I knew when I was given 3D glasses on Friday night prior to Tesseract (at Brooklyn Academy of Music) that this was not going to be your usual dance performance. But wait a minute. That’s not quite true. I knew that already, because Charles Atlas was involved. I chose this show for that reason — I…
Category: Dance
LAVA: A Godessey (aka The Show I Missed)
I had a ticket to this show last Friday, December 1, but I didn’t get to see it. Let me tell you what happened instead: Brooklyn-based LAVA is a feminist acrobatic dance company. Their latest show is called A Goddessey. On the night in question, I head to their space in Brooklyn, excited to have a…
Big Dance Theater: 17c
Before there was social media, there was the diary — written in private, but often to an imagined public. Some diaries become read by millions: case in point, the diary of Samuel Pepys. He actually is known to us mainly because of his diary, which he wrote from 1660 until 1669. He spared nothing: his…
Grand Finale: Hofesh Shechter Company
Let me just say it: Grand Finale — performed Thursday evening by Hofesh Shechter Company at Brooklyn Academy of Music — was nothing short of epic. In a smoky world of deep shadows and imposing monoliths, ten dancers navigate a constantly shifting environment that seems at turns like a war zone or a celebration of life….
Dance Heginbotham: The Principles of Uncertainty
flâ·ne·rie * flän(ə)ˈrē * noun * aimless idle behavior Place a beloved illustrator/artist/author on the stage. Mix in an exciting dance company who happened to be new to me — Dance Heginbotham. Stir in a bit of whimsy, and a fun music ensemble, The Knights (featuring an accordian player and a flutist with an incredible voice.) What you…
Dance Double Header: Twyla Tharp Dance and Bobbi Jene
Sometimes the dance gods dish out back-to-back goodness. This week was one of those weeks. On Thursday I attended the Twyla Tharp Dance performance at The Joyce Theater, and then the next evening — thank you CUNY Dance Initiative for your post — I won free tickets to see a documentary called Bobbi Jene, about…
Pina Bausch: Café Müller & The Rite of Spring
I knew when I saw the stage hands spreading dirt on the floor during intermission that I was in for yet another one of Pina Bausch’s elemental works of choreography — and by elemental, I do mean the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This was not my first time seeing Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch…
Pilobolus
Dancers as birds in flesh-toned leotards. Sculptures brought to life on a pedestal. Kaleidoscopic videos of dancers in real time. Misfit characters dancing with tiny chairs. An audience in awe as summer rain held off last Thursday evening and the phenomenonal dance troupe called Pilobus reigned supreme from the bandshell in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Just…
Lila Downs, Orkesta Mendoza, and Garth Fagan Dance
My first two Celebrate Brooklyn! events of the season, and they could not have been more different. Thursday evening, I was exhausted from work and not up to crowds. I brought my dinner to Prospect Park and spent a peaceful evening on the grass under a tree listening first to the zany, rollicking, madcap musical…
Doug Varone and Dancers
Composers. Color. Costumes. Sculptural forms. Pattern. Art. Emotion. Humanity. Movement. I think I love dance because it is the intersection of all of the art forms. Last Thursday evening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, I had the pleasure of experiencing the work of Doug Varone and Dancers for the first time. As usual, it…
Tom Gold Dance
Modern dance that focuses on classical training is my favorite combination. I am not a professional dancer, although I have danced. I am also not a scholar in cultural studies. I am just a Brooklynite with a passion for the arts, and when time and money allow, I see a lot of dance. It is…
Batsheva Dance Company: Last Work
Like languorous animals, suddenly pouncing; like edgy hyperactive aliens; like crazy-joyful-depressed zombies; like the best birthday gift to myself ever — these are the inchoate thoughts crowding my head as I left the Brooklyn Academy of Music last night. How to describe a performance by Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company? Best to keep it to the wild jumble of…
victoriab:culture 