I attended Program A of the Limon Dance Company's recent week of performances at the Joyce, which consisted of Jose Limon's Missa Brevis and The Unsung as well as Artistic Director Colin Connor's The Body Is a House Without Walls and Rosie Herrera's Querida Herida. Since the two week 70th anniversary celebration in 2015, Colin Connor has replaced Carla Maxwell as AD and the company has seen major turnover in its ranks. Of the current 14 company members, only 4 participated in the 2015 festival. So I was curious to see what this new iteration of the company would look like under Connor's direction. The first piece on Program A was Limon's The Unsung from 1970. This was Limon's tribute to legendary Native American chieftains. One of its most
My first choice was a ballet piece named La Sylphide. La Sylphide is a story about a young Scottish man named James who is soon to be wed. He falls asleep and has an intricate dream about a beautiful sylphide, which is a spirit. In his dream they dance and he soon falls in love with the sylphide. When he awakes, he soon forgets about the sylphide and focuses on his fiancée.
On November 12, I had the incredible experience of seeing Ballet West’s Production of Madame Butterfly. I am so grateful for this experience because I was the first time I had ever seen a ballet performed. I enjoyed the evening immensely, and hope to be able to attend more ballets in the future.
Seasons of a Navajo. Dir. John Borden. Perf. Dorothy and Chauncey Neboia. PBS Video, 1984. VHS.
The Alberta Ballet Company, being that it is a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization makes their money through ticket sales (season, individual and group), corporate sponsored performances, donations, government grants and the Alberta Ballet Foundation’s Endowment Fund. This Fund development program includes ongoing fundraising campaigns such as Artist Fund Memberships, Artist Director of Creation, Adopt-A-Dancer and Dance Circle Memberships. They’ve hosted events like Ballet 101 and gotten support for education as well as outreach programs. They have a very solid reputation, attracting both national and international talent to their schools. For graduates, there was a worldwide demand for Alberta Ballet-trained dancers. They have built good relationships with conductors, musicians, choreographers and guest artists,
The fall dance concert, Rise, was held in the University Theatre at California State University Dominguez Hills. The individuals that helped make this concert come to life are the faculty choreographers: Amy Michelle Allen, Marco Carreon, Sarah Cashmore, Jeff Hendrix, Erin Landry, Doris Ressl Acosta, and Kenneth Walker. They were accompanied by two senior student choreographers, Alanna Neely-Sanchez and Mavra Pedraza.
The next work of the program, Courtly Airs and Dances, is a multi-movement work composed by Ron Nelson. The piece is split into six movements: Intrada, Basse Danse, Pavane, Saltarello, Sarabande, and Allemande. Each of these present distinct characteristics that separate it from each other movement, yet all are united by being a style of dance. The first movement, Intrada, presents a fanfare-like opening to the multi-movement work. The trumpets and brass section as a whole lead this, as they create a sense of nobility. The key is major and the tempo is one that could be described as allegretto—it is not a fast tempo, yet more brisk than an andante pace. The texture is homophonic, as there are different parts being performed by different
The Art of Dance was staged in MDC’s own Kendall campus auditorium. There was respectable use of the stage and lighting, however the dancers themselves did just not do it for me. The majority of the pieces appeared thrown together at the last minute and as if
There is something beautiful about dance, but there is something more beautiful about dancing with others. When a group of 13 girls and 1 boy can come together from 14 different ways of life and move together as one, then a dance team become more than just a dance team. This was not something that happened over night, it took time, effort and about 7 conversations with our coaches about our values. Without all of those components this team would have never became the successful, fighting, dream team that we became.
Ross, Janice. “Judson Dance Theatre: Performative Traces.” TDR: The Drama Review 53, no. 2 (2009): 161-164
This production was based on the Cuban dances and music from the 1950’s to today’s style of Cuban dance. Not only did Lizt Alfonso incorporate Cuban dance in this production, but she also weaved ballet, flamenco, and Afro-Cuba
Most girls who dance on a high school dance team, either used to, or continue to dance at a dance studio. No, they are not like dance moms. Clearly you dance in both but the style and set up are very different between the two. The basis of each are similar however. While dance studios and dance teams do have some similarities, they are for the most part very different.
This musical is about two rival singing gangs named the Jets and the other the Sharks. The Jets are made up of white male teenagers which the Sharks are colored Puerto Rican teenagers. They don’t like each other and hate one another. The leader of the Jets wants an ex-Jet Tony to join in a fight. They believe the Jets are superior and want to keep other gangs out. Tony gets pressured to go by the Leader and he accepts. Tony begins to have a musical number at his job and sings about how great tonight will be. At a dance, Tony spots a Puerto Rican woman named Maria. They both dance and appear to fall in love. However, both individuals come from two rival backgrounds and interrelations is prohibited. This scene is a classic scene similar to play
race begins. A flare gun or a horn usually starts a race. In case of a
Dance is a part of every culture. Whether it is the fire dances of the native Hawaiians, or the Tango from Spain, dance is a part of every culture. This event is not an event I would usually attend. I am not into art of any kind except music. At first, there were two reasons I went to this performance.
Contemporary dance first originated from ballet, however changed when Isadora Duncan decided that she didn’t want to dance ballet. She disregarded the refined technical Classical ballet and thus the concept of Contemporary dance was born. This style incorporates movements where the body moves freely and doesn’t have restrictions, embodying raw human emotion. Pioneers of contemporary dance comprise of the internationally known Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham (The Conversation, 2014, online) + (Bibliography, 2012, online). These three dancers helped to revolutionise contemporary dance and express their interpretation of it, all unique but added layers to the genre. A range of movements that originated from these dancers are