DANCE REVIEWS
A.I.M Offers a Bonus: A Performance by Kyle Abraham
Kyle Abraham took us in his arms and invited us in with three intimate pieces danced by his superb A.I.M (Abraham.In.Motion) company at the Balboa Theatre on Thursday. Then, before anyone could get too comfortable, he ignited the stage with the propulsive, hip hop-flavored “Drive.” The program also offered a rare treat: Abraham himself, filling in—in “The Quiet Dance”—for a company member who couldn’t perform that night.
Read MoreEvocative, Transcendent Dance from Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater
A man sinks to his knees, one hand rising from his chest as if he’s pulling his heart out. It’s a beautifully evocative gesture in a dance filled with such images—“Crossroads,” a premiere by Terry Wilson that opened last weekend’s performance by Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater. It was one of Isaacs’ best-ever.
Read MoreWhat’s Old is New Again: Martha Graham Dance
Fresh. Vital. These are not words I expected to use for the Martha Graham Dance Company’s performance at the Civic Theatre on Wednesday. … What a happy surprise, then, to see the exciting show the Graham company did here, performed by dancers who seemed enraptured by this work.
Read MoreLuminous Dance from Aakash Odedra; Sometimes Too Luminous
Spinning on his heels, arms slashing, Aakash Odedra electrified the stage at the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre on Tuesday. For the other solos on the program, titled “Rising,” he turned to three contemporary choreographers: Khan, Russell Maliphant, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. And it happened that the order of the pieces here marked a progression from breathtaking to meh.
Read MoreHalf a Great Show: Malashock Dance’s “Without a Net” at WOW
Though the circus artists mostly occupied center-stage in “Without a Net,” the dance smartly complemented them, setting an edgy European-circus mood. I was primed to see something weirder at the midpoint in the 80-minute program, when my half of the audience switched places with folks who’d been at the “Side Show.” Weird, it was.
Read MoreThe “Point Loma Pause” as Art: Ikaros at the WOW Festival
It’s called the Point Loma pause: the 10 or so seconds when a plane roars over Point Loma, and you have to stop mid-sentence. Every time it happened during “Ikaros,” the piece that Third Rail Projects created for the WOW Festival, the three performers went into stillness and looked up. I looked up, too, seeing this everyday occurrence as if with fresh eyes; marveling at the miracle of flight.
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