Boundless Beauty
As I watch one after another pastel tutu clad ballerina bourrée into the arms of a white-tighted danseur, a melody not credited on the program floats through my brain. You know the one.
PlusWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
The Batsheva Dance Company returned to the BAM Opera House this week bringing their latest evening length work, “Momo.” This was the ninth Batsheva production that BAM has presented since 2002. New York City dance lovers packed the venue amid tight security and outdoor protestors to see this foremost contemporary dance company perform a masterpiece of haunting and reflective beauty. From the moment the dancers appear onstage in the shadows while the house lights are still up, the work and the dancers demand your attention. You know you are in the hands of genius. “Momo,” is the creation of house choreographer Ohad Naharin, who was Batsheva’s artistic director from 1990 to 2018 and the pioneer of the Gaga movement language and practice. Naharin works in a collaborative manner with the company dancers to generate choreographic material. For this work, he invited former Batsheva dancer Ariel Cohen to join in the creative process.
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As I watch one after another pastel tutu clad ballerina bourrée into the arms of a white-tighted danseur, a melody not credited on the program floats through my brain. You know the one.
PlusMisty Copeland’s upcoming retirement from American Ballet Theatre—where she made history as the first Black female principal dancer and subsequently shot to fame in the ballet world and beyond—means many things.
PlusHaneul Jung oscillates between the definition of the Korean word, man-il meaning “ten thousand days” and “what if.”
PlusMoss Te Ururangi Patterson describes his choreographic process having a conversation with other elements. As he describes pushing himself under the waves, and a feeling of meditative, buoyancy as he floated in space, the impression of light beneath the water was paramount.
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Lovely review, Karen. What about the title, though. Does “Momo” have any meaning at all?