Step number one, in considering Lar Lubovich’s program at the Joyce Thursday night, is opening this in your browser while you read this review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I6xkVRWzCY.

This show is a delightful group of dances presented by the talented Lar Lubovitch Dance Company.  It starts off with “Nature Boy: Kurt Elling” featuring solos by Christopher Vo and three duets.  As the curtain rises, the core company is moving fluidly in a circular motion on the edge of a spotlight center-stage.  Then we hear the lyrics “the story of a boy” effuse and Christopher Vo emerges with a lovely and quirky solo.  Next come the duets, with virtuosic spinning lifts and strong legs extensions.  In the second solo, Katarzyna Skarpetowska seems to embody the music, while Brian McGinnis embodies the musician in an interesting parallel study of the relationship between music and musician, woman and man.  Is the woman just decoration; is she more beautiful than the man; is she just beautiful because the man is creating her? Questions arise and lilt in the air.

All the works are tightly choreographed to the jazz music at its base (in the first piece the music recording was by Kurt Elling).  While the choreography is primarily modern, it brings in elements of ballet and some quirky new movement.  At poignant moments, Lubovitch riffs the movement as the jazz musicians are riffing the music.

The second piece on the program is the world premiere of “Coltrane’s Favorite Things.”  Music is a live recording of John Coltrane’s Quartet and scenery is Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm (Number 30).”  It is fun, playful, exuberant dance.  Groups and couples come in and out, and play and dance for themselves and for their partners.  The spirit is infectious in this piece and with audience favorite, “Elemental Brubeck,” the final piece in the program (originally choreographed in 2005).

Lar Lubovitch has established himself as one of the choreographic masters of his time with his lyrical, detailed, and dynamic movement vocabulary.  Jazz music is a perfect partner for his choreography and together they bound, play, and excite.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Leah Sands
Performance:  Nature Boy: Kurt Elling; Coltrane’s Favorite Things; Elemental Brubeck
Choreographer:  Lar Lubovitch
Venue: Joyce Theater
Date:  February 23, 2010
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Tags: Lar Lubovitch Leah Sands IDANZ The Joyce

Come to Fresh Tracks presented by Dance Theater Workshop and expect to be surprised.  Fresh Tracks 2010 offers some shocking works from new choreographers seeking to get their names out there. 

First on the program is up and down by Makiko Tamura who also dances in the piece alongside Ryoji Sasamoto.  The dance is inspired by a long distance relationship of two people with the world in between.  One is on top, experiencing day, when the opposite is on bottom, experiencing night.  The couple, each wearing one shoe, seem two halves of one whole.  They stare out in the distance yearning to connect, and their movements influence the other, yet the distance remains apparent.  The choreography is fun and quirky, with moments of touching intimacy conveyed through interesting partnering.  Set among a landscape of discarded clothing, the dancers interact with different articles of clothing providing another layer to the work.

The Miner is choreographed by Eleanor Smith and contains no music. The dance is performed by Molly Lieber, who provides a sort of soundtrack with her breathing and dancing. This dance could be dissected into various parts that present different activities including (but not limited to anything) swimming, leaping like a frog, sprinting a ten foot distance, and playing the piano. Amazingly, the solo dancer is able to hold the audience captive as she explores the space and time she is given. Though the choreography is set, she seems to be improvising, often unaware of others watching, often turning her back. Perhaps this voyeuristic perspective adds excitement to the audience’s experience of the work. “The Miner” is an artistic experimentation of movement that is honest and inspiring.

We are Weather choreographed by Vanessa Anspaugh and her dancers seems to present the difficulties faced in a triangulated relationship.  The dancers Aretha Aoki, Lily Gold and Mary Read all have powerful stage presences that are cool and calm though some moments in the dance are quite dramatic.  With natural pedestrian movement the piece is nonetheless well-crafted and intentional.

Good Girl is a solo performance by dancer and choreographer Liz Santoro, performing with a projection of herself.  Provocative and entertaining, the dance confronts our expectations of what we consider a “Good Girl.”  Liz Santoro keeps the choreography simple, including a simple first arabesque- what better way to convey innocent intentions?  I say, dare to put yourself out there, Good Girl!

Naughty Bits is a work by Jen McGinn and gathered inspiration from the Chronicles of Narnia.  Dancers are adorned with animal elements: a furry paw, feathers sprouting from an arm, horns upon a forehead.  One dancer toots a horn signaling the dance to begin. The dancers form a mass of morphing faces, expressions evolving from happy to sad to relief.  One dancer is set apart; she takes off her bottom garments and dances in a clergy shirt and collar.  Is this a statement about the “Naughty Bits” of society?  After seeing this work, that is something you will have to decide for yourself!

The evening performance concludes with Heart Ain’t In It: Four-Chamber Studies. Though this work doesn’t seem to contain much dancing, the choreography by Enrico D. Wey presents an interesting paradox of the easily replaceable dancer. Live music is performed, then mimicked by another cast who takes the final bow.

An awesome part of Dance Theater Workshops’ Fresh Tracks series is its post-performance wine and discussion with the artists.  It is especially interesting for the audience to interact with the artists of such abstract works and amusing that many of the artists express ambiguity in their responses encouraging each member of the audience to discover how the dances reverberate within themselves.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: Fresh Tracks 2010
Choreography: Makiko Tamura, Eleanor Smith, Vanessa Anspaugh, Liz Santoro, Jen McGinn, Enrico D. Wey
Venue: Dance Theater Workshop, New York City
Performance Date: February 11, 2010
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Tags: Fresh Tracks DTW Lea McGowan IDANZ

The Joyce SoHo often presents unique, even avant-garde artists, and Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth exemplifies this fact.  As a soloist choreographer and dancer, she has created more than five full-length solo works and toured the world performing them.  In her work, she may incorporate movement phrases given to her by an international group of her friends and colleagues, which contributes diversity and greater depth.  Her work successfully incorporates several points of view, as she works with a team to create each performance.  Jochen Heinrich directs many of her solo works, having studied biochemistry and working as an author and dramatist, his skills certainly aid in pulling all the different elements of the production together.  In this performance of Lichtungen, Martin Schäfer creates the stage design, Beat Escher and Daniel Mouthon the musical composition with Lara Stanic aiding in sound design, Kathy Kaufman designing the lighting and Bea Bögli as costume designer. When all these elements come together, the effect is a magnificent performance that transcends through dimensions of space and time.

Part of the stage craft transforms from quilt to hanging laundry to ocean waves, and simple alterations in costuming along with dynamic changes in lighting, and the use of projections all create setting.  Elfi insists that her show would not be possible without the assistance of her team, who she introduces with warmth and admiration.

The dancing blends in with the other elements to create a seamless production. The experience is like a drug-induced trip, as four varying scenes are juxtaposed, leaving the dancer to reflect on them.  Thematically, this work plays with the collective unconscious, stretching to manipulate different scenes from different times and involving different women.  Elfi’s dance connects and expresses aspects of these various characterizations through her clever choreography.  Blending dance with everyday movements, Elfi seamlessly tells a fascinating tale through poetic choreography and specific subtle expressions.  Some moments are ecstatically happy, others dark and brooding.  In the course of one show, multiple surprises occur as stage elements shift, further broadening the minds of the audience.

Elfi is an inspiration to watch, a woman that didn’t dance professionally till after some dancers retire, she continually flows with fresh energy and ideas.  Her art is defined by the abstract, her dance an evolution of gesture.  This mesmerizing production is a unique experience, fueling dance as an essential art form and tool for communicating aspects of life experience that cannot be put into words.  In one word: beautiful.

iDANZ Critix Corner

Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: Lichtungen
Choreography: Elfi Schäfer-Schafroth
Venue: Joyce SoHo, New York City
Performance Date: Friday February 12, 2010
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Tags: Joyce SoHo Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth Lea McGowan

This week at Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), Brazilian dance company Grupo de Rua ties together hip-hop, breakdancing, Capoeira, and modern dance in a virtuosic, yet sincere investigation of street dance.

Choreographer Bruno Beltrão brings much more than his company of nine male dancers to New York City; he transports the less glamorous, but perhaps more impressive, side of Brazilian street dance to the DTW stage.

Highly energetic and physical, Beltrão’s evening-length work “H3” never loses its connection to sub-culture of street dance, the practice halls and pavement where movement is generated and mastered long before being presented in public. H3 offers a look into the personal side of a very extroverted dance form. Beltrão avoids the expected competitiveness of break dancing: the taunting, the raising of noses, and the self-congratulatory signal for applause. Instead, his dancers breathe heavily and drink from plastic water bottles as they sit and take breaks in clear view of the audience. He acknowledges the process of practice and revels in repetition.

Throughout H3, Beltrão uses the reoccurring movement theme of running backwards to display the experience and skill of his dancers. With each running lap the dancers make of the stage, the audience watches in wonder at the sheer force of their curving patterns.

Just as ballet technique relies on a foundation of simple small steps, street dance has a similar reliance on core mechanics, but these mechanics are pedestrian movements most readily available- walking and running. Instead of focusing on flashy inverted freezes or head-spins, Beltrão looks at the root of the phenomenon of street dance- at the preparation before the trick; he isolates the running start.

Another clear distinction between Grupo de Rua’s H3 and a hip-hop show is the choice of music. Instead of using loud and pounding popular hip-hop or techno, Beltrão allows the movement to set the pace of the performance. The first fifteen minutes of the dance is performed to a soundtrack comprised of faint street sounds (cars, shoes on the pavement etc.). At times, these noises are so subtle and quiet they could be confused for the sounds outside the building of Chelsea, NYC leaking into the theater.

During this first section, flat frontal lights illuminate the downstage area of the stage, while the upstage is left in darkness. The dancers open the piece by dancing close to the audience, basking in the same light as the forefront theater seats as if not performing, but simply sharing. Later in the piece, the entire stage is lit by cold overhead lights and strips of florescent bulbs that resemble a basketball court or perhaps a community center where street dancers in Brazil might practice their skills. The Marley is clearly Grupo de Rua’s own floor, carried with them on tour. Countless scuff marks from the dancers’ hip kicks reminds the audience that the company is proud of what it has been through and not afraid to show the nitty gritty parts of what they do.

Grupo de Rua charges backwards with large strides and simultaneously pushes street dance forward with new possibilities of being seen as artistry, not just tricks. Stripped of flashing lights, competitive theatrics, and heart pumping music, street dance with Grupo de Rua has an even truer soul. With Bruno Beltrão’s direction, this company also has a future on the modern dance stage.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Tze Chun 
Performance: Grupo de Rua
Choreography: Bruno Beltrão
Venue: Dance Theater Workshop, New York City
Performance Date: February 21, 2010
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Tags: DTW Bruno Beltrao Grupo De Rua

Urban Bush Women presents an insightful evening of celebration at New York City's Dance Theater Workshop entitled Zollar: Uncensored…  Jawole’s unapologetically raw interpretation of the beauty and strength of womanhood. 

The show begins with Jawole herself standing in a pool of light and continues on with song.  The entire show is narrated by the voices of Somi, Pyeng Threadgill, and once again, Jawole herself, who sing folkloric music, traditional to the different places of the African Diaspora, fused with a more “jazz-like” sound and African American Spiritual.  With accompaniment by percussionist, Beverly Botsford, the movement also fuses these traditions with a touch of modern dance, characteristic of Jawole’s movement style.

The first major dance section gives an interesting perspective on each women's experience as the dancers go in-and-out of hip gyrations, applying lipstick and seeming to be in their own inner worlds of turmoil.  It is a happy experience at times and painfully complicated at others.  The feelings in this section expresses mixtures of eroticism, pain, pleasure, joyfulness, and pride...  The dancers are at all moments comfortable in their own skin, even in a later section where they actually vocalize "orgasmic" sensations but from different experiences. One dancer even screams in pleasure as she actually eats a cupcake on stage!

The show continues on the ride through sections where the dancers celebrate and get down by “shaking what they mama gave them,” to where they literally are chanting to each other on stage, to more emotional sections where a dancer performs an amazing solo completely naked.  She is led on the stage by Jawole and a poem which describes her story full of abuse and disregard because she is a woman.  I am a bit frustrated because the program does not specify who the soloists are, but I soon forget as I watch the “unidentified" dancer throw her body onto the ground repeatedly, rolling around and thrashing in pain with control that is only characteristic of a strong and well-centered dancer.  She is more than comfortable with herself and her nudity which is also an admirable thing both as a dancer, for her commitment to telling a story through her art, and as a women, who is comfortable in her skin and who fights against all the assumptions and negativity that is based on body image in the dance world.  All of Jawole’s dancers are strong, technical, and represent the beauty that the feminine body has to offer which is often oppressed in the dance world.  (That’s a whole other discussion..lol)  Why do dancers hate these things?  Hips, thighs, breasts, hey… that’s a part of womanhood...  A great thing to see on stage!!  Love it!

After the soloist fights she is saved by the other dancers who swirl around her and actually dress her on stage.  They end up dancing together celebrating the power that faith and spiritual guides give us to overcome.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by JoiLynn    
Choreographer:  Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Performance:  Urban Bush Women
Venue:  Dance Theater Workshop, DTW
Show Date:  January 20, 2010
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Tags: Urban Bush Women Jawole Zollar JoiLynn DTW

Described as a “rock-dance opera” with lead vocalists and music from the East Village Opera Company, David Parsons' Parsons Dance Company presents their Program A with an  evening length work, REMEMBER ME, now being performed at The Joyce Theater for it’s second season.  It’s an on-going trend to incorporate more live music into dance works and Parsons does an excellent job bringing in talented singers to belt re-imagined opera classics, opening the doorway to a younger audience for the company, while pleasing their long time fans with familiar opera melodies.  Combined with Parsons' standard of amazing dancing, overall, this concept exceeds all expectations.  As I page through the program, I love reading that commissioning support comes from a couple in honor and memory of their daughter. That just goes to show that supporting the arts can lead to a beautiful creation that is so powerful to those both watching and taking part.

The lead dancers of the show are Abby Silva Gavezzoli, as the beautiful and desired protagonist, Zac Hammer, as her handsome and sweet lover, and Miguel Quinnones, as the scorned antagonist struggling to get Gavezzoli for himself.  This fantastic trio is very well cast.  Everyone in the Parsons Dance Company are strong movers with a great understanding of musicality and staging, and the lead performers handsomely stand-out and shine.

Audiences are wowed by layers of lighting, both on the dancers as well as the projections behind them.  I really like how Parsons uses video footage by sometimes projecting what’s happening on the stage behind the dancers, then sometimes, a mirrored image, and at other times, an image so slowed-down to the extreme it becomes very artistic.  The creative use of lighting helps to change the landscape of The Joyce Theater and move the storyline forward.

Every time I see Parsons’ work I think how much I want him to choreograph the next movie musical.  His choreography seems to fit with musical theater, and I could almost picture his dancers singing along to the movement. Parsons describes this style of choreography as “corn-ography.”  He makes excellent use of his dancers abilities, which, much to our delight, gives way for the audience to see individuality in the dancers' movement. 

Quinnones has a musculature that feeds his urban style of movement, making him the perfect one for his part as the rejected choice for the beautiful woman that everyone wants.  He exudes frustration and embarrassment in his solo that features him rolling in an arched and vulnerable position on the floor next to the feet of singer Tyley Ross.  I am very wowed by Gavezzoli’s principle dancer technique and expressiveness.  She moves with ease through advanced partnering lifts and confidently dances solo when all eyes are on her.

I’m a huge fan of the way every dancer in Parsons Dance Company attacks each step with the kind of passion and virtuosity that would make me want to hire them if I saw them in an audition or class.  Audiences will see signature moves that Parsons loves to throw in, especially one in which the dancers would lift their arms from their elbows creating a boxed frame around them that instantly catches the eye.

Parsons Dance lovers will never be disappointed when they see his works since the company always delivers with consistency energetic, inspired performances.  During the post performance talk with Parsons, one of the audience members comments that she has never before felt all of her senses engaged the way she has tonight.  Parsons says that he loves physicality and roller coasters of emotion.

To learn more about Parsons Dance and upcoming shows, visit www.parsonsdance.org. 

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Jessica Shahinian    
Performance:  “Remember Me” Parsons Dance Company
Choreography:  David Parsons
Venue:  The Joyce Theater
Show Date: February 3, 2010
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Tags: Parsons Dance Company David Parsons Jessica Shahinian The Joyce Theater

José Limón Dance Company performs radiantly with timeless perfection!  Showcasing in New York City at Baryshnikov Arts Center, There is a Time, by Limón, and Rooms, by Limón's close colleague Anna Sokolow, these two legends offer disparate and compelling visions of the same generation in American dance history, both of which to dancers' delight still have the power to speak to us today.

The program opens with Rooms, Solokow's intensely American "masterwork" examining, mostly through short, intense character studies, isolation and fantasy in post-war America.  Thanks to generous funding for this revival, the score, written by Kenyon Hopkins specifically for this piece, is performed to live music played by an ensemble from the Manhattan School of Music. Beginning with a jazzy overture the stage is evocatively set for New York in the 50's, a hot bed of American Jazz.  Moving into the dance numbers, Sokolow slowly reveals her studiously sparse movement vocabulary in the first section for the company.  All members sit in high backed black chairs, the men in brown pants and grey undershirts, the women in lavender chiffon shirts over long pink satin dresses.  They are each in a separate block of white light.  One woman turns slightly to the left, another slowly arches her face towards the ceiling.  This sets off a chain of tilting bodies, extending arms, and rises to standing that, while quite slow in execution, nevertheless find impact in increasing tempo and deadpan delivery to an ever more dissonant accompaniment.  Although a group choreography, Sokolow titles it and the last full company section, "Alone."

She continues to offer glimpses into the lives of several typically New York characters; the hyper-active jazz cat shaking his snapping fists as he lounges backward over his chair, the dreaming and languid female lover, opening one leg to the ceiling, closing it and rubbing it over the other several times so that pink of her satin under-dress is revealed barely covering her crotch, the desperate young man searching for meaning as he spins in a crouch, head up, arms spread flat out parallel to the floor.

Sokolow's success in this work comes from her dedication to her limited vocabulary.  Her philosophy might be summed up as, 'if its worth doing once, its worth doing again.'  But her repetition isn't simply doing the same again.  She continually shifts the movement against it's own rhythm, and that of the carefully constructed score, so that movements that might seem quirky, or even flat, gather emotional intensity over time.  The overall effect is a vision of New York, and, by extension, of America, as a collection of lost souls on a doomed search for connection through art, sex, and love.

Limón, on the other hand, offers up a more cheerful vision.  In There is a Time, he choreographs, quite literally, a passage Ecclesiastes, which begins, "To every thing there is a season..." and which most viewers will recognize.  Taken with the text the choreography can seem pedantic, even mime-like, but removed from the obviousness of the words to which it was made, it takes on a dramatic relevance that in totality is quite powerful.

The work is an elaborate circle dance.  Morphed from more pastoral invocations of this folk form, Limón keeps his dancers in vaguely 19th century dress; long skirts for women and peasant shirts for men.  The company begins in a circle, facing inward and lightly swaying from side to side.  The moment is striking which is why he goes back to it as a final image - after we have seem Limón's dense choreographic overview of the human condition, it moves us again with it's simple evocation of community.

Full of trademark Limón spinal curves and falling arabesques, as well as drama and joy, this dance showcases the specificity of both Limón's technique and his dramatic vision.  Men leap through the air, one leg stretched forward, foot flexed, the other tucked up and and underneath the pelvis while the elbows come in front of the body, fists clenched.  It is a virile move, and fits here to present men as fraught, but powerful creatures.  Women are also strong in this vision, but of course in a different manner.  Love, as a flaxen-haired woman in a pale blue dress, brings peace to the warring hordes with a single sweep of her outstretched arms.

My favorite dance of the evening, done by my favorite dancer of the company Jonathan Fredrickson and Kathryn Alter is set to a "A time to keep silence, and a time to speak."  She is a conflicted woman with something to say- she covers her mouth and holds it in either from fear or pride, it is hard to say which through her enigmatic performance.  He is a loud mouth and cocky. As the company keeps time with hand claps from the sides of the stage, he slaps his thighs, feet and hands on the off beats.  He sweeps a leg through attitude, slapping his knee on the way down, and comes through a deep second position to do it again, all the while maintaining beautifully controlled technique.  As he then reaches to the sky, one leg coming to passé and the other descending into plié, I smile, because it feels just so... Limón.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Meghan Frederick
Performance:  Rooms and There is a Time performed by the José Limón Dance Company
Choreography: Anna Sokolow & José Limón
Venue:  Baryshnikov Arts Center
Show Date:  February 10, 2010
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and supplies to victims in this crisis?
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Tags: Jjose Limon Meghan Frederick Baryshnikov Arts Center

Győr National Ballet of Hungary exhibits a powerful cultural force in “A Stravinsky Evening” at The Joyce Theater.  The evening is composed of two ballets that have powerful messages involving human experience:  Petrushka, which commemorates the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism and, Rite of Spring, that documents a human sacrifice ritual.  Intense music brings out intense dancing in both works.  Though thematically similar, the two ballets are uniquely transforming.

Petrushka depicts the "little man" struggling to survive a communist society, living under the rule of a totalitarian regime.  Much of the dancing is done on the floor, the dancers mimicking swimming strokes, as if suppressed to the ultimate low by their government and struggling to stay afloat.  The leader tromps about, stomping on any individual that fails to meet standards.  The characters truly come to life on stage, presenting a very relevant reenactment of history. Petrushka is a civilian who expresses ideas that separate him from the others.  The powerful ruler or so-called “Magician” demonstrates his superiority, menacing in each movement.  The chorus dancers are the uncaring mob repeating meaningless sequences mindlessly, servants to a domineering commander.  Though appropriately pedestrian in some movement, the dancers encapsulate spirits of individuals, making the drama both haunting and enlightening.  Dance becomes a metaphorical language for reenacting a cruel totalitarian government and its destruction of the "little man."   It is incredibly inspiring to see dance that interprets societal change, thereby promoting positive change in a non-militant way.

Rite of Spring is equally riveting, with choreography by Attila Kun, depicting what he describes as a “sacrifice that redeems human beings and transforms life.”  Initially, I confuse the subject of Rite of Spring as being about a mating ritual or the institution of marriage; then, I realize, it is about a different type of human sacrifice.

Another orderly society presents itself, then trouble seems to arise with one individual.  Many couples begin singling out the single person to become the sacrificial gift.  I relate to the single woman onstage, the victim of society’s customs.  It seems she is chosen by the crowd of couples as the innocent fresh meat- the perfect sacrifice and is also victimized due to lack of a "male protector."  The white costumes show off the shapes of the dancers, and renders them blameless as they methodically perform the accepted ritual.

The Stravinsky program is an excellent choice for a mature audience.  Social equality is evident in dancing where women partner other women, and men, proving themselves to be capable and strong. Such choreographic choices are in stride with ways of the future, as women are gaining respect in societies for their contributions other than role of mate and mother.  The humanity of the dancers is appealing, and though the company seems very unified culturally, they have a nice range of shapes and sizes. Győr National Ballet has the gift of beautiful storytelling, a gift of presenting history that is difficult to tell yet important to recognize, and conveys it powerfully through dancing.

All photos © Béla Szabó

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: Győr National Ballet: A Stravinsky Evening
Choreography: Attila Kun, Dmitrij Simkin, James Sutherland
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York
Performance Date:  January 28, 2010
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Tags: Gyor Joyce Theater Lea McGowan

It is a rare occasion that the audience gets to watch a company showcase works that are in the making.  STRIPPED is just that; stripped of lighting, costumes, programs, and a formal theater.  The company showcases works both old and new, unfinished works wearing rehearsal clothes and dancing in a performance space where half the audience sits floor level with the dancers.  If you have ever sat so close in a rehearsal with dancers whirling past and stopping within an inch of your nose, then you know what a gem of an opportunity this is.  Varone says that his mind is weighted on the physical and gestured, so he opens the showcase with two finished pieces from his repertoire. These pieces are the inspiration for his newer works later in the evening.

The first piece, RISE, gives Varone the challenge of exploring another way to create dance.  New York audiences are seeing it for the first time since 2004 when it last performed here.  The dance begins with the long-limbed Julia Burrer, who graces the space around her with smooth transitions from one horizontal shifting leg movement to a shoulder roll leading into the next step.  Never once does she falter or pause to break the confident flow of twists and jumps.  The rest of the dancers enter individually or coupled.  Movement is loose, thrown, and daring.  Each dancer has a plié so deep it seems they could drop their center of gravity down to the basement before bringing it back up in an instant to leap through the air.  My focus often goes to Natalie Desch because her landings are so malleable that she makes me question my preconceived notion of the hard dance floor.  Rolling through her feet toe to heel, heel to toe, or even diagonally, the floor seemingly takes on a gooey texture.  I’ve found that this requires a lot of ankle strength and maintenance on the lower legs since I struggle with such landing versatility myself (it’s a trend in contemporary works and can also be seen in the way Batsheva dancers use their feet and ankles).

There are instant WOW moments that make you not want to blink so as not to miss any more.  The spatial awareness that the company has as a whole is more powerful than the awareness that most of us even have with the back of our own hand.  There are so many weaving and winding moments in the group choreography, all requiring skilled dancers that work well together.

The second piece of the evening is HOME, a dramatic storytelling piece that distills movement to the bare minimum.  Varone describes it as a “crystallization of time.”  Two former company members perform it for us. The piece is about love between a man and a woman, yet not the happily-ever-after moments. The choreography gets to the root of gestures expressing love or discontent to an audience full of young and old, single and married.  A powerful moment happens when the two dancers lie beside each other and the man, embracing her, moves his hand to hold hers.  This simple gesture does me in.  If HOME could be made into a film with the same performers, there would be Oscar nominations for sure.  This dance is perfect for an intimate theater space where you can see the facial expressions and gestured details.

What follows are excerpts in the making from Varone’s new piece CHAPTERS FROM BROKEN NOVELS. Each section, based on a quote or something Varone heard in passing, is entirely different from the next.  These works can be presented together as a full-length evening show or standing alone separately.  Natalie Desch’s solo, based on a quote from “The Hours” is haunting and serious.  Then, a comedic solo, based on something heard in passing, showcases the quirky virtuosity of Erin Owen.  Now, imagine the scope of comedy in this piece knowing that the quote the piece is based on is this:  “What do you really think is going on when a child is locked in the bathroom for an hour and the water is running and he says he’s doing nothing.”

The final piece of the evening, created merely a few rehearsals in advance just for this edition of STRIPPED, is a staging of Da Tempeste from Handels’s “Gulio Cesare.”  The piece features Metropolitan Opera star Elizabeth Futral with pianist Kevin Murphy.  This joyful and upbeat piece fits the music very well, using musical accents to guide comedic timing strewn throughout.  Definitely a great way to end the show.

Varone’s style is unique yet clearly lovable and accessible.  His choreographic genius shows true creativity and fine-tuning skills from years of practice.  He definitely speaks through movement and his dancers are great interpreters.

The fifth edition of STRIPPED performs April 23rd, 8pm at the same place.  There is limited
seating so buy your tickets in advance because this show is not to be missed!  For more details
about the next STRIPPED and the company, go to www.DougVaroneAndDancers.org.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Jessica Shahinian    
Performance: Stripped
Choreographer:  Doug Varone
Venue: Buttenweiser Hall, 92nd Street Y
Show Date: January 29th, 2010
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iDANZ Supports Doctors Without Borders
in their Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts.

MSF/Doctors Without Borders has been working in Haiti for 19 years, most recently operating three emergency hospitals in Port-au-Prince, and is mobilizing a large emergency response to the Haiti/earthquake disaster.

Can you please help them provide medicine, surgeons, nurses,
and supplies to victims in this crisis?
Click Here to Send a Direct Donation to Doctors Without Borders

The iDANZ Commitment
For every new person who signs-up to be a member of the
iDANZ Social Network, iDANZ will donate $1 to
Doctors Without Borders January 18 – March 1.
Go to www.iDANZ.com To help save lives by 
Becoming a Member of iDANZ Today!

Have You Seen the iDANZ Social Network?

Click Here To Become a Member
of iDANZ.com Today!

The More Members We Have, The More We Can
Make a Difference.
It’s Free!
iDANZ – The Social Network Where Dancers Live!

Tags: Doug Varone Stripped Jessica Shahinian