Tag: Modern Dance

  • LEAP by Jodi Lundgren

    I recently finished this sweet, very honestly written young adult novel by Canadian author Jodi Lundgren. Leap is a coming of age story about a teenage girl, Natalie, living in British Columbia with her mother and younger sister. Natalie deals with many of the problems teenagers do – a boyfriend who pressures her into sex,…

  • CARLOS ACOSTA TURNING TO MODERN DANCE

      I was just about to suggest – to beg rather – Kevin McKenzie to try to lure Carlos Acosta back to ABT since, in light of this season’s slew of principal injuries, we clearly need more big men; plus, I’ve never seen Acosta dance and am really dying to! But then my friend Susan…

  • SOME FAVORITES FROM VAIL

    Wow, there are a lot of video clips up of the many many companies and dancers that performed at this year’s Vail International Dance Festival. Here are some of my faves: Dance Brazil in a modern / capoeira combo, Luna: Daniel Ulbricht and Misa Kuranaga doing a Corsaire pdd: Sofiane Sylve and Simon Ball in…

  • PINA BAUSCH DIES OF CANCER

      Oh my gosh you guys, I just heard about this on PinballPeople. I’m so shocked. I didn’t even know she was sick (apparently she was only diagnosed with cancer days ago). I’m so upset. We’re never going to have any new work from her again. I didn’t see enough of her. I’m sorry, this…

  • ARE THE 'BUZZIEST' CHOREOGRAPHERS MALE IN THE US AS WELL AS UK? AND DO CRITICS IN THE UK HAVE MORE POWER?

    There’s currently a debate raging in London over Sadler’s Wells (the most important venue there for contemporary dance) and its new season lineup showcasing the work almost entirely of male choreographers. Thanks to Pinballpeople for pointing me to it! See Guardian posts by dance and culture writers Judith Mackrell and Charlotte Higgins here, here, and…

  • EVIDENCE

      I’ll write more after I see the second program, but I want to highly recommend for people in NY to go see Ronald K. Brown’s company EVIDENCE, at the Joyce Chelsea now through February 15th. His work is by turns serious, sobering, thought-provoking, humorous, celebratory, exciting in a makes you wanna stand up and…

  • Masekela Langage and the Brilliance of Revelations

      I managed to be sick for the last two weeks of December, so, horribly, I wasn’t able to go to as many Alvin Ailey performances as I usually do. Now, I’m depressed and feeling like I really missed out. Especially since I was just told how excellent the season finale was last night. Sob…

  • Favorites of 2008

    Okay, here’s my (late) list of favorites from 2008: (click on highlights to read what I wrote about each dance) Favorite overall dance of the year: Revelations by Alvin Ailey. Because the movement language — a unique blend of American Modern with African — is highly evocative, richly varied, and, because it’s set in a…

  • Festa Barocca at Alvin Ailey

      So Sir Alastair called Festa Barocca “rubbish”! I didn’t really know what to think of it, to be honest (which is why it’s taken me so long to write about). I found it oddly intriguing and very different from his (choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti’s) other work that I’ve seen, Oltremare. That piece made perfect sense…

  • Remember Misnomer Live Online Tonight

    Tonight at 8pm, Deborah Friedes will livestream Misnomer Dance Company‘s Being Together on The Winger. You can watch and chat with other viewers. I wrote about the dance here. If you can watch, please tell me what you think!

  • Pina Bausch’s Sensuous, Mysterious, Funny, Sexy, Playful, Violent "Bamboo Blues"

      Last night I went to see Pina Bausch’s Bamboo Blues at Brooklyn Academy of Music. This was my first time seeing something by Bausch live (I’d only ever seen her work in film and on YouTube, and of course in Almodovar’s Talk To Her), and I see why she is so popular. She really…

  • Happy Happy Night Tonight At Alvin Ailey

    Okay, here is what I was writing last night when my internet crashed: I’m always so happy when I come out of an AA performance; I could just dance home! Tonight was Maurice Bejart’s Firebird, which was more breathtaking than the first time I saw it last year; Clifton is beyond belief — just this…