Reviews of New York City Dance Performances

Update on NYC Dance Reviews and Calendar Links

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:56:57 -0500

The first month (December, 2007) of the New York City dance review summaries and links went well.

I'm making a few changes to these links to dance reviews so that the submission and posting process is fully automated. It should take about a week or so, and then this blog will be up and running again on permanent basis.

I'm probably not going to maintain a calendar of dance performances in NYC since there are already a number of them - I'll just link to these existing calendars.

Please email me with your thoughts and feedback.

Alastair Macaulay on Estampas Porteñas' Tango Fire at Joyce Theater

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:32:38 -0500

Tango Fire Performance Details Joyce Theater December 18, 2007 - January 6, 2008 "Man and Woman, Hot and Acting Hotter" "Alas, the curtain had scarcely risen Tuesday on Part 1 when Argentine bitchiness was on full display, with most of the company's five female dancers pouting, preening, gasping in fake indignation and pushing one another out of the way in the effort to grab the right partner center stage. Too often "Tango Fire" tries to suggest that the tango will be rendered more enjoyable by shows of flashy temperament, obvious sexiness or sheer tartiness." Read review...

Jennifer Dunning on Alvin Ailey at New York City Center

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:18:51 -0500

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Program Details New York City Center November 28 - December 31, 2007 "Ailey Family Celebrates One of Its Own" "On Tuesday night at City Center, the troupe honored [Associate Artistic Director Masazumi Chaya] on his 35th anniversary at Ailey, with film and reminiscences from the stage by colleagues including Judith Jamison, the 1970s Ailey star who directs the company." Read review...

Alastair Macaulay on New York City Ballet Nutcracker at Lincoln Center

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:11:21 -0500

New York City Ballet George Balanchine's The Nutcracker - Performance Details New York State Theater at Lincoln Center November 23 - December 30 "Visions of Sugar Plums" "I'm actually surprised...that this performance was only the 2,000th...to those of us who have watched good stagings of plays, ballets and operas crumble after only a very few performances...the evergreen freshness of the Balanchine "Nutcracker" is cause for wonder...I regret that I have seen only 1 percent of its performances to date, the more so as I still find new felicities of drama and construction at each viewing." Read review...

Dahl on Juilliard Composers & Choreographers ... Plus at Juilliard School

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:46:03 -0500

Juillard Choreography/dance Students Composers and Choreographers ... Plus - Performance Details The Juilliard School December 7 - 8, 2007 "Dance: Juilliard's Composers and Choeographers Plus" "You probably don't know about this ill-publicized free event...Apparently, at the end of term, the dance division... puts on a show at the not-to-be-sneezed-at Peter Jay Sharpe Theater, where the students showcase their work: created by students, and performed by students...This is such an awesome thing. As a whole, the work is far more creative, innovative, interesting, and new than what you'll see at, say, Juilliard's December Dance Creations (review to soon follow), or at a lot of professional dance venues." Read review...

Clare Byrne on Doug Elkins' Fräulein Maria at Joe's Pub

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:38:11 -0500

DancenOw|NYC Doug Elkins The Return of Fraulein Maria - Performance Details Joe's Pub at The Public Theater December 12 - 15, 2007 "A Dream that Needs All the Love You Can Give: Doug Elkins' "Fraulein Maria" works over a classic musical" "I believe dance-makers create rites of passage to find the right ways to transform themselves through movement, with audience as witness and participant. In Fraulein Maria's "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," Doug Elkins, downtown-wunderkind-grown-older-and-wiser, was a shaman in his own rite, channeling his past to embark on the future." Read review...

Deborah Jowitt on Molissa Fenley at The Joyce

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:27:25 -0500

Molissa Fenley and Dancers Performance Details Joyce Theater December 11 - 16, 2007" Molissa Fenley Celebrates 30 Years of Nonstop Dancing" "When Molissa Fenley formed a small company in 1977, many people had taken to jogging in a big way, as if they wanted to be fit enough to outrun enemy attacks, natural disasters, and the aging of their own bodies. Fenley's patterned, repetitive, aerobically paced dances responded to that image of a fit human being. When she began to focus entirely on solos, she slowed her pulse to track more introspective paths, yet remained tireless." Read review...

Deborah Jowitt on Nugent + Matteson Dance at Danspace Project

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:21:34 -0500

Nugent + Matteson Dance Pieced Apart - Performance Details Danspace Project December 6 - 8, 2007 "Together and Apart: Nugent + Matteson get mysterious, enjoy block shoes" "Jennifer Nugent and Paul Matteson are nothing like the sleek couples of ballet who often look as though they'd been bred to channel petty royalty. Nugent is a strong, long-bodied space-eater who moves with a lavish plasticity. Matteson--slim, loose, and wily--can articulate a shoulder, a hip, his head in innumerable slippery ways. He's syrup; she's honey." Read review...

Deborah Jowitt on Alan Good Dance at New Dance Group

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:13:36 -0500

Alan Good Dance Omnibus - Performance Details New Dance Group December 7 - 9, 2007 "Same Differently for Alan Good's Omnibus: Now you see it, now you see it again" "I've always been impressed by choreographers who not only want us to experience dancing in an unusual way, but want us to understand how that new vision is coming about. Without being didactic, they nudge us with subliminal instructions, like "Watch what happens when I repeat this to different music, when I run it backward, when I have the dancers face a different direction, when I change the audience-performer relationship, when I create a picture too complex for you to grasp in its entirety."" Read review...

New York Times on Dance Program at Juilliard School

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:00:24 -0500

The Juilliard School Dates: Not Known "Dancers Bring New Life to Scores Banned by Nazis" "Much of the history of dance lies in the history of music. Now and again something happens to make us reconsider that history. One such event occurred over the weekend when, in a brilliantly enterprising program at the Juilliard School, the conductor James Conlon, the Juilliard Orchestra and Juilliard Dance presented three world premieres choreographed to long-forgotten scores, written from 1911 to 1935 by German composers whose work the Nazis had banned." Read review...

Jennifer Dunning on Yvonne Meier's Area 51 at Danspace Project

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:51:29 -0500

Yvonne Meier Area 51 - Performance Details Danspace Project December 13 - 15, 2007 "3 Apes Capering and a Juggler A-Leaping" ""Area 51," a new dance by Yvonne Meier and Aki Sasamoto, was a wittily imaginative exploration of how much can be communicated almost entirely by movement. The 50-minute piece ran out of steam about two-thirds of the way through, but until then, it was delicious." Read review...

Joel Lobenthal on New York City Ballet Nutcracker at Lincoln Center

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:54:14 -0500

New York City Ballet George Balanchine's The Nutcracker - Performance Details New York State Theater at Lincoln Center November 23 - December 30 "Fresh Faces in the Kingdom of Sweets" "New York City Ballet likes to take some performances at its annual "Nutcracker" season and chock them full of more debuts than raisins in a Christmas fruitcake. That was the case Saturday afternoon at the New York State Theater, when the second-act divertissements in the Kingdom of Sweets were largely populated by first-timers." Read review...

Robert Johnson on Alvin Ailey at New York City Center

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:51:28 -0500

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Program Details New York City Center November 28 - December 31, 2007 "'Flowers' overshadows Ailey troupe's premieres" "People-watching is among this city's most popular forms of entertainment. Spotting an eyebrow-raising stunt or marveling at a fashion statement, the city dweller finds amusement reliably in the bustle of the street...Editing that colorful parade for the stage can be risky, however. In "The Groove to Nobody's Business," a new dance the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents this season at New York City Center, choreographer Camille A. Brown assembles a lively cast of characters in prime locations for people-watching." Read review...

Susan Reiter on Alvin Ailey at New York City Center

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:47:49 -0500

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Program Details New York City Center November 28 - December 31, 2007 "Connecting with the Past" "Revivals, more than premieres, are proving to be the more noteworthy aspect of the current Ailey season. Several works that strongly evoke the particular moment in which they were created are providing these dancers with meaty interpretive challenges, while the two novelties tailor-made for these versatile and indefatigable performers have turned out to be once-over-lightly efforts that are amiable, mildly flavorful character studies weak on craft and focus -- and offering little evidence of any galvanizing purpose." Read review...

Apollinaire Scherr on Estampas Porteñas' Tango Fire at Joyce Theater

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:44:50 -0500

Tango Fire Performance Details Joyce Theater December 18, 2007 - January 6, 2008 "Tango Fire' at Joyce Theater" "When "Tango Fire" toured Germany and England last year, audience members showed their approval by wildly stamping their feet. In Korea, they yelled and raised their arms. In China they didn't make much of a ruckus at the curtain calls, but afterward crowds gathered at the stage door for autographs." Read preview...