A weekly, highly personal and subjective list of performances and artists we want you to know about:
Leigh says:
Spring repertory shows at Juilliard are worth your time for the double dip. You’ll see major works of repertory done by the cream of the crop of young contemporary dancers. And with pieces that have been around for decades, you’ll see what looks different on those young dancers than it did on a previous generation – and what has stayed the same. This Juilliard Spring Dances is a triple bill that’s both yummy and important: Merce Cunningham’s hivelike and wonderful “Sounddance” (1975), Crystal Pite’s “Grace Engine” (2012) and Twyla Tharp’s 1973 seminal pop ballet to the Beach Boys, “Deuce Coupe.” Opens Wednesday, March 21 at 7:30 pm through March 24.
Martha says:
Alice Sheppard doesn’t create choreography that works in spite of disabilities. She choreographs to celebrate the creative possibilities in the artistry of disabled dancers. As a queer, disabled artist of color, Sheppard, with her partners, works to focus on all elements of identity; in “DESCENT,” opening at New York Live Arts this week, the focus is “the joy of flying freely downhill, and the pleasure of pushing uphill.” Sheppard, with Kinetic Light Collaborative and her partners Laurel Lawson and Michael Maag, use a custom-designed ramp installation to allow for wheeled movement that is anything but controlled. Based on the myth of Venus and Andromeda and the writings of sculptor Auguste Rodin, Sheppard pushes the boundaries of risk with an exhilaration every body can feel. Opens on Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 pm.
The Rubin Museum makes its own rules; its exhibits and offerings range from odd to sublime, and their upcoming dance series, “Suspending Time,” looks like it’s going to land closer to sublime. On each of four Saturdays in March and April, a top contemporary choreographer will perform several iterations of a 20-minute, site-specific work, presented in partnership with the arts group Pentacle. The four artists being presented are Beth Gill now on on May 2; ZviDance (choreographed by Zvi Gotheiner,) on March 28; Raja Feather Kelly on April 11; and nora chipaumire on April 18. Each will be worth the trip. The short format will be a shift for each of them, and offers both opportunity and challenge. Beth Gill, a Bessie-award winning artist who experiments with ideas of perception, and creates gripping images, was originally scheduled to kick off the series on March 21, but has been rescheduled on May 2. ZviDance, will now open the series, on Wednesday March 28 at 6 pm, 6:45 pm, and 7:30 pm.
Cover: Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson in “DESCENT.” Photo © Jay Newman.
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