Last Life is an R-rated thrill.  Timothy Haskell’s new fight play, performed as part of the two-week long Fight Fest at the BRICK theatre in Williamsburg, takes a time-hopping journey through a dark and violent world, leaving some viewers invigorated and those more sensitive, myself included, a bit queasy.

Watching Last Life is like watching "Kill Bill," only live.  But, since movie edits don’t apply to stage fights, Last Life must deal with the illusion of violence in other ways. Throughout the show there is a special effects man positioned down-stage right, and, at the proper moments, he runs onstage as the action freezes and wipes blood-red paint onto the actors’ smashed faces, severed limbs, and stab wounds.  At one particularly gruesome moment, he tosses a red and sloppy bundle onstage (brains) just as someone’s head gets smashed in.  Nice.

Last Life’s plot line functions as an excuse for breaking into fight choreography; according to the stagecraft fight world, this is called a "Fightsikall."  Glancing at the program before the show, I learn that the action has been cut and spliced back together out of order, each section labeled Present, 7 Years Ago, 8 Years Ago, etc… But, as I watch the play, there is no way to know when one is. The impression of cause and effect is murky, someone kills someone, then someone kills someone else, and now both parties want revenge… and then something about explosive protein shake.

But of course, as an excuse for fight scenes, it works great.  Every couple of minutes someone is either tortured, beaten, or killed.  The tiny stage at BRICK is kept clear for fights by leaving actors (when not fighting) in chairs across the back.  The dialogue is performed seated and facing the audience, as if looking at the other member of the conversation who is, in fact, seated two chairs down.  Kudos to Aaron Haskell, as SkinFace, who’s spot on timing, even with lines too explicit to repeat here, offered some much needed comic relief, and Jo-anne Lee, who’s screaming Fenrir belied her less than chilling stature. Unfortunately, this minimal movement flattens some of the other speaking moments, but allows the fight scenes to stand out as thrilling, action-packed, frighteningly real vignettes.

As bodies transition from sitting to flying through the air, rolling on the floor, and brandishing knives in no time, I am impressed not only by the intricacy of the action, but by the athleticism of the performers themselves.  This is a brand of choreography that allows absolutely no margin of error.  If you are late, you will get hurt.  Plus, Haskell’s choreography is not suave or understated.  It’s scrappy, and dirty, and loud, lots of stutter stepping and repeated slapping.  I would imagine it takes lots of concentration to look so desperate and stay so, in reality, safe…  Yowzers!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Meghan Frederick
Performance:  Last Life
Choreography:  Timothy Haskill
Venue:  The BRICK Theater
Show Date: December 16, 2009
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FELA!, the new Broadway musical that marries the biopic story of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti with his music, is a raw insightful adaptation of 37 Arts’ off Broadway version to the great white way.  This production is enhanced by the incredible spacial perspective and evocative powers of the design team.  The visionary choreography/direction from Bill T. Jones, changeable set which vibes-n-flows via video production, and costume design from Marina Draghici, as well as the innovative lighting design by Robert Weirzel, all place the audience at a brightly lit version of Fela’s beloved club, the Shrine.  The audience doesn’t miss a thing as this cozy theatre becomes a fringe Nigerian space, sweeping us all into the madness that becomes Fela’s MOP (Movement of the People).

Sahr Ngaujah is a quadruple threat playing Fela as he acts, sings, dances while playing both saxophone, drum and trumpet.  His ability to float between skills goes from strength to strength as he simultaneously takes on the persona of bandleader, disillusioned son, leader of a sociopolitical movement and lover to his many Queens (wives).  [The historical Fela was said to have married 24 women in an act of protest against Westernization and the Christianization of his beloved Nigeria.  He found protest in act like polygamy, smoking the peace pipe and even declaring his compound a sovereign nation].

So… here in the Kalakuta Republic, which basically translates to "rascally" from Swahili, the audience is drawn in by the uneven flow of the story and carefree style that, when combined, truly makes the production more accessible for Black audiences precisely because it is not formulaic.  Quite frankly, I like that it runs hot and loose with just about everything.  It is a casual, and at times, a crazed conversation between the audience and Fela.  The audience even gets the opportunity to stand up and get down with a free dance lesson!    A surefire recipe for a cult-like theater-in-the-making for "time-warped" FELA-Fanatics, this is a show that you will truly have to return to see time and time again in order to take it all in.

More like a rock concert vibe, the Highlife and AfroBeat band play powerful renditions of Fela’s most influential songs such at Upside Down, Zombie, MOP and more…  Arranged by the Brooklyn-based band, Antibalas, (a long time practitioner of the Afrobeat sound), the entire ensemble performs enmeshed in Fela’s flow and rhythmical structure infusing the story with emotion and electricity.

As the audience sits in their seats and the band warms up, very very slowly the dancers, "Fela’s Queens," begin to wind their waists off to the side, up on scaffolding, and out in the aisles until the whole theatre seems a "Shrine" to the beautiful black bottom.  Ain’t nothing wrong with it.  Besides, if by freeing your ass your mind follows, then the dancers in FELA! are all highly enlightened.  What I can’t stress enough is that they are all, all standouts in this cast and you get the feeling that this can of random parts has no filler.

A crowd pleaser and a Queen of the night with such versatility, Nicole Chantal de Weever all but breaks her back in several scenes where she flips between fierce African solo’s and beautiful snatched extensions.  While some of the male dancers like Corey Baker and Daniel Soto float between the African movement and the classical and contemporary dance vocabulary with grace and ease, the other women on stage, having familiar faces from the NYC African dance performance and class scene, look as if they have been dancing together for years.  (Actually, many of them have been doing just that, but not on Broadway).   Special kudos are in order to Rassaan Elijah “Talu” Green, who moves from being drummer to dancer with equal skill, and Gelan Lambert, an amazing tap technician who shows his improvisation skills well over that funky Afro Beat sound.  Who knew?  Before FELA!, Gelan has been known to be an awesome contemporary dancer in the "concert dance" world.  Werk!

Other standouts in the cast are Saycon Sengbloh as Fela’s African American Venus who brings him a "Black Power" mentality.  The stereotype of the Black American Queen, strong and angry, is not lost in the role and neither is the humor of this genre of blaxsploitation.  Sengbloh takes us back to the 60’s with her all out belting voice as she “turns [his] world upside down” with books!  Yes, they are dancing onstage doing their African while reading books.  The characters Sandra and Fela go back and forth over which side is more messed up:  African American or African.  Finally, Fela concedes that he had to go all the way to America to understand what his mother had been trying to teach him all along.

Memorable lines from Ngaujah are in his description of colonialism as being metaphorically like "having guests in the house."  In a scene about “Hotel Africa,” he describes how at first “it’s quite nice” and then “things start to go missing.”  As the audience has a chuckle, Ngaujah begins to lists “Ashtrays, towels […] petroleum, diamonds, people!”  At this point, we realize that the fun jesting and joking around has quickly turned political, but not before he asked, “…and what do they leave in return?  Gonorrhea and Jesus!”  …OMFG

So yeah, this show is going to get real, real fast.  So, bring it fast and loose.  It’s about time for new blood on Broadway.  As Fela lights up a fatty and begins to describe his rise to fame and political ambitions, someone in the audience shouts “Puff puff pass.”  The work is irreverent, powerfully moving and one of the most insightful productions I have seen in a long time.  I hope that, as it gains in popularity, some of the funnier, raw, offensive, countercultural shit stays in!  For example, his monologue about taking a shit while imprisoned is funny, familiar, yet still foreign to the conservative American’s Puritan ethic.  So, the work quite wittily shakes cobwebs from ways of thinking to try to get something new to stick—a new "education."  Perhaps, it will be the countercultural revolution that stirs Fela’s soul and inflames his lyrics.

The most important question that is explored throughout the night is not colonialism, Christianity, police brutality, or government corruption, but rather, why Fela?  Why does he do all those crazy things?  How can Nguajah pull you in so completely that by the end you see him as saint and not sinner, revolutionary and not rascal, musical genius and not near-do-well, etc., etc.  Although the work often romanticizes and glorifies a lifestyle that causes so much pain to those closest to Fela (especially the women in his life), you can’t help but love Fela.

Using concepts from the Yoruba religion, the second act is spiritually unlike anything I’ve ever seen on Broadway.  The most amazing sections come toward the end in a sweeping all white ballet as Fela goes into a dream sequence in search of his beloved mother Funmilayo who has become an orisha (departed spirit who leads us from above) of the rain.  Played by Lillias White, the role is haunting and evocative and biographically balances Fela’s male chauvinism with his mother’s real feminist activism.  White’s singing sends chills down my spine and there are only a few dry eyes in the cast and audience as she takes her son under protection throughout as a watchful-eyed photo peers down on the audience in a three dimensional holograph.

Nguajah throws himself so completely into the role with his embodied talent that I often believe Fela is walking around in his skin.  He physicalizes his performance without making it a Broadway musical.  Instead, I feel like I am getting my hair braided and watching one of those African movies where I don’t understand why the two ladies in the film are going after each other with shoes, but I appreciate the fully committed way all the action takes place.  I feel that this work is a "watershed event’ on Broadway where something new brings a chance at real adventures for the audience.

Keeping it fast and loose, the work ends quite as it began, unexpectedly powerful and poignantly political.  After the immense applause, Bill T. Jones leaps on stage and treats us with an African solo across the floor dropping to his knees mid-stage to shake and undulate his body into the wing and out the door…  I want to cry.  This is it!  This is contemporary African dance fusion where all are swept up in the spirit of the music that calls the body to move in new and exciting ways.

Go see FELA!  Bring friends and keep this on Broadway long enough to truly celebrate the legacy he left behind in his music, activism and larger than life persona.  Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938-1997) R.I.P. brother… you deserve it.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Sasha Deveaux
Performance:  FELA!
Choreographer: Bill T. Jones
Venue: Eugene O’Neill Theatre
Show Date: November 23, 2009 @ 8:00pm
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Tanguera, dubbed the only tango musical, arrives at New York City Center creating the atmosphere of Buenos Aires.  With only one singer and a few narrative songs, I would hardly call the production a musical.  Tanguera is very much a ballet, but with tango as the dance vocabulary that tells the story.  The production opens with a solo accordionist, standing at the place where the stage meets the audience, as if inviting us to take a glimpse back in time at Buenos Aires during the turn of the 20th century.  His unveiled passionate playing reminds us that tango begins with the music and the people. The live music certainly enhances the vibrancy of the show, sucking us into this classic South American love story.

The premise of Tanguera revolves around the character Giselle, a French immigrant arriving in Buenos Aires in search of a better life.  At the port, Giselle encounters Lorenzo a dockworker, and the two are instantly in love.  However, Giselle is unfortunately involved with the gang leader, Gaudencio, who has helped bring her there.  In her innocent desire for a better life, Giselle finds herself manipulated by Gaudencio and his comrades with her only route of survival being to work for them dancing in a dirty nightclub.  The rest of the story plays out predictably, through dramatized dancing.

The dancing is fabulous, impeccably clean.  Perhaps it’s too clean for telling a story from the streets.  The dancers play their parts, but that is what if felt like, playing roles.  To be convincing, the dancing needed to be grimier.  Somehow it seems that the show had been polished into a musical version that lost its organic quality along the way. 

My favorite scene is within the nightclub.  Fabric panels onstage gave the impression of windows, as if looking in on the couples in their moments of erotic intimacy.  The ladies look dazzling in the nightclub attire, thong bustier leotards with sexy skirts of fringe.

With no intermission, the storyline is uninterrupted.  I would encourage audience members to resist the temptation of leaving immediately, as some of the most exciting dancing, to me, happened in the curtain calls.  Quick footwork, fast twists of the hips, strong partnering- all the elements are there to be witnessed and admired.  With this dramatic love story, you will certainly fall in love with tango!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance:  Tanguera
Choreography:  Mora Godoy
Venue:  New York City Center
Performance Date: Thursday October 8, 2009
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Traditionally, Flamenco performance resembles more of a jazz band jamming then a ballet recital.  The arrangement of participants is fluid but usually contains one or two guitars, one or two vocalists, one or two percussionists, and one or two dancers.  The role of Compás- or rhythm in the hands- is either maintained by one person or shared among the group.  All of these musicians, including the dancers, come together around one of many flamenco rhythms whose structure, tempo, and duration change at the whim of the performers themselves.  Peña obviously wants to make clear this semi-improvisational nature of the form as he writes about it at length in his program.  He hopes to present a true rendition of the spontaneous spirit of Flamenco, where "musicians, dancers and singers… inspire one another to reach as far as possible into their artistic endeavors so as to create an unrepeatable performance every time- a performance that is new and surprising to themselves as much as it is to any audience present."

The first half of this show, while entertaining, seems to me a warm-up for the terribly exciting second half, excepting the quiet guitar solo played by Peña himself.  After a rousing opening number with the whole company Peña takes a chair center stage and plays, alone, against a backdrop of pale blue light.  He seems almost a classicist here, practically devoid of visible emotion, he lets his guitar do the talking as he manipulates subtle textures in pitch and tempo.

Besides a delightful duet, with guitar by Paco Peña and castanets by Charo Espino, my favorite piece is Suite, Baile y Guitarra which opens the second portion of the show.  Accompanied by Peña, each of the male dancers displayed his unique style against Peña’s carefully articulated guitar.  Angel Muñoz, a dancer whom I found a bit stodgy at first, finally opens up here, transmitting his joy to us in accelerating rhythms and little hops and cuts on the upstage diagonal, flirting with the guitar in order to gain space to come stomping back down again with hands like spiders tracing circles in the air.  Ramón Martinez, a very different dancer, who earlier had entertained and eventually put me off with his exaggeratedly slow bravado, here displays his sparse style to great effect, complimenting Peña’s structured chords with lunges, attitudes and arabesques, reminding me of a post-modern dancer in flamenco dress.  In the next piece, Charo Espino, the only female dancer at last given some space to move, proves that she can keep up with the men.  With arched back and hands full of tension curling over her head, she struts up and down the stage, pausing to gather her full skirt in one or two hands and wraps it tightly around her knees as she beats the floor with heels and toes.  She is also a master of one of my favorite moves in the flamenco vocabulary- an arched, spiraling turn, resembling a barrel roll, where the feet stay on the ground and the hands circle as the arms meet and explode again overhead.  Dazzling!

Then, after a full standing ovation, it is over and we emerge elated and a little dazed into the October air.  If you would like to see more Flamenco be sure to check out the New York Flamenco festival which will take place in February 2010 with performances at City Center and Town Hall.  I strongly recommend it.

Photography by Elaine Mayson

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Meghan Frederick
Performance:  A Compás, Paco Peña and the Flamenco Dance Company
Performers:  Paco Peña, Angel Muñoz, Charo Espino, Ramón Martinez
Venue:  Town Hall, New York City
Show Date:  October 2,  2009

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It’s Friday night. Indian summer is upon us.  People are hustling by in their best weekend theatre-goer attire awaiting the evening’s performances all over Midtown West.  “Ah, the theatah!” I say to myself, feeling on top of the world knowing that I, Sheena DiMatteo, would be getting into a Broadway show for FREE tonight!  Ooh LA LA! Looking around at all the people who I knew had paid big bucks had me secretly gloating…..

I gracefully chasse up to the ticket window, and smile “DiMatteo”…. a blank stare.  I spell it, and again get a blank stare.  Ok, “Sheena?”  No such luck. “iDANZ?” ……Long story short, the publicist never wrote my name down and I had NO ticket.  And I must announce, if there ever was a stickler, this guy at the box office window was it.  I was NOT, (despite almighty Blackberry proof with MY name displayed clearly on the confirmation email) getting tickets if it was up to this Box Office Nazi.  After a desperate pleading attempt with him and having him eventually close his blinds on me Wizard-of-Oz style at 8:02 PM, the couldn’t-show-up-at-a-better-time company manager swooped in on a magic flying steed and saved the day! “By golly, these people are trying to advertise your show, let her in!”  And by the beard of Zeus, (thanks Ron Bergundy) there was a ticket in my hand!

So, like a silly goose, here I come flocking into BURN THE FLOOR late, being THAT girl who makes everyone around her stand up and miss what they actually, unlike me, DID pay good money to see!  Finally, after awkwardly side-saddling about 7 people, I’m in my seat and HOORAY, the reviewing begins. (Deep breath! And thanks for reading!)

CURTAIN UP!  Review time!

Burn the Floor is definitely not a Broadway musical.  No lengthy storyline, no characters you care deeply about, no groups of songsters harmonizing loudly, or shocking plot twists, but there IS one thing it does have – the FIERCIEST, FIERIEST, SEXIEST, HARDEST-WORKING DANCERS on Broadway.  Looking through the Playbill, it is funny to note how many dancers have “SYTYCD” plastered all over their bios. From the moment they enter the stage to the moment they take their final bow, and another bow, then another… these dancers bring it hard.  It is ballroom at its best.

“BTF” is divided into four sections: Inspirations, Things That Swing, The Latin Quarter, and Contemporary.  The show flows pretty seamlessly through all four although it’s not hard to tell when we have left behind or entered another realm of Floor-Burn-ery.  The cruise-ship style costumes, sets, and awkwardly placed singers unfortunately cheapen the show and add a level of theme park tackiness, but the CHOREOGRAPHY and DANCERS keep us coming back for more.

Most of the show I am on the edge of my seat, especially during pulsating full-cast numbers such as “Magalena”, a Samba, and the crowd-pleasing “Proud Mary”, a high-speed jive which closes the show.  As a choreographer myself, I am constantly trying to get inside the mind of director and choreographer Jason Gilkison.  The gravity-defying dancers scarcely dance alone, constantly whipping each other around at lightning speed, their connections flawless beneath their perfectly tousled hair.

Despite their verging-on-cheeseball costumes by Janet Hine, a few dancers manage to transcend the wardrobe of candy-colored matching Barbie frocks and display some true individuality. The rest manage to be pleasantly forgettable.  Three of the females really catch my eye, and surprisingly, SYTYCD’s “Anya”, one of the show’s biggest marketing ploys at the moment, isn’t one of them.  It is the blonde Amazonian beauty, Peta Murgatroyd, with her snake-like essence and legs that ooze out from underneath her like ribbons, that is the most stunning of all.  One of her solos, which tosses her gracefully amongst six men, and BLINDFOLDED, is absolutely breathtaking. Then, to counteract her prowess is the compact little spitfire, Giselle Peacock who is constantly featured and center stage.  Peacock dances like a tiny raging bull who’s been antagonized a bit too far!  Thirdly, I must comment on my personal favorite dancer, Sharna Burgess, who is barely “featured” but snatches my attention the nanosecond she arrives on stage, every time.  Put her in the corner and it’s still like there is no one else on stage.  Tall and muscular with flowing black hair, she is the essence of HOT and the definition of commanding attention.

Ok, let’s talk men.  A LOT OF BOOTY SHAKING in tight pants, ladies!  I vote that tight pants for guys come back in style immediately… not just for Sambas! “Pasha”, from SYTYCD does produce, and is thoroughly enjoyable, as are the rest of the men.  I honestly don’t catch myself watching the men individually as much because they’re so good at showcasing their ladies!  The guys work extremely well as an ensemble, the only one sticking out being the shortest of the group, Sasha Farber, who gets tossed into the air like a running cannonball at one point!

By the end of the evening, we have watched one production number after another, and applauded the cast’s three or four self-given ovations- with tributes to their home countries.  Burn the Floor might not catch the theatre on fire, but it does create some smoke.  I’d gladly return and see it again just to fully appreciate the majesty of the dancers.  With a little more concept and a little less tack, this show could really go places.  But hey, let’s not forget that it already fan-kicked its way to Broadway… so kudos ballroom world!  Welcome to the Great White Way.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by  Sheena DiMatteo
Show: Burn The  Floor
Choreographer: Jason Gilkison
Venue:  Longacre Theatre
Date: September 18, 2009
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This evening’s performance features recurring themes of strength versus weakness, connectivity, distrust versus trust, overcoming struggle and limitations.  The diversity of the repertoire was brought together with the music by Nicholas Csicsko and Reinaldo Moya, blending one piece into the next.

The dancers made unique musical choices with the timing of their movements, the stilts sometimes adding a downbeat rhythm of their own.  In simple costumes, unitards with pants or skirt layered over, the dancer’s bodies are revealed for their diverse abilities.

To my eye, the stretchy quality of pants does little to disguise stilts underneath, which I personally find distracting from the dramatic magnificence of these height accentuated dancers.

Yet it was fun to see dancers roam about like ordinary people then whip out aerial maneuvers tangling and detangling in fabric.

Above and Beyond Dance brings more levels into dance physically from aerial acrobatics to stilts to the various levels of a leaping or crouching dancer.  Though vertically enhancing, the stilts pose movement challenges themselves, having a reputation of being intrinsically awkward with the ever present danger of falling.  The dancers of Above and Beyond Dance surprise the audience, eliciting gasps and murmurs with the difficult maneuvers they accomplish on stilts. With high kicks, the dancers send the stilts high into the air, then transition sliding dramatically into extra long splits, continuing to incorporate the stilts in modern dance floor movement combinations.  A thrilling moment occurs as one stilt dancer, and positioned far downstage directly in front of audience, fends off the other dancers charging towards her.  Her back muscles ripple, contoured by red lighting as she propels them backwards convulsing through the air.  Lost in an imaginary world, seemingly witnessing a mystical battle between a giant and little people, I almost forget my fright for the safety of the dancers.

The dancers show no fear of the apparatus, yet are able to convey fear and other emotions through their performance.  I am given the impression the dancers are stepping out into the unknown, peering over an abyss into the unknown.

Solid Dancers . . .

A beautiful duet between one stilt dancer and another dancer eloquently expresses tolerance and harmony between two very different beings.  In another work, attachment is explored between two people, connected by an umbilical like cord from the crown of each dancer’s head.  Is it the story of the growth and separation of Siamese twins?  Perhaps this is where such a metaphorical idea for the dance originated, but it lends itself well, opening the minds of the audience.

Imagery abounds in Above and Beyond dance, in one instance a dancer suspended in a silk hammock flails about like a fish caught in a net.  The lighting is beautiful, playing off the exposed walls of the one room box theater, casting silhouetted shapes that become flying dancers, otherworldly beings crawling up the walls.  The audience is left with one stunning image to finish the evening, women in billowing white skirts, soaring through space.  Breathtaking . . .

Above & Beyond Dance is a great starting point for dancers curious about aerial acrobatics and those looking to expand their modalities.

The company offers an intriguing glimpse at the creative possibilities of cross breeding movement genres.  Working in a collaborative style of choreographing and developing dance, several contributors create unique pieces fusing input from multiple sources, with artistic direction by Chriselle Tidrick.

Chriselle Tidrick describes the wonderful working relationship she has with her dancers: “One of the girls asked, ‘okay, what next?’  And I said, ‘Well, what I think it would be really cool if …and somehow, the dancers make it happen!”

Above and Beyond Dance is definitely worth keeping an eye on, as we all look forward to seeing what’s next!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: “Ascendance” Above & Beyond Dance
Choreography: Chriselle Tidrick with collaboration from Madeline Hoak, Sharon LIvardo du Maine, Andrea Skurr, and Emily Smyth Vartanian
Composers: Nicholas Csicsko and Reinaldo Moya
Venue: The Flea Theater, Soho NYC
Performance Date: Thursday September 10, 2009 www.iDANZ.com

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Fly-by-Night Dance Theater presents a delightful evening of dance, taken to the next dimension.  Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the Fly-by-Night Dance Theater claims a unique place in the New York City dance community.  Fly-by-Night Dance Theater enhances modern dance with aerial apparatus, this time to the tunes of original music by Joshua Geisler and Ken Pierson, combining both movement genres into a powerful expressive fusion of live performance. The evening features two classic works from the accumulated repertory of ten seasons, as well as the premieres of two new works.

The evening opens with the premiere of Slippery When Wet, an interesting solo choreographed and performed by Julie Ludwick.  Spurred on by the strumming of Joshua Geisler on the electric guitar, Julie Ludwick straps on a pair of wheeled sneakers, sliding gliding and soaring about the stage while holding steadfast to a loop of rope suspended center stage.  The live music boosts the excitement of this dance, capturing the thrill that accompanies speed on wheels and the exhilaration produced by reduced friction.  The athleticism is obvious, yet, the movement is so coordinated and smooth, everything appears effortless.

 
Another new work on the program is Streams with a trio of dancers depicting the changing states of water to a piano composition by Ken Pierson.  The dancers leap gliding about the stage sharing two trapeze, skillfully coordinating their circuitous paths without collision.  The dancer’s expressions are calm, creating the illusion of transcendence.  The implementation of space is exceptional, utilizing all space of the stage from the floor to the deep pool of aerial space above it. The multidimensional dance fascinates the audience, exposing new perspectives of sculptural shapes and imagery.

Julie Ludwick performs a graceful solo Summer evoking the essence of a woman’s wisdom. Here the trapeze takes on the form of a tree swing, the dancer contemplating her own roots.  In a simple gesture, one sees the struggle and yearning of years gone by.  The movement is so fluid and organic, that a viewer can easily get lost in this story of a seasoned woman at once.

Inspiring and uplifting, Fly-by-Night Dance Theater has the ability to appeal to audiences of all ages.  Throughout the evening, the performances are interwoven with music unaccompanied by dance permitting necessary adjustments in the apparatus, yet seamlessly connecting the pieces yielding one smooth finish. . The humble ease with which the dancers perform challenging maneuvers takes one’s breath away!  Although parts of the repertory are fun and engaging, reminiscent of childhood play, the repertory of Fly-by-Night Dance pleasantly lends itself towards making deeper discoveries.  Fly-by-Night Dance Theater’s performance reminds us to savor each moment in time and space unveiling our eyes to the magical world in which we live.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Lea McGowan
Performance: Fly-by-Night Dance Theater
Choreography: Julie Ludwick
Venue: Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Family Auditorium JCC in Manhattan, New York City
Performance Date: Sunday, September 6, 2009
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The Downtown Dance Festival roars in the weekend with a bang for a noontime lunch crowd on Friday, August 21.   Featuring five hot dance companies, Jamal Jackson Dance Company, isadoraNOW, C3 Tap Co-operative, Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, and Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances for a Variable Population, this free event at Chase Plaza is part of a week-long festival with performances from a wide range of dance companies, all bringing something unique and unusual to the outdoor stage under the sun.

The African rhythm and beats of Jamal Jackson Dance Company (JJDC) begins the afternoon with a triumphant start. With their traditional African garments, the three women and two men in the piece perform borrowing from their extensive knowledge and their pro-styled execution of the African dance vocabulary; the use of the back and their flexed hands are apparent throughout the performance.  The company is highly-energetic and fiercely-dynamic the entire performance, their legs and arms constantly moving without a moment to catch their breaths!  Although the dance comes across as traditional African, there are times when I catch myself thinking that these dancers are using movement that resembles the Hip-Hop vocabulary as well.  The seamlessness in which they transition from traditional African dance to contemporary movement is well-skilled and very well-practiced.  JJDC is truly able to capture the mission of the company, to show the connection between African culture and American culture.

isadoraNOW presents a four-part performance with anti-war connotations.  The pieces are all choreographed by Isadora Duncan, and it is amazing to think that she choreographed this piece in 1921, and, it is still highly relevant to the issues of today!  The first section, Polonaise began as a solo with Elyssa Dru Rosenberg who performs militaristic gestures, stamping her feet and pointing at the crowd. Rosenberg’s grand gestures are accompanied by a white fabric, draped over her shoulder and used as a cape. Four women enter and surround Rosenberg who act as her body guards. Gypsy, performed by Raleigh Veach takes a Spanish interpretation of the piece, with her red seductive scarf and dramatic gestures. Revolutionary, another solo performed by Elyssa Dru Rosenberg really captures the essence of this anti-war piece with her passionate ‘screams’ and the anguish she portrays as she hits the floor in defiance.

The final section is the most memorable for me. Each dancer enters the stage in pairs, with one of them holding a red flag.  The dancers move forward as if they are in battle until the one carrying the flag is “shot down;” the other dancer must take the flag from her and continue on with the battle.  Each dancer is eventually shot down and lying on the ground.  The ending appears as if the dancers are rising to heaven in a Martha Graham style, where the dancers are initiating from their abdomens.

C3 Tap Co-operative features four talented dancers who each bring a unique quality. The four women begin the dance to traditional jazz music. While I watch the performance, I am immediately drawn to the connection amongst these women.   I can really feel their strong bond with each other in the way they move and interact.   The opening section is followed by a duet to My Favorite Things, danced by Brandy Blaha and Courtney Runft.  The dancers perform the same moves but each interprets them in a different way.  My favorite section of C3 is the solo performed by Arleigh Rothenberg to the song Love Song by Sara Bareiles.  With the song so contemporary, her tap combinations lend the dance itself to be something I have never seen before.  I enjoy Rothenberg’s wonderful use of music and the sheer joy she exhibits throughout the piece.   The company ends their program with the four dancers back together again performing to classic tap music.

Performing Venn Duet, by Stefanie Nelson/Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, is Julian Barnett and Ofelia Loret de Mola.  The duet is a push-and-pull of emotions between the two characters as lovers, with the dancers constantly intertwining their legs, leaning and pushing within their interaction.  Most noteworthy is Nelson’s use of music.  Reminiscent of "out-of-the-blue" mood changes and emotions that come with any serious relationship, the music too experiences several "mood’ changes where the dancers suddenly switch into completely different movement phrases or style.  In Venn Duet, Barnett and Loret de Mola are excellent complements to each other. They lift each other with equal ease; they give nice counter intensity as each always tries to get in front of the other.  With Loret de Mola moving around the stage excitedly as a way of communicating her frustrations to her partner, the piece ends very powerful.

Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances for a Variable Population closes out the Downtown Dance Festival’s Friday performance.  Haas’s vision is to make dances with diverse communities and professional dancers in the same setting.  Her goal is to bring dance back to the people and to show that anyone has the ability to dance no matter how old you are or what you look like.  For this performance, the dancers perform Excerpts from Fanfare which begins as a sort of jousting game during medieval times. The variable ages and abilities of the dancers is what really sticks out for me.  It is incredible to watch highly trained dancers performing with dancers who have had little to no training and with dancers who are much older.  A beautiful moment is when the dancers perform various duets between women of varied ages.  The eldest woman of the group leans and falls onto the shoulders and backs of three dancers who carry her back and forth with respectfulness and care.  So telling through their movement of their reverence for her… This is such a powerful moment.

The uniting factor among the five companies that I watched on Friday is that each company is accessible to a wide range of people.  Either through the music choices or the theme of the dances, it is apparent that everyone in the audience, from the kids on a camp field trip to the business men on their lunch breaks, that they all are having a blast watching the performance.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Amanda Keller
Performance:  Downtown Dance Festival, NYC
Choreographers: Jamal Jackson Dance Company,  isadoraNOW,  C3 Tap Co-operative, Stefanie Nelson Dance Group, Naomi Goldberg Haas/Dances For a Variable Population
Performance Date:  August 21, 2009 12-2pm
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The program opens with a captivating Bharatanatyam (South Indian Classical Dance) performer.   Janaki Rangarajan is totally fierce!  She is able to move parts of her face in rhythm with the music in ways I had no idea it was even possible.  She is a great way to begin the afternoon.  I am completely enthralled.  Yay!

The next group to perform is Battery Dance Company.   Their submission is a long, an unoriginal piece entitled, Layapria.   Although it is choreographed in 1998, it looks 10 years older than that. Worse, one of the dancers spends most of the time, while she is dancing, trying to watch the other dancers, and she was still not with any of them.  The choreography does not showcase the company well, and I have no idea what the piece is supposed to be about.  The only saving grace is Carmen Nicole.  She is what every dancer aspires to be.  When she is on stage alone, it is like watching her lead an army of thousands, and when she is sharing the stage with the company, she is the only one I watch.   If not for her I probably would have left. I can’t get enough of dancers that are confident, beautiful, dramatic, and original.

Next was more solo work from the first performer which is cool and different. She is fun and great to watch!  Which is followed by another piece from Battery called String of Beads, which is a combination of works choreographed by the company, some of it is pretty decent, some of it is really bad.  Editing is a wonderful tool; people should use it a bit more often.

The afternoon closes with a complete atrocity, Dance China NY.   I am appalled at how under rehearsed, poorly choreographed, poorly costumed, and even more poorly it is performed.  It is an awful finish to what was an afternoon of less than acceptable work.

The program is occasionally monitored by the director of the Battery Dance Company, Jonathan Hollander.  He is a very reserved quiet man, who complained about the state of dance in NY and tried to inform us of the importance of the presence of dance.  If you want to sell something you need a sales person with charisma.  Especially with the dire state of dance right now, there is never a better time to show NYC how great, entertaining, and inspiring dance can be.  Monday’s show just totally missed the mark! 

I left angry, hungry, hot and tired. The worst part was when they tried to get the dwindling audience to participate in some Chinese fan dancing…. I had to leave, I was embarrassed.

iDANZ Critix Corner 
Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio 
Performance:  The 28th Downtown Dance Festival
Performers:   Battery Dance Company, Janaki Rangarajan, Dance China NY
Venue:  Chase Plaza
Performance Date:  August 17, 2009, Noon
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Chuck Davis is the Don King of African dance. Either you work with him in his annual celebration of African dance, music and culture or you’ll end up fighting in dingy places à la Fight Club.  It’s not that other dance artists in African culture are not actively working to bring African dance, music and culture to the US, but Chuck is actively working to bring those forces together.

In its 32^nd revelation, DanceAfrica at BAM is like discovering an African burial ground in Manhattan. There is this sense of wonder, amazement and longing that says, "Here they are—the bones of African ancestors in America!"  However, what we see on stage is not a dusty history lesson; it is a celebration of the living African presence in our community that respects youthful innovation in addition to the established pan-African dance creative artists and the authority of the elders.

The African rhythm is a force of nature that in dance blends live drumming, songs, shouts and woops with their corresponding place in the body.  Limbs akimbo, colors flying and bodies moving distract and confound the senses while beauty and harmony bring grace at every turn. DanceAfrica 2009:Rhythmic Reflection:  African Legacies Revealed boasts five performances featuring Evidence Dance Company, percussion and dance ensemble Farafina Kan, SeéWé African Dance Company and the youths at BAM/Restoration DanceAfrican Ensemble.

As is tradition, the night starts with the celebrants pouring libations on the front steps of BAM in order to bless the festival.  An hour later inside BAM’s Opera House, the elders enter with Chuck amidst a large entourage of drummers and attendants.  Chuck’s 6’5” frame decked out in a fabulous African grand buba starts his trademark call and response.

Call: Ago (which means “Attenion”)

Response: Amay (which means “I am listening”)

Once the crowd is really responding, he adds a song and dance combo—“Lean with it, rock with it, Umoja (Unity)”.

Rhythmic Reflection I: Farafina Kan

Mahiri-Fadjimba Keita leads twelve drummers as they blaze through three rhythms of Yamama, Zaouli and Gbe Gbe.  After the opening, the female drummers point their sticks up, down and then around into tails that shake like birds’ tails before slowly putting their sticks up one by one as they begin the dance.  The ladies jump and shake with fast feet that’s characteristic of dance from Guinea and Côte D’Ivoire.  The ladies return to the male drummers for a final drum finale in which they beat their drums with stick, hand and foot.  Farafina Kan gives an amazing start to the night.

Rhythmic Reflection II: Memorial

Another tradition of the night is to pay homage to those dancer artists who have touched the festival, but have also passed on.  While candle bearers walk slowly across the stage a voice reads the names of Alyo Tolbert, Dr. Pearl Primus, Lucille Ellis, Tommy Gomez, Talley Beatty, Gregory Hines, Lynn Jackson, Bob Marley, Dr Betty Shabazz, Alex Haley, Alvin Ailey, Ozzie Davis, Johnny Crochrin, Rosa Parks, Katherine Dunham, Walter Nicks, Sam Scripps, Jo Nash and several dozen more.  Hearing those names spoken aloud is a powerful tribute to the body of souls who are still with us urging this festival and the community along.
 

Rhythmic Reflection III: BAM/Restoration Dance/Africa Ensemble

This youth troupe of seasoned DanceAfrica performers is lead by Abdel R. Salaam.  The twenty vibrant young bodies electrify the theatre performing, Rhythm Legacy: Book III—Club Legacy (2001). The work is long and evolved utilizing a driving house beat. Abdel showcases dance styles from Africa through all of the Diaspora.  The children in his troupe are of varying ages, shapes and sizes, and they all work it.  One quartet of four tall and very long-legged girls penche and tilt amidst a flurry of pops and rump shakes.  The dancers work it out, and their energy never stops. I see African, Brazillian, Hip Hop, House, Breaking, Popping, Locking and lots of Hot Jazz. The seamless transitions say it all.  To the young dancer its all dance; there are no walls, barriers, styles or hierarchy.  These young DanceAfrica veterans hold the stage with the NYC professionals and African  nationals, giving evidence of the connection between African dance and the movement styles of young African Americans.
 

Rhythmic Reflection IV: Honoring Mama Dr. Doris Green

Dr. Doris Green is issued a Proclamation from Congresswoman Leticia James and a Citation from Borough of Brooklyn President Marty Markowitz for her lifelong work of Laban, which notates African Music.  An ensemble of children in beautiful luminous orange hued ceremonial costumes dance and help to present her awards and gifts.  Dr. Green’s work, Green Notation, is used in dance departments all over the world from Ohio State to Ghana.  Her struggle is to help preserve African music in a system that allows people “to hear it as it is” and not “the way the Western world wants you to think it is.”

Rhythmic Reflection V: Evidence, A Dance Company

Upside Down (1998) with the music of Fela Kuti and costumes by Omotayo Wunmi Olaiya and Carolyn "Meckha" Cherry is a jaw dropping work that showcases Ron Brown’s raw dance vernacular.  His steps are so amazing, and it seems the steps are purposefully done with a humble spirit so as not to mow the audience over.  The work deals with the “uncertainty” of the destiny of a child.  Always spiritual, the seven dancers are grounded in a fusion of African, house, and modern dance, which gives proof of why Ron, a Modern choreographer, is so beloved in the NYC African dance scene.

Rhythmic Reflections VI: SeéWé African Dance Company

Mouminatou Camara’s group is very beautiful to watch as the women work the fast Guinea footwork. The tall men enter and shake the cobwebs off the concept that male dancers are not strong and masculine.  The women in the audience start hollering and rolling their tongues. Not since I studied with Amaniyea Payne (Artistic Director for Muntu, Chicago) have I seen a director take the stage and represent in this way.  Suddenly, Mouminatou is on stage dancing with the men, and her small frame brings a supernatural force from her days of dancing with Les Ballet Africans.  I have wondered when I would see the energy of the old Ballet Africans on stage.  All at once she has the audience eating out of the palm of her hand as they close out the evening leading into the Grand Finale.

Rhythmic Reflections VII: Finale: Ensemble (all cast members dancing together)

Following another custom, all of the companies take the stage to perform a Grand Finale where they come forward in rows, each company giving a bow in each group’s own flavor.  The Restoration group—the youngins—are jumping high and rolling around and back up to catch the rhythm again. Other groups do a cute ensemble bow.  The vision of these performers coming together and showing the universality of basic African steps on one stage is mesmerizing.

Chuck offers thanks in the playbill…

This year, we celebrate over 32 years of DanceAfrica, and with the help of the OMNIPOTENT FORCE wherein lies our belief, we will continue beyond another 32 years or until time ceases to exist.

Every Memorial Day weekend this cultural explosion not only bounces onto center stage at BAM, but also spills out into the surrounding area in one of the largest African bazaars of its kind.  An estimated 30,000 people will come from all over the eastern seaboard.  Vendors will sell clothes, music, books, food, crafts, African instruments and artifacts.  As well, Caribbean, South American and African American culture is interspersed within the pan-African market.  In the past, I have even gotten a pony ride from one of the Black Cowboys. Dance Africa is a rare juggernaut of economic enfranchisement for the Black community that is planned annually over a twelve-month period by the Council of Elders.  Also, for the second year, five young artists will receive college scholarships from Samuel H. Scripps Foundation through BAM.  The entire production has national and local sponsorship from Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg, ConEdison, Time Warner and Crunch.

Many readers are scratching their heads wondering why I am spending so much time on the financials….?  Well, it is precisely because of these dazzling financials that this festival has viability and longevity.  In the current economy where banks are failing, it brings a tear to my eye to see my people celebrating a sustainable arts festival. Rock on Baba Chuck.  You are the Don King of the African American Dance world, and you just opened a can of whoop ass at BAM. Congrats to all the performers, organizers, vendors, community in attendance and especially the elders and youth!

Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes

iDANZ Critix Corner 
Official Dance Review by Sasha Deveaux 
Performance:  Dance Africa
Executive Producer:  Chuck Davis
Music:  Various live drummers and pop songs.
Venue: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn, USA
Date: Friday, May 22, 2009, 7:30pm
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