fall for dance

it's one of my favorite events in any given year in nyc (followed by things like lincoln center's american songbook series, the nyc marathon, jazz age lawn party on governor's island, the new yorker festival, et al). tickets are $10 a piece and they bring in some 20 dance companies from all over the world to perform.

headed to grayton beach FL for a wedding tomorrow so i'm missing programs 4 and 5.

highlights of programs 1-3

my favorite: VERTIGO DANCE COMPANY performing Mana. oh, was this fantastic. set in something of a temple, imagine monks wearing neutrals instead of bright orange, baggy and drapey. this piece had a heartbeat running through it, the movement almost primal but the dance moves contiaing a sort of downbeat that made you want to nod your head.

snippet here, go see this if you have the chance.

lil' buck performing the swan: THIS. amazing. beautiful. yo yo ma was sitting across the aisle from me.

steven mcrae of the royal ballet performed a kind of cheeky tap number. every time i see someone tap it makes me want to run to danskin to pick up tap shoes and sign up for a class at ailey. and then i remember i'm a terrible dancer and also don't have time to commit myself to yet another thing. this is at the top of my list for when i retire or something.

Pontus Lidberg performing Faune: this was lovely.

Hubbard Street performing Three to Max: i liked this, even though i felt it was too long. the women's dance sections dragged for me, this endless rounds of counting to 10 in some language I didn't know, wore on me about 3/4ths of the way through. by the time they'd stopped chanting uno, due, terra, blah blah i almost said "hallelujah" when i realized i probably didn't have to hear it again. that being said, the movements were raw, there was a lot of humor in this piece. very beautiful dance moves mixed with a jerky marionette "i'm losing control of my body" type movements. jason hortin was my favorite, i couldn't stop watching him, followed closely behind robyn williams.

clifton brown, my favorite from ailey since he started with the company, did Among the Stars by Jessica Lang. really beautiful. clifton used to do a phenomenal version of david parsons' caught a few years go that i still think about. the ailey guys rocked the shit out of this, a lesser version of the performance can be seen here with some white guy who isn't all that great.