“Estrogen/Genius,” “Distant Kin,” “North Star,” “Mudan 175/39”
Garth Fagan Dance
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
November 2, 2018
Garth Fagan Dance returned to the Joyce Theater this fall for less than a week, but was determined to make the most of the appearance. Each night’s program presented the company’s two new works, Garth Fagan’s “The North Star,” which was a celebration of the life of Frederick Douglass, and Norwood Pennewell’s “Distant Kin,” so
“I hunger for you”
Kimberly Bartosik/daela
BAM Fisher (Fishman Space)
Brooklyn, NY
November 3, 2018
Like the zone inhabited by whirling dervishes, Kimberly Bartosik’s passionate “I hunger for you” reaches for moments of mystical power through relentless motion. In its New York premiere in the capacious black box of BAM Fisher, her work for five dancers (plus a brief observer) offers passion and intensity that often finds that ecstatic zone; even the act of reaching offers many of
film review
"Waiting for Godot"
By Samuel Beckett, directed by Garry Hynes
Gerald W. Lynch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York
November 5, 2018
"Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again"
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Opening November 12, 2018
In the mid-20th century, Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” seemed like an end game. Two vagabonds meet daily by a tree, and hope for a deliverance that never comes.
"Written in Water"
Ragamala Dance Company
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
November 3, 2018
In “Written in Water,” a menagerie of talented dancers, music- ians, and visual artworks joined together and intermingled to perform a sonically extravagant and visually alluring show. Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy, the mother-daughter duo responsible for Ragamala Dance Company’s artistic direction, were informed by tradition and compelled by innovation to create a masterpiece respecting the
"The Four Temperaments", "Pas de Trois (Glinka)", "Pas de Deux from Agon", "Divertimento No. 15"
The Joffrey Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, San Francisco Ballet
Balanchine: The City Center Years
New York City Center
New York, New York
November 3, 2018, matinee
The City Center's brief Balanchine celebration made the wide appeal of Balanchine's choreography clear on this Saturday matinee as the varied program had no performances by Balanchine's own company. These performances had
“Kreatur”
Sasha Waltz & Guests
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn, New York
November 2, 20 18
Contemporary German choreographers are not known for light-hearted fare, but Sasha Waltz’s “Kreatur,” which opened Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, may set a record for dystopian gloom. Not that there is much optimism on either side of the Atlantic these days.
The ninety-minute piece is set for fourteen dancers and is described as an examination of existence in a
“Apollo,” “Concerto Barocco,” Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,” “Divertimento No. 15”
Mariinsky Ballet, New York City Ballet, Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet
Balanchine: The City Center Years
New York City Center
New York, New York
November 1, 2018
Last year the Lincoln Center Festival celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of George Balanchine’s “Jewels” by inviting the Paris Opera Ballet, the Bolshoi, and New York City Ballet to perform sections of the work, trading off sections at various performances. One good idea
“Silhouettes”
Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium
National Portrait Gallery
Washington, DC
October 30, 2018
Before photography was invented in 1839, silhouettes were pretty trendy. These simple, economical cut-outs of a person’s profile were easily available, so even people belonging to marginalized minority groups were able to get silhouettes made. As a result, those who study these underrated slivers of history are able to recognize America’s diversity. The concept of silhouette features the
“Xenos”
Akram Khan
White Light Festival
Rose Theater, Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 31, 2018
Akram Khan has long been one of the UK’s most inventive dance artists. He is known for imaginatively combining classical Indian Kathak dance with contemporary western forms, and for his collaborative productions with important artists from varied genres. “Xenos,” presented as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, has to do with Indian soldiers who fought for Britain in World
"Serenade", "Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux", "Tarantella", "Symphony in C"
Miami City Ballet, The Mariinsky Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet
Balanchine: The City Center Years
New York City Center
New York, New York
October 31, 2018
When Mayor Fiorello La Guardia established the New York City Center 75 years ago, the current president Arlene Shuler's gracious opening speech reminded the audience it was New York's first performing arts center. Several years later, in 1948, it
“But First A School: The Making of a Balanchine Dancer”
Studio 5
New York City Center
New York, New York
Oct. 29, 2018
New York City Ballet’s first home was New York City Center, and as part of the Center’s seventy-fifth anniversary, it is featuring a George Balanchine celebration, which is going on this week in the main auditorium. Meanwhile, upstairs in Studio 5, a less formal celebration took place on Monday evening. It was
Song of the Mermaid
K'Arts Dance Company
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 20, 2018 evening
"Song of the Mermaid", choreographed by Sunhee Kim, has as its source Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". The Mermaid, the youngest of six daughters of the King of the Sea, falls in love with the prince she has saved from drowning. To act on her love, she seeks help from a Blanket Octopus who covets her father's throne.