Members of the Royal Danish Ballet Come to Jacob's Pillow, as it celebrates its 86th anniversary. Art, time, and money can squirm and slip around one another in unexpected ways. This year’s Gala at Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires made some people open their pockets on the spot and made others wish they could. The mood was jovial, and the weather responded with sunshine (perhaps the gods … [Read more...]
The Rise and Fall (?) of a Superhero (or Not)
Faye Driscoll presents Thank You for Coming; Play at BAM Fisher. I could swear that Faye Driscoll has done something to her eyebrows. They seem to slant downward the way they would if she were an Indian dancer portraying one of the nine permanent emotions: “karuna” (compassion or “the pathetic”). Even though the guy I’m sitting next to in BAM Fisher’s front row laughs boisterously at the … [Read more...]
Breaching The Fourth Wall
Faye Driscoll at Danspace St. Marks and Netta Yerushalmy at the Harkness Dance Center bring spectators and performer closer together. The so-called fourth wall that separates performers from the spectators who’ve come to watch them is not always an obvious barrier like that created by a proscenium stage. Often it’s a virtual boundary that involves very little distance between the two zones. … [Read more...]
Testing Realness
You’re Me. That’s the name of Faye Driscoll’s duet for herself and Jesse Zaritt. And the chosen title is a pretty blunt way of putting out an idea that longtime couples acknowledge in more honeyed syntax—possibly with damp eyes. I hope it won’t turn you off, dear reader, if I note that this no-holds barred encounter between a man and a woman is about identity and gender roles. You’re Me tackles … [Read more...]