Ballet X: 'Striped Hat' and "Largo'

Dr. Seuss meets Fragonard

Ballet X presented two world premieres whose moods could not have been more different. Christine Cox's wonderfully entertaining The Striped Hat celebrated a child's spirited imagination. Edwaard Liang's Largo plumbed the melancholy emotions that accompany affection.

Jim Rutter

Apr 07, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

'Dive into Dance' at Temple's Conwell Theater

So weird, but so beautiful

For her final magic trick in a month-long virtual festival of weekend dance programs and workshops, Terry Fox created an evening of unexpected synergy and excitement. With the Wilma's “Dance BOOM!” series in limbo, I long to see Terry Fox working her magic during the other 11 months of the year.

Jonathan M. Stein

Mar 10, 2009 · Articles · 6 minute read

"Milk Traces' by Shinichi Iova-Koga

In search of a fig leaf

Shinichi Iova-Koga's Milk Traces reflects the atmosphere of the East. Yet it also reflects hints of Genesis, Kafka, Hegel and Martin Buber— specifically, the human obsession since Adam and Eve with concealing our nakedness and/or our lack of perfection.

Steve Antinoff

Mar 03, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Ballets Jazz de Montreal at Annenberg

Amid the absurdity, one humbling moment

Both MAPA and Rossini Cards, performed at Annenberg by Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, largely wasted the dancers' talents with repetition and inanity. But one stunning five-minute interlude left me speechless at my own inadequacy to ever approach such a moment of ideal human beauty.

Jim Rutter

Feb 21, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Keely Garfield's "Limerence'

This woman is dangerous

Keely Garfield's Limerence could be the Cliff Notes to poet Gary Snyder's line: “The pointless wars of the heart.” It draws blood. And if you're like me, it takes a night of fitful sleep before you realize how badly you've been cut.

Steve Antinoff

Feb 10, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Greed,' by Rebecca Davis Dance

Where business and choreography meet

Can Wall Street's Enron scandal be set to music and dance? Choreographer Rebecca Davis— herself a business student and entrepreneur— has made something incredibly celebratory, beautiful, and powerful about a financial disaster.

Jim Rutter

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Twyla Tharp's "Noir' by UArts

Tharp, and a cat playing with a dead mouse

Twyla Tharp's Noir allows the audience to view the world she creates on stage with the eyes of Eternity and Death. It's the world as Freud described it: civilized and polite on the surface but ruled, in fact, by erotic desire and aggression unto the death.

Steve Antinoff

Dec 16, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Ballet X: Work by Booker and Neenan

Searching for meaning in modern dance
(without program notes, yet)

Watching Giselle’s Room was like hearing poetry in a foreign language. But two works by Ballet X co-artistic director Matthew Neenan caused no such confusion. Ballet X, more accustomed to Neenan’s individual style and tone, gave superb performances of both pieces.

Ballet X: Giselle’s Room, by Zane Booker; Duet From Cali and Steelworks, by Matthew Neenan. November 6-9, 2008 at Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). (215) 917-1513 or www.balletx.org.

Jim Rutter

Nov 11, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Balanchine and Tharp'

One more cause for euphoria

It’s too bad the Pennsylvania Ballet didn’t stage these pieces after the election— because regardless of the outcome, these performances would have restored anyone’s faith in humanity. You can’t feel anything less than admiration after watching a corps of young people dancing with such pure elation, so fluid, lovely, and promising, as they moved in perfect unison.

Pennsylvania Ballet: “Balanchine and Tharp. ” October 29-November 2, 2008 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust St. (215) 551-7000 or www.paballet.org.

Jim Rutter

Nov 05, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read

Ellen Forman Memorial Concert

Ellen Forman's body language, fondly recalled

As founder of the South Street Dance Company in the early ’70s, the late Ellen Forman introduced Philadelphia to post-modern dance. The humor, romanticism and ebullience that marked her life and work were appropriately recalled in a studio dedication in her honor.

Ellen Forman Memorial Dance Studio opening. October 3, 2008 at Mandell Theater, Drexel University, 33rd and Chestnut Sts. (215) 895-2787 or www.drexel.edu/comad.

Jonathan M. Stein

Oct 08, 2008 · Articles · 2 minute read