W R I T E R
Performance Reviews
Published in loveDANCEmore, a performance journal and dance criticism blog.
Charles Anderson performing Recurrent Unrest, courtesy of the artist.
April Digest: An Interview with Charles Anderson
A hilarious, unapologetically irreverent Black, gay male, Salt Lake City was unquestionably a bit of a culture shock for Anderson, as well as a drastic climate change. He lives in Austin, Texas where he’s the head of the dance program at UT Austin and, having moved there from Philadelphia prior, continues to recover from that culture shock.
The stunning Ursula Perry in a piece by Sharee Lane.
RDT Presents an Online Evening of Solos
I was especially blown away by Jaclyn Brown’s unexpected weight shifts and organic transitions from one level to another in Nicholas Cendese’s The Impermanence of Darkness, and by Jonathan Kim’s constantly moving, well-balanced yet rollercoaster-like explorations of space in Molly Heller’s Sounding III. Ursula, Elle, Daniel, Kareem, Lauren, and Dan as well deserve standing ovations from your couches; they are truly striking performers. That being said, this concert could have given us so much more, in less time.
Ririe Woodbury’s Dominica Greene and Nicholas Jurica.
Repertory Dance Theatre and Ririe Woodbury present a joint fall show, online.
The film begins with a recorded Zoom meeting in which RDT’s executive/artistic director Linda C. Smith and RW’s executive director Jena Woodbury welcome us to the performance. They address, with a sense of humor, the fact that people continue to confuse one company for the other even though they’ve been major players in the community for more than fifty years. The statement “We decided to make a performance together to prove that we’re two different companies” is curiously followed by a list of characteristics they share,
Jon Kim engages in some hair-ography.
UtahPresents and LAJAMARTIN team up
Pandemia was a series of movement solos featuring monologues, voiceovers, lip-synching and props galore. As the name suggests, it was a reflection on our current state of affairs and was stuffed with imagery and dialogue that highlighted the vocabulary, hashtags, protocols, misinformation, arguments, and feelings that have infiltrated our lives over the past several months... not just because of COVID-19, but also because of the uprising around the country in the face of continued social injustice.
Courtesy of Utah Presents.
UtahPresents brings Guangdong Dance Company
To Guangdong’s choreographer Liu Qi, modern dance looks angular, precise, and deliberate. It flows from one shape into another at a pace that’s slow enough that we see almost every detail of the transition, but also quick enough that the entire body of the dancer remains in constant motion.
Ballet West Ii artists Claire Wilson and Noel Jensen as Snow White and the Prince. Photo by Beau Pearson.
Ballet West II: Snow White
As a childless patron, I was a bit skeptical about attending such a family-oriented event and wondered how and/or if the content would be adjusted for its intended audience. I enjoyed the performance, and would argue that a reduced length and plot-clarifying narrations are a great way to get new audiences, regardless of age, interested in attending the ballet.
Promotional image of Axis Dance Company, courtesy of UtahPresents.
UtahPresents: Axis Dance Company
During intermission, I wondered about inclusivity in codified techniques (phrasing taken from company member Lani Dickinson’s biography). Do codified movements retain their names as their mechanics are adjusted for disabled bodies? Is there terminology for movements created for and by disabled dancers that non-disabled dancers in non-inclusive companies aren’t aware of?
Chelsea Coon at the 2019 Performance Art Festival, in the Urban Room at the Salt Lake City Public Library. Photo by Paul Reynolds.
Performance Art Festival 2019 at the SLC Public Library
While I was seated on the second floor of the Salt Lake City Public Library, staring at paper shapes suspended from the railings of the “bridges” in the library’s main Urban Room, Joseph Ravens approached me and asked, “Do you mind if I join you? I need to just sit for a minute!”
Kristina Lenzi at Performance Art Festival 2018, photo by Winston Inoway.
October Digest: Performance Art Festival
The seventh annual Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival is fast approaching, and the festival’s founder Kristina Lenzi has curated twenty-four presenters whose works are appropriate for all ages, visually and conceptually interesting, and unrehearsed.