Dance

655 results
Page 54
A void inhabited only by groping dancers. (Photo: Lindsay Browning.)

SCRAP's "Tide' at Live Arts Festival

A tide of bereft desolation

Myra Bazell and Madison Cario's apocalyptic Tide was danced with such energetic angst that it lost its creators' hopeful message of the potential for healing and a new consciousness.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 2 minute read
New meaning to 'Curled up in a chair.' (Photo: Lisa Rastl.)

Dorner's "above under inbetween' at Live Arts Festival

Love me, love my table

The Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner brought his explorations of bodies in space indoors, presenting a slyly humorous work that suggested that we relate more closely to the objects in our domestic lives than we think. Above under inbetween. Compagnie Willi Dorner/ Live Arts festival production September 11-12, 2009 at ICE Box Projects Space, 1400 N. American St. 215.413.9006 or www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=8370.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 3 minute read
Segarra: Dances with tree limbs.

Merián Soto's "Postcards from the Woods' at Live Arts Festival

Bringing nature indoors

After cavorting outdoors for years, Merián Soto and her dedicated dancers enabled an indoor audience to experience a meditative connection to nature outside.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 2 minute read
Canuso: The right choice, but...

"A.W.A.R.D. Show' at Live Arts Festival

Dancing for dollars

This year's Live Arts Festival went out on a limb by pitting 12 Philadelphia choreographers against each other for a $10,000 first prize. This gimmick boosted attendance and helped raise dance consciousness. But how does a popularity contest affect a collegial and creative community?
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 4 minute read
Emory: Latter-day dancing faun. (Photo: Bill Hebert.)

Headlong's "more' at Live Arts Festival (2nd review)

When dancers aren't 'dancing'

Headlong's more juxtaposes the ordinariness of domestic life with the life of the artist. But what makes this dance and choreography— art that BSR's Jim Rutter has questioned— is that these meanings are communicated through bodies in and out of motion, and through movement gestures and movement vocabulary.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 6 minute read
And God said, 'Let there be lasers.'

"Mortal Engine' by Chunky Move at Live Arts Festival

Humanity meets technology (successfully, for a change)

Rarely have we seen such a full integration between body and technology as the Australian choreographer Gideon Obarzanek's Mortal Engine achieved at the Wilma.
Merilyn Jackson

Merilyn Jackson

Articles 2 minute read

Sign up for our newsletter

All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.

Emory: Walled inside a fence. (Photo: M. Elizabeth Hershey.)

Headlong's "more' at Live Arts Festival (1st review)

Is it art, or just movement?

When dancers rearrange furniture and operate a microwave oven, is it choreography? The cumulative experience of Headlong's new and very poignant piece of dance theater left me feeling both invigorated and disturbed.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 4 minute read
Talented actors as untalented dancers.

Melanie Stewart's "Kill Me Now' at Live Arts Festival

'They Shoot Horses' meets 'The Gong Show'

Choreographer Melanie Stewart and writer John Clancey seize on the pop-culture mania of dance contest shows to examine the sadistic role of competition in our society and in capitalism. To make their point, they enlist the audience as co-conspirators. Kill Me Now. By John Clancey; choreographed by Melanie Stewart. Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre/ Live Arts Festival production September 4-7, 2009 at Arts Bank, 601 S. Broad St. (at South St.). 215.413.1318 or www.livearts-fringe.org/details.cfm?id=8371.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 4 minute read
Watson-Wallace: Shop ’til you drop.

Kate Watson-Wallace's "Store' at Live Arts Festival

A gospel for consumers

Kate Watson-Wallace's “anonymous bodies” troupe brought its audience to an abandoned Rite-Aid pharmacy, now transformed into a set for a shopping network's infomercial. The choreographed tight, manic rhythmic dancing contrasted tellingly with the surrounding consumer chaos.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 2 minute read
Popil: Seductive.

"Urban Scuba' at Live Arts/Fringe Festival

Urban survival test, in a swimming pool

In an abandoned Center City swimming pool, Brian Sanders's visual assortment of dance theater magic brought the kind of performance energy to the Gershman Y that's been missing there since its salad days in the '60s.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 2 minute read