Yin Yue presents her troupe and Chinese guests at Peridance

It shouldn't be too difficult to write a headline. But this one--pretty generic, eh?--took longer than usual to come together. That reflects a larger quandary about how to write about the show that Shanghai-born Yin Yue presented at Peridance Capezio Center this past weekend.

Her New York-based Yin Yue Dance Company's own abstract, contemporary pieces alternated with festive delicacies--brief ballet ensembles and Chinese classical and folk dances choreographed by Ying Yin and Zhou Dan and performed by students from China's Jiangxi Zhongshan Dance School. This curious coin kept flipping.

First, it would be all bright, cheery colors and unflagging smiles from China; precision-crafted fantasias--a bevy of young women in pink pointe shoes, tassels, spangles, the works--that would have inspired Busby Berkeley. Then lights would dim again, and out would come one or more of the Yue crew, dressed dark and drab, launching one of the choreographer's typically stretchy, gnarly, bulletproof assaults on space. The mood-swinging went back-and-forth like this for roughly 90 minutes. What to make of it all?

I cannot claim insight into the conventions of dance in China--insight that might have been more available to some of my fellow viewers--but I'd say that Yue would serve her Chinese colleagues and their New York audience better by producing a separate showcase for their artistry and providing, in program notes or a spoken introduction, a little background on the school and each of the dances presented.

Her own quartet--herself, Grace Whitworth, Luke Bermingham and Liane Aung--can be terrific. I can't say I "get" the enigmatic choreography or have a sense of what drives Yue as a maker, what matters to her beyond the forcefulness of her movement. But the sculptural, nearly industrial movement looks sharp, clean, purposeful. It has spring and tensile strength and cuts air like nobody's business. All of her dancers have lithe, compact but athletic bodies similar to hers, with Whitworth being particularly grounded, surefooted and--you can clearly see--mentally focused. Bermingham excels in this way, too, in the solo One Step Before The Exit. Duets are occasions for exacting puzzles in the handling of one partner by the other; ensembles bring rhythmic retractions and ricochets--all thrilling, mysterious assertions in space that, in all honesty, I craved after each injection of sunshine and sugar from the Chinese students.

Limón Dance Foundation on the passing of Alan Danielson

Alan Danielson
1954-2014

The José Limón Dance Foundation sadly announces the sudden passing of Alan Danielson on February 12, 2014.

A beloved teacher, mentor, colleague and friend, he will be greatly missed by all.

Executive Director, Juan Jose Escalante, says "Yesterday we lost a dear friend and an amazing human being.

Already an accomplished musician, Alan discovered dance at age 22 and subsequently moved to New York to study with Ruth Currier, who performed in the Limón Dance Company for many years and became the Company Director after José Limón’s death. Ten years later he was approached by the Director of the Limón Institute, Norton Owen, to help found the Limón School. Under Alan’s guidance, the Professional Studies Program was created 2001, which is an intensive nine-month program in the Limón technique and repertory that continues today.

Alan was an internationally acclaimed choreographer and master teacher, committed to the contemporary relevance of the Humphrey/Limón movement principles and philosophy. He will be greatly missed at the Limón School, based at Peridance Capezio Center in New York. In addition, Alan was on faculty at New York University and the Alvin Ailey American Dancer Center, and taught extensively in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and Central America.

His impact on the thousands of students he reached throughout his career is immeasurable and has left us with an incredible legacy of exceptional dancers and teachers. He was asked once“What would you like to offer young dancers today?” His response was extraordinary: “I would like to share my love for movement – what it feels like and what it projects to those who are watching. I would like to share my joy in working with music and creating with other dancers. I’d like to show them how dance is life, and how it communicates our existence as human beings."

Rest in peace dear friend – we will love you and miss you forever!"