Some Memorable Performances of 2018 – New York
Other years have been more exciting, I think, but this one has had its share of remarkable performances, including a few thrilling ones. Here, in no particular order, are the ones that really stood out, for one reason or another.
Mark Morris Dance Group – Love Song Waltzes, I Don’t Want to Love, The Trout – New York
★★★✰✰ How striking Morris’ dancers are, how diversified in form and unique in expression and cohesive as a troupe — ever present and responsive to each other.
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance – David H. Koch season – New York
★★★★✰ Even in stillness, Taylor dancers hold immense power in their bodies, the energy potential within them more nuclear than solar.
Ballet de Lorraine – Relache – St. Petersburg
★★★★★ Ballet de Lorraine have reconstructed Relâche, a fascinating work first performed by the Ballets Suédois in 1924-25. It had caused almost as great a scandal as the 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring in the same Théâtre des Champs-Elysées…
Carmen de Lavallade Honoured at The 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honours
Dancer, choreographer, actress, teacher, director, writer, and mentor, Carmen de Lavallade is a true artist in every sense of the word – and a true legend.
Jessica Lang Dance – Stabat mater – New York
Jessica Lang Dance White Light Festival: Stabat mater ★★★★✰ New York, Rose Theater 2 November 2017 www.jessicalangdance.com www.lincolncenter.org/venue/rose-theater Despite the fact that Christians make up about a third of today’s global population, compared…
Interview – Catherine Turocy, artistic director of New York Baroque Dance Company
Meticulous reconstructions of Petipa, Cunningham, Graham, Taylor works are performance staples these days. Much rarer is a reconstruction like “Le Temple de la Gloire” (The Temple of Glory) a 1745 political opera-ballet with music by Jean-Philippe Rameau and a libretto by the philosopher Voltaire….
Compagnie CNDC-Angers / Robert Swinston – Inlets 2, Place, How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run – New York
★★★★✰ For its second visit to the Joyce (the first was in 2015) Compagnie CNDC brought an excellent and well-balanced program. Two works from the sixties, followed one from the eighties…
Hamburg Ballet – Old Friends – New York
★✰✰✰✰ Dancers roam around the stage connecting, disconnecting, clinging and separating in a drifting non-specific haze of memories. Who are the exes, who are the friends? Who are the never-weres? Who knows.
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance & Lyon Opera Ballet – Icons: Graham, Cunningham, Taylor – New York
★★★★✰ Sunday night, the New York dance scene flocked to see three of America’s dance pioneers side by side in “Icons: Graham, Cunningham, Taylor.
Ballet de Lorraine – Devoted, HOK Solo Pour Ensemble, Sounddance – New York
★★★✰✰ This winter, New York is getting to see more Merce Cunningham than it has in years, thanks to visits from various European companies. It is a sad fact that Europe has always been more supportive of Cunningham than the choreographer’s own country.
Lucinda Childs Dance Company – Available Light – San Francisco
★★★✰✰ Available Light is merciless, and in the best way…
New York City Ballet – The Times are Racing, The Shimmering Asphalt, Fearful Symmetries – New York
★★★✰✰ More than anything, Peck’s “The Times are Racing” reminded me of the movie Rebel Without a Cause. These kids are uneasy, but what is the object of their unease?
BODYTRAFFIC – Death Defying Dances, 3 Preludes, Private Games: Chapter One – New York
★★✰✰✰ BODYTRAFFIC, the Los Angeles-based contemporary dance troupe, drew a robust crowd to the Joyce on Friday night.
Exhibition – Robert Rauschenberg, Tate Modern – London
Though Rauschenberg’s designs have no apparent connection with the dances they accompany, and even compete for the audience’s attention, they have become inescapably part of the experience of each work.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Four Corners, Untitled America, r-Evolution, Dream, Revelations – New York
★★★★✰ There is no limit to how often one can see Ailey’s 1960 masterpiece Revelations. The elation is always the same.
Fall For Dance Festival – Program 2: Richard Alston, Aszure Barton, Wendy Whelan, Edward Watson, Grupo Corpo – New York
★★★✰✰ One of this recurring festival’s strongest selling selling points is the serendipity of its pairings. You pay $15 and get a grab-bag of dance in return. You’re bound to like something.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Programmes A and B – London
★★★★✰ Revelations is always a joy, however often one sees it. Ailey’s choreography, influenced by his mentor, Lester Horton, and Martha Graham, is a reminder of how potent that modern dance technique could be.
Queensland Ballet – Lest We Forget: We who are left, Company B, In the Best Moments – Brisbane
★★★★✰ Natalie Weir’s “We who are left” is nothing less than a knockout.
Jessica Lang Dance – Thousand Yard Stare, Solo Bach, Among the Stars, Sweet Silent Thought, i.n.k. – New York
★★★✰✰ The beefiest work on the program was a New York premiere, Thousand Yard Stare, a work honoring war veterans…
