nyc.dancr
Hubbard Street presented three choreographies by Crystal Pite in their second week at the Joyce Theater.
I love how Crystal creates the connections between the dancers… from our relationship with ourselves in “A Picture of You Falling” and “The Other You”… to how 14 dancers work together and in contrast with each other in “Grace Engine.”
What a stunning program tonight!!! Hubbard Street presented “Decadence/Chicago”, a collection of excerpts from choreographies by Ohad Naharin. I am completely overwhelmed by the creativity, ingenuity, and the power of Ohad’s work. Bravos to the Hubbard Street dancers for an incredible presentation. It’s so wonderful to finally see piece such as “Minus 16” live on stage.
(top photo courtesy of the Joyce Theater)
APEX faculty and student showcase at Peridance.
Great job Sam Label on “Lash Out”! What an uplifting choreo with jubilance, genuine happiness, and packed with personalities.
Also, beautiful dancing by Sam Label, Jasmin Levin, and Shana Fung. Bravos!
Beautiful performance by Julia Kane Dance Collective tonight at the PMT Fall Dance Series!!! Go dance with Julia Kane on Mondays if you like what you saw!
Great to see the amazing Sadie McNamara on stage again, the unexpected hip hop side of Micaela Butnar (That solo in the jam circle! 🤗), Janine Fittipaldi outside of ballet (🤩), and Julie Hricko being all sassy.
Also enjoyed the waacking+theatre choreo (Yes you read that right.) by Miki Tuesday.
Minimalism and Me: A fascinating lesson through dance history this afternoon with Twyla Tharp at the Joyce Theater.
Who wants go to back and see the show again with me???
Today’s program is by far my favorite among the different works I’ve seen by Twyla.
Twyla explored minimalism at the start of her career. In her first ever work “Tank Dive”, premiered in 1965, she held second position in elevé for 3.5 continuous minutes while Petula Clark’s recording of “Downtown” played in the background. And that’s it. That is the entirety of choreography. Yet “Tank Dive” was oddly satisfying to watch.
From there, Twyla explored how she could continue to reduce dance into even simpler movements. What could possibly be less than holding the second position, you ask? The answer is… a lot!!!
She and her close-knit group of female dancers “did not take curtain bows” back then because “often there was no audience left by the end of the performance” according to Twyla, as she retold the stories jokingly and proudly. “We danced wherever we could dance.” Indeed, they experimented with and redefined the boundaries of dance.
Act I on minimalism ended with the amazing “The Fugue”, premiered in 1970. I’ve seen the piece before, but Twyla’s stories today gave the piece a whole new interpretation.
Bravos to all the talented and passionate dancers, Kara Chan, Kellie Drobnick, Mary Beth Hansohn, Matthew Dibble, Ronnie Todorowski, Reed Tankersley, for recreating the dances for us today. Thank you for a marvelous show!!!
The Tenant at the Joyce Theater with a post-show chat with the cast.
A complex dance play that’s dark, disturbing yet at a deep level, completely relatable. A stunning performance for those open to experiences.
Love Cassie Trenary‘s solo at the start of the show depicting the mental state of Simone. Love James Whiteside‘s and Cassie’s duets; James’ transformation; and the final dance where they mirror each other. I would go back just to see those dance scenes again!
However, the show has so much more. Love Kibrea Carmichael‘s movements and portrayal of her various characters. I generally try to focus on the dancers, but major kudos to Frank Moon for the live music, sounds, and voice.
At the post-show chat, we learnt about:
The significant amount of research that the dancers undertook to master their characters.
How the cast wind down at the end of the night, after being so emotionally invested in dark roles that involve suicide, deep anxiety, paranoia, and so on.
And the various coincidental events that happened during the creation of the piece. Are we really watching a story replaying in a loop? Or perhaps… just perhaps… are we all living the story ourselves?
Cristal Del Mar Lopez and Sofia Bengoa: You were AMAZING tonight!!! Congrats on presenting your work at the VashtiDance Theater Fall Concert.
Also, kudos to Samantha Paulik for the stage and lighting setup. Group photo courtesy of Ella.
Absolutely love love love “Medusa” by Jasmin Vardimon Company tonight. Two more performances at Sadler’s Wells through Wednesday. Go see the show!!!
I was blown away by the company’s production of “Pinocchio” last year. I’ve been both excited yet nervous about tonight. Will the new work bring the same level of creativity, intensity, playfulness, and stunning technical execution as last year — especially when the new creation is an abstract concept?
Medusa surpassed Pinocchio at every level.
I interpreted the show as centering around men’s desire for power, control, and exploitation — over women, over the environment, and even over mythical creations — and the resulting damage. The piece is dark and emotional, speaks to current events, and challenges the audience to think twice about the complex, unspoken, or forgotten root cause of the societal issues today.
Thank you, Jasmin and the dancers Jasmine Orr, Olga Clavel, Patricia Hastewell Puig, André Rebelo, Lucija Božičević, Silke Muys, Kieran Shannon, Joshua Smith, for giving us an absolutely incredible experience tonight.
Memorable scenes.
“The Housewife” and how men assert psychological, emotional, physical control over women. The girl on stage is a pretty inanimate doll to be dressed up, to be accessorized for men, to be waltzed (and tossed) around by men, until she is eventually transformed into a housewife. Even in her adult form, her body is still owned by men — who extended their arms, reached inside of her vagina as they pleased, and ripped the fetus right out of her as they wished. In the background of the housewife scene are two young women out and about — trying to enjoy a day at the beach while wearing a gas mask to survive.
During the post-show chat, Jasmin explained that most people remember only the ending of the Greek mythology where Medusa is a terrifying monster. However, she was not born that way. Medusa was once a beautiful maiden, but was raped by the God of the Sea in Athena’s Temple. Her later form came from her anger and her rage, yet the early part of her story is often omitted or even forgotten.
Julia Kane Dance Collective‘s beautiful performance by Julia Kane and her dancers, Liz DiDomenico, Hannah Charis, Sadie McNamara, Madison Kearney, Jessica Pallotti, and Tess Larchian, at the iDance4aCURE fundraiser to end childhood cancer.
Go dance with Julia Kane at her jazz classes on Mondays at PMT Dance.
Bottom photo courtesy of iDance4aCure.
MOMIX is playing at the Joyce Theater through August 11. Don’t this group of incredible visual artists!!!
Here are some of my favorites from last Wednesday.
Aqua Flora — A gorgeous solo where the dancer spins nonstop throughout the entire choreography, creating beautiful visual illusions with the thousands of beads hanging off her neck.
Tuu — A stunning duet that’s aesthetically beautiful but also requires the strength of steel to perform, or at least more core strength than I ever thought was possible.
Dream Catcher — A unique acrobatic choreography unlike anything I’ve seen. Two dancers move through 3D space with the help of a kinetic sculpture (that’s about two stories tall). According to founder and artistic director, Moses Pendleton, the piece was so difficult to create initially, that the original cast wore football helmets (with a full face mask) to prevent themselves from being accidentally crushed by the moving sculpture.
Man Fan — A solo with the most outrageous but impressive costume, where a single person fills the entire Joyce Theater, literally.
If You Need Some Body — A light-hearted and unexpected comedy piece to chose the show!