hop Theater Festival @Dance Theatre Workshop
Show Date: Saturday, October 2, 2010
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Dance Review: Keigwin and Juilliard Dancers Take City Center in Fall for Dance

2010-10-18T15:14:00.000-04:00

In my personal experience when people hear that anyone is a dancer they often say, "You must tear it up at the club." Sometimes this yields an awkward laugh because professional dance is sooo serious. Select members of Keigwin and Company with Juilliard Dance could easily answer "yes" at Fall For Dance at City Center. Their work Megalopolis was shown during NY's Fashion Night Out and could easily make any high fashion model jealous of their struts. It proves that professional dance can be beyond fun and sexy while maintaining all technical components. Dancers donning unitards that would make Lady Gaga jealous grace the stage in stunning spatial patterns to a score by Steve Reigh and M.I.A. The duality of classical music mixed with club beats provides a proverbial playground for dance that is seductive, athletic, sensual - and nothing these dancers can't handle! One movement that plays out over and over again is a parallel chug across the floor with arms so buoyant they look like slinkies. The dancers master the piece with strength and subtlety. This hammers their ability to be far more than a one-trick pony. The fluidity continues as the dancers circle their forearms overhead like Gwen Stefani in her Wind It Up video. Back-up dancers can be heard crying around the world!

Brother and sister team, Angel and Carmen Corella, change the tempo with their Flamenco inspired ballet duet. They stun the audience with a precise and compelling exploration of ballet. Joyous sibling rivalry plays a huge role in this performance, and its tough to tell who would be the winner if the audience is keeping score! Between Angel's stunning fouette turns and Carmen's untouchable grace that extends through her fingertips, their parents are undoubtedly still beaming. From a club atmosphere to an "impulsive wedding dance-off," they ignite the audience's excitement immediately. The audience cheers and roars with laughter as Angel completes a round of tour jetes complete with a shit eating grin.

Bringing an understated and spectacular dénouement to the uproarious audience is British choreographer Russell Maliphant. His US premiere of Afterlight Part 1 begins with legato turns in a pool of light. Movement this slow demands highly specific artistry, and Maliphant wields his in abundance. After two minutes of progressively quicker and quicker turns, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. As he removes his skully, Maliphant moves beyond that small pool of light almost appearing to float. The effortless and seemingly uncountable turns on both his knees, feet and hands brings immense pride to the term whirling dervish. Sometimes dance has the ability to shed light on the miracle that bodies can be, and Maliphant lives this miracle. Catch him as soon as you can to witness his phenomena firsthand!

Fall for Dance provides affordable entrance to prestigious works that run the dance gamut - and well! Do yourself a favor and don't miss it!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Eileen Elizabeth
Performance: Fall for Dance
Company: Keigwin and Company with Juilliard Dance
Venue: City Center
Show Date: October 6, 2010
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Dance Review: Swan Lake Soars To New Heights, Matthew Bourne

2010-10-18T13:03:00.000-04:00

In a triumphant return to the New York stage and Broadway, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is a feast for the senses that sends you into the sky!

Mr. Bourne has introduced the great tale of Swan Lake in an innovative, inspiring, and entertaining new way. No longer the stuffy and reserved version, Bourne's production is refreshingly hilarious. With tongue and cheek jabs at classical ballet, it feels strangely okay. You almost feel as if you are watching a great John Waters film (Hairspray, Cry Baby, or Serial Mom). Excellently balanced with his comedic side, Bourne's choreography for Swan Lake is a brilliantly creative, demanding piece of work, a wicked challenge every dancer on that stage grab holds with committed fervor. The dancers are extremely talented and strong, and don’t lack in technique in the least bit. They are completely comfortable and capable in all the roles, which makes the tongue and cheek aspect so believable.

The lead characters, Dominic North (The Prince) and Richard Winsor (The Swan/ Stranger), are mind-blowing. With their beautiful and fluid technique, these men give a commanding performance and convincing display in the portrayal of their characters. They would definitely get my Oscar for best actor of the year. Equally amazing in their roles are Madelaine Brennan (The Girlfriend), completely hysterical, she would be a perfect match for Nathan Lane in a New Broadway Show, and Nina Goldman (The Queen) who is regal and beautiful! However, once the Swan’s make their appearance, all bets are off and sign-me up to join the flock!!!! The Swans are all amazing and believable. They lift the roof off of City Center, with the flapping of their wings, and soar right out of the theater!

This production is equally visually stunning; with costumes and set by Lez Brotherston, you immediately fill as if you have just walked into Dylan’s Candy Bar and can’t wait to dive in and try all the flavors. An utter feast for the eyes, I am already hard at work trying to sample every morsel watching the ballet unfold. Of course the score by Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky is beautiful and does not disappoint. It compliments Bourne's version surprisingly perfect, like a great bottle of wine at your favorite Italian restaurant. You very quickly forget you are listening to one of classical music’s most beloved ballets and it sounds so current!

Overall, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is a complete revelation. It is a great introduction to the dance world for anyone who would like to take a peak. Absolutely better than a movie on a Friday night, head over to City Center and see live performance, dance, and theater at a level that is simply brilliant.

Photography by Bill Cooper

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Devin Pullins
Performance: Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake
Venue: City Center, New York City
Show Date: October 15, 2010, 8pm
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Dance Review: Energetic Youth and Mature Finesse Mastered, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater

2010-10-17T12:15:00.000-04:00

Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater shows off their amazing ability with youthful and athletic energy, grace and maturity rarely seen. With a diverse program mixing the youth with dance greats like Sarah Stackhouse (Jose Limon Dance Company), what a triumph!

Opening the program, No, No…Yes, Yes… (New York Premier), this piece is a feast for the senses. Energetically athletic and disturbingly perfect, this dance shows off their masterful technique and ability. They enter and exit the stage as if they are “The Secretariat” attempting to achieve the Triple Crown. Well, I would have to say, break out the history books and take note... It's a success!

In A Pebble In The Field, a commentary piece about the senselessness of war with music by Simon & Garfunkel and Jimi Hendrix, Jose Limon Dance Company member and Purchase alumni, Kathryn Alter, is simply delicious. Showing off her ability to convey a story, I’m ready for popcorn, a soda, and skip the previews, on to the main feature. Watching here, I am embraced in a nice warm blanket! Boy, do I like this feeling. I am totally engrossed in this epic performance.

Next on the bill, is Chrysanthemum And The Sword. A a rollercoaster of excitement, this piece explores Japanese actor, playwright, and poet, Yukio Mishima, who is most remembered for his ritual suicide after taking over Tokyo's military headquarters in order to restore his nation's prewar imperial glory. With an equally exciting score by Philip Glass, this is a true revelation. Intense, heart wrenching, EMOTIONAL, a runaway train of beauty and precision... I want more! Dressed in beautiful costumes by Elena Comendador, the dancers are fine-tuned, like a baby grand piano, all in perfect pitch. Leading this performance is Daniel Madoff (courtesy of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company) who performs like a meticulous craftsman wielding a Samurai sword with impeccable musicality. Bravo!

Saving the best for last, a real dance legend takes the stage. In Haiku, Sarah Stackhouse (Jose Limon Dance Company) is an absolute vision. Her mature, tender, and gentle approach is what all dancers should strive to achieve. Like watching clouds on a perfectly warm summer day lying on a beach with a warm ocean breeze gently engulfing you, her performance quality makes you forget all worries of the world. ...Oh why can’t all days be this beautiful?

Overall, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater shows off their maturity and precision with welcomed detail and seasoned grace. I leave this performance as if I have just seen the most amazing movie of all time. With mature and youthful characters in all the leading roles, KHDT most definitely sweeps my Academy Awards!!!!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Devin Pullins
Performance: Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater
Venue: Ailey Citigroup Theater, NYC
Show Date: October 10, 2010, 3pm
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Dance Review: First Annual PCDC Festival hits MMAC

2010-10-13T10:39:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it takes years to build community - especially if you're a newbie. Perceptions Contemporary Dance Company built one in just a year in NY - culminating with the 1st Annual PCDC Festival at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center on September 18th. Ten emerging and established choreographers show works new and old to a lively audience. Pieces run the gamut from clean and crystallized to murky and overly melancholy. All pieces possess promise, but standouts emerge with ease.

Jeremy McQueen shines in a pas de duex he dances and choreographs alongside lush Alexis Covento. Offering a loose interpretation of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, they demonstrate the binds love often brings by intertwining their wrists in thick rope. These binds cannot conceal their artistry as the two move with extreme fluidity throughout the piece. A warm spotlight illuminates their body of work - extremities that can make anyone jealous. Their ability to create substantial, heavy movement - running parallel to the emotional content of the piece - followed by light, airy accents acknowledges McQueen's lens as an artist and skills as a performer. In Covento, he chooses a true counterpart. She embodies the vulnerability of a true Juliet while also showing the strength of someone in deep desperation. Watch out for McQueen - you won't be sorry!

Perhaps paying homage to their own post college beginning's, PCDC selects LeeRoc Dance Project - in good taste! The collective work of recent UMass Amherst graduates, Andria LaRocco and Beth Liebowizt, reflects a mature choreographic voice in "De ja vu (I Think I've Been Here Before)." Dancers are joined by live piano accompaniment that proves their true partnership with both music and movement. As the largest piece in the festival, LeeRoc pushes the envelope with layered phrasing, remarkable synchronicity and astute action. Between the music and mesmerizing movement, LeeRoc brings the audience into their world with fierce fluidity. LeeRoc shows that a college dance degree is a piece of paper worth having!

PCDC ends the festival and deservedly so. Their newest take on "Ancient Bruises" features Artistic Director, Melissa Gendreau, as lead soloist. Her athleticism is nuanced with soft hands and ethereal phrasing. On top of organizing the entire festival, she organizes her entire body in a way that brings awe to the audience. The specificity of her movement speaks to the specificity she has as a director, choreographer and true movement artist. PCDC dancers also travel the delicate line of athleticism vs. nuance - making sure to land in the middle. Haunting music provides a soundscape worthy of the movement I mull over in my head for days. Musical selections include "Sea Lion Woman" - Christine & Katherine Shipp, "She Began to Lie" - Greg Hale Jones, and "Field Below" - Regina Spektor.

Other performers include Anahata Dance Company, JKDance - Jaclyn K Walsh, Jennifer Buzzotta & Nicole Sao Pedro, Lauren Withharte, LeeRoc Dance Project, Sarah Sadie Newett, Trio Dance Collective and Vanessa Rea. Gendreau states, "The first Perceptions Dance Festival was a huge success, and we owe it to the amazing participants, volunteers, and supporters. I am thrilled to have been able to provide this opportunity to artists around the country, similar to those opportunities that helped my artistic growth. I hope to continue this tradition for years to come, and with the support of the community the Perceptions Dance Festival can grow to become a staple to artists around the country and beyond." Sounds like a done deal to me! Stay on the lookout out for PCDC performances - you won't want to miss them!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Eileen Elizabeth
Performance: 1st Annual PCDC Dance Festival
Compay: PCDC and Guests
Venue: Manhattan Movement and Arts Center
Show Date: September 18, 2010
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Dance Review: Eva Dean's UBA Bounce at Dixon Place

2010-08-19T14:39:00.000-04:00

For years artists have bravely performed with the ballistics of balls and have awed audiences. Jugglers, rhythmic gymnasts, and street performers entertain with the suspense of dropping the ball. Welcome UBA bounce to this group of performers! UBA Bounce’s performance, however, is like watching the 3D movie version of the other performances- more eye popping color, speedy unexpected acrobatic feats and of course, chaotic challenges of controlling unpredictable balls. UBA bounce dancers interact with the balls as if they are fellow dancers. Each ball is personified and possesses its own quality and quirks. Yes, Eva Dean’s UBA Bounce is an innovative and ingenious idea- she is absolutely breaking boundaries with balls.

Appropriate for the lazy, sweaty days of summer, the balls do not bounce during the performance, but rather roll and relax like they are vacationing in the Hamptons away from the bustling bounce of the city. A variety of balls appear amongst five dancers in ten works choreographed by Eva Dean and you question who controls the movement: the ball or the dancer?

Of my favorite pieces, Pearl showcases the sophisticated skill of Dean’s choreography. Dean and Zoe Schieber dance with two other pearl balls that adopt the persona of Charlotte’s “Sex and the City” Park Ave personality. The fluidity and harmonized movement created the allusion of synchronized swimming.

Continuing with the water theme, Bounce Surfing channels the audience to an aquarium in three parts. In “Wave,” George Hirsh and his counterpart, a blue buoyant ball, bring the audience into waves with watery, continuous flux. While in “Dolphin” the ensemble cast mimics the playful, fluent movement of dolphins. Like the spectacular at Sea World, dancers flip and balance balls with the agility and grace of dolphins that are always awarded with a huge splash of applause. The final section, “Surfing,” brought me immediately to the tobogganing penguin exhibit. The slippery silver balls propel the dancers across the stage and back demonstrating the dancers’ teamwork throughout a piece of slipping and sliding fun.

In Bounce 09, UBA acts as the main character of the work as a big, bright orange ball. A kaleidoscope meteor shower of color from supporting actor balls bring the dancers into a Wonka Land experience where bubbles and carefree play transform the stage into a playground.

The final piece, Samba Poi, utilizes twirling, psychedelic neon light poi balls that immediately transport the audience into the Latin flavor nightlife of Miami Beach. The sexy samba dance along with the glowing lights is like watching a tropical festivity along the palm tree lined Ocean Drive.

Throughout the performance I marvel at the dancer’s strength, control, and especially their balance. Ms. Shieber seems to never touch the ground, constantly balancing and walking on the ball like a tight ropewalker. The dancers’ work with the ball is like a full fitness regime in itself! If anyone has exercised using a physio ball, you know it is a killer ab workout!! The abs of the UBA Dancers definitely give Jessica Biel’s Hollywood washboard abs some serious competition.

Join UBA Bounce in a spectacular show where dancers and balls impress and excite your expectations and imaginations.

UBA Bounce continues to perform at Dixon Place on:
THUR 19 @ 7:30 pm
THUR 26 @ 2:00 pm
FRI 27 @ 5:30 pm
SAT 28 @ NOON

Photography by Yi-Chun Wu

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Katie Gibson
Performance: Eva Dean's UBA Bounce
Choreographer: Eva Dean
Venue: Dixon Place
Show Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010

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Dance Review: Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes at The Joyce Theater

2010-08-12T07:39:00.000-04:00

I will be keeping an eye on two refreshing new choreographers debuting at The Joyce this week.

From August 9th through the 14th, Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes share a marquee with Camille A. Brown and Andrea Miller. The latter two are both mentioned in Dance Magazine's "25 To Watch" list, and while I love watching both sets of choreographers gain ground, I only have tickets to see Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes. Nothing thrills me quite so much as witnessing fantastic talent emerge, and the two companies could not have been better matched.

Kate Weare Company premieres Bright Land, a series of dances set to the live music of San Francisco-based folk band The Crooked Jades. Seeing live musicians on stage as the curtain rose is enough to make me cheer, but, given that I am at The Joyce and (supposedly) am sophisticated, I restrain myself. (If there had been a gut bucket, things might have turned out differently.) The dancers enter after the first number, dancing in silence for the first few minutes, punching elaborate rhythms with their breath and their bodies. Weare's artistry is genius in its simplicity: the dancers create, and are ultimately swept up in, the cultural "rhythms" of life that folk music encompasses. Throughout the piece, layers are literally stripped away as her talented ensemble tackle judgment, envy, love and death. Kudos to dancers Adrian Clark and Douglas Gillespie for what surely is the most bruise-inducing series of choreographed push-ups ever crafted. The overall effect is amazing. Regardless of your appetite for folk music, however, you can't help but think, "Kate Weare is one fierce choreographer."

Smart, witty Monica Bill Barnes, on the other hand, engages her audience on an entirely different level. No one goes to a dance concert for the comedy. But I haven't laughed this much at a dance performance since I watched Tandi Dupree drop from the ceiling into a split on You Tube. (Google it, people.) But while Miss Dupree induces shock mixed with hilarity, MBB's dancers mix awkwardness with a painstaking desire to please. Four skinny white girls walk onto the stage in frumpy turtlenecks and woolen school girl skirts and dance to James Brown. Obviously, this is a prescription for comedy. They know that you, the audience, are watching. In fact, they're trying desperately to entertain you. In this recently reworked piece, Another Parade, Barnes lampoons the relationship between the audience and the performer. The girls shimmy and shake, mugging and bopping through Bach and Bacharach alike. At times dark, at times heartbreaking, and at all times unexpected, Another Parade is a smart, inventive evening of dance.

Check out Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes this week at The Joyce Theater. These two companies are not to be missed!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Molly Sorohan
Show: Kate Weare Company and Monica Bill Barnes
Venue: The Joyce Theater
Show Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2010
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Dance Review: Pilobolus Perfect at The Joyce Theater

2010-07-26T11:46:00.000-04:00

Pilobolus has absolutely perfected performance art! After thirty-nine years, Pilobolus still brings innovation that challenges their artists and thrills audiences, which I got to experience first hand this past Monday evening at The Joyce Theater in New York City. This evening, Pilobolus adds to their superior athletic and dynamic reputation by flaunting their fluidity and grace on top of their ability to tell a story.

The opening piece, Lantera Magica, takes the audience to a fantasyland of enchanted creatures. Appealing to the family audience, fireflies drift your imagination into a mythical land. The colorful costumes and brilliant lighting perfectly complement the graceful dancers, which moves the audience into a tale of fairy like creatures and discovery.

Pseudopodia, a male solo choreographed to pounding drums, diverts the focus away from the show's theatrics and toward some gravity-defying technique! This is an amazingly dynamic juxtaposition of music and movement. The hard, pounding drum is paired with the fluid, flame-like movement of Jun Kuribayashi. His gasp-inducing solo begins as Jun Kuribayashi somersaults on stage like a fireball, his body rolling like a continuous flame. Not once does the audience hear his body touch the stage. He flows with effortlessness, while commanding the stage with complete control. Bravo!

The first act ends with the much anticipated Contradance, a new work that's a collaboration with Grammy winner Dan Zanes. Contradance continues with the family and story telling theme of the evening by showcasing the ensemble's subtle strengths and talents to portray sweet characters, who convey a moral story. (Yes, dancers, you better act!) Even though this piece isn't a momentous, gravity defying piece that is often associated with Pilobolus’s reputation, I appreciate the softness and sweetness of the characters and the company’s embrace of magical stories that really appeal to a younger audience.

The evening is arranged much like a double feature at the movies. The first act is a G rated movie for families while the second more is a sophisticated highlight of the extreme strength and power of the company. Upon entering the stage in the fourth number, Gnomen, four intertwined men roll onto stage, demonstrating a huge feat of weight and balance. The men showcase extreme endurance, but execute it with much sensitivity. Arial lifts and arm balances make the audience gasp in awe, but more impressive is the emotional execution of the movement. Choreographed by Artistic Directors Robby Barnett and Jonathan Wolken as a dedication to fellow dancer James Blanc, I also sense that the dancers pay tribute to Wolken, who passed in the spring. The somber and inward mood of the piece creates a division between the performers and audience. As a viewer, you observe the pain of loss and devotion to relationships, but also admire the beauty of graceful physicality and emotional strength.

Megawatt, the finale performance, demonstrates strength and physicality, but in the most raw and abandoned manner. It is truly an underground piece choreographed to the music of Primus, Radiohead and Squarepusher. The dancers enter head first in upside-down army crawls (like my new dance term?), which sets the tone of organized chaos. Creating a full spectacle for the senses, Wolken's killer choreography directly mimics the music. The audience sees, hears, and feels melody and tempo through a non-stop exhilarating display of high energy and seemingly impossible tricks. Although constantly impressed by the insane acrobatic stunts of all the members, I am most thrilled by Eriko Jimbo. One of the smaller members, she moves with fearless abandon and well matches the physicality of the "Lebron James size" men. Work Eriko! Megawatt leaves the audience rocking out in there seats.

Pilobolus is performing at The Joyce Theater until August 7th and provides a show that will entertain all ages and artistic preferences. Go see it!

Photography by Sara D. Davis

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Katherine Gibson
Performance: Pilobolus
Venue: The Joyce Theater, NYC
Show Date: July 19, 2010
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Dance Review: DecadanceTheater Takes Hip Hop Dance Soaring to Heights as High as the Empire State Building

2010-07-20T12:12:00.000-04:00

Waking into Joyce SoHo for the performance of Deacadance Theater, I am immediately massaged by the sounds of Hip-Hop beats. Creating the vibe on the ones and twos is DJ Henry C, spinning the joints that hype everyone to get crunk. Finally the house lights dim and the crowd erupts into thunderous applause, and we are ready.

The first piece on the bill, choreographed by Jennifer Weber, The Cage (inspired by Jerome Robbins), takes hip hop dance soaring to heights as high as the Empire State building! Brilliantly danced by the ladies of Decadance crew (Ann-Sylvia Clark, Lucile Graciano, Nadia Lumley, & Taeko Koli), these X chromosomes take complete control of the stage like a well-oiled machine. Their movements are fluid and smooth, a hot knife through butter, and I am ready to be SLICED! I watch with awe in suspense as they move from slow to fast with ease like waiting for a YouTube video to buffer and load. Once they get going... oh how satisfying it is! These b-girls are highly athletic and strong, flipping through the air and spinning on their heads as if they are Olympic gymnasts. I score them a 10!

The next piece, The City Breathing, also choreographed by Weber, is an imaginative triumph. The dancers are on stage dancing in jogging suits, the lights go out, and then, out of nowhere, their costumes light up! Immediately, at first I think,... hmmm... "Walt Disney World's Main Street Electrical Parade." However, delightfully it turns out to be a piece I only WISH they'd march through Walt Disney World! They seem to disappear and reappear out of nowhere, floating through space. These dancers are amazing doing steps you would only see men doing and at a speed that would make anyone shout, "WORK!" Overall, another perfect score 10.

The next and final piece on the bill is a total slam-dunk: the world premier, When The Sky Breaks. For Weber, this is the most ingenious and ambitious piece on the bill that even I would want to get up and join. All I have to say is “Step-Up 3D”... That’s right, folks, put on your 3D glasses and pop some popcorn. With an integrated 3D video created by multimedia artist, Holly Daggers, you feel like you actually are in the middle of the dance. Weber incorporates a little house dancing, more awe inspiring moves, and the most intricate, isolated, fast-hand choreography I have ever seen. Weber almost seems to take a page out of The Matrix and Madonna’s Vogue video. So, I guess you can call this a little Vogue Matrix 2010... The Decadance dancers are athletic, musical, and beautiful, and I am very pleased with the final product. Once again I’ll give them a score of 10!

Wow! Just like the Olympics, 3 perfect 10’s.... And the gold medal goes to... DECADANCE THEATER! All the evening’s pieces are masterfully directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber. Watch out “So You Think You Can Dance” Decadance is HERE. A must see!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Devin Pullins
Performance: Decadance Theater
Choreographer: Jennifer Weber
Venue: Joyce SoHo
Show Date: July 17, 2010
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Dance Review: Broadway Underground Knows How To Get Down

2010-07-17T07:51:00.000-04:00

Broadway Underground brings down the house on Monday night at BB Kings in Times Square. This show is full of non-stop raw talent, amazing live music, and lots of complimentary comedy that keeps the show rolling with laughter and fun.

Produced by Jared Grimes and Cheryl Cutlip, the performance displays the work of a fresh scoop of young, talented performers in the industry performing innovative works of their own or by other talented artists. What makes Broadway Underground such a stand-out production is that they really get to the heart of entertainment (rather than just skimming the surface-like most shows of this kind). Hell, they even have their own band keeping the beat throughout the show and hypnotizing you with a theme song that you leave the theater singing at least for the next two hours.

The show opens with a hot hip-hop and tap fusion choreographed by Jared Grimes. This high-energy piece set to the deconstructed car sounds of Wade Robson’s I Question Mark is full of tight technique, syncopated rhythms, and an unforgettable tap solo. But this is just one of Grimes' three pieces for the evening. In Ladies Throwdown, performed by the wonderfully versatile dancers of Tadah, these women really go hard in this sick tap number that displays their precision in sound, timing, and technical prowess. Grimes and Tadah are definitely a talent to watch out for.

Next up we meet Jay Stanton in his performance of Ray Mercer’s The Music In My Head. Given the size of the stage and length of Stanton’s legs, I must admit that I was a little nervous about the ambition of the piece at first. However, Stanton moves with a liquid musicality, seamlessly balancing Mercer’s contemporary and funk styles.

Juson Williams and company grace the stage in both the first and second half of the evening singing their soulfully witty rendition of classics For the Love of You and Lonely Avenue. Expect the unexpected with Williams. The level of his artistry allows him to take risks and use improvisation in a way that leaves you thinking one thought…WORK!

Speaking of musical artistry, William Johnson and the Drumatics blow up the stage at the end of the first half with a set of rhythms that make you want to get on your feet. This unbelievable all-male band dominates the trumpets, saxophone, djembe drums, and even paint buckets. That’s right William Johnson was drumming on paint buckets. Now that’s talent!

Now, my favorite and closing act of the evening is the BU Session, an open stage portion of the evening where artists in the audience are welcomed onstage to freestyle whatever talent they wish to share. What is most inspirational about this moment is seeing the diversity of races, generations, gender, and talent showcased. There are even kids up there holdin’ it down right next to their teachers and mentors. The session ends with two lengthy yet mind-blowing tap solos by Jared Grimes and Dewitt. This pair, who also are the hosts of the show, delightfully serve as comic relief throughout the evening, and, putting all jokes aside, successfully leave the audience with a lasting impression of what "Broadway Underground" is really all about.

I’m not sure about when we will see this group again, but what I do know is that they will have a sold out house leaving you fully satisfied, and, I will make sure that I’m there again! Broadway Underground: revolutionizing the definition of entertainment in New York City. Go see them!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Simone Sobers
Performance: Broadway Underground
Choreography: Jared Grimes, Ray Mercer, Juson Williams,Tadah, William Johnson and the Drumatics, Dewitt, BU Band, Adam Shenk, Reggie
Venue: B. B. Kings
Show Date: Monday, July 5, 2010

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Feature: Listen to Savion Glover Talk to iDANZ in a Fascinating In-depth Interview

2010-07-03T21:03:00.000-04:00

"Keep SLYDE Alive!
. . . with a Y."

Performance: Savion Glover's "Sole Power"
Venue: Joyce Theater, www.Joyce.org
Run: June 21 - July 10, 2010

Listen to Interview NOW.....

Definitely an inspiration to all young tappers and future Broadway dancers... Savion Glover takes the theater world by storm with youthful zeal as a 12 year old prodigy performing in his first Broadway show, The Tap Dance Kid. By 15 years old, Savion performs in Black & Blue, in which he is nominated for a Tony, and by 18 years of age, Savion stars in Jelly's Last Jam. By age 23, Savion solidifies his place as the "Son of Sound" (coined by our very own iDANZ Critic, Martine Quigley) by starring and choreographing his own Broadway show, "Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk," co-directed by George C. Wolf, which Savion wins the Tony for best choreography. Savion continues to perform as a featured guest artist, in addition to performing his choreography in his own full-length productions showcasing his artistry to audiences worldwide.

On Monday night, June 28, I had a chance to interview Savion Glover in his dressing room at The Joyce Theater immediately following the performance of Sole Power, an intergalactic show that pays homage to the greats such as Jimmy Slyde and Gregory Hines and showcases the versatile feet of the great contemporaries such as Mr. Glover and Marshall Davis Jr. In this interview, Savion expresses the importance of always being a student of life and developing relationships with "old people" in order to gain wisdom and constantly grow as an artist... His message, "Keep Slyde Alive!" Moreover, Savion talks about his "dark period", after which, he felt like a new man whose reasons for performing changed dramatically.

On a lighter note, Savion talks about the tap shoes he's been wearing for years and also talks about the process leading into the famous Tony Award Winning show Bring in Da' Noise, Bring in Da' Funk.

Enjoy this fascinating peek into the life of Mr. Glover! -Adrienne Jean "AJ" Fisher, iDANZ Critix Corner

Check out Savion Glover's Sole Power at The Joyce Theater June 21 through July 10. For more information, visit www.Joyce.org.

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Dance Review: Son of Sound - SAVION GLOVER HAD ME AT HELLO

2010-07-03T14:51:00.000-04:00

With a clever mind, his heart on his sleeve and a pair of supernatural feet, Savion Glover, the artist, unleashes mind-boggling rhythms in his current production, “Sole Power” at Manhattan’s mecca for exemplary dance, The Joyce Theatre. In the footsteps of tap legends, Savion Glover pays homage, one beat-filled rhythm at a time, to those of the past in a futuristic format.

With feet from another galaxy, Savion poses the question, "Can you see sound?" Sound had better stock up on Red Bull before meeting the likes of Savion Glover’s fast and furious feet... They move at light speed!

Act one begins with an intergalactic soundtrack and backdrop. Mr Glover, facing upstage for a good five to ten minutes, jams away. Instantly the focus in on the sound. We don’t see his face, yet, I am transfixed. Savion Glover has me at hello.

He is understated, donning a loose t-shirt with tuxedo pants. Savion is comfortable right there on the stage in his tap boots. He is comfortable in his own skin. The effortless manipulation of tap sound is interwoven with spoken word by Savion, (who has a remarkable voice by the way). He even kills the lights and dances in the dark, further highlighting his magical beats. This first half of the show is heavily in remembrance of those great, pave-making tappers, highlighting the improvography of such legends as Jimmy Slyde and Gregory Hines.

Act two is futuristic, comical, sassy and jamming. Although there are some truly extraordinary moments, I am just not as fond of the second half as nearly as much as the first. Unfortunately, some of Savion’s less-experienced counterparts fall flat. The costumes are fiercely outlandish and say, Project Runway; however, based on performance alone, let's just say that... some models may need to be sent home. Fortunately, this is not true of Mr. Glover and his two main men, Marshall Davis Jr. and Maurice Chestnut who are all powerful and technically aggressive. Dance ya'll... Savion rocks Jay-Z level swagger!

Although the corny dance-off session and an anti-climactic ending does little for me, I still leave completely dazzled by the mastery and artistry of Savion Glover, a brilliant man who marches to the beat of his own drum.

In “Sole Power,” the light of dance transcends what we simply see on stage to a broader, more intellectual, and soul-filled moment in history. It hosts a passing of the torch and an embracing extension to the future. The dance is the father and Savion Glover is the son – of sound.

See Savion Glover's, "Sole Power" at The Joyce Theater June 21- July 10 and be inspired... Keep Slyde alive!

To hear the exclusive iDANZ interview with Savion Glover, CLICK HERE.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Martine Quigley
Performance: Savion Glover's "Sole Power"
Venue: The Joyce Theater
Date: June 28, 2010
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Dance Review: Perceptions Contemporary Dance Company at Teatro LA TEA Theater

2010-06-21T15:11:00.000-04:00

New York is about laying it all on the line..'if you can make it here you can make it anywhere' and Perceptions Contemporary Dance Company throws their hat in the 'if you can make it here you can make it anywhere' ring of NY with their explosive evening length premier at Teatro LA TEA Theater last Friday. Relocating from Boston to NY 7 months ago, PCDC boasts fourteen highly trained and expressive dancers - including Artistic Director Melissa Gendreau and Assistant Director Molly Fletcher Lynch. Gendreau believes that because 'Perception is experience' you should 'experience Perceptions' and this statement earns its clout throughout their work. Pieces that showcase PCDC's promise as key players in NY were Gendreau's Magnetic Affixion and Ancient Bruises. Guest choreographer, Natalie Teichmann, of Anahata Dance's Apres Moi shows that same promise.

Magnetic Affixion showcases sequential synergy at its finest. Passing an itch that no one can seem to scratch, the piece reveals a charismatic quartet including Gendreau and Lynch where athletic prowess - and fashion conundrums are put to the test with sneakers and high heels in the mix. The archetypical characters of a businesswoman, "dude," fashionista, and a running woman a la "Sporty Spice" in true NY fashion collide as the magnetic "affixion" sends each character into intense connectedness often channeling whirling dervishes. In their exploration of contact, dancers find themselves stacked tall, held close, on their heads, hands and feet and then propelled away from each other only to be magnetized back until new configurations result. Gendreau and Lynch's intriguing extremities pair well with Jessie Cosentino and Kyung Joon Lee's compact explosiveness.

Ancient Bruises reveals the companies softer and more sobering side - showcasing stunning extension with tear jerking imagery in white, they unabashedly mesmerize. Based on a true story of domestic violence the company weaves the silver lining of a situation laced with a guttural and gruesome stigma. Perceiving an opportunity to breathe beauty into a story wrought with grit - Gendreau's perceptions shine. Her physical storytelling features soloist Chihiro Shimizu as the clay to mold these visions. Striking sculptural pauses of Shimizu's musicality evokes artful upliftedness. Her navigation of connecting with fellow dancers and melting into her own limelight speak both to her clarity of the piece and to Gengreau's direction. Lynch's artistic grasp of the choreography's underbelly leads her to stand out immensely. The soft concavity of her gestures emanates through vibrating hands - no detail of her dancing tale goes un-traversed.

PCDC company member Natalie Teichmann also Artistic Directs Anahata Dance and her work Apres Moi provides a complementary contrast to PCDC. With a strong tongue in cheek presence, architectural precision and an enigmatic "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" charm, Teichmann and Lauren Rosenstein delight. Their impeccable control of both physical and spatial connectivity is channeled through alert eyes. In turn, their audience connection grows stronger with every second. Using the stage as a dynamic playground, a sense of fun perforates any stuffiness residue left from the 9 - 5 crowd. Sweeping to the floor, silently they communicate a sense of peaceful ease - one I know does not hold true but resonates clearly.

The raw materials of PCDC and friends have a home in NY - now their attention must be drawn to connecting the dots through quicker pauses between pieces and other details that have little to do with artistry. I await their new works - Gendreau has big plans for the company on, off and behind the stage with the brand new Perceptions Contemporary Dance Festival this fall, and the PCDC Summer Youth Intensive Dance Camp in August. Be sure to get to the next PCDC show to see heightened humor, subtle softness, and enough passion to claim NY as home base.

As Gendreau says, "Perceptions is Experience...Experience Perceptions!"

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Eileen Elizabeth
Performance: Perceptions Contemporary Dance Company
Venue: Teatro LA TEA Theater
Show Date: May 28, 2010
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Dance Review: Martha Graham Dance Company at The Joyce Summer 2010

2010-06-14T13:01:00.000-04:00

I'm a Jersey boy, loud and proud. It wasn't until I moved to London at 19 to study dance did i begin to question or understand my heritage. I would tell people,"oh ya know, I'm 1/4 French, 1/4 Italian, a little German etc.. and my English friends would say, "Are you baking a cake? A little of this a little of that? What are you talking about? YOU'RE AMERICAN!"

So what is it to be American? Martha Graham asked this question over 80 years ago, and never found an answer. The Martha Graham Dance Company revisited this question with their newest work in collaboration with SITI Acting Company, American Document (2010) and through this mind blowing, brave new work came to many beautifully interesting and thought provoking conclusions that Martha herself would have been proud to see come to life.

The stage is bare except for a drum and a briefcase. The curtain is raised long before the house lights go out, and, without warning, an actor walks on stage directly to the briefcase, takes out some paper work, dons a pair of glasses and begins to read to the audience as actors and dancers begin to harmoniously fill the stage with the all too familiar shapes and floor patterns specific to the Graham vocab. You can barely tell which are the actors and which are the dancers. The execution is totally flawless.

American Document (2010) unfolds through poetry of Walt Whitman, writings of Jack Keroac, letters from soldiers of the Iraqi War, being followed by gorgeous selections of choreography that intertwine each monologue or conversation, seamlessly flowing from one minute into the next until you reach the emotional end of a very probing ride.

American Document (2010) makes you surrender to the hidden thoughts we all have, surrender to answering questions maybe we're too afraid to ask ourselves, surrender to accepting that, good or bad, Americans are a people of a rich diversity with blood on our hands and love in our hearts. We are a social contract and we are a melting pot of immigrants. Illegal or not, we are all American. Quite honestly, I am afraid to say anymore about some of the sections without giving too much away. American Document (2010) is absolutely not to be missed. It is a PHENOMENAL and important contemporary work. It is sure to be a new masterpiece for the Graham repertory.

The next selection of the evening is Sketches from 'Chronicle' which I discovered from the artistic director, Janet Eilber's post intermission speech, is a piece that was created in a response to an invitation to perform in Germany during the turbulent pre WWII era when so many of her friends, people she knew and artists she respected, were being persecuted. She declined the invitation... Well this season at the Joyce, this work ferociously stands up to its meaning and its devastatingly reverent history. I have never seen such power, such unity, and such strength as I see in these women. Jennifer DePalo is fiercely insane in her control and abandon; not to mention, her army of women are nothing short of Goddesses of dance in Steps in the Street and Prelude to Action. Watching these ladies perform this piece, I can only imagine that it must be a real privilege to be apart of such beauty, power, and grace. Their artistic interpretation and scientific precision is incomparable! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

What is it to be an American? What is it to be a Graham dancer? The answers can only be found by experiencing WHAT IT IS in which this outstanding company has to offer.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio
Performance: Martha Graham Dance Company
Venue: The Joyce Theatre
Show Date: June 8, 2010
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Dance Review: Three Theories with Armitage Gone!

2010-06-07T15:19:00.000-04:00

Armitage Gone's World Premiere of Three Theories at Cedar Lake on Thursday June 3rd undoubtedly proves their staying power. Impetus for this work came from choreographer and artistic director Karol Armitage's reading of Brian Green's best selling book on theoretical physics, The Elegant Universe. The book focuses on the conflict between Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics vs. the newest String Theory. This piece, using dancers as physical icons for this conflict, breathes stunning clarity into otherwise less tangible concepts. Had physics class been this intriguing in high school I would have been a far more apt student. Armitage's confident dancers have no limit to their physical prowess, and in moments of silence, hearing a pin drop would have echoed loudly in the packed space.

Armitage describes the first piece Relativity as 'twisting traditional vertical and horizontal lines of dance to expose the poetry of Einstein's theory.' Gorgeous strings pierce the echo of appreciation's silence as Kristina Bethel-Blunt and Leonides D. Arpon ooze sensuality. In their duet limbs intertwine with care so certain it's as if they're handling a time bomb. This piece favors exposure of sinewy lines with the women donning black bikinis and the men black boxer briefs. Concave shapes perforate the bulk of Armitage's work in this piece. When 10 of the 11 company members disperse into duets their undulating qualities lead into writhing that transfixes the audience. When Bethel-Blunt and Arpon return to reprise their duet, their connectivity stands tall with Bethel-Blunts Amazon qualities and Arpon's strong grounded command. The piece ends with a unison section so mesmerizing I barely notice William Isaac's downstage presence as he performs a solo over the undercurrent of the company. A pre-cursor to his exemplary role in Quantum, the second piece, a second viewing would lead my eyes to his limbs immediately.

In Quantum, the time bomb Bethel-Blunt and Arpon handled so attentively explodes in a fashion that makes destruction seductive. At the crux of this are Isaac and Emily Wagner in a duet thickly infused with sexuality and a 'don't you dare look away' attitude that cannot be denied fruition. Wagner is a snake en pointe with piercing eyes, Princess Leia buns, impeccable technique and with her head permanently cocked forward on her spine, she has an uncanny ability to get as close to the audience as possible. The duet comes down center at one point and Wagner nearly leaps onto the lap of a front row viewer - and not to his disappointment in the least. Clifton Taylor's lighting drowns them in fluorescent light only to switch to a blackout - and when the lights return the dancers are found in a new position across the stage as if controlled by a switch. No detail goes forgotten as Wagner and Isaac's ooze about the stage with acute sharpness and exaction. Rhys Chatham's original score features 100 drums and guitars whose cacophony give way to exclamatory extremities that gain momentum with every moment. Best described as magical, the crazy orchestral crashes fuel the tenacious take-no-prisoners-prowess of every dancer. Dubbed the "Punk Ballerina" by Vanity Fair, Armitage demands the same attitude of her dancers and each delivers. Prim holds no bearing in this work that uses volatility like air to get their message to the masses. Another highlight is watching Mei-Hua Wang being held in a straddle above Marlon Taylor-Wiles head only to be turned 360 degrees at a crescendo's dictation. Far outnumbered by the instruments that accompany them Armitage's dancers evoke the strength of an army.

Perhaps because this theory is the youngest, the final piece derived from String Theory is the most lackluster. Largely due to the intense impression Quantum leaves, String seems to wane in the memorable arena. The stunning Megumi Eda serves as "the one dancer consumed by big volumes of geometry influencing the company" as Armitage states in her intro speech. Enveloping subtle movement with sinewy limbs the company supports Eda with largely unison phrases. Settling into submissive poses on the floor, the heat created throughout the eve leaves beads of sweat dripping and flying through the air. Melting into mellowness, the dancers are bathed in warm light revealing each pulsating muscle in the final stage picture. The company circles around Eda with outstretched arms yearning for her.

In one evening, Armitage cultivates envy in the eyes of each person at Cedar Lake. Rising simultaneously to their feet, the audience applauds through several rounds of audience bows. Go see Armitage Gone! to connect to physics with the same desperation and transformative energy Armitage conducts, so generously, with her audiences.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Eileen Elizabeth
Performance: Three Theories
Compay: Armitage Gone!
Venue: Cedar Lake
Show Date: June 3, 2010
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Dance Review: Ailey II: A Force to be Reckoned With in the Dance World

2010-06-01T13:30:00.000-04:00

Usually when you’re watching second companies perform you anticipate small mess-ups: slips, nervousness, unclean pirouettes, lack of confidence. However, this was far from the truth with Ailey II at the Joyce Theater. As part of the 1.2.3 Festival, Ailey II, along with ABT II and Taylor 2, take the stage for a shared week of performances.

Ailey II has reached above and beyond the caliber for a 2^nd company. Under the direction of Sylvia Waters and Troy Powell, this company has the total package: maturity, presence, and artistry. Now combine these qualities with beautiful dancers, flawless technique, and exhilarating choreography then you have an excellent show.

The evening opens with Thang Dao’s Echoes (2008), featuring the entire company in a beautifully crafted contemporary ballet piece. Although there isn’t a clear narrative, the piece does have strong intention that creates a thru-line for the work. Performing with strong fluidity, Chang Yong Sung tears-up the stage during a solo section of the piece.

Christopher Huggins' Essence (2002), performed by Ghrai DeVore is the highlight of the evening. In this heartrending work, we witness a woman going through a kaleidoscope of emotions in an effort to express the multifaceted aspect of a woman’s character. Ghrai DeVore, is simply stunning in this solo, fully expressing each emotion and really taking the risk of going the extra mile to make the audience experience her raw emotion. DeVore is mesmerizing, strong-spirited, and naturally beautiful in her element.

Carlos dos Santos’, Proximity (2009), adds an interesting flavor to the line up with a vibrant and cleverly groovy quartet. Jarvis Mckinley has this urban quality and virtuosic presence that magnetizes your attention to him when he’s on stage. He is definitely a talent to watch out for! Similarly Fana Fraser, has a sensuously chic flair that complements her exquisite movement.

The evening closes with Judith Jamison’s epic work Divining (1984). This piece really captures the essence of Ailey II and the foundation of what makes them extraordinary. There is something deeply rooted in this work that the entire company connects to and manifests in their performance. DeVore does it again in this piece as the leading lady. Let’s just say that she is the kind of dancer that makes you want to come up with a new word to express the idea of “fierce.”

When it comes to second companies, Ailey II is in a class of its own and standing strong next to the first company. I look forward to seeing what new young talent comes through this company and how these gorgeous dancers evolve as their own artists over the next couple years.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Simone Sobers
Performance: Ailey II
Choreography: Thang Dao, Christopher L. Huggins, Carlos dos Santos, Judith Jamison
Venue: Joyce Theater
Show Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2010
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Dance Review: Youth America Grand Prix 2010 Gala “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow”

2010-06-01T11:11:00.000-04:00

YAGP Gala presents a delightful mixture of dance prodigies and top dancers from around the world.

All week the city has been buzzing with visiting dancers from top international dance schools. Recently, I’ve been encountering the YAGP people quite a bit around the city in classes at Peridance and Steps. Now, I get to see them perform at New York City Center for the gala performance. YAGP attracts dance school personnel from top schools to recruit and award scholarships.

Since its birth eleven years ago, the YAGP has grown into being the largest competition for student ballet scholarships worldwide. Dubbed the “internet of the dance world” for connecting a diverse population of dancers around the globe, YAGP became a member of the Conseil International de la Danse (CID) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2005. More than 25,000 dancers worldwide have participated in YAGP workshops, competitions and audition classes, and more than 250 YAGP alumni dance with major companies around the world. Most outstandingly, over two million dollars in YAGP scholarship funds have been contributed to dance schools worldwide to aid in furthering dance education.

Full of energy and witty phrases, Peter Sagal from Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! on NPR hosts this year’s 2010 YAGP Gala. He even attempts to demonstrate some of his own knowledge and ballet technique, amusing the audience by showing off each ballet foot position and his favorite steps. Peter Sagal hysterically announces the start of the show doing a penché while holding the mic in one hand and grabbing onto the curtain for support with the other before dashing away as the music begins.

The evening opens with a cute cowboy dance by a ten year old boy. Apparently not being from New York City he probably is unaware that it is illegal to have toy guns that appear real. Perhaps his holsters do indeed contain real guns which he brandishes about between double tours.

A youthful girl with long limbs performs a contemporary dance number, “Wild Horses.” Although, perhaps a bit too provocative in short shorts for her age, she certainly has lovely split leaps and a nice trot. Many of the young dancers performing have incredible technique, but their expressions, though plastered on with practice, cloud with anxiety and pressure as they prepare before a turn or other virtuosic display.

A twelve year old boy from Japan delightfully sticks out in his playful routine with a mop. The story is typical: a cleaning man becomes playful and starts dancing around with his mop, only to return to cleaning. Untypical is his expressiveness, which is endearing as he falsely prepares for turns, teasing the trick-hungry audience. Another twelve year old from Italy displays exquisite line, interspersing contemporary movements with clean classical technique, easily whipping out double sauté basque turns and more than five pirouettes.

Receiving the honor of Best School, The Orlando Ballet School presents an exceptional all male quartet performed to an Enrique Iglesias tune. The movement of the four boys, so dramatic in their skin-tight skinny jeans along with the music, makes a few audience members erupt into laughter, but by the conclusion the audience concurred with the judges that these dancers have had some wonderful training. Their lines, port de bras and technique are breathtaking… though choreographically, the dance could have been performed as a solo except for the sappy moments of arms around each other and back-patting.

With a costume obviously inspired by the dress worn by Bjork at the Grammy’s, a bronze medalist rail-thin fifteen year old girl of China, Shang Yao Qian, performs an interesting contemporary solo entitled “Black Wing.” This awesomely awkward girl is adorned with long limbs and beautiful “cashew” feet, a perfect representation of an ugly duckling struggling to grow into a graceful swan.

Silver medalist, Zhao Wan Ting, explodes into sensual gestural choreography, alternating with walking, almost strutting sequences. Grand Prix champion, William Bracewell performs with calm delicious port de bras. Although after seeing a few hops, I wonder if his performance had been better during competition rounds; but, I forgive him quickly as he elegantly arabesques. Besides, this is an educational competition program whose purpose is not to find perfection, but to aid in its perpetual pursuit.

Next on the program, I am delighted to see Russel Ferguson, champion from So You Think You Can Dance, take the stage to show us what krumping is all about. In this special surprise guest artist appearance, Russel Ferguson wobbles his rotating legs in and out while simultaneously popping his chest. His incredible control shines through his isolations.

Peter Sagal returns to preface the finale number, in which a large number of students dance together. He explains how Youth American Grand Prix brings together over 2,000 dancers from around the world to compete and study dance for one week together, in a sense, creating a “UN of dance.” All practiced soloists, the young dancers still try to outshine each other… Despite the chorus staging, they do not dance together (which could be a result of short rehearsal time). It is, however, mesmerizing to see so many young dancers take the stage at one time and finish in an elaborate tableau.

Intermission sends streams of dancers, parents, teachers and industry people into the lobby where refreshments of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries are served to celebrate the conclusion of this year’s YAGP. The intermission is extended for the socializing to take place. Everyone is abuzz with excitement about the talent just witnessed and the awaited post-intermission performances of the more celebrated, professional dancers.

The second half of the Gala performance features today’s stars, YAGP alumni that now perform with top dance companies from around the world.

Opening is the Act II pas de deux from Giselle, danced by Paris Opera Ballet ‘s Mathilde Froustey and Mathias Heyman, the perfect pair to match old classical style. The couple gives generous lovely port de bras. In The Moment is a contemporary piece with ABT’s Michelle Wiles and Tulsa Ballet’s Wang Yi dancing round a chair, accompanied by a live on stage singer, Aurora Barnes. Yearning, sharp and contrasting movement choreographically builds the urgency of this dance.

Another passionate pas de deux is with Isabella Boylston-what extension!- and Blaine Hoven of ABT in Sognato, using music by Schubert. Following is another pas de deux, Parting, choreographed by Yuri Smekalove, who is partnered by Yevgenia Obraztsova, both of the Mariinsky Ballet. It is Yevgenia Obraztsova’s New York debut, and she is welcomed with an abundance of cheers and applause. Joaquin De Luz of NYCB dances Five Variations on a Theme with music by Bach. With lovely sustained attitudes and a casual air, Joaquin De Luz delivers magnificence.

Ballroom World Champions Slavik Kryklyvyy and Anna Melnikova tear the stage apart in Jive eliciting many screams of excitement from the audience. The number includes standard ballroom elements- exposed skin, undulating hips and accentuating air bites. The step-tap looks stunning with the right degree of foot bevel, though the over-twisting of the wrists I find almost grotesque.

From American Ballet Theatre is Joseph Gorak with his billowy shirt adding fluidity to his arm movements in the solo to Nocturne, music by Chopin.

Rubinald Pronk of Morphoses dances L’effleure as a solo because his partner, Shirley Esseboom of Nederlands Dans Theater, is ‘stuck in traffic’ according to the announcement by Peter Sagal. Rubinald Pronk is a dramatic presence on stage-his fluid portebras and red flowing pants look like spilling blood. Gorgeous music by Vivaldi seems to pour through Rubinald Pronk- undulating the torso, articulating through his limbs, lengthening into breathtaking lines. He is so stunning by himself, one easily forgets that Rubinald Pronk is dancing what is supposed to be a duet, not a solo. A rose stays delicately in his mouth the entire dance, only to drop at the last moment.

Donizetti,choreographed by Manuel Legris, is performed by Mathilde Froustey and Mathias Heyman, the only couple to do more than one spot on the Gala program. Joaquin De Luz returns to the stage with Tiler Peck to perform Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes. The American classic makes the audience roar up in applause, and the dancing couple are radiant, bursting with energy.

Polina Seminova of the Berlin State Opera Ballet and Marcelo Gomes of American Ballet Theatre dance the pas de deux from Manon, an amazingly executed, beautifully portrayed love scene.

Closing this fabulous evening is Sarah Lamb and Sergei Polunin from the Royal Ballet with the pas de deux from Diana and Acteon. Sergei Polunin delights the crowd with amazing effortless jumps.

YAGP proves again to be the must see ballet performance. Bringing world premieres of new dance work and the world’s best dance talent to one stage, YAGP Gala is a delightful highlight to a wonderful program that offers so many opportunities to young dancers.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: Youth America Grand Prix 2010 Gala “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow”
Venue: New York City Center, New York City
Performance Date: Friday, March 26, 2010
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Dance Review: dre.diohead at LPAC

2010-05-31T02:16:00.000-04:00

Dre.Dance's dre.diohead at the LPAC Mainstage Theater on April 30 tells their movement story candidly, ferociously and with a clarity only highly attuned artists possess. In owning their style of movement so completely, each piece resonates as dance in the same way a McDonald's sign resonates as fast food. While dance and fast food don't usually find themselves in the same sentence, this speaks to the raw quality dre.dance emulates. Set to a soundscape of Radiohead music, the company pumps the audience full of buoyant and volatile energy through an invisible IV. Dre.Dance is the creation of childhood friends Andrew Palermo and Taye Diggs. Palermo reigns as the artistic director and choreographer with Diggs contributing additional choreography.

Lights come up on eight dancers in leotards and shorts - looking ready for class but standing so attentively everyone in the room knows it's time to shut up. This gestural phrase echoes so mechanically in unison each dancer seems to have been shocked by the same energy force. Their beautiful lines reach my seat instantaneously sending me into a deeper focus. Quickly the phrase unravels into duets and trios and these manipulations unveil the strength a gesture can exude when paired with thoughtful accents.

After this first piece the program features each dancer through a duet or trio astutely acknowledging and highlighting the strengths that make this unit earth-shatteringly beautiful as a whole. Set within the limits of a city block, the piece works to showcase the differences between their public lives on this shared street and their private ones behind closed doors.

This struggle or inner turmoil are best illuminated through the pieces set to "15 Step," a full company piece and "The Gloaming," a solo performed by Tommy Scrivens.

"15 Step" proves that dre.dance is never as good as when the members unite together. While all prior pieces are rife with technique and soul, all the stops come out with aerial work, a conga line worth watching, and movement that travels briskly and perfectly from one side of the stage to the other in a game of epic movement telephone. Members of dre.dance seem to feel each others pulse and spend the entire evening breathing from the same source and exalting it with breathtaking movement. Working both together and apart with sprinkled solos, this piece reveals that the company is as in tune with one another as they are with themselves individually.

In "The Gloaming," Scrivens travels within a diagonal pool of light across the stage and never strays. While his movement path is limited to this light, he seems to live the reverse of the saying 'live for the light at the end of the tunnel.' This light ends at the edge of the stage, and he combatively travels towards it as though the tunnel is just beyond it and he's headed there no matter what. With this limited directional passage, Scrivens manages to send surprise after surprise into the audience as he levitates towards the ceiling or dives under himself when you thought he would move forward. Though dre.diohead in general is low on the technical spectrum, the lights flood the stage with green as the song and performance hit a major change and Scrivens leaps back towards the beginning of the light.

This timing speaks to the timing and spatial orientation of all of the pieces and all of the company members. Dre.dance navigates a volatile spectrum while still holding control over both the emotional and visceral actions of the company. To provide an alternative correlation from fast food: if dre.dance were a drink they would be whiskey on the rocks. No twists or garnishes or anything to subdue their flavor - just raw unadulterated dance so strong it barely needs a space to contain it.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by: Eileen Elizabeth
Performance: dre.diohead
Choreography: dre.dance
Venue: LPAC
Show Date: April 30, 2010
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Dance Review: ZviDance at DTW

2010-05-29T14:57:00.000-04:00

Zoom is a dance piece created by the company, ZviDance. Run by choreographer Zvi Gotheiner, ZviDance performs joyous, colorful, vibrant works that revel in the pure beauty of movement and physical expression. Zoom is no different. The piece is exhilarating and moving, and showcases the excellent company Mr. Gotheiner has assembled. These are dancers that are comfortable in their bodies and whose motions feel fluid, lively, and grounded in deep, true emotions.

Benefitting from today's handy technology we pretty much all have sitting in our coat pockets and handbags, Zoom utilizes cellular technology in a brilliantly clever, interactive way that I’ve never seen before. The audience is encouraged to take photos of the performance, both from off stage and at one point on stage, with their cell phones and then text them to a phone number. Later, the photos appear on the screen behind the stage. At a couple points, one of the dancers nestles up to a laptop on stage and begins chatting with audience members via their cell phones, the text of which appears on the large screen above. There is a lot of texting lingo... lots of Wazup? TTYL, tots, :-). The entire experience is unique and highlights well the way in which cell phone technology has come to be another level, albeit disembodied, in which we communicate and dance with each other.

Zoom really wins me over in the last few moments, when two dancers jerk and jolt in a piece that speaks to our inability to genuinely contact each other even amidst so many electronic means of communication.

Mr. Gotheiner’s choreography is exceptional. He seems to be as at home composing movement that is light and playful as he is composing movement that is dower, spastic and macabre. Yet, all of it expresses something honest... The ZviDance company members are also wonderfully relaxed and well trained, performing complex pieces with an ease and harmony that belies the difficulty. Mr. Gotheiner, who is also a renowned teacher of dance, seems to have been able to help them achieve a certain peacefulness in their bodies that one doesn’t see a lot in contemporary dance.

All in all, Zoom is a great success because it contains a thrilling collection of contrasts – electronic communications and dancing bodies, pleasure and pain, buoyancy and gravitas. ZviDance can do it all.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Dustin Wood
Performance: Zoom by ZviDance
Choreographer(s): Zvi Gotheiner
Venue: Dance Theater Workshop
Date: April 10, 2010
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Dance Review: The Stephen Petronio Company Springs Forward in its 25th Anniversary Celebration of Unique Work

2010-05-25T23:31:00.000-04:00

Stephen Petronio is living his moment the opening night of his New York season at the Joyce Theater. Located in Chelsea, the posh notoriously gay neighborhood, the Joyce Theater is swarming with just the type. The bar is busy, with people partaking of the specialty cocktail “Love Me Tender” and cherry flavored popcorn, both in Petronio’s favorite color-pink! And it is certainly time for celebration; this company has survived the big city for 25 years, growing in its own style and reaching audiences around the globe.

The performance opens with a solo entitled #3. A bald man appears like a waiter or butler in a suit and shiny paten leather shoes with fourth position arms scooped to one side curving up to the sky. This is not Max Brenner - this is Stephen Petronio- and this is dance by the bald man. With his feet cemented center-stage, Stephen Petronio invites us in, beckoning us to witness his observations. Simultaneously he is sculpting himself, his hands creeping over his own skin, honing his craft before our eyes as we realize this is his style he is presenting to us. We are learning his language of isolated sharp port de bras and strong, sometimes torqued torso. A language of the spine, elaborated with the limbs, I must admit Stephen Petronio reminds me of one of those beaded wobble dolls who get jelly legs when you squeeze their platform, but only because his feet never moved from the same spot on the stage.

The next piece entitled MiddleSexGorge opens with two women on stage posed erected from fourth positions, the light contouring their muscles. Each movement is articulated and controlled, though sometimes the movement is so dramatic- arms and legs whipping in fast circular motions optimizing the ball and socket joints at the hips and shoulders. The technique of the company is fierce, sharp with high battements, strong cores that demand quickly executed changes in direction, yet somehow is lacking the use of plié: the legs sometimes appear stiff, the feet flexing above the ground, harsh landings on the floor. The music asks, “are you hot? Are you feeling hot?” The dancers bodies are certainly hot, women moving freely in black short unitards, the men in sexy flesh-colored corsets. Some of the men are wearing pansy pants (my name for them), fresh for the picking; I have witnessed promotional photos for the company this year with the dancers wearing these flesh tights sprouting with orangey pink petals. Other men simply wear their flesh-colored dancebelt- super sexy ass cheeks on display. I didn’t understand the contrast between the women's’ costuming and the men's’ - the women looking as if they came from dance class, the men from a spring fashion runway. The dancers faces don’t express much, but their bodies scream, “yes, I’m hot!” with abrupt changes in direction, head-bang, battement, windmill motions slicing through space. The women swarm round one of the men as the chorus repeats, “Are you hot? Are you feeling hot?” Then as they close in on him “I’m ambitious” ...a nice commentary on a man’s sexual prowess. The audience loves it.

Note for The Joyce employees: To better handle the two huge lines at concessions barely moving- if you offer a drink special, mix’em up beforehand, otherwise people are forced to chug their beverages at the last moment, having spent the entire intermission waiting for drinks. Try the pre-pour, sales should improve too, as employees offer beverages ready on trays (no line delays!)

Following intermission is a solo, Love Me Tender, with Julian DeLeon in a silky men’s shirt and...white shorts beneath. A bit of a tease, his body aches to be loved and touched, very expressive everywhere but the face. I think this reflects on an artistic preference with the company to focus expression through the body. Two women in short white unitards and draped fabric as sleeves appear; this must’ve been the beginning of “Foreign Import” with music “Creep” by Radiohead. A disturbed man, performed by Reed Luplau, dances between and around these two angelic figures. Reed Luplau succeeds in getting the audience’s attention, his movements attack and swarm the stage like a desperate person’s cry for help.

The last dance brings the company together in Ghostown, a world premiere. I love the costuming for this piece, each dancer having a unique combination of tight spandex in neutral colors with an element of flowing fabric. As if different groups of people who have come and gone with time, dancers flow and ebb from the side wings. The choreography gets really interesting with the dancers performing their own unique phrasing, contrasting their movement, and initiating interaction between each other. The music is pulsating, beautiful but also sleep-inducing, perhaps not the best work to end the evening. Yet, the audience responds enthusiastically to the final moment of the dance. In this work Petronio states,

“I am more drawn to information that is implied or concealed within the gesture and stage space, what is imagined and sensed as well as what is perceived. Ghostown...is a gathering place for memory and selves that have come before, resonate in some way, that are still vibrating with layers of meaning, imagined or real.”

Certainly one feels the resounding pulses of energy vibrating within themselves just watching Stephen Petronio's amazing company.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: Stephen Petronio Company
Choreography: Stephen Petronio
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Performance Date: Tuesday April 27, 2010
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Dance Review: The Whiz is Wicked, Fun, and Fierce!

2010-05-25T08:35:00.000-04:00

A hip new version of The Whiz: Emerald City is whizzing about New York City, courtesy of nicholas leichter dance. With an amazing recent run at Joe’s Pub, this production is provocative and unique, blending new music and fresh moves. Without a solid yellow brick road to follow, the numbers flow easily from one to the next, performers streaming in and out of the audience. The show is diverse in its array of dances and musical numbers, delighting the palate along with the yummy menu selections at Joe’s Pub.

Nicholas Leichter’s choreography is funky, making people want to clap and dance in their seats. Co-directing with Nicholas Leichter is Monstah Black, the score creator known as a “Messiah of the Funk.” Brian McCormick as producing director contributes interesting titles for the dance numbers like Papi, incorporating popular slang to reference the poppy fields and other elements of the classic Wizard of Oz/The Wiz tale.

Nicholas Leichter’s choreography is suitably even more multi-dimensional than the traditional Wizard of Oz story, incorporating technique with raw bumping and grinding.

To me, the overall movement blends contemporary dance with Afro-Cuban and other island influences. The dancing flows so naturally out of the dancers that it seems improvised except that order exists through formations and patterns.

Following the sexually charged Lick Shots number to a song by none other than Missy Elliot is He’s the Wizza, a long duet featuring Stephanie Liapis and Nicholas Leichter. Here Nicholas Leichter shows off Stephanie Liapis’ skills as a dancer, ending the section dramatically to create nice set up for Soon as I get Home.

Dawn Robinson is brilliant in Soon As I Get Home celebrating the fabulousness of being a big black woman. She conveys a sideways evolution of Diana Ross as if investigating what Diana Ross would be like when she’s chillin at home, being constantly fanned by an admiring man servant.

A highlight of the performance is an intense dance between two men, Wendell Cooper and Nicholas Leichter. Each male interrogates the other with fierce dance moves and martial arts-infused partnering work. Work!

Entering in very grand style, vocalizing from the audience, Yozmit makes a special appearance from the sky, like an outer-worldly creature. Each movement is sharp and meticulously executed as Yozmit sings her heart out, compelling and captivating.

In order to gain a better understanding behind the creation of this fascinating show, I interviewed dancer Wendell Cooper. In an expression of mutual respect and admiration, Wendell Cooper created a movement phrase tribute to Nicholas Leichter, who in turn assimilated the phrase into the Juicy Fruit section. Wendell describes the challenges he faced trying to make a solo in the style of Nicholas Leichter who he says “tries to expand outside of the ego-driven art of the dance world.”

Wendell Cooper describes how “in this solo I wanted to expand [Nicholas Leichter’s] style that is particular to him rather than in an individual style. If I was to create something in his style how would I do that? [By] getting into his brain: learning his rhythm and style and his vocabulary. So I borrowed a little from his rep: combination of hip-hop and jazz, definitely the chaos-there’s a moment -it’s crazy- we have to throw our legs over our body and pitch and fall. I tried to marry the chaos with rhythm and detail I feel like it has to be daring to be interesting for the public to watch, like this feeling of- they might not make it! It’s a mix: house, technique, break-dancing jazz, capoeria, vogue, contemporary, moderness-that’s why I’m drawn to his work because he takes all these elements and blends them into a language. I am trying to learn to do that in my work as well.”

As I continue my discussion with Wendell about how we talk about and define dance. We both agreed, Nicholas Leichter has a unique style and his work is tricky to dissect because it’s fragmented. I’ll try to dissect it for you: fouettés into popping followed by gooey modern dance, then African and Jazz-all of these fragments are fused into a sequence. Nicholas Leichter’s many influences have been absorbed into a his own vocabulary to create poetry with dance. Though difficult to define in terms of genre, the work of Nicholas Leichter parallels the contemporary trends seen in media in which various elements are reworked together, derived from our modern world where distinct cultures and traditions exist side by side. Honoring the specific cultural roots of very stylized dance forms, Nicholas Leichter shapes his own language, spoken with African steps transitioning to an almost traditional ballet sequence flowing into floor-work. All elements come together within same conceptual framework.

As artists, Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black have unique processes of working, a system that seems to involve deconstructing and restructuring the construct, exploring the point of each scene, and taking into account the underlying social and political messages. In this production of The Whiz one will experience the story in an entirely new way, as the creators took accumulated content and applied our contemporary situation.

In the hands of Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black, this production is not a remake but instead something re-imagined, sourced and rooted in the cultural history and development of the tale.

This re-creation of The Whiz has been developing with various sections previously appearing in shows through DanceNOW and Joe’s Pub. This latest version is still missing some of the larger dance numbers which will be added for the full production at Abron’s Art Center around June 17, 2010. Be sure to check out “The Whiz: Obamaland” at Abrons Arts Center to see more story and more dancing!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: DanceNOW [NYC] presents Dancemopolitan- nicholas leichter dance The Whiz: Emerald City
Choreography: Nicholas Leichter with additional choreography by Wendell Cooper
Venue: Joe’s Pub Manhattan, New York City
Performance Date: Friday March 19, 2010
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and supplies to victims in this crisis?
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Dance Review: The Richmond Ballet - Versatility and Seamlessness, The Whole Package

2010-04-10T10:12:00.000-04:00

The Richmond Ballet's performance at The Joyce Theater on Wednesday night achieves a feat which few ballet companies can successfully pull off. They manage to master the classical ballet aesthetic of clean, long lines in the first piece of the night, Violin, while demonstrating their contemporary and modern movement mastery with Misa Criolla. The final piece of the evening, Vestiges is a fusion of the dancers' ballet and modern dance talents. As the dance world progresses, we continue to see the necessity for dancers to be trained in a variety of dance forms. It is more common now for ballet dancers to be versatile in modern dance and vice versa. The major difference between the Richmond Ballet and other companies is the dancers' ability to appear comfortable while performing dance styles long considered out of the ballet aesthetic element.

The first piece of the night, Violin, which was choreographed by Val Caniparoli, features ten dancers, five women and five men. The dancers are clad in simple hunter green costumes, leotards for the women, tights for the men. The simplicity of the costumes coupled with the lack of storyline creates a modernist feel to the piece. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber provides the compelling violin music. The men begin the dance in a ritualistic circular formation. Their movements are powerful and full of energy. The dancers bend their wrists and place their arms in very specific shapes, adding to the rich texture of the choreography. The lights dim and the women take their position in place of the men in the center of the stage. The women all appear happy and upbeat as they fly through the air. My favorite part of the performance is the seamless duets which are interspersed throughout the piece. The dancers move extremely well together, whether they are dancing as a group, in a trio, or in a duet. I thoroughly enjoy watching Maggie Small because of her quickness and her flawless technique. Thomas Ragland is also a thrill to watch. It is evident that the dancers feel each other when they move together onstage. Bravo!

After intermission, we are introduced to the world of Misa Criolla. In this piece choreographed by William Soleau, the dancers are wearing what appears to be peasant garb; the women are wearing shawls and dresses to their ankles. The music gives the piece an archaic feel to it, with piercing operatic voices strewn in. According to the program, this piece is about the ability of communities to collectively rise up above adversity and join forces in a shared bond of friendship. The stage is bordered by wooden benches which the dancers sit, dance, and move around the stage. With elements of various folk dances thrown into the mix, the dancers couple up and then change partners throughout the duration of the piece. For example, the dancers hold hands in a circle and then run into the middle, reminiscent of the Israeli folk dance, the Hora. Lauren Breen and Cecile Tuzzii really stand out in this piece. It is their stage presence and acting ability which really draws my attention to them. Although Misa Criolla is wonderfully constructed, it feels as if it drags on too long at points.

The last piece of the night, Vestiges by Colin Connor, is probably my favorite piece of the program. The piece reminds me of musical theater because of the dramatic costumes the dancers wear, the use of the lighting, and the way the music tells a story with its melody. The dancers portray dramatic characters, adding to the overall theatrics of the dance. The lifts are executed seamlessly, even when one of the women dancers lifts a male dancer. Valerie Tellmann is the standout in this piece with her unparalleled physicality and fearlessness.

This is the first time I’ve seen the Richmond Ballet and I must say that I am impressed with Artistic Director, Stoner Winslett. The task of presenting such a versatile repertoire is not an easy one, but Ms. Winslett has shown us that she is capable of doing so. The dancers of Richmond Ballet are extremely current and relevant dancers who not only are up-to-date on all of the trends in the dance world, but they are also setting their own.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Amanda Keller
Performance: Richmond Ballet
Venue: The Joyce Theater
Show Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2010
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Dance Review: Crossing Over, Passing Through -Dance Brazil at The Joyce Theater

2010-04-04T17:50:00.000-04:00

DanceBrazil continues to blur the boundary between capoeira and modern dance with their latest season at The Joyce Theater

Formed by choreographer Jelon Vieira in 1977, DanceBrazil incorporates elements of Afro-Brazilian culture, especially the martial art of Capoeira, into their modern dance works. On Wednesday evening, the company presented two pieces at the Joyce Theater: Banguela and Memórias.

Banguela is a well-crafted celebration of Brazil’s unique capoeira culture, expressed through a striking balance of sincerity and physicality. “Banguela,” as the program notes explain, is “a special rhythm played to calm down the capoeiristas when their play in the roda gets too heated.” In the dance Banguela, Vieira draws the audience into the capoeirista’s meditative state. The dancers move with such strength and control that at times they appear to defy gravity, as if time is slowed and blurred by the Banguela rhythm.

The piece begins with the company dressed in white and dancing through a series of luscious motions with satisfying clarity, their arms carving through space in round gestures as if drawing the air into a large embrace. When the music starts, the company forms a circle and dances inwards, referencing the capoeira “roda” formation.

The highlight of Banguela is a duet between Paulo Silva and Raphael Novaes. The two men move through a continuous series of cartwheels, low leg sweeps and backbends with grace and flair. For the most part they maintain eye contact, keeping with the original tradition of capoeira. At certain points, however, the capoeiristas shift their movement toward the audience, running their hands in the air facing an invisible partner. In capoeira, partners use these hand gestures as a means of familiarizing themselves with their partner and focusing on their partner’s movements. By splicing the capoeira pair and turning the dancers towards us, Vieira makes the audience the partner, and invites us into the sacred and historically significant space of the capoeira circle.

While I am delighted by the craftsmanship and execution of Banguela, I am unfortunately disappointed by the second piece, Memórias, which unfolds through as a muddled series of vignettes. In this topic-heavy work, a number of powerful ideas (such as Brazil’s modernization -referenced by honking car sound effects- and the country’s history of slavery and perseverance) are introduced but are not adequately developed. DanceBrazil’s usual focus, energy and clarity are lost amid the wide-range of topics and sentiments.

Although not as apparent in this program, Vieira is known for utilizing his dancers’ athleticism and virtuosity to create powerful modern dances that draw upon the strength of Brazil’s own movement and music traditions. The company’s past seasons are better examples of this, and I look forward to seeing the DanceBrazil’s next engagement at The Joyce.

Photography by Tom Pich

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Tze Chun
Performance: DanceBrazil
Choreography: Jelon Vieira
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Performance Date: April 1^st, 2010
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Dance Review: K+C= Genius, Keigwin + Company at The Joyce Theater

2010-04-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

Keigwin + Company has done it again! But this time, in the major league. K+C has pulled off a very successful solo week of performances at the Joyce Theater. But, would you expect otherwise? Keigwin has an enticing creativity and wit that lures you into his world. Once you're there you're bound to come back again and again and again.

Whether or not you're a coffee lover its hard not to become briefly addicted to what you're seeing on stage during the first piece. Caffeinated, originally commissioned by the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, is a caffeine high, aerobic, hyperactive, humorous piece about people's common addiction to coffee. Philip Glass' "Glasspiece #3" really sets the tone for crazy town and compliments the dancer's hyper-energetic, and mildly psychotic dispositions. Keigwin's brilliant movement vocabulary in this piece is a fanciful mix between jazzercise and cheerleading. The dancers, with coffee cups in their hands, are really engaged in a workout with Keigwin's athletic movements and zombie-like gestures. At the end of the dance you're left wondering exactly how much caffeine they indulged in to make it through that piece.

In the next piece, Mattress Suite, Keigwin recreates a jocular behind doors look on relationships in a world where anything and everything goes. The audience watches a series of episodes ranging from love and marriage, to heartbreak; from a kinky rendevous in the sack (literally on a mattress), to a little ménage trois action. Wilcott and Keigwin are really quite the pair with a natural sensitivity to each other and a malleable chemistry that can shift from sensual to rugged in a hot second.

Bird Watching, this season's world premiere, is quite the treat for the evening. The radiantly decorated fleet- fly, flap, flutter, and flock in the space with an eccentric gestural vocabulary reminiscent of our feathered friends. There is an inherent ballet vocabulary in this piece that really gets the whole bird idea across. Ashley Browne, stands out as a stunning creature throughout the piece with her poise, grace, and seamless lines. Keigwin has the uncanny ability to let humor infiltrate movement in both subtle and blatant ways. Bird Watching is a piece of art that truly shows Keigwin's versatility and the direction he is taking off in.

Like a few good shots of tequila, Keigwin really hits you at the end of the night! The evening closes with, Runaway, a fierce experience of fashion, theater, runways, and jaw-dropping movement set to a riveting score by Jonatha Melville Pratt. You don't have to be a choreographer to appreciate the artistic compositional elements of this work; you can watch and have the same reaction...wow. Runaway is simply a must-see piece.

Keep your eyes peeled for what K+C is up to next. They can only get more fabulous. If you haven't already, get addicted.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Simone Sobers
Performance: Keigwin + Company
Choreography: Larry Keigwin
Venue: The Joyce Theater
Show Date: March 17, 2010
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and supplies to victims in this crisis?
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Dance Review: Alexandance at Triskelion Arts

2010-03-31T18:25:00.000-04:00

Alexandance's first full length show, A Vertiable Smorgasbord, is a fascinating glimpse into worlds both funny and fierce. Presented by Triskelion Arts, choreographers Alex Springer and Xan Burley lay it all on the line in a jam-packed evening of short dances ranging from wittily astute to traumatically effective.

The gems of the evening are two duets between Burley and Springer themselves. The first, from 2009 entitled Spilt, is a clever window into a marital relationship laced with tension and high romance. It begins in a mini living room; Burley is in a flowered dress and white jacket, Springer holds her on his lap. In 50's era glasses, a sweater vest and a huge grin, he struggles to keep his hand over her mouth. When she finally breaks free, pearls come popping out like little white secrets.

Second, Springer and Burley dance Man + Woman, a duet which skips the trauma of relationships and focuses instead on the awkwardness of the first attraction and the satisfaction of the final moment. Beginning as running and off-timed flights through space, this dance ends in a totally satisfying kiss.

The darkest piece of the evening, Microfiche, is a no-holds-barred journey through depravity, isolation and trauma. Five dancers clad in night gowns and white socks dance around, under and through a blue tarp who's rasping, shifting movement serves as a metaphor for the (not so) hidden pain in all of us. This dance makes the audience feel just as uncomfortable as the writhing dancers through the use of incredibly loud and grating sound. The technique is successful, if pain and anger are what I am supposed to feel, but I can't help but be a tad offended after being made to sit with my hands over my ears for more than 10 minutes. The point is open for debate...

Whether it is amusement or empathy that we feel in the theater, one can't help but be excited by the promise of new dance makers like Alexandance in this often formidable city.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Meghan Frederick
Performance: Alexandance
Choreography: Alex Springer and Xan Burley
Venue: Triskelion Arts
Show Date: March 27, 2010
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