New York City Ballet premieres new works by Justin Peck and Pontus Lidberg. When a dance really fascinates me, I wish either that I could immediately see it all over again or that I could be instantly at home, hugging it to myself and processing my memories. Justin Peck’s new The Times Are Racing for the New York City Ballet made me feel this way. It’s set to Dan Deacon’s vivid, changeable, … [Read more...]
Archives for 2017
Glittering Athletes
Complexions Contemporary Ballet performs at the Joyce Theater, January 24 through February 5 Some dances aim to hit you over the head—not too hard, just enough to get your adrenaline rushing. Look at the dancers: strong, confident, beautiful, they can do anything. When they swing their legs into the air, a tree could fall. Their idea of a rest is shooting off a few very slightly less … [Read more...]
Inauguration, Dreaming, Rebelling
Ruth Patir's I dream of the elections at Danspace and Isadora Duncan in the 21st Century at the 92 Y Harkness Dance Center. In troubled times, we do strange things and see familiar ones differently. On Thursday night, January 19, 2017, I enter Saint Mark’s Church through the “wrong” door, because of construction work on the main entrance. From this small room, where occasionally during past … [Read more...]
California in New York
Two of the many dance performances that the week in the wake of New Years Day. Dance-loving Christians wishing to celebrate Epiphany (aka El Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos) would have done well to descend upon New York City, where the Association of Performing Arts Presenters was holding its annual conference (January 6 -10). “No room at the inn” might have been a prevailing message, and if … [Read more...]
Bewitched
Danspace Project presents Vicky Shick and Dancers, January 5 through 7. I didn’t see Vicky Shick’s Another Spell when it premiered last April, but I know that the evening I attended the revival of this Danspace Project commission, it began the same way it did back then. Shick genially confronts those of us sitting in St. Marks Church waiting for the performance to begin. What? The … [Read more...]