Wednesday, April 24, 2024
(For the Full List of 2022 CHITA RIVERA AWARD WINNERS and Red Carpet Photos, see below) The stars with the highest kicks, swishiest hips, dynamite tap skills, and the slickest moves were out for the 2022 edition of the Chita Awards on Monday, June 20. It was the first "Chitas" since 2019 and honored outstanding dance performances and choreography on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and film for the 2020-2022 seasons. Selecting the creme de la dance is never an easy task, but this year the committee had to make their selections from several years and a very dance-heavy return season for Broadway. The
Tag: dance
“Bat Out of Hell”, Finishes Up A Stellar Run At The New York City Center Theatre This Sept 8th
Andrew Polec, Christina Bennington ride into hellfire in Bat Out of Hell from August 1st to Sept 8th at The New York City Center. Photo By: Playbill.com The 1970's were a profoundly prolific time in American history. Whether it be politically, through fashion or musically, that time in history will stay saturated in the minds of those who were alive during it. 1977 specifically gave us many important historical moments and unforgettable events. It was the year Jimmy Carter was sworn in as President. 1977 boasts the release of Star Wars which changed the world of film forever. Also, just as important
DRAGON SPRING PHOENIX RISE at The Shed is a 21st Century Kung Fu Spectacle
Swords whizzed past heads close enough to cut their opponents’ hair; dancers dropped from or rose to the sky like celestial beings dangling on a mere thread; acrobatic action scenes shifted into nightclub extravaganzas complete with vogueing routines; fire and water danced alongside the performers as elemental partners, adding to the danger and thrills. A dream team of talents was assembled to realize co-conceiver and director Chen Shi-Zheng’s vision that was initially inspired by observing Bruce Lee’s audition tape for his film debut at age 18. All of this and more came together to create Kung Fu spectacle Dragon Spring
“Freddie Falls in Love” at the Joyce Theater
Choreographers have a default line in interviews that is some variant of “I tell stories through dance.” Much of the time, though, I watch their work and wonder what the story might have been about. Mercifully, Al Blackstone has created a story that runs the length of “Freddie Falls in Love” that is actually a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. There are characters who are not just dancers in a pose, and there is conflict and resolution. There just isn't any talking. The term “dansical” is over-used in some quarters, but here it fits like a
Pilobolus –The Joyce Theatre
Pilobolus is performing two programs during its three-weeks at the Joyce Theater this summer, and each piece is unique while being ineffably consistent with the style of the company. It is dance in the broadest sense of the word, rhythmic movement. Yet, the company borrows from gymnastics and acrobatics, and sometimes, the closest parallel one can find is the Moscow Circus in the old Soviet Union. The five pieces in program A are distinct and appeal to both dance mavens and neophytes. “On the Nature of Things” is a classical study in movement. Nathaniel Buchsbaum, Krystal Butler and Quincy Ellis
Sidra Bell Dance New York at New York Live Arts
If your idea of dance is the Rockettes or a big Broadway show-stopper, Sidra Bell Dance New York is probably not for you. The choreographer, composer and company seem comfortable just on the other side of the cutting edge. The performances at New York Live Arts of “Friction” and “garment” (lower case in the title) illustrated this nicely. To begin with, the company is diversity itself. Sebastaian Abarbanell is a former Berliner, Tushrik Fredricks is from Johannesburg, Drew Lewis learned to dance in Chicago, Misa Kinno Lucyshyn is from Eugene, Oregon by way of Vancouver, Madison Wada is a Californian, and
Chita Rivera Awards 2018 at NYU Skirball Center
At the Chita Rivera Awards on Sunday, Tony Yazbeck, winner of Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Show (for Prince of Broadway), a gentleman onstage and off, modern-day mensch of movement, and the Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire (for whom the Awards were previously named) of this era, recalled his journey to becoming a true triple threat: "Dance has been part of my soul since I was four. I was a dancer first and foremost, and when I was a kid I never wanted to do anything else. Then I did Gypsy and saw Tyne Daly, through song, dance and
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival: “Les Choses Dernières” & “To Catch A Terrorist”
The opening weekend of the acclaimed La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival featured the only two headlining works which would perform at the Ellen Stewart Theater -- an intimidating space for such intimate dance pieces. One, Lucie Grégoire Danse Company’s Les Choses Dernières: the New York premiere of a solo work made famous by the Montreal-based choreographer, now passed on to another dancer, and the other, Egyptian creator/performer Adham Hafez and HaRaKa Platform’s To Catch A Terrorist: a world-premiere of a new work and collaborative effort that utilizes spoken word as much as body language. Both explored disturbing topics that are
‘FITTING ROOMS’ at Triskelion Arts
Lacan’s mirror stage provides the trampoline for Denisa Musilova’s haunting new work, “Fitting Rooms”. The rich psychological substrata of the piece allows for a deeply complex unpacking of the adult games people play in their search for identity and belonging. This is the fourth work I have seen by this meticulous Czech choreographer and I again found myself engaged in an intense dialogue with the work as it unfolded before me. It brings up questions that demand thoughtful answers and the work probes your subconscious looking for resonance with your shadow side. She sets off a series of chain reactions
One Thousand Nights and One Day at A.R.T/New York Theatres presented by Prospect Theater Company
Humankind is made up of stories: the stories we tell others, those we tell ourselves, our version of the story, and even history is only a series of stories stamped with a seal of approval to be considered by the ruling power as “the truth,” though it is no more than yet another observation or opinion on what transpired. Stories have the ability to make us -- for they are the foundation where legends and heroes are born. But they also have the power and capacity to break us and tear us apart from our own kind, to separate us