World-class review of ballet and dance.
What could be better than a performance of Merce Cunningham’s “Beach Birds” on the actual beach? On a rainy Saturday in late August, the clouds parted in time for a committed crowd of dance lovers to make way by subway and ferry to Rockaway Beach, and gather at Beach Street 108, where a band of confident dancers marched across the sand to perch themselves on the rocks of the jetty. Silhouetted by late afternoon, the dancers quietly transformed themselves into stiff-legged, twitchy headed birds. When they lifted their arms, draped in black evening length gloves, hands cupped, their limbs magically became wings.
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Beautiful review. Maybe only a poet could have given this performance justice. I wasn’t able to see it so I especially appreciate the details—of both the old film and the new performance. I could feel the sun, the sand, and Cunningham’s connection to nature. Thank you.