Stephanie Deere

Thursday evening's DanceNow Festival at Joe's Pub, October 10th, 2013, was an evening teaming with glamour. Down-turned lights, delectable food, fine drinks, and all eyes glued to the small stage on which ten companies performed, separately, five minutes of uniquely prepared work. With the exception of Take Dance, who opened the show with an excerpt from SOMEWHERE FAMILIAR MELODIES, a commissioned work by Joe's Pub in 2013, the artists had to use their five minutes to capture the audience with a well-rounded and completed theme. At the end of the show, the audience was then asked to vote. Who among these nine companies would be the winner of an evening length work presented by Joe's Pub in 2015? I certainly have my own opinions.

Friday evening's performance at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City, as part of the Moving Beauty Series, was fascinatingly diverse and entertaining. The evening opened with a combination of shorter pieces performed by DoubleTake Dance, under the co-artistic direction of Ashley Carter and Vanessa Martinez de Banos. Each piece centered on one cohesive idea, and they all exuded a nice polished finish individually. The music, costumes, and choreography were very much chosen to represent the overall theme that was being communicated in each work. Carter's and Martinez de Banos' choreography is masterfully grounded and athletic for contemporary jazz and adds a strong level of enticement for the viewers. While the dancers appeared to have been well-rehearsed, there were the occasional moments of wavering and loss of confidence that can often accompany such technically difficult movement. Overall, each piece that DoubleTake Dance presented was entertaining and refreshing from a contemporary jazz standpoint.

Witness Relocation's production of "Eterniday," performed at La Mama from April 4th to the 21st, is a vibrant and eclectic show that all lovers of great performance should see. The play is an hour long production, including text, monologue, conversation, dance, extreme physicality, supplemental visuals, and so much more about the history of the universe and man's presence in it. Topics such as love, death, the meaning of life, and coexistence are touched upon. There is a strong juxtaposition made between the laws that govern nature and the random occurrences of human existence. This philosophical commentary takes the viewer on a journey of one entire day, and manages to fit a great deal of human existence into this small time period.

This past Sunday, March 17th, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Igal Perry, put on a matinee show to inspire. The show consisted of five pieces, three of which were choreographed by guest artists, and three of which were world premieres.

Buglisi Dance Theatre, a company founded and directed by former Marta Graham dancer Jacqulyn Buglisi, celebrated its 20th anniversary show this past week at the Joyce Theatre. The second evening of the show on Wednesday night, February 6th, was comprised of four of Buglisi's works and a solo, Zjawa, choreographed by guest Katarzyna Sharpetowska.

Voces meaning "voices" in Italian seemed to be the most appropriate title for this past weekend's BalaSole Dance Company's performance at the Joan Weill Center for Dance at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre. Under the executive and artistic direction of Roberto Villanueva, the company provides its dancers with the means to explore their own process of dance-making and present their work.