Two New York choreographers whose work is profoundly connected to southeast and eastern Asia paired up for a concert of striking contrasts. Village Voice 11/11/05
“Watching Ligeti Move: Three Ballets by Christopher Wheeldon”; “Rules of Engagement”
Any one of Christopher Wheeldon’s dances to Ligeti would confirm this choreographer’s astute craft and hint at an originality still struggling to emerge from a self-imposed tutelage under great masters. All three pieces proved that more can be less. The thrill of JoAnna Mendl Shaw’s Rules of Engagement lay in the danger one sensed–and the […]
VERSATILITY REIGNS
David Hallberg, dancing with American Ballet Theatre / City Center, NYC / October 19 – November 6 When I first got addicted to ballet, type casting prevailed. The men naturally selected to play Princes (Swan Lake’s Siegfried, Giselle’s Albrecht) were as tall, handsome, and harmoniously proportioned creatures as a company’s roster could provide, their […]
“Ballets Russes”
This splendid documentary film shows how the Ballets Russes evolved into a pair of rival companies that crisscrossed America, seducing both cultural innocents and sophisticates with glamour, beauty, and transcendence. Village Voice 10/18/05
Juilliard Dance Ensemble
Abetted by the hypnotic effect of Steve Reich’s Drumming, Eliot Feld’s Sir Isaac’s Apples seems to offer a God’s-eye view of a human colony persevering in a faraway landscape. Village Voice 10/14/05
Kim Whittam & Company; Compagnia Danza Francesca Selva
Whittam’s lithe, upbeat dancers look vastly at ease in movement that’s both slinky and bubbly, laced with the warmth and trust necessary to its contact improv tactics; Selva’s Just Walking looks like it wants to be “about” something–postmodern anomie, the vicissitudes of love, Tuscan traditions–but it never makes clear just what. Village Voice 9/19/05
Glen Rumsey Dance Project
The dancers serve as mere mannequins for ravishing, bizarre outfits featuring transparent plastics, floating gauze, crimson in a dozen dramatic guises, and pearly balloons. Village Voice 9/19/05
MY OTHER LIFE
My most recent book for children, WISHES FOR YOU, with pictures by the celebrated Danish illustrator Henri Sorensen, has just been issued by HarperCollins Children’s Books in a paperback edition. It makes a wonderful present for very young children–and for their parents, grandparents, and other well-wishers. The book can be ordered, in either hardcover or […]
La Compagnie de l’Entorse; Regina Nejman
Raw depictions of escalating hysteria from La Compagnie de l’Entorse depend almost entirely on Charlotte Schioler’s gift for expressionist dance; The Velocity of Things is proof that postmodern tactics can benefit from an infusion of the color, pulse, and spirit Regina Nejman absorbed in her native Brazil. Village Voice 8/23/05
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
A 22-member crew of personable, versatile performers, accomplished in a mix of ballet, modern, and jazz modes, who are out to please without begging. Village Voice 8/15/05