Posts by Janice Steinberg
Not Just Intoxicating but Deeply Satisfying: “Sauced” at Art Produce
Happily, “Sauced” is not merely fun; it’s smart, complex, and superbly danced. Choreographers Erica Buechner, Bradley Lundberg, and Blythe Barton pack so much substance into this suite of dances—the energy and speed of a jive number, quick shifts in level and direction, engaging dramatic tableaux, seemingly effortless changes in the cocktail bar set; there’s even a bit where dancers bring drinks to the audience.
Read MoreStrong Malashock Show Features Possible Successor
To a Michael Wall score that mixes crowd noises, breaking glass, and what sounds unnervingly like gunshots, five dancers advance warily, arms raised as if to ward off an attack. … The society Griffin creates onstage feels dangerous … and like an apt reflection of the present moment, in which the show took place outdoors on a chilly evening since we’re not yet done with COVID; and with a flag directly behind center-stage flying at half-staff in honor of the country’s latest mass shootings.
Read MoreDance Rules in “Bob Fosse’s Dancin'”
Not entirely plotless, “Bob Fosse’s Dancin'” proceeds via light story lines created by Cilento and writer Kirsten Childs. They’re a mixed bag. A scene in a swanky night club—to “Sing, Sing, Sing,” played exuberantly by the 14-member orchestra—is a delight. Costumers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung put the women in sparkly flapper dresses for Fosse’s signature Erté moves. Other sections, like “Big City Mime,” about a hick encountering the temptations of big bad New York, feel like jokes that go on and on, and they weren’t very funny to begin with.
Read MoreFrom Sublime to Annoying: Litvak Dance’s “Border Stories”
Weinberg is laudably committed to showcasing a range of choreographers. Here, it was a very wide range, from the sublime Lux Boreal to a piece that put the focus on one’s experience as a viewer—in this viewer’s case, an experience of annoyance.
Read More“Bhangin’ It” Brings Big Vision, Exuberant Dance to La Jolla Playhouse
“Bhangin’ It,” the world premiere musical that opened Sunday night, ignites when it brings Indian dance and music styles to the La Jolla Playhouse stage. The story by Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza takes on important themes: Who has the right to represent a culture, and how pure does that representation have to be?
Read MoreRonald K. Brown/EVIDENCE Dances for the Ancestors
In the moment of watching “The Equality of Night and Day,” I found it frustratingly static. But as this piece marinates, it seems to me Brown is doing something remarkable—creating a metaphor for being imprisoned that I experienced viscerally.
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