"Plastic Harvest"
Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance
The Center at West Park, New York
Streamed Live December 15, 2020
In the early 1960s, choreographer Murray Louis took a ride up the escalator at Macy’s, the world’s largest store.
''I looked at rooms and rooms … waves of coats and shirts,'' he told the New York Times. ''I thought, 'Who buys this?' And suddenly I had an image of excess as a theme.'' Shortly
Smuin Contemporary Ballet
2020/2021 Virtual Fall Season
Program Program A, Nov. 18, 2020. 4:30 pm
Program Program B, Nov. 11, 2020. 7.30 pm
Watching dance on screen is not exactly new, but it took a global catastrophe for those of us who cherish live performance to realize that sitting in front of a screen might become the new normal. There may be hundreds of dancers who
book review
“Naked Truth – Viennese Modernism and the Body”
by Alys X. George
University of Chicago Press, 2020
Look carefully at the picture on the cover of this book. It shows a naked woman dancing. Her face is turned away so that only part of her profile appears. Her torso seems somewhat flattened, like that of an ancient Egyptian image. The arms and hands are held lightly away from the body’s center of gravity. The lines of the long legs
“Who Cares?” (excerpts), “to be seen,” “Concerto Six Twenty-Two” (duet), “Lady Swings the Blues”
Fall for Dance Festival – Program 2
New York City Center (Pre-recorded Digital Broadcast)
New York, NY
October 26, 2020
There may not have been many good news for the dance world this year, but the enduring holding of the Fall for Dance Festival, even if in an abbreviated, digital format, was certainly one of them. Admittedly, in these trying times the starved audience
book review
"Out Loud, a Memoir"
by Mark Morris and Wesley Stace
Penguin Press, New York, 2019
This book is a cross between an autobiography by dancer, choreographer, dance company director and opera stager Morris and a biography of Morris by novelist and recording artist Stace. I am fairly familiar with Morris's work but had not before encountered any of Stace's. The writing took place when Morris (born 29 August 1956) was 62 years old - mature but, presumably, not at
Lori Belilove and the Isadora Duncan Dance Company
Lori Belilove, Artistic Director
Hayley Rose, Emily D'Angelo, Faith Kimberling, Caroline Yamada
Untermyer Gardens, Yonkers NY
September 26, 2020
A flock of Monarch butterflies –- stopping for the night in the Hudson Valley on their way to Mexico – greeted early arrivals Saturday in Untermyer Park and Gardens, high above the river in Yonkers. Their visit was unscheduled, but no more an accident than the gust of wind which
"Ave Maria"
dance solo choreographed in 1914 by Michio Ito
to music composed in 1825 by Franz Schubert
performed by Christin Arthur
set by Dana Tai Soon Burgess
dedicated to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the USA's Supreme Court
It is a slow dance, mostly for the upper body. Watching it, one is ever more aware of independent motions that belong to the head and face,
"Marius Petipa - The Emperor's Ballet Master"
by Nadine Meisner
Oxford University Press, 2019
Our concept of classical ballet stems mostly from the work of Marius Petipa (1818 - 1910), a French choreographer resident principally in Russia at the end of the Czarist era. Until the publication of Meisner's biography, personal information in English about Petipa was somewhat scarce. As a reader of German, I relied on Eberhard Rebling's "Marius Petipa, Master of Classical Ballet", printed 1975 in
“piano piano”
Nancy Karp + Dancers
Paul Dresher Sound Studio, Oakland, CA
Video of world premiere February 27, 2020
book review
"The Fascist Turn in the Dance of Serge Lifar"
by Mark Franko
Oxford University Press, UK, 2020
Before tackling this exhaustive and exhausting book about the controversial Serge Lifar by Mark Franko, who is a widely published critic and a professor at the University of California's Santa Cruz campus, I suggest that readers review what is generally known about Lifar (1905 - 1986) as a dancer, choreographer, company director, commentator on dance and as a person. I encountered
book review
"The Legat Legacy" edited by Mindy Aloff.
University Press of Florida, 2020.
With its rich list of books on dance history, technique and memoirs, The University Press of Florida has become the go to publisher for dance books. This recent work, a reprinting of the 1939 "Ballet Russe: Memoirs of Nicolas Legat" and the 1977 "Heritage of a Ballet Master: Nicolas Legat" under the title "The Legat Legacy" is a welcome addition.
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