Megan Mazarick's "Avatard'

Through the virtual looking glass: Planet Cunningham?

Megan Mazarick's playful and imaginative Avatard joined the illusionistic cultures of video games and science fiction into a loopy mix.

Jonathan M. Stein

May 02, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

test

test

test

Apr 29, 2009 · Articles · less than a minute read

Jeanne Ruddy's "Juxtapose"

Civilization's trappings, stripped bare

Jeanne Ruddy Dance presented two divergent world premieres: Ruddy's elegant but confusing Lark, and Martha Clarke's lusciously nightmarish Sandman.

Jim Rutter

Apr 28, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

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