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: Next Wave Festival
The Fountainhead: Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Directed by Ivo van Hove
When I made my Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival subscription selections, I hesitated a moment on this show. Four hours of Toneelgroep Amsterdam — as directed by Ivo van Hove — I knew I would enjoy; four hours of the Objectivist doctrines of Ayn Rand, not so much. Turns out I was right….
John Cale: 50th Anniversary of The Velvet Underground & Nico
One of the first cassette tapes I purchased at Tower Records when I moved to the East Village in the late 1980s was The Velvet Underground & Nico. I would walk down St. Marks Place and imagine what it would have been like to have been at one of Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows…
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….
State of Siege (L’État de siège)
“Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounded human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people’s anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me…
Richard III
Richard III, as portrayed by William Shakespeare, is a vile humpbacked villain. Richard III, as portrayed by Lars Eidenger of Schaubühne Berlin (and directed by Thomas Ostermeier) last night at The Brooklyn Academy of Music, is almost like an evil deformed rock star dressed in clothing more suited for bondage than for ruling. He is…
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…
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…
The Winter’s Tale
This was a bittersweet 2016 Next Wave Festival for me this year. For numerous reasons, I missed out on many shows I wish I could have seen. Thank goodness for the BAM social media team for sharing so much about the performances I could not attend. It was kinda sorta like being there. That said, I…
Kings of War
I sat on the G train on Friday evening — headed to Brooklyn Academy of Music — wondering if I had made a big mistake. Kings of War, performed in Dutch (with surtitles) by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and directed by Ivo van Hove had seemed like a no-brainer. (His Antigone at BAM last fall was fantastic.)…
Letter to a Man
A jarring buzz. The sound of a whip cracking? There are voices all around me. I am not sure where they are coming from. The voices repeat themselves exhaustively — sometimes in Russian. Lights flash on, then abruptly off. Random snatches of music enter my awareness. A man moves like a dream – glacially. Did…
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