Trajal Harrell, A Way of Moving
In a career spanning almost 30 years, American dancer-choreographer Trajal Harrell has created a body of work borne of a rich imagination and an enquiring mind.
Continua a leggereWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
The story began with an impulse to go back and give something back—to the performing arts traditions of India. Acclaimed British dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent, Akram Khan, long known for dancing between worlds—contemporary dance and classical Kathak, decided to return to his roots. He and his close colleague Mavin Khoo assembled a group of master artists and students back in 2022 in the temple town of Swamimalai in Tamil Nadu, India, for a creative lab called “Seeking Satori.” Satori is a Japanese Buddhist term meaning “sudden enlightenment.” The objective of the week-long, residential intensive was to create an opportunity to reflect, share, immerse, re-invest, and enhance their relationship with their classical Indian art forms. From the initial gathering, an idea grew to create a production involving these master performers and their dance forms: Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, and Kutiyattam. But rather than a collection of disparate classical solos, which would be the usual outcome of a production involving individual classical artists, the creative endeavor would instead be a collaborative act of storytelling combining their particular forms.
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In a career spanning almost 30 years, American dancer-choreographer Trajal Harrell has created a body of work borne of a rich imagination and an enquiring mind.
Continua a leggereCo. Un Yamada, a dance company and creative collective established in Tokyo in 2002, returned to the New National Theatre Tokyo last week to reprise their popular family-friendly production from 2021, “Obachetta.”
Continua a leggereVous les voyez, les étoiles dans la salle?” the woman next to me whispered as the lights dimmed. And indeed, the stalls glittered with former stars of the Paris Opéra Ballet— dancers I recognised, visibly moved and deep in conversation during the interval.
Continua a leggereThere is probably no more beloved ballet, by audiences and dancers alike, than “Romeo and Juliet.”
Continua a leggere
Vivid, persuasive reporting of a complex production. Brava, Karen.