Jennifer Fried

BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! offered New Yorkers a free evening of empowering music and dance at the Prospect Park Bandshell on July 21st 2016.  The program began with Brandee Younger's glistening jazzy harp music following the traditions of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane.  Younger's mellow jazzy music scintillated throughout the park as she played original compositions and covers of Coltrane and Ashby. 

Seasoned choreographer Twyla Tharp presents two classic pieces and one New York City premier for her 2016 summer season at the Joyce Theatre.  Tharp's choreography ranges from intense to silly and playful blending classical ballet and modern lines with pedestrian movement.  While at times her choreography does not clearly fit together into a coherent piece, the works present a clear vision of contemporary dance choreography in three distinct pieces.

Hidden within DUMBO, the beautiful stripped down Gesley Kirland Performing Arts Center presented five distinct collaborations of dancers and musicians as part of Periapsis Open Series.  Too often audiences only associate live music with classical ballet or modern dance. However, Periapsis provided audiences with a refreshing variety of musicians and contemporary performing artists.

Civil unrest, classic folk tales, imperial decadence, fairy tales, and the exotic romantic east: all tenants of late imperial Russian ballet that can at times feel irrelevant to contemporary audiences. However, the Mariinsky Ballet's tribute to the late and great Maya Plisetskaya on the evening of February 26th 2016 successfully captivated audiences at BAM, recreating the best of Russian classicism for audiences old and young.

Last weekend was a big one for dance lovers in New York, with audiences having the choice to see Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Twalya Tharp's 50th Year Anniversary.  Instead, I choose to venture to NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts to see Pilobolus Dance Theatre's North American premiere of "Shadowland," a work that delivered theatrical storytelling, athletic movement, and a stunning staging. 

I remember where I was when I found out that Cedar Lake was closing--and so do most members of the New York City dance scene.  Reactions varied from shock, confusion, anger to the "oh, well all those dancers will get jobs in other companies, so who cares." 

Mark Morris Dance Group has grown so busy touring to places as far off as China or Timor that the company has not performed at BAM since 2012.   Morris's work was certainly welcomed with its minimalist, serene, and exceptionally music quality, epitomizing Balanchine's quote, "see the music, hear the dance."

As an emerging dancer entrance into Nederlands Dans Theatre II, the training company for one of the world's leading innovative contemporary is tantamount to an Ivy League acceptance. Having the chance to see the talented young artists perform works by resident choreographers Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, Johan Inger, and Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, reminded me that captivating contemporary choreography stems from using classical technique in innovative forms to convey concepts relevant to a modern audience.

Performing in the midst of Fall for Dance week, Beijing Dance Theatre may not have gotten the attention the company deserved, as evidenced by the empty seats in the Harvey Theatre at Bam. Certainly those who chose to see Beijing Dance Theatre over some of the other programs offered that week were not disappointed. The evening's program, Wild Grass, inspired by the poems of Chinese writers, left me wondering whether it is a dancer's facility, theatricality or the choreography that most draws me into a production.

When I saw the press release for "River Run, " an adaptation of James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, I immediately contacted a Joyce fanatic and asked him if he would attend the show with me. I must admit that this type of play is a bit out of my comfort zone. Even if I left confused about what I had just witnessed, I found myself mystified with Olwen Fouere 's one women performance.

I watch YouTube videos of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet before bed, so when I had the opportunity to see the company in the flesh at BAM, I jumped at the opportunity. Needless to say, I had high expectations from the versatile contemporary powerhouse that were mostly upheld.

I haven't been out on a Friday night in the East Village in three years. However, I found myself pleasantly surprised to be in a speakeasy turned theatre on St. Marks enjoying new dance works by Roschman Dance and DoubleTake Dance.

On a warm, sunny Sunday I wasn't exactly thrilled to sit inside an air-conditioned theatre. The dread mounted as elementary school aged children poured into the theatre. However, once the lights dimmed and a dancer, dressed in a black suit with lights on it, bounded through the hall to warn the audience to turn their phones off, I melted and became one of the children myself.

Emergence, presented by Eryc Taylor Dance, showcased four twenty minute works by different New York City based choreographers. The works ranged in style from contemporary modern to contemporary jazz with a concluding surprise preview piece fusing graphic design and movement. The pieces delighted, bored, and even shocked the audience, leaving a mixed result.

After a sunny spring afternoon with beer, wine and nachos three girlfriends and I had the delight of previewing the musical Dragula. The initial read through of the musical was fantastically hilarious, entertaining, and still made a statement about who may be truly different in a heterosexual, Christian dominated world.

The Joyce Theatre in Chelsea is legendary for spectacular modern dance. Garth Fagan has a reputation for spectacular choreography, winning the Tony award for the Lion King. While Fagan has an interesting intellectual concept of fusing modern dance, ballet and African traditions to create unique movement, tonight's show failed to deliver exciting movement. The musicality and precision of the dancers were outstanding, but the choreography was in slow motion and lulled me to sleep rather than imbuing me with excitement.

Lately, all my conversations about dance return to one question: who is making new, exciting, and unique contemporary dances. It's true, we've all been jaded by So You Think You Can Dance, as well as the abundance of contemporary modern companies with beautiful, but nonetheless, gooey movement. Lar Lubovitch's program last Friday night at the Joyce was everything you would expect from contemporary dance-a little bit of floor work, a little bit of partnering, a modern torso with ballet legs and a cast of technical, and athletic dancers. However, Lar Lubovitch did deliver entertaining concepts and wonderful music for the audience.

I often find myself infuriated with my favorite ballet teacher, trained from the Royal Danish Ballet School since age 8, and his obsession with little jumps. I never quite comprehended why we needed to spend twenty minutes doing maddeningly technical and precise jumps, while other teachers would spend maybe seven minutes, until I watched the 1961 BBC productions of Bournonville version of La Sylphide and the 1974 BBC production of Flower Festival in Genzano.

A diverse evening of dance, with pieces ranging from contemporary to classic jazz to hip hop, presented by Peridance Center's faculty, entertained an eager audience on Saturday evening, informing them of New York's vibrant and diverse dance scene.

On a rainy August day I curled up on the couch with BBC's recently released and re-mastered television broadcast of John Cranko's The Lady and the Fool and Pineapple Poll. Accustomed to contemporary ballet sensibilities, I was a bit skeptical of the black and white recording of these two 1959 performances, yet, as the comic ballets unfolded on my television screen, I slowly fell in love with the character dance and theatricality that are highly reminiscent of an old fashioned musical comedy.