In our busy daily lives, we don’t often have the opportunity to be immersed in anything outside of the regular stuff… I mean transported, outlook altered, mood changed. I sampled a couple of cultural experiences offering such a chance this week, Minneapolis-based Morgan Thorson’s Heaven at PS 122 which closed Oct 3 and Kurt Hentschläger’s Zee at 3LD Art & Tech Center.
As the audience entered, the tightly bunched group of performers walked very slowly around the periphery of the stage, quietly demanding all attention. Everything was white—the marley, the curtains that lined the walls, the columns (with pleated skirts around their bases), the dancers’ costumes, crafted of quilted fabric with Ace bandage accents. White lace even trimmed all of the industrial audience chairs. Lenore Doxsee designed the superb lighting; Emmett Ramstad the costumes; the two with Thorson designed the visual setting. read more
Dance showcases can be a bit of a gamble. It’s all part of the experience, but mixed in with choice discoveries can be less compelling ones. An abundance of budding talent and a strong democratic streak (or a weak curatorial hand) can mean too-long shows. And in this city where on any given night you can choose between several promising dance performances, time is of the essence. For these reasons, The Barnard Project at Dance Theater Workshop April 23-25 is particularly enticing.
Four accomplished choreographers with intriguingly different styles have spent the semester setting works on several dozen Barnard dance students, who perform the results this weekend at DTW. There’s Nora Chipaumire, originally from Zimbabwe, who mixes a powerful style with threads that connect to her African heritage and its rich cultural and political potential. Susan Rethorst, a longtime presence on New York’s dance scene, splits her time between New York and Amsterdam. Her recent work for her female company transplanted her living room to Danspace Project’s stage at St. Mark’s Church. read more
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