Reviews

Promising power

Mar 6th, 2010 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

By Ellen Dunkel | For The Inquirer
Pennsylvania Ballet brings back Matthew Neenan’s “Carmina Burana” and shows off new dancers, new energy.
Pennsylvania Ballet premiered Matthew Neenan’s Carmina Burana at the Academy of Music in March 2007 to great fanfare, then took it to New York’s City Center, then packed it away.
It hadn’t been seen since until [...]



The old, the new, moving together

Mar 2nd, 2010 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

By Merilyn Jackson | For The Inquirer
This year’s installment of Philadelphia Dance Projects Presents opened Friday night with part one of the Local Dance History Project/Next Up series, tracking the city’s dance past into the future – what was, who was, what will be, and who will be dancing it.
In a preshow [...]



Black Grace brings slap dancing to the Kimmel

Mar 1st, 2010 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

By Ellen Dunkel
For The Inquirer
A dancer’s body is his instrument. That’s especially true for the performers of New Zealand’s Black Grace, whose bodies double as percussion instruments.
The seven short pieces on the program, which opened Friday night at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, were all choreographed by the company’s founder and artistic director, Neil Ieremia. [...]



Beautiful contrasts at Bryn Mawr

Feb 16th, 2010 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

By Ellen Dunkel For The Inquirer
Sometimes it’s not just what happens on stage that makes a performance, but the surrounding details as well.
When Brooklyn’s Urban Bush Women, with Germaine Acogny and Kaolack (Pape Ibrahima Ndiaya), danced a single performance at Goodhart Hall at Bryn Mawr College’s Saturday night, it was a meeting [...]



Blending East and West styles of dance

Feb 1st, 2010 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2010
By Merilyn Jackson
Globally, there have to be as many forms of dance as there are varieties of flowers. In India, for example, two classics are Kathak and Bharatanatyam; in the West, ballet and modern. Viji Rai, who dances classical Bharatanatyam, and Amanda Miller, a former ballerina who [...]



Temple University’s BFA Show

Dec 7th, 2009 | By Glynn | Category: Reviews

Photo Credit: William Hebert / BH Photos
In this photo: Lyndi Shivak, Sophia Rabinovitz
75 Cents for a Transfer!
Temple’s BFA Seniors Make An Important Stop.
by Kathleen Glynn for the Dance Journal
On Friday, December 4th, and Saturday, December 5th, Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance presented “75 Cents for a Transfer: This is Our Stop!” at [...]



Philadanco, just fab at 40

Nov 14th, 2009 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

By Ellen Dunkel, For The Inquirer
In its birthday program this gem of a troupe looks both mature and current.
It’s Philadanco’s 40th birthday, but the modern dance company looks as fresh and strong as ever.
The troupe opened its season at the Kimmel Center Thursday night with a program that includes a world premiere, a cameo appearance, [...]



‘Water Bodies’ worth diving into, despite a few rocky spots

Oct 24th, 2009 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

By Ellen Dunkel, For The Inquirer
Not everything went swimmingly when the dance troupe BodyVox opened Water Bodies at the Annenberg’s Zellerbach Theatre on Thursday night. There were technical difficulties and mistakes nearly from the start: Video wouldn’t play; sound volume and quality were inconsistent; dancers missed steps.
But the Portland, Ore., group’s suite of modern dances [...]



REVIEW: Inventiveness and Accuracy in Jumatatu Poe’s Commentary on the Digital Age

Oct 8th, 2009 | By Glynn McKee | Category: Reviews

By Glynn McKee for The Dance Journal
One thing Jumatatu Poe does well is create complex physical and emotional relationships. His latest work, Flatland (presented in 2-D), comes across as a reaction to the digital age as well as a critique on the disconnectedness of human interactions in this highly connected world. As the all-star cast [...]



A Philly Thank You To Gregory!

Oct 7th, 2009 | By Dance Journal Staff | Category: Reviews

by Steven Weisz for The Dance Journal
I will admit that I have never really been a big fan of tap dance.  It has always had that cheesy connotation left over from bad dance recitals and student competitions. That is until I came to Philadelphia, where the late Nicholas Brothers, Honi Coles, and LaVaughn Robinson had [...]