The L.A. dance scene of late has felt a fresh momentum. And the decade-long accumulation -- of new companies, new venues, new academies and institutions, prestige teachers and choreographers -- took a leap in cumulative power this past month, thanks to the debut of an elegant digital source called Dance Map L.A. Simple census taking can be a … [Read more...]
Equal Parts Hip-Hop and High Art, Seattle’s Amy O’Neal Tours “Opposing Forces”
At quick glance, the dance lineup for this year’s Off Center Festival at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa might appear underwhelming. There’s the Barcelona-based performance group Agrupación Señor Serrano, which advertises “minimalist choreography” among its many attributes. And then, as the concluding act of the festival, there are … [Read more...]
Great Moments in L.A. Dance in 2013
With strong flavors of Stravinsky, Balanchine, and Trisha Brown, 2013 was a satisfying year for iconic dance, and dance music, in Los Angeles. The centennial of Stravinsky’s game-changing “Rite of Spring” for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes delivered unto us both the Joffrey’s faithful reconstruction of the nervy Nijinsky choreography and, earlier in … [Read more...]
Alvin Ailey in Costa Mesa/ 2012 North American Tour
[The Los Angeles Times originally ran this review.] Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, touring for the first time under new artistic director Robert Battle, delivered a heady, reverberating concoction of pieces -- including the company premiere of Paul Taylor’s Baroque pure-dance classic “Arden Court” (1981) and the California premiere of hip-hop … [Read more...]
My Lunch with a Billion-Dollar Tour Director
[This article originally ran in the LA Times.] In a dark booth at the Polo Lounge, just down the street from his Beverly Hills home, tour director extraordinaire Jamie King struggles to recall the day he hung up his dance shoes for good. Though his management badly wants this interview to stay on the topic of his current feats as the … [Read more...]
Bring it On!
[This piece first ran in the Los Angeles Times.] At the pre-show warm-up for "Bring It On: The Musical," performers in their 20s are stretching and assuming yoga postures, others are jumping rope or jogging softly in place. It's what you might expect from any cast of a musical. Then suddenly, downstage right, there's a complicated, unfamiliar … [Read more...]
Alvin Ailey on 24-City Tour
How to institutionalize the extraordinary? There is a lesson to be learned from the amazing success and vitality of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, now in its 53rd year. Their current tour is packed with choreography to inspire and dancers to full-on worship. I reviewed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for the Seattle Times. The next … [Read more...]
Bruno Beltrão’s Grupo de Rua in “H3″
[First published on Seattle Dances.] I have been waiting all fall for the Seattle debut of Bruno Beltrão’s company, Grupo de Rua. From what I read, I expected to see dark, volcanic Brazilian street dancers performing hip-hop without the accompanying loud, rapping pulse -- to thus feel time stilled and movement writ large. Though hip hop started up … [Read more...]
Bruno Beltrão’s Grupo de Rua
At On the Boards, Fri - Sun Jan 28 - 31, 2010 @ 8pm. This ghostly, washed-out photo of Grupo de Rua, the contemporary Brazilian troupe run by Bruno Beltrão that's performing at On the Boards this weekend, is actually a good indicator of the luminous cinematic quality of H3, a 50-minute dance work for nine men. (Check Seattle Dances soon for a full … [Read more...]
2009: Five Best Moments in Dance
In Seattle and otherwise... 1) "Esplanade" at the UW Meany Hall World Dance series. The dance that I saw as a young child that hooked me forever. It looked a little off-balance with a full-size woman in the jumping-over-bodies role (Lila York, for whom it was created, told me once that it indicated Paul Taylor's belief that the meek shall … [Read more...]