Category: Dance in Review

ChingChi Yu and Carol Kueffer in "Veil of Water." Photo by Aileen Kim. From Blog Director Jill Randall:Both Melissa Hudson Bell and I got to experience the "Undercurrents" performance a few weeks ago, a shared weekend with choreographers ChingChi Yu and Carol Kueffer. Melissa reflects on the first half of the program, and I share…

Kayla Farrish (foreground) in "Put Away the Fire, dear." Photo by Elyse Mertz. Kayla Farrish directs film into dance By Garth Grimball Ours is a time of references. The average smartphone user consumes more content in an hour than our ancestors did in their whole lives. Text, images, videos, sounds, and media all swaddle us…

Rite on the ground(s) By Garth Grimball On Feb 16-18, Cal Performances brought to Zellerbach Hall a special production of Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring. For only the fourth time since the dance’s creation, it was performed by dancers outside of Pina Bausch’s home company Tanztheater Wuppertal. This production features dancers from 14 different African…

"Touch of Red" (photo taken at MASS MoCA). Photographer credit: The Adeboye Brothers. Touch Of RED Touches Deeply By Garth Grimball On Saturday, January 13, Shamel Pitts | TRIBE presented Touch Of RED in a dance studio at NY Live Arts as part of the Live Artery festival; the festival is an opportunity for artists…

Molly Rose-Williams. Photo: Chani Bockwinkel.   Who’s your CRUSH? By Garth Grimball     Molly Rose-Williams has a crush on you.   CRUSH, an evening-length solo choreographed and performed by Rose-Williams, opened January 19 at NOHSpace. The work is an evolution of We Are All Friends that premiered in 2022. Both works are concerned with…

Photo by Camila Greenwell.   “Jungle Book Reimagined” is of the Headlines By Garth Grimball Akram Khan’s “Jungle Book Reimagined” begins in catastrophe. A voice-over announces a litany of contemporary headlines taken to extremes: London is unlivable due to sea level rising; rationing, displacement and economic collapse are the new reality. Presented at Stanford University’s…

Rogelio Lopez. Photo by Ryan Kwok. Rogelio Lopez Dreams Big By Garth Grimball Rogelio Lopez & Dancers remounted Entre Despierto y Dormido (premiere 2022) at the Joe Goode Annex, and thank goddess for it. The evening-length work is an excavation of Lopez’s subconscious and identity formation as a queer, Mexican immigrant via dreams. Unlike many…

Julie Crothers in "Holy Crap." Photo by Hans Holtan. Julie Crothers’ "Holy Crap": Blessed is the Skilled PerformerJune 23-24, 2023 at ODC Theater, San FranciscoBy Molly Rose-Williams Shortly after the lights come up, so does the music—and then we’re in church. Christian Megachurch, to be precise. The mega-vibes music, high drama lighting cues, and gravitationally-magnetic…

Megan Lowe Dances presents "Gathering Pieces of a Peace." Dancers (far left, then clockwise): Melissa Lewis Wong, Malia Hatico-Byrne, Clarissa Rivera Dyas, and Megan Lowe. Photo by Hewitt Visuals. Containing Multitudes: Reflections on Megan Lowe Dances' Gathering Pieces of a Peace By Bhumi B Patel When I attended Megan Lowe Dances’ Gathering Pieces of a…

Reflection on “Drifter” by Keith Johnson/Dancers By Molly Rose-Williams In the talkback after his newest show, “Drifter,” Keith Johnson said he hoped the work would provoke conversation. In my experience, it has. But I don’t think they are the conversations Johnson intended to provoke when he created the work.  At the center of most of…