I attended the first performance in my BAM 2015 Next Wave Festival subscription last Thursday evening. It was a dance performance by Finnish choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström’s dance company — K. Kvarnström & Co — which is based out of Kulturhuset City Theatre in Stockholm. I chose it because it involved duct tape (really!) and live…
Tag: dance
Leesaar the Company, Ohad Naharin & Guest Dancers from Batsheva Dance Company
Someone once told me that you can judge a good music festival not only by the bands you were able to hear, but also by all the other ones you wish you could have been able to hear but you simply couldn’t be two places at the same time. As Celebrate Brooklyn winds down for…
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
I just returned from BAM after attending one of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s farewell performances. I had only recently discovered this tremendously talented company and it saddens me that they have decided to fold. I understand this company was founded and funded by a Walmart heiress, and that this troupe actually had health and dental insurance…
Third Rail by Shakedown Dance Collective
Imagine that you are on the subway during your normal commute. Suddenly you hear music, and the passenger seated next to you starts dancing in his seat. The woman across from you joins him. The car becomes alive with the joy of sound and movement. You miss your stop. You don’t even care. The Shakedown…
Nederlands Dans Theater 2
How do I describe this fabulous dance company? Each one of them had perfect balletic form and they often moved like restless urban creatures. Like zombies sometimes — especially in the very alien dance called Sara. Two of them even danced to a recording of Gertrude Stein reading her poem, If I Told Him: A…
Swan Lake
Last night I attended the Mariinsky Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake at BAM. Like most everyone I know, I have seen Swan Lake many times. This performance, however, is the one I will picture in my mind when I think of this ballet in the future. It was grand. Last night was the only performance…
Ecstatic Music Festival
Mantra Percussion & Wet Ink & Deborah Lohse and the Shakedown Dance Collective! What a great evening of music and dance, as artsBrookfield hosted a free performance in the fabulous Winter Garden on night two of the Ecstatic Music Festival. I was first introduced to Mantra Percussion through their incredible performance of Michael Gordon’s “Timber”…
Royal Danish Ballet: Principals and Soloists
Wednesday evening found me in one of those NYC dilemmas that our rich — sometimes exhausting — cultural options often present: I was glad to be where I was but also wished I could have been somewhere else at the same time. Where I was: a delightful performance by the principles and soloists of the…
doug elkins choreography, etc.
I had the pleasure of seeing the New York premiere of choreographer Doug Elkins’ dance called Hapless Bizarre on Friday, January 9 at The Joyce Theater. I had seen his dance company at Jacob’s Pillow in 2012 when they performed Fräulein Maria, so I was expecting a bit of a romp. Thankfully, it was laugh-out-loud…
Who Gets to Perform? The Ethics and Aesthetics of Social Practice
This was an excellent blog post by Simon Dove on BAM’s blog. I could not help but post a comment. You can see it all at this link: http://bam150years.blogspot.com/2014/12/who-gets-to-perform-ethics-and.html I have reposted my comment below: I was surprised and delighted to read this blog post. I am not a professional dancer, but in 2012 I…
On Behalf of Nature
I have had a hard time making up my mind what to say about tonight’s performance. Interestingly, eekahil’s comment on the BAM blog helps me. I, too, have seen a number of Meredith Monk performances — at BAM and at Danspace Project. I am very familiar with her movement and vocal style, and consider myself…
Oxbow
I always try to pick a few shows each Next Wave Festival that I know might be hit or miss. Oxbow by Ivy Baldwin was one such performance. There were moments that were hits: the wonderful set design of massive tree roots; the opportunity to be sitting so close to the dancers that you could hear…
