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Joyce Theater (8th Avenue) - Chelsea, New York City by Andreas Komodromos

Performance Review: Malpaso Dance Company

A couple months back, I had bought one of the last $10 tickets to Malpaso at The Joyce for last Sunday matinee. I had been sick for the past few days, but I made sure I was well enough to catch this show. Hailing from Havana Cuba, Malpaso is a contemporary dance company characterized by their core contractions, contortions, and powerful legs. (Seriously, I have never seen such defined hamstring muscles!) The program consisted of 3 pieces: Indomitable Waltz by Aszure Barton, Ocaso by Osnel Delgado, and Face the Torrent by Sonya Tayeh.

To me, Indomitable Waltz was a large company piece with too much flailing and no central theme. Ocaso was a cute duet between two supposed lovers, but unmemorable. Luckily, they saved the best for last: Face the Torrent by Sonya Tayeh. If I only had 3 words to describe it, they would be:

Intense. Strong. Dystopian.

It was very easy to infer that the piece was literally about facing the torrent. The piece starts with a male soloist breaking out from the uniform line of dancers in a seizure-like manner covering his head and crumpling as if in fear. A female soloist joins him in motions that appear like she is trying to soothe him. Later, the company dancers move into partnering sections, a couple sharp throws and lifts, and floor crawling in and out of the wings. They dance in sync, yet there is a robotic element to their moves that make it “dystopian.” The lighting is kept white against a black backdrop with intermittent smoke and flash spotlights. This is all accompanied by dark, rhythmic string and percussion music with occasional intense whispering. I was kept at the edge of my seat for the entire piece.

I’m a bit disappointed that I only liked 1 out of the 3 pieces performed, but Malpaso is definitely a modern dance company to look out for.

* Side note about $10 tickets at The Joyce: Unfortunately, $10 tickets are partial view seats in the front row where you barely see below the dancer’s knees. These tickets are a better deal when you move back a few rows to an untaken seat right before the show starts!

#dance #the joyce #nyc #new york #contemporary dance #modern dance #art #performing arts #malpaso #cuba

New Yorkers will have two chances to reassess the choreographer’s influence, first within a program of Stephen Petronio’s “Bloodlines.”

#Dance #Stephen Petronio Company #Bloodlines III #The Joyce #Anna Halprin #Brian Seibert #New York Times

The piece, originally performed in 1970 by dancers wearing nothing but U.S. flags tied to their necks, was chosen by Petronio, for his show at the Joyce, as an act of defiance.

#Dance #Stephen Petronio Company #Bloodlines III #Yvonne Rainer #The Joyce #Trio A with Flags #Joan Acocella #New Yorker

For my followers in London (The Peacock Theatre) and New York (The Joyce Theatre): Now is your chance, really! Alban Lendorf (awarded the Benois de la Dance prize in 2013 and also won Best Male Dancer of the year at Taglioni/Malakhov European Ballet Award 2014) and Ulrik Birkkjær (gold medal winner at the Erik Bruhn competition in Toronto) and other great names of the Danish ensemble are coming, yay!

#Alban Lendorf in London #Ulrik Birkkjær in New York #This is so great #The Peacock #The Joyce #Alban Lendorf is like the best male dancer of this century #and he is so young and handsome too #what more do you guys want #go and see them #Birkkjaer is also an incredible dancer #and so many others #oh do tell me if you go and see them #ballet #dance #london #manhattan #new york #balletblog #danceblog

Keigwin + Company @ The Joyce

Do you have a dark side? Of course, we all do! Larry Keigwin explores the darker side of social nightlife, sexuality, addiction and various other vices in his first evening-length work entitled EXIT, making it's world premiere at the Joyce this week. Though March 13th.

[Photo Credit - NY Times]

#The Joyce #Larry Keigwin #Contemporary Dance