Sasha Waltz & Guests comes from Berlin to BAM. The title of Sasha Waltz’s Kreatur is German for “creature,” since Berlin is where her company is based. At some point during the performance of the piece by Sasha Waltz & Guests at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House, I began to wonder whether the singular noun might allude to one feverish entity, with the … [Read more...]
Together in a Shrinking Space
Lucy Guerin Inc performs Guerin's Split at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, October 13 through 15. Some European and American choreographers focus primarily on illuminating music, creating light-hearted romps, or re-envisioning beauty and nobility in tragedy (think Giselle, think Odette). However, impelled in part by Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and their contemporaries, others have probed … [Read more...]
De Keersmaeker and Bach Shake Hands
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's The Six Brandenburg Concertos at Park Avenue Armory, October 1 through 7. In 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach, then thirty-six years of age, sent the Margrave of Brandenburg some concertos that he had composed with the following message: “Your Highness deigned to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my Composition: I have in accordance with … [Read more...]
Building Community, Skin Against Skin
Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, working in both Brussels and Berlin, visits NYU Skirball The first time I try to access the website of Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods (based in both Brussels and Berlin), the screen says only “try to explode;” when I enter it again later, it tells me, “you have to embrace accident.” I think I’ll try the second now and save the first until later. Seeing Stuart’s 2015 … [Read more...]
Dark Matters from Finland
Tero Saarinen Company performs at the Joyce Theater. Who are these men? I can tell you their names: Ima Iduozee, Leo Kirjonen, Mikko Lampinen, Jarkko Lehmus, David Scarantino, Eero Vesterinen, Heikki Vienola (have you guessed that almost all of them are Finnish?). However, seeing them onstage at the Joyce Theater in Morphed (2014) by the fascinating choreographer Tero Saarinen, you would … [Read more...]
From Belgium, A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme by Salva Sanchis, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker/ Rosas comes to the U.S. Overtures are rare at New York Live Arts. You get your ticket, visit the restroom, maybe buy a drink. The creators of A Love Supreme, Salva Sanchis and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, warm us up in a more intimate way for what is to follow. A half hour before the performance is due to start, saxophonist Tony … [Read more...]
From London to New Jersey
The Richard Alston Dance Company at Montclair State University's Peak Performances, February 2 through 5. What seems different? I’m sitting in the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, waiting for the Richard Alston Dance Company to begin dancing. Having for some years attended events presented at Montclair State’s Peak Performances series, I’m now part of a full house of … [Read more...]
When the Last is not the Last
Batsheva Dance Company, live and on film, performs in New York. The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House is packed —the orchestra, the first balcony, the second balcony, all. The curtain rises, and thousands of eyes converge on a single person moving through time, frozen in space. On top of a slightly raised platform that crosses the back of the stage, a woman is running on … [Read more...]
When Is a Climax Not One?
The Yasmeen Godder Company from Israel mingles performers and spectators. When I last saw Yasmeen Godder’s choreography at the Kitchen in 2010, the dancers in her Singular Sensation often eyed the audience—challenging us, appraising us, flirting with us. However, a few feet of empty space separated even the front row of seats from their violent, messy world. Recently, Godder, based in … [Read more...]
Connecting and Levering
The Bereishit Dance Company from South Korea performs at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. I have long been an admirer of Korean traditional dance. When singer Seo-hee Lee walked into Jacob’s Pillow’s Doris Duke Studio Theater, she was wearing a billowing white and pink hanbok. Dong-sik Lim and Sung-gun Park, the other two musicians preparing to accompany Seoul’s Bereishit Dance Company’s … [Read more...]