VIEWPOINTS – A decade on, AMERICAN REALNESS still delivers elemental commentary on the here and now

Rounding out the January experimental performing arts festivals is perhaps the boldest and most abstract (and therefore most unpredictable) of them all – American Realness, which in 2019 is celebrating … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – NDT2 ravishes at City Center with their iconic technique and aesthetic

No matter how hard other dance companies attempt to emulate Nederlands Dans Theater, no one quite moves like the renowned contemporary dance company. I first saw them perform way back in … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINT – 2018’s Best in Dance

2018 was an eclectic year in dance. Indeed, my “best of” list this year can be described as being an uncommonly diverse set, with classical ballet, contemporary dance, dance theater, and the avant-garde … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Week 12: The final week dazzles with Andrew Schneider’s NERVOUS/SYSTEM & the return of Mark Morris’s THE HARD NUT

The time has come for the 2018 edition of BAM’s Next Wave Festival, the final one curated by outgoing BAM Executive Director and influential festival founder Joseph V. Melillo, to come to a … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – William Kentridge’s monumental, sprawling spectacle THE HEAD AND THE LOAD at the Park Avenue Armory was an unsettling, poetic epic

Earlier this month, I caught South African artist William Kentridge’s monumental The Head and the Load at the appropriately massive Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory. His visceral, collage-like aesthetic … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Weeks 7-11: Memorable highlights include the dramatization of Joan Didion’s THE WHITE ALBUM and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s visceral opera GREEK

Weeks 7 through 11 of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival showcased to BAM-goers a wide variety of genres in its three distinct spaces (the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Harvey, and BAM … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Week 6: A banner week featuring Philip Glass’s SATYAGRAHA & Sasha Waltz’s KREATUR

After taking two weeks off from attending performances at the Next Wave Festival, I was eager to reengage in BAM’s flagship festival once again last week. Even before Week 6 commenced, … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, Week 1: SUTRA & BORDERLINE get things off to an energizing, crowd-pleasing start

Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival got off to an energizing start last week with two works of highly physical dance theater, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Sutra and Company Wang Ramirez’s Borderline. … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Week 2: A trio of early Trisha Brown curiosities are just that (curiosities)

Last week marked week two of BAM’s wide-reaching Next Wave Festival. The only offering I attended was a program of three early Trisha Brown-choreographed works, which were recreated for a handful … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Circa’s HUMANS & SITI’s THE BACCHAE: Joseph V. Melillo’s final Next Wave Festival gets off to a rousing start at BAM

It was with bittersweet sentiment that I embarked on immersing myself in this fall’s Next Wave Festival, which commenced performances last week at BAM’s various venues in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene … Continue Reading →