Two years ago, in a fresh and gutsy program, the audiences at the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth got to experience BodyTraffic, an upwardly-mobile contemporary dance company that hails from Los Angeles. Earlier this month, the company returned and presented a program of new works by different choreographers that was perhaps less fresh but equally gutsy. Founded in 2007, … [Read more...]
Tharp evening needed more highlights of her work
I imagine that I was not the only one who went to the Kravis Center to see the Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour show on Feb. 17 with the expectation that I would see an array — a sampler — of her best hits. But instead, there were just two works on the program: Preludes and Fugues, which was created especially for the tour, and Nine Sinatra Songs (1982) which is probably … [Read more...]
Audience samba is joyful postscript to energetic Brazilian dance show
The 24 performers of Balé Folclórico da Bahia entered the Rinker Playhouse — as we did — from the outside and stood right next to us as they sang. Bathed in a warm, reddish light and dressed in the traditional white clothes and head wraps of the Northeast of Brazil, they sang with a gentle fervor and we felt their presence intimately. Presenting Bahia Of All Colors, … [Read more...]
Brilliant Barton work makes Malpaso appearance something special
When one sees a great deal of dance, it’s always thrilling to experience a work that is richly unique in its movement vocabulary and is performed by a group of dancers who move in an exceptional way. I always hope to be totally caught up — delightfully submerged — in the artistry and creativity onstage, but it just doesn’t happen that often. But then unexpectedly, and for … [Read more...]
French dance troupe’s acrobatics astonishing
What do you get when you put a young French pharmacist and an old faded faded photograph together? In this case, an evening-length work called What The Day Owes The Night, which unleashed more than an hour of reality-defying, non-stop action performed by 12 bare-chested, muscular men. Intense, personal and physical, Compagnie Hervé Koubi (after finally resolving some visa … [Read more...]
MCB’s new repertory pieces fall shy of troupe’s fresh commissions
Under the enterprising leadership of Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez, Miami City Ballet has pressed forward by adding three company premieres to the 2017 season. But the program at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on Friday night made one wonder if adding these old works — albeit new to the company — has merit, especially when Miami City Ballet unequivocally excels … [Read more...]
Stamina, style of Philadanco wows Duncan audience
With unabashed energy and brazen athleticism, The Philadelphia Dance Company, better known as Philadanco, launched the popular and highly respected Duncan Theatre’s Dance Series at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth on Friday night. Presenting four works by four choreographers that drew upon African-American culture, classical ballet, and modern/contemporary dance, the … [Read more...]
Philadanco founder on mission to make dance look like America
By Tara Mitton Catao Joan Myers Brown has been on a mission since she was 6 years old: to create equal opportunities for black dancers. An only child, Brown began dance class in the 1940s in the only dance school in her hometown of Philadelphia that would accept black children. Later, pursuing her love for classical ballet, she became the first black student to train at … [Read more...]
MCB’s ‘Giselle’ gorgeous, endearing
By Tara Mitton Catao We all know the story. We know about love gone wrong. We have seen it before but we are always willing to be pulled back and re-experience the saga. Love is intoxicating to us all. The great romantic full-length classical ballets epitomized love and its ensuing drama. Every ballet dancer longs to dance these iconic roles. The dancers of today have … [Read more...]
‘Snow White’ another strong effort from Ballet Palm Beach
The usual first seasonal appearance of our community ballet companies comes at Thanksgiving, when the arts world is suddenly flush with performances of The Nutcracker. This year, though, Ballet Palm Beach has changed that by mounting a show in October that featured not only its first Balanchine ballet but also a new work based on a classic fairy tale. That new work, … [Read more...]