Martha Sherman

“Suite Donuts,” “The Moor’s Pavane,” “There is a Time”
José Limón Company
Streamed Live at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park
Tivoli, NY
December 19, 2020

As the José Limón Company began “There is a Time,” the final piece in their live- streamed performance at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, the dancers swept into the circle of time that Limón created in this 1956 classic. Based on the biblical wisdom of Ecclesiastes (“for every time, there is a season,”)  the twelve dancers swayed,

Ephrat Asherie
Works & Process at the Guggenheim Livestream
New York, NY
April 26, 2020

Even before the coronavirus crisis closed live performance in New York City, the Guggenheim’s “Works & Process” series focused as much on artistic investigation as on finished performances. But artists now have new realms of challenge in their creative processes. Like many, Ephrat Asherie is trying not only to ensure her company can eventually come back to live performance, but also can keep

“Fruits borne out of rust”
Tabaimo and Maki Morishita
Japan Society
New York, NY
March 7, 2020

Japanese visual artist Tabaimo is a woman on the verge of mid-life, determined to make that transition productively. “Fruits borne out of rust” is a multi-dimensional collaborative performance piece, weaving imagery, sound, and movement to tell mesmerizing stories through scenes that also provoke laughter and discomfort. Co-created with choreographer Maki Morishita and dancer Chiharu Mamiya, the “fruits” partnered Tabaimo’s visual art with

“New Work for Goldberg Variations”
Pam Tanowitz & Simone Dinnerstein
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 10, 2019

Choreographer Pam Tanowitz is a serious headliner in the world of contemporary dance, but in "New Work for Goldberg Variations," her stunning collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, Tanowitz put the award-winning pianist at the center. Dinnerstein sat at a grand piano in the middle of the stage, and, from the first image, the dance revolved around the music. The first light to

“A Picture of You Falling,” “Rise,” “Ash,” “Bzzzz”
Fall for Dance 2019 – Program 1
City Center
New York, NY
October 1, 2019

With City Center’s annual “Fall for Dance” festival in full swing, the New York dance season is officially open. The first program included two world premiere City Center Commissions, including a new work by Kyle Abraham for Misty Copeland. An American company and an international company filled in the evening, and – always aiming to please the crowd

“Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich”
Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker
New York Live Arts
New York, NY
September 26, 2019

It is hard to get much more minimalist than this, especially while offering so much. Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s latest re-staging of her early composition continues to mesmerize. On the bare stage, a pair of women moved in and out of hypnotic parallel to four musical “phases” by Steve Reich. In pale gray shifts and sneakers,

“Isadora Duncan”
Jérôme Bel
FIAF “Crossing the Line” Festival
Florence Gould Hall
New York, NY
September 25, 2019

The purity of Isadora Duncan’s simple, powerful movement and vision was represented with gentle ardor in Jérôme Bel’s framed portrait of the iconic dancer. “Isadora Duncan” was danced, in its US premiere, by Catherine Gallant, a long-time student of the Duncan technique, but the event was as much lesson as a performance. Using the program’s simple structure, Gallant offered

“POWER”
Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group
Ted Shawn Theater at Jacob’s Pillow
Becket, MA
July 13, 2019

When Reggie Wilson gets curious, the rest of us start to learn. Wilson’s ongoing choreographic research has delved into his African and Caribbean dance roots through multiple lenses including 20th century modern dance idioms, fractal math, and the Jewish Bible, among many. At heart, the Fist & Heel Performance Group starts with its name – the power of the fist

“Grace and Mercy”
Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE
Sosoff Theater, Fisher Center at Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
July 5, 2019

What follows “Grace,” for Ronald K. Brown? Mercy, of course. In the world premiere of a well-balanced two-part performance at Bard College’s Fisher Center, Brown and his company, EVIDENCE, combined the 20-year old classic “Grace” with a new work, and added live music, to make for a beautiful full-evening length combination. Brown’s original work, choreographed for the Alvin Ailey

“Moss Anthology: Variation #5,” “The Theory of Color,” “You Took a Part of Me,” “Snap Crackle Pop”
“Women/Create” – A Festival of Dance
New York Live Arts
New York, NY
June 11, 2019

Seeing four mature, successful female choreographers take the stage together in a program that celebrates women’s creative pursuits is still a powerful draw. By now, we shouldn’t need this reassurance, and the “Women/Create” festival (their fourth) still misses a broad swathe of the riskier

“Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event”
Merce Cunningham (staged by Patricia Lent)
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn, NY
April 16, 2019

The blockbuster birthday party celebrating Merce Cunningham’s 100th could not have made a better case for the enduring power of his choreography and vision. In creating this “event” (his own phrase about reconfiguring dance elements to make a new work,) three splendid, invented “companies” of 25 dancers each were assembled to offer live performances in Brooklyn, Los

“To Create a World”
Gallim
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
February 13, 2019

It takes some chutzpah “To Create a World.” Choreo- grapher Andrea Miller, along with the Gallim dancers, had good reason to attempt the feat, in the premiere of their new work. On a stage of swirling, contorted bodies bathed in deep color and harsh swipes of light and dark, Gallim inhabited a place apart, in a community of unique movement and connection.