Dance Critics on Dance Criticism

Dance Magazine

I completely agree with Deborah Jowitt. I'll let readers decide about Joan Acocella and Alastair Macaulay...

Gerald Casel Dance this Friday!

Save The Robots! borrows its title from a 1980’s after-hours club in the Lower East Side of NYC. This physically powerful dance is an abstract response to the loss of artistic expression and integrity brought on by gentrification. Contemplating life in a big city-particularly the vulgarity and clumsiness of ’starchitechture,’ the ubiquitous Starbucks and American Apparels, this piece asks questions about how people are considered in the creation of urban spaces. It navigates through the porous and often emotional area between public and private space.

Friday | Nov 21 | 8.30 pm
Click here to see the show info listed on the Dance New Amsterdam page!

280 Broadway, 2nd Floor (entrance on Chambers)
New York, NY 10007

An Afro Latin Halloween

Reminder: There will be no Dance TRaC class this Friday, October 31st. It's HALLOWEEN!

So.....

We'll see you on Saturday, November 1st for Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra's Dia de los Muertos!


On Saturday, Nov. 1st, the whole Teen Reviewers and Critics program will come together along with over 100 other High 5ers to celebrate la Dia de los Muertos with Arturo O’Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, a Grammy-nominated ensemble, melding rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz harmonies from the United States. The concert features the world premiere of the Day of the Dead Suite, the extraordinary Aztec Suite and special guest performers including Folkloric Dancers.

Before the concert, Arturo O'Farrell is holding a High 5 exclusive workshop on Afro-Latin Jazz, so we'll be heading over to the show by 6:30 p.m. Come prepared to jump on stage and learn first-hand what it takes to be a Afro-Latin Jazz All-Star....

WHEN: Saturday, November 1st. 6:30 - 10:15 p.m. (with two intermissions)

WHERE: SYMPHONY SPACE at 2537 Broadway and 95th Street in Manhattan

DIRECTIONS: Take the 1, 2 or 3 subway to the 96th Street stop. Exit train and walk south on Broadway. Symphony Space will be on your right-hand side. OR Take the B or C subway to the 96th Street stop and walk west until you hit Broadway.

Costumes
are
optional.....

:)

see ya'll on Saturday, muertos!


~eric

Luciana Achugar - Performance

Friday, October 24 (tonight) we go see Luciana Achugar's "The Sublime is Us" at Dance Theater Workshop (the same place we have class).

The show starts at 7:30 and runs about an hour.

Fall 2008 Dance TRaC begins!

Make sure to think outside the box....and the lines.... and rules.... and pre-conceptions.
Open your mind!

and enjoy.

~eric


(for more BANSKY - the graffiti artist who painted the above - click here.)

Update

Hello All,

I know It's been a while so lets see if I can get you up to speed. 

Over spring break we saw Akram Kahn at City Center, well a few of us at least. We went with the people at Visual TRaC. We had mixed opinions about the piece but that only fueled our discussions further. At some point in the past month we tried to tackle the question "What is dance?" We compared all the dance forms we saw this spring. Streb's Action Mechanics, Grupo Corpo, Jonah's motion capture, and most recently Akram Khan's dance theater piece. Can walking, sports or Streb be considered dance? what are their qualified features? 

Safe to say we exhausted the subject but could not come up with a definitive answer, and it seemed that, that was a better solution than a strict definition.

Following on the philosophical trend on May 6th we saw Nora Chipaumire at DTW which featured our very own B-Mac as the post-show moderator. The following friday we were scheduled to have Nora come and talk to us but due to scheduling mix-ups it was just us, that didn't prove for much of a problem. We then tackled the process of how dancers gain exposure, how they get shows and who has the power to choose what will be presented to the public. This led us to this week's discussion of how we decide what is "good" or not? Is it based on our opinion of the piece, do we use other people's opinions to influence our decisions or do we base it on what we know and have been exposed to previously? Also do we have to like something to think it's "Good" how does that influence our reviews and opinions. This was a heated conversation at times and at others we had so many questions to ask that most went unanswered.

 I think this just goes to show how many different opinions there are and that there is never one right answer, especially when critiquing something. We all have different view points and writing styles and that just makes what we write and say more important and unique. Let's face it who would want to live in a world where everyone agrees and has one view point. 

Next Week we are at DTW as usual, no more shows :(  , but we have guest scholar Charmaine Warren. 

See You Then

P.S. Hopefully we can get out a news letter listing upcoming dance performances that we can possibly all go to together. 

at STREB S.L.A.M. in Williamsburg

Check out Emily's update and the Jonah Bokaer reviews below, too!