Review: REVERBDANCE FESTIVAL Celebrates 10 Years

What a wonderful and stimulating compilation of works by both seasoned and emerging contemporary dance artists! REVERBdance, in partnership with Steps Beyond Foundation, presented the 10th anniversary of the REVERBdance Festival at the Baruch Performing Arts Center on November 6-8, 2015. Here, dancers and choreographers come from across the U.S. and the world, including South Africa, London, and Japan. A special feature of this program was the festival awards based on audience vote in three distinct prizes: the Steps on Broadway Dancer Award--one month of free classes at Steps on Broadway, a commission by the Steps Beyond Foundation for the Steps Repertory Ensemble, and a $1,000 REVERB Award.

This year's festival consisted of two programs and 21 artists. Some program highlights included Jeffrey Docimo of the Isodoc Dance Group, who created a piece entitle "Cut Crawlers," which contained a great deal of floor footwork fused with an interesting use of negative space. Jake Casey, a current member of the Cincinnati Ballet, provided an exciting piece, "Recursus," which incorporated nice lifts, stunning technique, and smooth transitions into his work.

Joseph Toonga & Dickson Mbi of Just Us Dance Theatre presented a fascinating piece showcasing a fusion of hip hop and modern contemporary dance. The intricate moves, amazing partner work and cool lifts made this piece a crowd pleaser. Tomoyo Yamada of Escape Artists of MWU Dance Collective performed a lovely dance entitled "Kikoeteimasuka," meaning voices from Hades in Japanese. The movements were very graceful, as they integrated an interesting use of a sheer white sheet into the choreography.

The evening concluded with audience members officially casting their ballot as we all waited in anticipation to find out who won the culminating prizes. Check out the REVERBdance website at reverbdance.org to find out which artists won each award!

REVERBdance prides itself to provide both domestic and international contemporary dance artists an array of performance opportunities, foster new choreographic voices, and encourage artistic development. REVERBdance has been a launching pad for the careers of many esteemed such as Kyle Abraham, Austin McCormick, Andrea Miller Nelly Van Bommel, and Mike Esperanza to name a few.

Photo Credit: Nan Melville