The Guggenheim’s Works & Process series has evolved into a commissioning entity producing some fascinating new work. Until recent years, it was more akin to a lecture/demo format, with a casual atmosphere where the dancers wore rehearsal clothes. It often featured excerpts of works that would be seen elsewhere, on a larger stage; some events still follow this format. But as the fall season’s inaugural show featuring choreography by Peter Quanz and Larry Keigwin demonstrated, it is capable of producing some inspired new choreographic work.
The program last weekend, Steve Reich Interpreted, featured dances set to the same Reich composition, Double Sextet (2007). Peter Quanz, of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, created the ballet In Tandem that seemed to stretch the physical limits of the distinctive, if oddball, theater at the Guggenheim, which is all circles, and quite small at that. read more
Keigwin + Company and nicholas leichter dance, two very appealing New York-based companies, take over the Joyce the week of June 23, alternating dates through Sunday the 28th. Both groups, led by accomplished choreographers who are unafraid to experiment, have tremendous popular appeal. Coincidentally, Nicholas Leichter and Larry Keigwin happen to be among the most riveting performers of our time; both will dance with their respective companies. What’s more, if you go to one or both, you’ll have fun.
Leichter, who founded his company in 1996, infuses his dances with an irrepressible musicality and freely blends wildly disparate dance styles. Recently, he has choreographed to compositions by Debussy and Stravinsky; at the Joyce, in the premiere of Killa, he returns to pop music. Leichter’s work can be enjoyed on many levels—of course, purely on the sensory level, but audiences can also look for a conceptual underpinning there for the mining. read more
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