AAADT review in Dance Magazine

My review of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater City Center season (December 1, 2010-January 2, 2011) is in the March issue of DanceMagazine (p. 58-59), available now.

As she sees it: Plank on Martins' "Swan Lake"

Sara Mearns Was Gorgeous in Swan Lake, But Overall Production Was Lacking

by Tonya Plank, Tonya Plank, February 14, 2011

Dancingwordwordingdance

Slow-dancing the Poem: Body of Words @ Dixon Place
by DJ McDonald, Culturebot, February 13, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Glitter Valentine, East Village
(c)2011, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Never stop

‎@KatrinaNation (Katrina vandenHeuvel) tweeted:

Never stop telling stories or singing that song. Never know what they will lead to--and what they inspire...

The RAW and the cooked

Dance New Amsterdam's current RAW Directions show is the fruit of a program offering commissions, mentorship, marketing support, free rehearsal space and other advantages to emerging-to-mid-career dancemakers. The payoff for audiences--at least, those in the crowd who are not devoted loved ones or loyal colleagues of participating artists--might be the discovery of someone or something wonderful despite the usual low signal-to-noise ratio of these types of omnibus presentations. 

The prime reason to see RAW Directions tonight--your last chance--is South Korea-born dancer-choreographer Eunhee Lee, partnered by Marcos Duran in a duet called Oops.

Eunhee Lee and Marcos Duran in Oops
(photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Lee created this often impossibly silly piece about making mistakes in relationships, but she makes no missteps as a performer. A dancer of soft, surreal drama, she emits an aura of quiet authority. You know that moment: You're on a subway platform, your skin feels a teeny-tiny shift in the air, you see faint, nearly imperceptible brightening along the farthest stretch of tracks. Your train's on the way, and that's the experience of watching Lee dance. She is, simply, great--and instructive--to watch.

Also participating in RAW Directions: Motley Dance (Elisabeth Motley's I Just Want to See You Underwater--with a gorgeous, viscerally-disturbing film by Victoria Masters and expert lighting by Amanda K. Ringger); Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins Achille a.k.a. SNIC/SNIC-A/Eternal Works (in an excerpt from Swing Us Sky Rain(bow)); Jordan Fuchs/Jordan Fuchs Company (Strange Planet); and Scott Lyons/Scott Lyons & Company (The View)

Tonight at 8pm. See program information here and tickets here.

Dance New Amsterdam

280 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Manhattan

Enter on Chambers Street

(directions)

Getting "Butterflies"

Repertorio Español presents En El Tiempo de las Mariposas ("In the Time of Butterflies") by Caridad Svich and Julia Álvarez, now through April 8.

Based on Julia Álvarez’s popular novel, this is the story of the courageous Mirabal sisters (Patria, Minerva y María Teresa) from the Dominican Republic. The sisters inspired resistance cells throughout the country against the dictatorial regime of Gen. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo. The ‘butterflies’, their secret code name, were brutally murdered by the regime in 1960.

Presented in Spanish (live simultaneous English translation available)

Video and digital animation by Alex Koch
Soundscape and original music by Jane Shaw
Lighting and costume design by Robert Federico

Click here for more information and tickets.

Repertorio Español

138 East 27th Street (between Lexington and Third Avenues), Manhattan

Box Office: 212-225-9920

(directions)