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Born Again

WestWave Dance Festival
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
August 16-21. 2008

by Rita Felciano
Copyright © by Rita Felciano

In its seventeenth year, the 2008 WestWave Dance Festival resurrected itself from the ashes of a valiantly produced but long struggling yearly showcase of local dance. Ironically, last season’s single choreographer evenings—Amy Seiwert’s and Kate Weare’s among them—had held out hopes for a more consistent curatorial vision. It was not to be. Now in the hands of Dancers Group, in conjunction with YBCA and DanceArt, on paper WestWave’s rebirth did not hold out much promise. Three programs of twelve artists in five-minute pieces looked too much like dance for the sound bite generation. In fact, the evenings offered some gleaming jewels, a number of decent pieces but also amateurish work. Whether anything can be built on this foundation remains to be seen. The question remains the same. Can inclusiveness and quality coexist?

In Defense of "Etudes"

by George Jackson
copyright 2008 by George Jackson

“Etudes”, Harald Lander’s etude of 1948, is a ballet that critics today love to hate with some reason. Intended to display ballet training and ballet history, it also tests the character and caliber of the company performing it. Often these goals seem at cross purposes in the productions we see now, sixty years after the work’s premiere in Copenhagen by the Royal Danish Ballet.

Midwestern Heart, With Feathers

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Bardo, Cor Perdut, Extremely Close, Palladio
Joyce Theater, New York
August 9, 2008

By Tom Phillips
Copyright 2008 by Tom Phillips

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has an international roster of dancers and choreographers, but the troupe’s most winning quality is its Midwestern heart. Dancing is a team sport for this ensemble of ten men and ten women, with no ranks or stars; everyone takes his or her turn in the corps, and everyone pulls together to create a feeling of athletic energy and co-operative derring-do. There’s a bit too much unison in the choreography, and too much regularity in matching the steps to the music, to suit the tastes of some sophisticated New Yorkers. But that may just be the downside of a refreshingly open, unaffected, and sometimes inventive style.

A Very Different "Swan Lake" from China

Swan Lake
Guangdong Acrobatic troupe of China
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
5 – 10 August, 2008

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2008 Judith Cruickshank

Sometimes, sitting though a performance of 'Swan Lake', nicely, correctly, respectfully, danced and totally unmemorable, I've thought to myself that I'd like it if something totally outrageous were to happen just to liven up the show. Well, 'Swan Lake' as performed by the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe of China provides the spectator with outrageous in spades.

Elemental Keigwin

"Elements"
Choreography by Larry Keigwin
Keigwin + Company
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
July 30, 2008

by Susan Reiter
copyright 2008 by Susan Reiter

Sly, playful, and more than willing to entertain, Larry Keigwin has gained a reputation for smart, tight pieces marked by wit -- an all-too-rare commodity in dance these days. His latest work is a full-evening traversal of the four elements (Water, Fire, Earth, Air), set to a musical selections -- from Handel to Cole Porter, Peggy Lee to Debussy -- that sometimes invite mockery, especially when they are as overly familiar as Mozart's "Elvira Madigan" piano concerto. He locates and sustains a particular motif or bit of whimsy for each segment, and neatly divides each of them into four sections, taking an intermission halfway through. The result is a polyglot suite that is brisk and engaging, if ultimately not particularly nourishing.