Alwin Nikolais

Dances by Charles Weidman

February 19, 2025

“Lynchtown” (1936), probably Weidman’s best known work, is an indictment of lawlessness and group anarchy. It is one section of a three-part work called “Atavisms.” Members of the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble (Samantha Géracht, Eleanor Bunker and Lauren Naslund artistic directors) honored Sokolow’s commitment to chilling psychology interpreting Weidman’s choreography. (Sokolow was a Graham acolyte who went off on her own artistic path.) The earth-colored paneled costumes (courtesy of Kanopy Dance) were a kind of camouflage for the large group of dancers led by the Inciter (Margaret Mighty Oak Brackey). They slinked in, stalking their poor Victim, Sam K who was distinguishingly dressed in blue. Their initial stilted, flex-footed walk slowly deteriorated into skitters, off-balance tilts and turns and stomps which turned into a pileup with the Inciter on top, scouting for their quarry. Lehman Engel’s strongly percussive music supported the choreography perfectly as the Victim is trapped like an animal and dragged to his fate. In its time, “Lynchtown” was a strong work and still retains much of its power. [more]

Mimi Garrard and Friends

December 2, 2017

In “Lines,” the videos were straightforward representations of Mr. Selden, clad in a loose-fitting red outfit, pausing his image in dramatic moments while in the second work, “Untranslatable,” directed by Ms. Garrard and choreographed by her and the very solid dancer, Ms. Hopkins-Greene (formerly of the Alvin Ailey troupe), the visual elements—produced by Ms. Garrard—were far more abstract, chaining together tiny images of the dancer in fantastical patterns like giant letters, globes, maps, etc., as the dancer, clad in a chic two-piece purple outfit designed by Mindy Nelson bounded about. Snatches of poetry by Walt Whitman were cut and shifted about to provide an aural accompaniment to the steps which were vigorous with lots of quick direction changes. Images of Ms. Hopkins-Greene floated about the screen making it seem as if she were dancing with clones, all equally talented. [more]

Janis Brenner & Dancers: Spring 2017 Season

June 9, 2017

Wearing pale, simple but elegant costumes with small colorful patches around the hips (designed by Sue Julien and Brenner) the dancers in “Soul River/Blues” entered singly at first up a diagonal, almost as if sneaking on. As the dance unfolded they rolled and paused, looking over their shoulders to a score by Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt which was a hybrid of Indian classical and bluesy American guitar styles. One man (Aaron Selissen) and four women (Kara Chan, Ruth Howard, Sumaya Jackson and Kristi Ann Schopfer) interacted in slow lifts and groupings that became ever more complex in their angles and internal relationships. [more]

Parsons Dance – Spring Season 2017

June 2, 2017

Company member, Omar Román De Jesús choreographed the third world premiere, “Daniel,” to a multiple-sourced score. He took his eight dancers through a dramatic visit to those on the autism behavior spectrum, finding beauty, sadness and even some humor. The emphasis was definitely on the darker elements with angular knee and elbow jutting movements repeated over and over again. Unlike his mentor, David Parsons, De Jesús dared to end his work with two sections that each used two dancers. [more]

Alwin Nikolais Celebration

February 16, 2016

A constant criticism of Nikolais’ work is that he “de-humanized” his dancers by putting them into odd, sculptural costume constructions and giving them “mechanical” movements. This program of four major works disproves this, hopefully once and for all. All the choreography, music, lighting and costumes were by Mr. Nikolais—with Frank Garcia assisting on the costumes—and, yes, at times the dancers were hidden under masks and props, but always—always—they were clearly humans expressing human emotions and relationships. [more]