Author: jason

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Disco Pigs

“What is the colour of love, Pig?”

I couldn’t miss the chance to see Evanna Lynch perform live in person in “Disco Pigs” at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Evanna Lynch, a.k.a. Luna Lovegood, is only one of my favorite characters from Harry Potter!

The show officially opens tomorrow, but I saw the preview last Saturday. Set in the Irish town of Cork City, the play centers on Pig and Runt, two teenagers who grew up together. While the stage was bare except for a television, Evanna (as Runt) and Colin Campbell (as Pig) painted an incredibly detailed world for us through their accents, their words (a verbal type of language that only two people who grew up together could create), and their interactions (chugging down ciders, catching a cab to see the ocean, going to a disco). The two’s fondness and trust of each other are apparent, but so are their dependencies. They love each other (“they became man and woman together”) yet they could not break free… from their small town where the future is uncertain, from the inevitable transition into adulthood, and from each other.

The play itself offers no answer where Pig and Runt will go, but it’s portrayal of friendship, love, and coming-of-age has me thinking all weekend long… about the young artists around me in New York… aspiring technologists/entrepreneurs in San Francisco… and what it means to live and be human in today’s world.

Bravos, Evanna and Colin, for a brutally honest performance.

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Open Rehearsal with Dorrance Dance

Open rehearsal with Dorrance Dance at the Joyce Theater!

I had a chance to see “Until the Real Thing Comes Along (A Letter to Ourselves)” again, and it was even better than the first time. It’s great when a choreography has depths, and gets better with each viewing. Bravos to Michelle Dorrance, Melinda Sullivan, Josette Wiggan-Freund, and Hannah Heller.

My favorite moment of the afternoon:

Hosting the talkback Laura Diffenderfer asked: The title of the piece is “Until the Real Thing Comes Along (A Letter to Ourselves)”. What might that letter say?

Josette: To keep going. Given everything that happened throughout 2017, to keep striving to be true. To be a better daughter, a better wife, a better mother, a better friend. To ask: How I can be better today?

Melinda: This is a piece created for us, by our own voices. The [creative] process has been as important as the performance. The letter would say: Surround ourselves with people who encourage ourselves to be ourselves.

Michelle: In light of the year, this choreography is a collaborative process with only women. (Assistant director included). To show each of our voice is valid. To comunicate that our voices are appreciated, valued, and cherished.

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Cruel Intentions

I had a fun evening at Cruel Intentions, the 90s Musical Experience!!! The show is playing at (le) Poisson Rouge through February. Go check them out!

Carrie St. Louis, Constantine Rousouli, and Jessie Shelton were amazing as Annette, Sebastian, and Cecile. Glad to see Lauren Zakrin again too. (Still so bummed that the Great Comet closed so abruptly!)

Delivered mostly without props, the show is catchy and filled with a non-stop stream the best of 90s music. Backstreet Boys! Sixpence None the Richer! I love how the show skillfully mixed the lyrics and the script, turning them into singing duals, and played with the words to create memorable moments in the story line (e.g., No Scrubs!).

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Dorrance Dance

Dorrance Dance is performing at the Joyce Theater until December 31st.

I don’t think Michelle Dorrance Michelle Dorrance needs any introduction! Her show last night ended with the same choreography, Myelination, as it did at Fall for Dance in October. My favorite, though, goes to the opening choreography “Until the Real Thing Comes Along (A Letter to Ourselves).”

The piece is choreographed, performed, and improvised by four dancers: Michelle, Melinda Sullivan Melinda Sullivan, Josette Wiggan-Freund Josette Wiggan-Freund, and Jillian Meyers.

It was so much fun watching the four SUPER talented dancers play with each other and enjoy themselves on stage: Experimenting with rhythms, costumes, mustashe, coordinate moves, as well as spectacular solos. WOW! JUST WOW to Michelle’s solo!!! 😍 Also, I first saw Melinda in Postmodern Jukebox‘s Umbrella, and have been following the Sole Sisters ever since. It’s AMAZING to see Melinda perform in person! 😘

At the post-show curtain chat, Michelle described her vision to foster a collaborative environment where every dancer in her company can express their voice. It was wonderful to see her leadership, her philosophy of treating her dancers as her equals, and to see the resulting work from such a creative process.

In today’s patriarchal and oligarchical society, where so much is owned, controlled, and dictated by a few men, I can’t express how glad I am to see these four strong women stand up, demonstrate, and prove a different vision. BRAVOS!!!

By chance, I’ll have an opportunity to attend an open rehearsal with Dorrance Dance next week. Look forward to seeing more of how Michelle works with her dancers. 😀

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Farmhouse/Whorehouse

Farmhouse/Whorehouse: an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra starring Lili Taylor at BAM.

WOW!!! The most fascinating “lecture” that I’ve attended in years!

Starting with her own pregnancy and ending with her grandmother’s dementia, Suzanne took us through a fascinating journey in this hour-long performance.

The journey is both highly personal (taking us from her childhood to adulthood) yet universal (connecting urban dwellers and rural farmers, the Mormon Basic Four and French aristocrats, as well as the ballet and the counterculture). We travelled from Texas to Vermont, from the US to Europe, from the 18th century to present day.

Suzanne revealed both our real and pretentious relationship to nature.

Her lecture stitched together her grandparents’ small Texas farm; real and re-imagined lives of American pioneers in the wild west; French philosopher Charles Fourier’s fantasy of an utopia society (drawn from his solitude life with a cat); the homesteading movement; hippie communes; the Whole Earth Catalog; and the “Chicken Ranch” or whorehouse across the street from her grandparent’s small Texas farm.

The narrative touched on numerous themes:

The wild west. The hardship of farming. Rural folks’ desire to move to the city for a better life. Yet, in the city: Artists’ delusion and fascination with a glorified life on the farm. Intellectuals’ unrealistic and fabricated attempts to project a link to the nature. Failed hippie communes. Back to the one collective that survived: Prostitutes of the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Other sub-themes:

Pregnancy and child birth. How they impact a woman’s life and health. vs. How the society glorify and sanitize the topics.

The three roles at a whorehouse. Presentable respectable white men (patrons). Naked white women (prostitutes; cut off from society). Black women (servants). Never ever black men.

Arrogance of intellectuals.

Immigrants in America.

It will likely take me weeks if not months to unpack all these ideas. However, like all memorable travels, I learnt much tonight.

Major kudos to Suzanne and Lili for a wonderful production.

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Trisha Brown Dance Company

Trisha Brown Dance Company at the Joyce Theater.

I’ve been waiting for this show since I last saw Trisha Brown at Fall for Dance!

A theme of modern dance is weight shifts. In all three choreographies today, Trisha explored and pushed the boundary of not just weight shifts by a dancer but weight sharing between dancers. She showed us smooth, beautiful, and elegant transitions, lifts, counterbalances, and dynamics — that felt both natural and surprising. Natural because the dancers moved as if they were guided by nothing other than gravity. Surprising because the gentle gravity built up to powerful momentum, and momentum shifted seamlessly from dancer to dancer.

I love her use of groups of dancers, especially the section when all ten company dancers moved together in “Groove and Countermove”. The dancers were never in sync, yet they were keenly aware of each other’s presence, moved with each other, as if all ten bodies were connected as one.

I also enjoyed the small section in “L’amour au Théâtre” when Cecily Campbell, Kimberly, Leah Ives, and Amanda Kmett’Pendry formed beautiful visuals and patterns.

The flutist in “Geometry of Quiet” did an incredible job supplementing the movements with unusual sounds that resembled heavy breathing, among other notes. Other than being unusual, however, I didn’t feel the music contributed significantly to the choreography.

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Ballet Hispánico

Bravos to Ballet Hispánico for a stunning performance last night at the Apollo Theater.

Ballet Hispánico was one of my favorite companies to present the Joyce Theater last season. Their show was not just visually stunning, but prompted me to write this blog post on Why Dance Matters.

I was so glad to see more of their work last night.

I still love every aspect of “Con Brazos Abiertos” by Michelle Manzanales. Even though the dance, music, and sounds are about Michelle’s experience growing up as Mexican American in Texas, her choreography resonated with me growing up as Taiwanese Canadian in the US. I love the emotional, powerful, uplifting spirit of the piece; the struggles of finding one’s identity as an immigrant; and seeing the protagonist grow stronger and more confident through the dance.

During the post-show chat, an audience member asked how the choreography is received in the rest of the US. Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro gave the reaction of a lawyer working for DACA youths, who saw the show in Texas. Even though she had gone into the theatre disheartened, she was so overwhelmed and so inpired by the dance, that she felt rejuvenated and found purpose in her work again.

I also enjoyed “Bury Me Standing” by Ramón Oller that reflected on the experience of Gypsies or “Roma” people living in Spain, and “Espiritu Vivo” by Roland Brown showcasing the lively music and dance of African and Latino diasporas in the Caribbean and Latin America.

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Liz Gerring Dance Company

Lovely performance by the Liz Gerring Dance Company at the Joyce Theater this Friday.

Dance speaks to everyone in different ways. Lately, I’ve been wondering, asking, and paying extra attention to how people think of “movement versus music.”

Tonight’s post-show discussion was particuarly interesting, because Liz Gerring answered an audience question just as how I would have. It was astonishing, almost bewildering, listening to Liz articulate her experience, when her answer *exactly* matches how I personally experience dance.

“Which comes first? Choreography or music?”

Liz answers that she thinks of music as support. She enjoys how music sounds, and enjoys her 30-year working relationship with Michael Schumacher, the resident composer of her company. However, music should be an element to the visual picture without interfering. She enjoys creating her work without having to follow a certain beat.

Her philosophy definitely came through in tonight’s presentation of “Horizon” — in the distinct movement language that Liz has constructed, and in the physicality and boldness of the dancers’ movements.

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The Chase Brock Experience

I had a fun time at the Chase Brock Experience this Wednesday evening!

My favorite goes to “The Song That I Sing; Or, Meow So Pretty” — a dynamic piece with a big American theme — featuring a wide array of American dance forms from clogging, square dancing, swing dancing, to tap dancing; accompanied by catchy folk music. Bravos to the dancers for the vivid portrayal of the many aspects of American life, and the amazing execution of so many distinct dance forms in a single choreography.