Exclusive video interviews, dance reviews, articles, and inspiration.Fresh. Unprocessed. Dance.
FILM PREVIEW: First Position
Outsiders of the dance world often marvel at the discipline, commitment and sheer tenacity of those trying to be professionals in the business.
Dancers however, never think twice about what it takes to make it. Raised on the mantra “no pain, no gain,” they often thrive under high pressure and high expectations. To them, all this effort is common sense. If you really want it, you are singularly-focused on the pursuit of a career in dance. If you lack the passion, you quit early. It is simple.
Pontus Lidberg’s Labyrinth Within at Baryshnikov Arts Center
Swedish choreographer and dancer Pontus Lindberg’s Labyrinth Within is a series of pas de deux on film that explores the lines between reality and perception. The majority of the 28 minute film, with a score created by David Lang (and recorded in 2009 by The Symphony Orchestra of Sweden’s Norrlands Operan) takes place in Giovanni Bucchieri and Wendy Whelan’s apartment. The two main characters are in the later years of a now stale marriage.
Why Does Dance Matter?
We want to know why you dance, why you support dance or simply why you think art is crucial to life. Tell us your experiences of how dance has affected your community. Tell us your concerns related to arts funding. Tell us how you support the artists and companies you love the most and what you think should be done to bring appreciation to not only dance, but all art forms.
My Pools of Inspiration
At this point in my career, after ten years as a professional ballet dancer, I find myself being asked these three questions quite often: How do I stay inspired, what do I strive for now, and how do I deal with the struggles that come with ballet stardom? Sometimes I don’t know how to answer. It’s not like I think about these topics all the time; I just do them. After several inadequate attempts to answer, I’ve decided to consider these important inquiries. I’ve discovered that their answers are more important to me than I thought, and even more so if I am hoping to still keep reaching for my peak. I certainly hope I’m not there yet. In this blog I’ll tackle inspiration, and I’ll follow up with two additional blogs to complete the answers to these questions.
Ballet Meets Pop
One of our favorite topics is ballet’s potential for crossover with other art forms. Just as with fashion and photography ballet also naturally lends itself to collaborations with pop music as a means to captivate new, younger audiences and break with conventions. One of the most successful “indie rock ballets” of all time, Wayne McGregor’s “Chroma”, is so closely associated with its score that it has been nicknamed the “White Stripes ballet”.
REVIEW: Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, Program 4
International perspective keeps us healthy. Last night, in Program 4 of Fall For Dance at New York City Center, all four companies travelled from abroad to perform. The color, energy, and philosophies they brought along with them imbued the Festival with a new flair. If you wanted something different, this was the night to come.
REVIEW: Chunky Move at The Joyce Theater
Chunky Move’s “Connected,” which opened this evening at the Joyce Theater, is technically about five security guards and a stolen work of art.
But wait, it takes a second to get there.
What we see when we enter the Joyce house is an industrial and yet finely structured sculpture by kinetic sculpture artist Reuben Margolin. Margolin’s creation fills the stage. Its foundation is a wheel, mounted to a metal base, connected to hundreds of fine translucent strings that are threaded through a grid near to the ceiling and finally cascade making a perfect square of lines in the upstage right corner. It is immediately intriguing, even without Chunky’s movers.
REVIEW: Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center: Program 3
When the Australian Ballet first took the stage in banana yellow unitards, I was thrown off by the choice. However, when Gemini is put in the context of 1973, the year Glen Tetley first created it for the company, it starts to make a whole lot more sense. The piece is a mix of classical and contemporary ballet movement, set to the highly dramatic Symphony No.3 from Hans Werner Henze. There is no question of the athleticism of the two men and two women on stage. They move with force and confidence, flaunting stamina and flexibility. The choreography hovers between intimately human at times and distant and inanimate in the next second. There are many disconnected thoughts; I feel as if in a conversation full of non sequiters.
REVIEW: Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, Program 2
Tonight, despite New York’s first snowstorm of the season, die-hard dance fans put on their big coats and poured into New York City Center for the 2nd program of the Fall For Dance Festival.
The curtain opened on Vertigo Dance Company, with a single spotlight on one man in a voluminous, multi-layered grey costume. His body dives and swift, flinging arms are stark against a big white house-shaped backdrop. Before long, he is joined by one, and then a whole village of movers like him. Mana feels ritualistic. The dancers are donned in embellished pedestrian clothing with layer upon layer of fabric; the women wear bright head scarves. As they flock; they share a history and a language.
REVIEW: William Forsythe’s “i don’t believe in outer space” at BAM
All the way home from Lafayette Avenue at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House to Washington Heights I have been processing Forsythe. I am swimming in his images, in the sounds of his performers’ voices, in their wild presence, and in the bucket of feelings delivered this evening by “i don’t believe in outer space.”
