My AmNews review of david rousseve/REALITY'S Stardust - Peak Performances/The Kasser - Montclair State University

http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/feb/20/david-roussevereality-bittersweet-return/

For LeeSaar The Company’s Grass and Jackals at The Joyce Theater (February 9), the landscape is sleek animalistic brawn to the core.  Each dancer is, without doubt, a standout technician and performer.  In glossy black unitards and Groucho Marx-like eyebrows, the seven “creating dancers” as they are called, people the stage in lush solos and groupings from beginning to end.   Sprinkling the hour-long work is Ohad Naharin’s Gaga technique (the directors Lee Sher and Saar Harari are teachers of Gaga), a movement style meant for dancers and non-dancers alike, and which allows the body to contort into unpredictable and unbelievable shapes.  For example, from a wide stance, in Grass and Jackals, knees collapse inwards and out of alignment, or shoulders and hips concave, rippling from joint to joint then right themselves.  Conversely, these razor-sharp technicians can easily lift a leg from the floor far past a shoulder, or capture a balance out of nowhere.  They also hover on all fours, convulse their backs, slither when they walk, offer erratic jerks, stand and stare, mouth some chatter or grin widely, mixing the slick Gaga movement canon with their jackal-like persona.  One other eye-catching moment comes when from lying very still on their backs, in a flash they dissolve into a split, wrap their arms around their chests and stick out their tongues.  A surprise comes close to the end when one dancer peels off the glossy black unitard to reveal a yellow one—a new day?  The creating dancers are: Jye-Hwei Lin, Hsin-Yi Hsiang, Candice Schnurr, Hyerin Lee, Isabel Umali Motrya Kozbur and Delphina Parenti.   Avi  Yona Bueno’s perfectly timed colorful moiré striations shaped the atmosphere for Grass and Jackals.  

Mimulus Companhia de Dança
The Joyce
February 26-March 1

Making their Joyce Theater debut and the first of four companies in The Joyce’s Brazilian Festival is Mimulus Companhia de Dança with the evening-length work, Dolores.  Choreographed by artistic director Jomar Mesquita and other members of the company, “this daring work, set to music from movies by the acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, explores some of the same themes seen in the renowned films: the improbable, the unusual, the tragic, the comic, and, of course, the playful.  The piece does not recreate any specific works by the award-winning filmmaker; instead it is inspired by the ideas and emotions Almodóvar explores so clearly and effectively within them,” according to the release.  Find out more ~ www.joyce.org

Kimberly Bartosik/daela
New York Live Arts
February 26–March 1
New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award-winning performer and choreographer Kimberly Bartosik presents her evening-length work You are My Heat and Glare. Find out more ~ www.newyorklivearts.org

Ariel Rivka Dance
Ailey Citigroup Theatre
February 27-March 1
Ariel Rivka Dance premieres The Book of Esther choreographed by Ariel Grossman plus performances by Caitlin Trainor’s Trainor Dance and Texture Contemporary Ballet led by one of Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 To Watch” choreographers, Alan Obuzor. Find out more ~ https://www.artful.ly/store/events/2175

Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith
92nd Street Y
February 28 – March 2
Casebolt and Smith brings their dance O(h)  as part of  "Stripped/Dressed"  the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival series curated by Doug Varone.  Find out more www.92y.org

Dianne McIntyre & Sarita Allen
651 ARTS
February 28
RESCHEDULED: 651 ARTS’ “Live & Outspoken” series brings dancer/choreographer Allen together with one of modern dance’s legendary icons, Dianne McIntyre for a conversation.  Find out more ~ www.651arts.org

Through The Eyes Of A Dancer - A Discussion With Dancers Who Write
Steps on Broadway
February 28
The STEPS BEYOND'S ARTISTS TALK SERIES presents a conversation with dancers who write based on the book Through the Eyes of a Dancer by Wendy Perron.  Panel includes Perron, Siobhan Burke, Mark Dendy, and Sascha Radetsky.  Find out more ~ www.stepsnyc.com    

JOIN - Maurice Hines - Host/Director/Choreographer - at "Club Harlem"
Thursday - Sunday, February 20-23  

Featuring: Margot B., Kevin Mahogany, The Manzari Brothers, and The Wondertwins

APOLLO: "Enter the magic of the 30s and 40s when Maurice Hines, dubbed “the hippest man alive” by the Wall Street Journal, returns with an all-new Apollo Club Harlem. This sparkling 90-minute, nightclub revue celebrates the glorious musical legacy of the Apollo Theater with sultry crooners, spectacular dance acts, a swingin’ 16-piece big band and a chorus line of Red Hot Steppers." 

“Boardwalk Empire” star Margot B. and Kevin Mahogany will be joined by must see dance duos, The Wondertwins and the Manzari Brothers.

Find out more ~ https://www.apollotheater.org/all/details/125-apollo_club_harlem

Take a sneak peak in the YouTube link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMelRkfb9MA

Nora Chipaumire Rite Riot – Part Two (Work-In-Progress)
92y Harkness Dance Festival
February 21-23

Chipaumire has changed her initial 92Y Harkness Dance Festival plans and will now present only the second part of rite riot.  Both parts establish what Chipaumire calls her “inspired response to The Rite of Spring” and both focus on the idea of sacrifice.  In presenting part two, a work-in-progress, for this “Stripped/Dressed” format of the 92nd Street Festival, Chipaumire looks at sacrifice in the context of family. She will bring a chorus of men together who she considers, fathers and brothers, and will look at “…what sacrifices are demanded of them in a family and in society,” according to the release.  Chipaumire adds, “I’m also looking at the meaning of their physical presence…because there’s an issue of gender affecting the space around it.” “The meaning of “African-ness” and “blackness,” as political and economic issues that come to life in black bodies, is central to both parts of rite riot,” according to the release.  Find out more ~ http://www.92y.org/

Jessica Lang Dance
The Joyce
February 19-23
For Jessica Lang Dance’s first full season at The Joyce they will present the New York premieres of Lines Cubed,  Mendelssohn / Incomplete and White.  Find out more ~ www.joyce.org 


Ana Vujanović and Saša Asentić
NEW YORK LIVE ARTS
February 20 – 22
New York Live Arts presents the U.S. premiere of Vujanović and Asentić’s On Trial Together, described as “…a hybrid performance of theater, choreography and social experiment, creating a unique experience exclusive to each evening,” according to the release.  Find out more ~ www.newyorklivearts.org

Teahouse Performances
Chen Dance Center
February 20-22
An end of the one-month lunar new year, celebrations will include lanterns, refreshments and a performance of works by H.T. Chen: an excerpt of his new South of Gold Mountain, and recreation of a 1984 duet Spring Song.  Find out more ~ www.chendancecenter.org

Vanessa Anspaugh
Danspace Project
February 20-22
Danspace Project presents the world premiere of Anspaugh's we were an island, a new work  in collaboration with performers niv Acosta, Addys Gonzalez, Bessie McDonough-Thayer, Eleanor Smith, and Jesse White. Find out more ~ www.danspaceproject.org

Will Rawls
Triple Canopy
February 21
Rawls’ Good Dog You, a live presentation of his digital project where Rawls and  Adrienne Edwards, scholar and Performa associate curator, will discuss relationships between objects, animal figures, and blackness in performance. Find out more ~ http://canopycanopycanopy.com/contents/good_dog_you

Hear more about the upcoming 
Brazil Festival on 
Monday, February 17 @ 
Joyce Theater's Dance Talks

Find out more ~ http://www.joyce.org/event/dance-talks-brazil-festival/

If a more in-depth examination of issues shaping dance today interests you, join one of our Dance Talks, a series of conversations with artists and audiences illustrated with dance videos and movement demonstrations.

Mimulus Companhia de Dança – (February 26-March 1) 
Companhia Urbana de Dança – (March 3-6) 
Focus Cia de Dança – (March 8-10) 
DanceBrazil – (March 12-16)

DANY Studios
305 West 38th Street
New York, NY 10018
(212) 564-3808
Directions

All Dance Talks are free and are held at DANY Studios (unless otherwise stated)

The José Limón Dance Foundation 
sadly announces the sudden passing of Alan Danielson on February 12, 2014

A beloved teacher, mentor, colleague and friend, he will be greatly missed by all.

Executive Director, Juan Jose Escalante, says "Yesterday we lost a dear friend and an amazing human being.

Already an accomplished musician, Alan discovered dance at age 22 and subsequently moved to New York to study with Ruth Currier, who performed in the Limón Dance Company for many years and became the Company Director after José Limón’s death. Ten years later he was approached by the Director of the Limón Institute, Norton Owen, to help found the Limón School. Under Alan’s guidance, the Professional Studies Program was created 2001, which is an intensive nine-month program in the Limón technique and repertory that continues today.

Alan was an internationally acclaimed choreographer and master teacher, committed to the contemporary relevance of the Humphrey/Limón movement principles and philosophy. He will be greatly missed at the Limón School, based at Peridance Capezio Center in New York. In addition, Alan was on faculty at New York University and the Alvin Ailey American Dancer Center, and taught extensively in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and Central America.

His impact on the thousands of students he reached throughout his career is immeasurable and has left us with an incredible legacy of exceptional dancers and teachers. He was asked once“What would you like to offer young dancers today”? His response was extraordinary:“I would like to share my love for movement – what it feels like and what it projects to those who are watching. I would like to share my joy in working with music and creating with other dancers. I’d like to show them how dance is life, and how it communicates our existence as human beings”.

Rest in peace dear friend – we will love you and miss you forever!"

Alan Danielson, 1954-2014.

Souleymane “Solo” Badolo
Danspace Project  in "Benon"
Thursday - Saturday, February 13-15

 “Solo” will premiere Benon, roughly translated as “harvest” and inspired by the Burkinabé tradition of dancing to celebrate the harvest.  Benon is a new duet for Badolo and Charmaine Warren.  Find out more ~ www.danspaceproject.org 

Souleymane “Solo” Badolo
Danspace Project
February 13-15

 “Solo” will premiere Benon, roughly translated as “harvest” and inspired by the Burkinabé tradition of dancing to celebrate the harvest, Badolo “…explores the essential nature of food, sharing, and giving thanks,” according to the release. For this work he is very concerned with our attention to the good and the bad of plastic products.  Badolo wants to bring attention to how people use or abuse plastic noting that “…plastic affects everything, it affects life, nature, the climate and our ability to harvest, but at the same time it is important to us because we use it to make clothes or to cover things, for example.”  Benon is a new duet for Badolo and Charmaine Warren.  Find out more ~ www.danspaceproject.org

Meredith Monk and Adam Gopnik
92nd Street Y
February 12
The 92nd Street Y’s “Conversations with Chevaliers” series brings  choreographer, composer, singer, director of music, films and operas, creator of multi-disciplinary works and installations, Meredith Monk for a chat with Adam Gopnik, himself a Chevalier.  Find out more ~ www.92Y.org.

Dianne McIntyre & Sarita Allen
651 ARTS
February 13
651 ARTS’ “Live & Outspoken” series brings dancer/choreographer Allen together with one of modern dance’s legendary icons, Dianne McIntyre for a conversation.  Find out more www.651arts.org

Elena Demyanenko & Dai Jian
New York Live Arts
February 13–15
New York Live Arts presents the world premiere of Demyanenko and Jian’s Blue Room, plus the premiere of Raw Nerves, a solo by Demyanenko in collaboration with performer Leah Morrison, and Deja Ve.  Find out more ~ www.newyorklivearts.org

The American Tap Dance Foundation ATDF “Tap Talks/Tap Film series” – Gregory Hines
American Tap Dance Center in lower Manhattan
February 14
To celebrate Gregory Hines’ birthday, ATDF will host a discussion with film clips hosted by Tony Waag, ATDF artistic/executive director.   Find out more ~ info@atdf.org

The Bang Group
Joe’s Pub
February 14-15
DANCENOW presents The Bang Group’s new work Four Thirds and a Half, “…this Valentine’s Day show pays tribute not just to love’s happy endings but to its bumpy roads as well,” according to the release.  Find out more ~ www.joespub.com

Chocolate Dances, a chocolate making dance company, presents
100 Grand Street
February 14-15
A Valentine’s Tasting Performance with live dancing, theatrics, spectacle, music and a series of chocolate tastings for the audience throughout the performance.  Find out more ~ www.chocolatedances.com

david rousseve/REALITY ~    
Premieres Stardust 
February 6-9 
Peak Performances-
Montclair State University  

Rousseve explains: “Stardust began as a dialogue on the ever-evolving relationship between intimacy and technology in our contemporary world.  I wanted to explore what it means to human relationships to have our conversations constantly conducted through technology and social media.  But as we developed the piece it grew into a coming of age story for an African American gay adolescent who feels ostracized and bullied.  I wondered what it would mean to reach out in desperation, but to reach out through technology.  Ultimately, the piece is the story of a ‘soon-to-be-man’ fighting for his personal and spiritual dignity.”  Expect Rousseve's signature angular movement done to a mix of Nat King Cole and original hip-hop-based music by d. Sabela grimes.  

Find out more ~ www.peakperfs.org