Cool NY Dance Festival-More Reviews and Thoughts! 2/7

The Cool NY 2010 Dance Festival can be successfully checked off of the list! Mackenzie and I completed our second performance of Words Apart (excerpts) to a full house early this Sunday evening. From those that have viewed the piece, I gather that they appreciated that we presented the stories in their unaltered state. All of the words spoken in the piece are parts of actual conversations, not made into poetic rhythms or lofty dialogue. I think the natural rhythms and cadence of each of the voices is one of the things that drew me to making this piece...

After completing our own performance, I decided to stay along for the 6pm show, the last show in the festival this year. Again, all of the choreographers and dancers should be commended for their artistic efforts this evening. Here are a few highlights from the show:

Flexicurve premiered a work entitled, Chair, a solo choreographed by Pascal Rekoert, and performed by Mariana Cardenas. Mariana is a beautiful dancer, capable of strong technical dancing as well as a strong stage presence. This piece had an air of broadway to it, wrought with emotion and large demonstrative movements that went along with the words being sang in the songs, A House is Not a Home and I'll Never Fall in Love Again. This kind of emotional presentation is rare in many modern dance offerings and made for a pleasant break from the "dark and artsy."

Medusa Possessed, Choreographed and performed by Tomomi Imai was tactile in its approach, beginning with the use of only a flashlight to light herself and her space on stage. The flashlight focused the eye on parts of her body, parts of the space and made you want to see more. Once the lights came on, she did show you more, in the form of large, reaching phrases with beautiful moments of tenderness and keen dynamic sensibility.

Lenora Lee presented a multimedia dance work, featuring video design by Olivia Ting. Memory, Reflection, Passage was a lovely play between dancer and projection, neither overpowering the other, but living in harmony in their space together. Lenora's luscious, silky phrase work was that of a choreographer who knows her body and her craft well, and was a joy to watch.

Psy-chic Love, choreographed by Emily Pope-Blackman, featured an unlikely cast of characters. Emily, who danced in the piece, gave commentary on love in both words and movement. Her daughter, Savannah, a small child, danced the first solo, and was a delight! Goes to show you that art, when done in earnest, and with joy, can be "professional," no matter who is doing it! Savannah really held her own! Also in the cast were four men, each representing a stop on the journey of love. The only true dance theater piece of the evening, the work differed from the usual presentation of bodies on stage that do not address the audience members directly.

Well, if you missed the festival, you'll just have to wait until next year to check it out! Now I am off to bed, to catch an early flight back to NC...I'm so excited!!!

~Cara