Why it’s called American Street Dancer
Books are banned, DEI scuttled, and Africanist studies scaled back. Yet, the irrepressible spirit of African American artists is not extinguished.
PlusWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
There are certain elements you can expect to find in any piece by Hofesh Shechter: a deafening, grungy, and distorted score composed by the choreographer himself; dim lighting and smoke enveloping the stage to create a nostalgic yet unsettling atmosphere; and a signature hunch-shouldered, gestural movement language referencing various forms of folk dance. Unsurprisingly, all of these components are present in the Israeli-born, UK-based choreographer’s latest creation, “Theatre of Dreams”—his first piece on London’s Sadler’s Wells stage since 2021. Yet it’s how they are structured together that gives them renewed potency and meaning.
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Books are banned, DEI scuttled, and Africanist studies scaled back. Yet, the irrepressible spirit of African American artists is not extinguished.
Plus“Lists of Promise,” a new work currently in a two-week run from March 13- 30 at the East Village cultural landmark, Theater for the New City, promised more than it delivered, at least for now.
Plus“State of Heads” opens with a blaze of white light and loud clanking onto a white-suited Levi Gonzalez, part Elvis, part televangelist addressing his congregation. A pair of women sidle in—Rebecca Cyr and Donna Uchizono—dressed in ankle-length white dresses and cowered posture.
PlusThe late John Ashford, a pioneer in programming emerging contemporary choreographers across Europe, once told me that he could tell what sort of choreographer a young artist would turn into when watching their first creations.
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