DANCE REVIEWS
Dance is facing a time where Choreographers and Artists are slowly rebuilding their audiences. Even more trying is the opportunity to have their work reviewed. Dancing in the District is independent journalism and seeks to offer fair reporting.
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More on that later.. – Motion X Dance Company at Atlas, Intersections by Ashayla Byrd
Small world! I say it often as a dance artist. It is virtually impossible to familiarize myself with every player in the vast expanse of the American dance field, and yet, I always know someone who knows someone (who knows someone that knows the teacher or sibling of the person in question)…
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Dongpo : Life in Poems at the Kennedy Center by David Dowling
Dongpo : Life in Poems by Shen Wei Sunday, March 10, 2024 1:30p.m. The Kennedy Center Opera House by David Dowling In 16th century Spain there lived a nun, known today as St. Teresa of Ávila. Among the things we remember her for include her accomplishment as the first of only four women to have been…
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In This Case, Seeing Is Believing.. Grupo Corpo at the Kennedy Center by Ashayla Byrd
Sometimes it’s just better to go in blind. For me, there’s a certain beauty that comes with walking into a dance experience with little to no preconceived notions or expectations for what I’m about to witness. I know–from the fundamental practice of reading my program before the show–that Grupo Corpo is a formidable Brazilian dance…
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When the Spirit Moves.. – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center by Ashayla Byrd
Although the entire audience knew what was coming, we erupt with thunderous applause at the sight of the dancers’ flesh-toned costumes, eyes beaming upwards at the warm spotlight hovering above them as “I’ve been ‘buked, I’ve been scorned…” billows through the theater. The dancers’ arms swell out and curve downward; the closer to the front…
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Jane Franklin Dance at Black Rock Center for the Arts by Luella Christopher
Jane Franklin’s Dance: “NEXT” Black Rock Center for the Arts Dance Festival April 14-16, 2023 Germantown, Maryland May 20, 2023 By Luella Christopher, Ph.D. The April 16th exhibition by Jane Franklin Dance at the conclusion of a three-day dance festival at Black Rock Center for the Arts presented an opportunity to view the work of…
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ICONS Choreographic Institute Showcase 2023 at Atlas
ICONS Choreographic Institute Showcase World Premieres by Millicent Sue Parker, Noa Kamiya, Angel V. Ramirez, & Faith Rokowski The Atlas Performing Arts Center Lang Theater May 13, 2023 By Sylvana Christopher, BFA in Dance & Choreography from The Ohio State University, ICONS Graduate* Four courageous and bold one-act works premiered at The Atlas Performing Arts…
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ICONS ChoreoGraphic institute thesis dance concert 2022 at Dance Loft on 14
Featuring works by William L. Miller, Jr., Mimi Noorani, Millicent Parker, Elizabeth Watson Sunday May 15, 2022 DANCE LOFT ON 14 4618 14TH ST. NW, DC By SYLVANA CHRISTOPHER, BFA Mimi Noorani’s film Richard with prolific dancer Rasta Thomas personifying Shakespeare’s King Richard opened the show. This dizzying black and white film pictures Thomas brooding…
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OUT OF THE BOX/INTO THE WORLD at DIW
”OUT OF THE BOX/INTO THE WORLD” Fabian Barnes Black Box TheaterDance Institute of Washington3400 14th Street N.W.Washington, D.C.April 30 – May 1, 2022By LUELLA CHRISTOPHER, PhD Four DMV choreographers – Sylvana Christopher, Stacey Yvonne Claytor, Roxann Morgan Rowley, and Malcolm Shute – collaborated in one of the first performances of freshly created and repertory pieces…
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Kyle Abraham’s “A.I.M” at The Kennedy Center
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham An Untitled Love Friday April 29, 2022 The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater By Sylvana Christopher Groovy music plays in the majestic Eisenhower theater with a striking Joseph Buckingham Basquiat-like art projection art with line drawings and phrases on a blue background. A single couch and lamp sit onstage. We are invited…
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BOWEN McCAULEY DANCE COMPANY at the Kennedy Center by LUELLA CHRISTOPHER
25th Anniversary: “An Evening to Remember”BOWEN McCAULEY DANCE COMPANYKennedy Center for the Performing ArtsEisenhower Theater, Washington, D.C.September 14, 2021 By LUELLA CHRISTOPHER, Ph.D. A dazzling array of dance genres and musical styles filled the Eisenhower Theater on Tuesday, September 14th as Bowen McCauley Dance Company gave its “final performance” before the shift of its founder,…
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BOWEN McCAULEY DANCE COMPANY’s “An Evening to Remember” at the Kennedy Center by LUELLA CHRISTOPHER
25th Anniversary: “An Evening to Remember”BOWEN McCAULEY DANCE COMPANYKennedy Center for the Performing ArtsEisenhower Theater, Washington, D.C.September 14, 2021 By LUELLA CHRISTOPHER, Ph.D. A dazzling array of dance genres and musical styles filled the Eisenhower Theater on Tuesday, September 14th as Bowen McCauley Dance Company gave its “final performance” before the shift of its founder,…
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MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE at The Kennedy Center by Luella Christopher
Bourne has accomplished the feat of allowing balletomanes to retain other viewings of a more traditional “Swan Lake” in the memory, especially with regard to elements of the majestic music by Tschaikovsky. At the same time, he introduces dramatic themes that both diverge from the narrative of the original story and employ the music in…