Life as a Modern Dancer

Category: Review/Response

  • Coming Together and Connecting: “Study Hall” with Emily Hansel and Collaborators

    By Jill Randall Study Hall. Photo by Natalia Perez. Image Description: Three dancers, wearing blues, oranges, and pinks, are caught walking in different directions. A mirror effect on the image causes blurry, duplicate images of their bodies.   Coming Together and Connecting: Study Hall with Emily Hansel and CollaboratorsBy Jill Randall   Introduction I am…

  • Megan Lowe Dances Finds Partnership In “Just A Shadow”

    Josh Icban and Megan Lowe. Photo by Vita Hewett. Megan Lowe Dances Finds Partnership In Just A Shadow By Garth Grimball   Megan Lowe is prolific. In the past three years her company, Megan Lowe Dances, has produced or participated in 10 unique performances. On Friday night, Lowe and collaborators premiered Just A Shadow at…

  • Drag, Modern Dance, and REBIRTH

    Hollywood Texas. Photo by Sloane Kanter. Drag, Modern Dance, and REBIRTH By Garth Grimball “Since I don’t have any pee, will someone spit in my mouth instead?” performer Hollow Eve requested midway through REBIRTH: The Death of Drag. Fellow castmates obliged. On May 17-19 Oaklash celebrated its seventh year of bringing drag and queer performances…

  • “Undercurrents” with Carol Kueffer and ChingChi Yu

    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 directs film into dance

    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)

    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” Touches Deeply

    "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…

  • Who’s your CRUSH?

    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…

  • Review+Response: 7 Performances in the SF Bay Area in 2023

    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. 2023 was a hopeful year with more and more live performances to experience. Today I repost about the 7 performances that were highlighted on the blog…

  • “Jungle Book Reimagined” is of the Headlines

    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…