Brendan Duggan is originally from Amherst, New Hampshire where he started dancing at the ripe age of 16. He holds a degree in Dance (and a minor in Math) from Skidmore College, where he graduated with Honors and the Margaret Paulding award for excellence in Dance. Since moving to New York, he has had the pleasure of performing with Deganit Shemy, York Dance Works, Bennyroyce Dance Productions and Gallim Dance.
Shen Wei Dance Arts' "Rite of Spring" | Photo Bruce R. Feeley
Program 5 Shen Wei Dance Arts Laboratory Dance Projects CIRCA María Pagés The Fall for Dance Festival always seems to offer a healthy smorgasbord of dance treats. Program 5 of the festival offered the usual variety from intellectually stimulating work to compromised artistry. To open the evening, Shen Wei Dance…
Nederlands Dans Theater “Shutters Shut” | Photo: Rahi Rezvani
Program 1 Jared Grimes Fang-Yi Sheu & Artists Nederlands Dans Theater II BalletBoyz He stuck out like a sore thumb outside of New York City Center. An unkempt outfit consisting of a black and grey plaid shirt and long cargo pants matched his crazy demeanor, the gap in his teeth,…
"Sit, Stand Kneel" | Photo Gallim Dance
Two weeks ago, Gallim Dance opened the doors to its new home in Brooklyn at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew. In addition, the lucky attendees were offered a sneak peak at Andrea Miller’s new work Sit, Kneel, Stand to be premiered at the Joyce Theater June 8th-10th. It was an overwhelming experience, not only to see such exclusive sights, but also to witness the growth that Gallim Dance has undergone.
Gallim has gained its reputation by utilizing Ms. Miller’s extremely physical movement vocabulary coupled with raw emotional construction to expose deep and visceral themes. However, the choreography has never really strayed from its firm roots in the genre of “Dance”, staying true to more traditional choreographic tools.
"Hemels" performed by Introdans | Photo Hans Gerritsen
Ballet has always held itself in a different genre, treasuring technique and choreographic innovation within that aesthetically clean framework. Prestigious visionaries like George Balanchine and Jiří Kylián found their own unique ways of transforming the classical to the contemporary, historically breaking new ground and allowing a next generation of creativity to progress and discover new ways to enrapture audiences. One of the national dance companies of the Netherlands, Introdans was met with high expectations for their US debut at the Joyce Theater. Ballet desperately needs new flag-bearers. The result this week was disappointing in its transparency.
Roel Voorintholt, artistic director of Introdans, opened with Heavenly, featuring divinity-themed revivals from three different choreographers. The first work, Fünf Gedichte (five poems), was choreographed by Nils Christe and premiered in 1996.
zoe|juniper in A Crack In Everything | Photo Christopher Duggan
A projected wall of leaves ripples in the wind on stage and I can already sense the visual mastery at work in zoe | juniper’s New York Premiere of A Crack in Everything at New York Live Arts. The house lights dim and we are welcomed to a peculiar new realm, where dancers in patches of gold perform behind a giant glass wall on the front of the stage. Zoe Scofield’s powerful movement vocabulary owns the stage behind the protective layer in front of us. It’s an interesting new angle to see the fourth wall constructed physically. As the show continues, it becomes increasingly clear that the audience’s perspective will remain in constant flux and rarely visit the comfort zone.
