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Something
to do this week in New York!
Jacqulyn
Buglisi, a former principal dancer for Martha Graham for twelve
years, is a worthy heir to the great doyenne of modern
dance. Buglisi has taken her teacher's unmistakable
technique and added an intensely romantic sensibility to create
her own dance vocabulary. While some dance theatre can be
enigmatic to the point of bewilderment, Buglisi offers beautiful
forms in space, lovely tableaux vivants that seduce.
While
the company will be presenting several premieres this week at the
Joyce, a highlight will be its signature piece Suspended Women.
Originally
presented in 2000, Suspended Women is set to Ravel's Concerto
for Piano in G major with interpolations by Daniel Bernard
Roumain. The piece begins with twelve women wearing hoop
skirts in a row; chests thrust forward they advance towards the
front of the stage, grabbing their skirts - these are confident,
dramatic women! Later in the dance when four men clad in
black lift their female counterparts in the air, one senses
passion on both sides; the relationship here seems to be on a more
equal footing than in classical ballet, where strong men lift
dainty ballerinas. One is not sure if Buglisi clads the men
in black simply as an austere backdrop to the dance's baroque
sensibility, or if the men perhaps represent death over which the
women eventually triumph. Or perhaps this is inequality of a
different kind - unlike most species in the animal kingdom, the
women are more flamboyant and colorful, their male counterparts
mere foils for their elegance and determination.
Regardless
of how one interprets the dance, it is quite beautiful: the pacing
and sense of tension, the precision of the movements and the
dancers' energy are mesmerizing. Graham's influence shines
through in the dancers' angular arm movements, the pronounced
weight shifts of the body, and the sudden falls. In Suspended
Women, Buglisi captures something even more crucial to
Graham's choreographic legacy: a powerful aesthetic sensibility
and theatricality that unite to create dances that are both
organic and vibrant.
PROGRAM
A: Tues. 7:30pm, Thur., Fri., & Sat. 8pm, Sun. 2pm Interplay
No. 9-1
Frida
Suspended Women
Wild Mannequins & Wing Walkers
PROGRAM
B: Wed. & Sun. 7:30pm, Sat. 2pm
Interplay No. 9-1
Threshold
Suspended Women
Wild Mannequins & Wing Walkers
See:
Buglisi
Dance Theatre at the Joyce
Discover:
www.buglisi-foreman.org
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