Category: Dance
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Loving Doubles: A Search for Connection in Mamie Green’s LONELINESS TRIPTYCH
The performance starts before it begins. A rug unfurled; A stretch to prepare; A folding chair opened to reveal the flat steel plane of its seat. There are bells ringing in the audience. Loneliness, as such, is a texture of one’s mind—the contours of the thoughts that we hold in relation to ourselves and others;…
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some rooms are meant for waiting: Caitlin Adams’s ASSEMBLY is a phenomenology of emergent meaning
“Go!” is an affirmation of consent. Meaning emerges from this limited vocabulary as well. “Ready? Four!” becomes “ready for” a dangling question asking, “ready for what?”
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In CURRICULUM III: PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS Bill T. Jones Journeys Into the Heart of American Darkness
At the conclusion of the electrifying performance of Curriculum III: People, Places, and Things, members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company took their bows to a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience. When the dancers invited their company’s Artistic Director to join them, it was no surprise. Opening nights, especially when it´s a…
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Memory in Movement: Bill T. Jones’ in MEMORY PIECE at NYLA
At the opening of Memory Piece: Mr. Ailey, Alvin…the un-Ailey?, we catch glimpses of Bill T. Jones dancing in and out of darkness. His flowing white pants and matching shirt caress his body´s sinewy strength, and he practically prances in and out of the various squares of light that flash on to the floor before…
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The Vivid Luminosity That Words Can’t Carry: Jean-Christophe Maillot’s ROMÉO ET JULIETTE
How does one take a classic literary work shaped by poetry and weave it into movement? How can you craft a physical manifestation of a character’s declarative words and let their psychological complexities dwell in every step? If there was never a tale of more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo, never…
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La MaMA MOVES MFA Evening and The Gift of Time
For the 20th incarnation of La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival programming director Nicky Paraiso reminded us of the importance of experimental theater in times of political turmoil. Something tells me if he could, Paraiso would remind everyone of this. Having had to defend my belief in dance’s value, in the value of movement as not…
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Plz Just Ask: TIDES by John Jasperse for La Mama Moves! Festival
“I wanted to see the John Jasperse piece at La Mama but didnt have money for a ticket, so I offered to write about it,” I texted Jodi Melnick, performer-collaborator in the piece– who once generously, and perhaps regretfully– gave me her phone number while she was my dance teacher at Barnard College. Given the…
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At La MaMa Moves, a Joint Program Produces States of Grief and Sounds of Pleasure
Shared programs can be tricky. As a dance festival curator, part of the battle is attempting to describe a work of art effectively to the public while predicting their reaction. Putting two different artists together on the same bill may double the work, but if handled deftly, it can forge synchronicity. Even in situations where…
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Piercing the Veil: Jesse Zaritt & Pamela Pietro and Jordan Demetrius Lloyd at La MaMa Moves!
The other day, I watched a subway dancer fall. Backflipping between metal rails, his hand slipped and he crashed back-first to the floor. For a moment, the train was still. No one had a script to follow for what should happen next, and our responsibility as witnesses was immediately called into question. The veil between…
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El Club MEG: La MaMa Goes Post-Postmodern
The vibe was very: here we are in the midst of a fascist coup, what is left to fear? Lots, obviously. But the old obsessions with boundaries and criticism are too much to carry now.
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La Mama Moves: How Do You Feel? While Nature Duels with Technology, Dance Contends with Its History and Future
As artificial intelligence takes over the world, many artists seem primed to abandon their inhibitions and experiment with the latest innovations. Concordance between art and technology is harder to imagine in the field of dance. ChatGPT may now draw Studio Ghibli-style cartoons and draft opinion essays, but just like any hollow robotic entity, it would…
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On This Turnless Page: LOVE ALONE ANTHOLOGY PROJECT at La Mama
Before seeing this performance, I had never heard of gay writer and AIDS activist Paul Monette. Despite living through the AIDS crisis, choreographer Keith A. Thompson hadn’t heard of him either, until 2014, when he learned of Paul’s work. Artistic Director of the danceTactics performance company, Thompson wanted to create a dance that engaged with…