Last Friday, October 25, during the last week of a two-week run  at BAM, Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal's “... como el musguito en la piedra, ay  si, si, si ...” (Like moss on a stone) was in one word -- beautiful.  Not only does she masterfully include the audience, absolutely every time  (taking and polishing a pair of glasses from an audience member, bringing us into every conversation, or waiting for the right cue for a laugh), the unmistakable Bausch style remains (sumptuous dresses and daringly pumps for the  women, sleek suits for the men and grandiose dancing for all).  The many interspersed vignettes are also there, one of the most memorable moments was Fernando Suels Mendoza seated downstage right greeting the fabulous  Tanztheater women one by one, as they enter from the audience with accolades upon accolades in English Spanish and Italian ("wow," "bellisima," "dame un beso").  The many solos are also exquisite where Bausch shows each dancer at their best.  How terribly special it was to see Dominique Mercy glide across the stage
(he joined Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1974, one year after Bausch.  Sorely missing was the raspy voice and the commanding dancing of Nazareth Panadero.  Framing the evening was the collaborative energies of set designer by Peter Pabst, costume designer by Marion Cito and musical collaborators Matthias Burkert and Andreas
Eisenschneider. It was indeed one of Pina Bausch’s signature, long evening, but  what a lovely evening. Pina Baush will be missed.  Sumptuous, simply sumptuous! 

This BAM page offers such a fabulous retrospective with a lovely chronology of the works plus a nice array of video clips. http://www.bam.org/artists/pina-bausch -

What an incredible rush it was to be part of/in the audience for Hofesh Shechter's well-rounded evening of dance, music and theatre! Hofesh Shechter Company's "Political Mother" (October 11-13 at BAM's Gilman Opera House) replete with drum percussion, rocking guitars, and a gentleman on the microphone were all against the back wall, in separate cubicles that stood atop each other. Not to be forgotten was the equally vibrant soundtrack. The music was driving and wild, and for sure could not be separated from what the dancers on the stage offered. The dancers worth mentioning here: Maeva Berthelot, Chien Ming Chang, Sam Coren, Frederic Despierre, Karima El Amrani, James Finnemore, Bruno Karim Guillore, Yeji Kim, Kim Kohlmann, Philip Hulford, Erion Kruja and Hannah Shepherd were simpy exquisite. These dancers took Shechter's vocabulary, a mix of very low sliding movements across the floor, arms high above their heads, head dropped and shoulders and upper back hunkered over, and made it whole.  Throughout the evening, invariably, as the music would take on an edge based on,  or not based on a story, these technicians embraced each movement from within; it was visceral. The line across downstage front (in the arms up hunkered position), for instance, when they are all dressed in the uniform crumpled beige/brown suit jackets and pants, and the lone person in black, masked as an  animal slowly perused each of them.  Do we look to Shechter’s birth place for an answer?  To be sure Shechter celebrates folkdance and masters the melding of folkdance and contemporary dance in a big way.

Enjoy this clip with Shechter talking about “Political Mother” below:

What an evening! I also heard that it was quite a week! Philadanco! The Philadelphia Dance Company returned for their annual season at The Joyce last week (10/2 - 10/7) with four works by four acclaimed male
choreographers. There were two new works: Moan (World premiere) by Matthew Rushing, and Wake Up (New York Premiere) by Rennie Harris, plus Ronald K. Brown’s Gatekeepers (1999), and the restaging of George
Faison’s iconic work Suite Otis (1971). The evening opened with one of the most sincere renditions of Faison's Suite Otis ever! Brown's Gatekeepers, so daringly sparse, yet so contextually full that the audience must take time to think, followed. Moan, a fine example of Rushing finding his voice in dance theatre, then Harris' fantastic Wake Up, in the usual Harris-style, telling a story; opening the eyes about Africans and/or African descended people through his special blend of Hip Hop, closed the second half. We must say thank goodness for repertory companies sometimes, especially those that are able to, in just one evening, present such a broad range of works with marked difference. The dancers, most especially Lindsey Holmes and Tommie Waheed Evans, danced so beautifully on Friday evening. Kudos to the rest of the dancers and congratulations to Founder and Executive Director Joan Myers Brown for continuing such a steadfast journey!

OCTOBER - 
AT CITY CENTER 
Fall For Dance -  to OCTOBER 13  
 
AT
THE JOYCE
Doug Varone and Dancers  - Oct 9-14
(http://www.joyce.org/performancestickets/calendar_detail.php?event=460&theater=1) 

AT BAM -
Hofesh Shechter - Oct 11-13
Company I - http://www.bam.org/dance/2012/political-mother 

Pina Bausch - Oct. 18 -27
http://www.bam.org/dance/2012/como-el-musguito-en-la-piedra-ay-si-si-si

AT THE APOLLO
The New Dance and Performance Awards - "The Bessies" - Oct. 15
http://www.apollotheater.org/calendar/details/292-Bessies

AT CITY CENTER
American Ballet Theatre - Oct. 16 - 20
http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=6663#programs 

AT
MONTCLAIR STATE COLLEGE
Benjamin Millepied  - Oct. 25-28
http://peakperfs.org/performances/LADP 
 
NOVEMBER -

AT THE JOYCE
Kidd Pivot - The Tempest Replica  Nov. 28-Dec 2
http://www.joyce.org/performancestickets/calendar_detail.php?event=466&theater=1

AT BAM
Groupo Corpo - - Nov. 1 -3
http://www.bam.org/dance/2012/ima-and-sem-mim 
 
Trey McIntyre - Nov. 14 - 17
http://www.bam.org/dance/2012/trey-mcintyre-project-dancemotion-usa
(I'm doing the question and answer on the 16th)

Lucy Gurein - Nov. 27 - Dec 1
http://www.bam.org/dance/2012/untrained - 
(I'm doing the question and answer on the 30th)
 
DECEMBER - 
AT THE JOYCE
Russell Maliphant - The Rodin Project - Dec  5-9
http://www.joyce.org/performancestickets/calendar_detail.php?event=467&theater=1