Lifted Spirits
Even at his most straightforward, Paul Taylor often imbued his dances with a sardonic wit. Whether invoking darkness or light, he did so with a wink.
PlusWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
The Nederlands Dans Theater has been coming to City Center since 1968. The company’s associations with edgy choreographers like Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, and Ohad Naharin have made for some thrilling performances over the years. I remember vividly the excitement in the house when they brought Paul Lightfoot and Sol León’s “Shutters Shut” to the Fall for Dance Festival in 2012. They returned this week with a less stimulating trio of works, including one winner and two stinkers. Although their batting average took a dive, the caliber of their dancing remains as high as ever. I hope they come back through with better things for their dancers to do.
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Even at his most straightforward, Paul Taylor often imbued his dances with a sardonic wit. Whether invoking darkness or light, he did so with a wink.
PlusTalk about Gesamtkunstwerk! Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s “SCAT!...The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar,” is just that—a total work of art: operatic in scale, replete with stellar musicians and singers, and the glorious dancers of Urban Bush Women, the troupe that Zollar founded in 1984, is also storytelling at its best.
PlusOf all of Shakespeare’s plays, “Hamlet” might seem the hardest to adapt into dance. Its long soliloquies and a titular character stymied by indecision do not immediately scream movement potential.
PlusComplexions Contemporary Ballet turned 30 this year, and their two-week residency at the Joyce Theater was a party.
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Thanks, I prefer reading you to the NY Times. I feel like I was there. The description of Forsythe’s work is wonderfully clear.