Dance Review: Riedel Dance Theater – Mischievously Entertaining, Spinning Tales through Dance

Riedel Dance Theater presents a haunted performance of Ukrainian Eggs: Terrible Tales of Tragedy AlleGorey in the intimate theater space of the Joyce SoHo over Halloween weekend. The title includes a pun to match the inspiration for the collection.  This series of storybook dance vignettes is based on the works of illustrator, writer and artist […]

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Dance Review: A Perfect Break, Jen Abrams at Wow Cafe Theater

There is something to be said for art that accomplishes it’s goals, and Jen Abrams knows how to make it. However, success within the work doesn’t necessarily translate to success as performance. Most of This is True, running now through November 8th at Wow Cafe theater, is a clear, tight example of an art piece which knows exactly what it wants, and, mostly, how to get it.

Appearing at Wow Cafe, the longest-running, anarchically run women’s and transgender people’s collective in the world, Abrams’ work takes on the lives of four women who are sisters, friends, and lovers. At first, dynamics between the three original characters are functional, if flawed and Abrams skillfully uses movement as sub-text for spoken relationships between characters. All of this is well-constructed, and well-performed, if predictable. Two sisters fighting about the dentist and an outfit for a dinner out maintain respectable conversation, but their movements tell a deeper story, resorting to hair pulling and wrestling.

When the fourth woman (disturbingly portrayed through crashing handstands and pummeling elbows by Ariel Cohen) enters the mix, things start to come apart. The work is split into sections of “before” and “after” – characters lying catatonic, slumping in chairs, obsessively sorting socks, slapping themselves uncontrollably; we understand that something big has happened here. Abrams again is able to clearly illustrate the break down of relationships through movement, but the movement vocabulary is so dated that it, unfortunately, removes some of the urgency of the choreography.

In fact the whole work feels a little like a textbook example, circa 1998. It fits together well as dance theater, but, it’s very cohesiveness plus some poor choices undermine what is otherwise an emotionally powerful piece. As complicated as Abrams phrase work gets, she relies on overly simplistic movement and acting to get her through places where we are supposed to empathize with the pain of her characters. At one point, after we know what this “big event” is, Abrams (as Carla) faces the audience and shakes her knee, trembling with wide eyes and dilated pupils. Unfortunately, her acting isn’t enough to pull this off.

That being said, the work does reach out on several levels, finding resonance especially, I would imagine, with women and LGTB communities for it’s fully realized portrayal of female relationships. Whatever problems I find with the work itself…. whateveeeeeer… The real joy is in watching the commitment of these talented performers.

You have plenty of time to catch this show on its extended run, so head to WOW and check it out.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Meghan Frederick
Performance: Jen Abrams
Venue: Wow Cafe
Show Date: October 28, 2009
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Class Watch: iDANZ Undercover Reviews Class with Stephen Petronio

I am working undercover for iDANZ, taking a dance class with Steven Petronio, a New York choreographer who has worked in the business as long as I’ve existed.  Getting to Peridance’s new foster home at 890 Broadway is a challenge in itself, as I usually take class in midtown or upper west side part of […]

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Dance Review: Reverb Festival 2009 -The Place to Be… Period!

I’ve always believed that there is no better way to spend your rainy Saturday night than being in a theater for a good show. Little did I know how “good of a show” I would end up seeing.  O.M.G. I cannot stop talking about Reverb Festival 2009. Mainly, because I can’t remember the last time […]

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Dance Review: Cedar Lake, JOURNEY TO A NEW WORLD

As the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performs Orbo Novo, meaning “New World”, that is exactly what they discovered this weekend!  No longer a stranger to any theatre but their own, Cedar Lake explodes upon new territory, infiltrating The Joyce Theater like the European explorers for which their work is named! Orbo Novo is an absolutely […]

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Dance Review: Garth Fagan Dance at The Joyce

Garth Fagan Dance, in it’s 39th season, opens at The Joyce Theater, with a company of thirteen, ranging from college graduates to founding members.  The evening consists of five pieces, all of which are of a different length, but each with their own unique qualities for a very illustrious program. At first rise, veteran member, […]

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Dance Review: Self-Indulgence vs. Purpose, Scarlet Fever at BLVD.

Everything has a beginning and the fledgling company Scarlet Fever holds no exemption.  Their debut performance, Scarlet’s Nightmare at Blvd Bar includes skin-baring undulations, questionably appropriate jokes from standup comedian Danny Siegal and soothing vocals from songstress Athena Reich.  While the show lacked fluidity and connectedness many pieces lived up to Scarlet Fever’s name – […]

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Dance Review: Deborah Colker – BRIGHT COLORS, TIGHT SPACES

Four women hang suspended from the arms of four men.  The men dangle, bent at the waist, over the tops of 12 foot walls. The women hold on, wrist to wrist, legs held at 90 degree angles, free arms outstretched, in flight… Colker’s 4 por 4 at City Center is visually stunning.  Gorgeously high-budget sets […]

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Dance Review: Hirabayashi’s Return to the Roots Redefines “Dance Theater”-Expect the Unexpected

I don’t know about you, but whenever I see the words “dance theater” at the end of a company’s name, I think to myself “please don’t let this be a combination of dance and bad acting.”   Companies can get away with that in the classical ballet world, but modern dance… uh, no! However, contrary to […]

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Dance Review: The MacArthur Dance Project, Soldiers of the War for Balance

The struggle for balance is one that all dancers know well.  Check out The MacArthur Dance Project and Brian Senti’s From The Margins, This, Unmentioned at The Brooklyn Lyceum to watch their struggle to win this very battle.  The gorgeous space, architectural costumes, dancers, video projection, orchestra and singers shine against an exposed brick wall […]

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