One had to be strapped in and truly ready for a Netta Yerushalmy’s 4-hour, 6-part marathon, Paramodernities (March 14 – 17) at New York Live Arts. The ambitious event included 2 intermissions with snacks, a cast of 20 dancers and scholars, and a blow-by-blow deconstruction of Nijinsky’s Sacre (1913), Graham’s Night Journey (1947), Ailey’s Revelations (1960), a mix of Cunningham works Rainforest, Sounddance, Points in Space, Beach Birds, and Ocean (1968-1990), dance numbers from the 1969 Fosse’s film Sweet Charity, and a response to Balanchine’s Agon (1957) that includes none of the original choreography. This history within history that tackled “…contemporary themes of sovereignty, spectacle, race, feminism and ableism…” was jam packed with truth and quips, and paired long ago movement with text. In Paramodernities #2, for example, Yerushalmy and Taryn Griggs’ in Grahamesque torqued and dramatic breath-driven movement was in response to Carol Ockman’s text on her visit to the dentist and more. There was also Paramodernities #4 where in requisite long sleeve unitards, Marc Crousillat and Brittany Engel-Adams, danced sleek Cunninghamesque movement alongside text by Claudia La Rocco but added their own; a nod to Cunningham’s “Chance” dance. Paramodernities #3 Revelations: The Afterlives of Slavery closed the program, and to text by Thomas F. DeFranz, Stanley Gambucci, Jeremy Jae Neal, Nicholas Leichter and DeFarnz brought the house down. Powered by the evangelization of Ailey’s Revelations, this newly envisioned version took on another life and demanded a new look at people as people, period. Yerushalmy leaves us with a lot to think about.
The large cast of intoxicating performers are (in order of appearance): Crousillat, David Kishik, Yerushalmy, Michael Cecconi, Griggs, Ockman, Michael Blake, Joyce Edwards, Julia Foulkes, Hsiao-Jou, Megan Williams, Engel-Adams, Claudia La Rocco, Gerald Casel, Magdalena Jarkowiec, Georgina Kleege, Mara Mills, DeFrantz, Gambucci, Neal, and Leichter.
The large cast of intoxicating performers are (in order of appearance): Crousillat, David Kishik, Yerushalmy, Michael Cecconi, Griggs, Ockman, Michael Blake, Joyce Edwards, Julia Foulkes, Hsiao-Jou, Megan Williams, Engel-Adams, Claudia La Rocco, Gerald Casel, Magdalena Jarkowiec, Georgina Kleege, Mara Mills, DeFrantz, Gambucci, Neal, and Leichter.
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