Author: artsair

International arts writer/critic for newspapers, magazines and websites.
Airings

Re-established Chamber Dance Project to make Washington debut at the Kennedy Center

By Steve Sucato Conventional wisdom dictates that bigger is better and that more trumps less. Not so when it comes to watching dance says Chamber Dance Project founder and artistic director Diane Coburn Bruning.  “I don’t want people seeing my work from a football field away,” she says on the phone from our nation’s capital. “The closer the audience can be the better.” Coburn Bruning … Continue reading Re-established Chamber Dance Project to make Washington debut at the Kennedy Center

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Pittsburgh City Paper

Pittsburgh work-in-progress showing to mark Pennsylvania Dance Theatre’s transition to TanzTheater André Koslowski

By Steve Sucato This summer, the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater continues serving as one of the region’s leading incubators of new dance work and artist development with three installments of its East Liberty LIVE! series. Up first, former Dance Alloy dancer André Koslowski returns to Pittsburgh to further develop his Wiegenlied (“Lullaby“), an evening-length dance-theater piece exploring themes of loneliness and isolation. Koslowski and his Pennsylvania Dance Theatre showed … Continue reading Pittsburgh work-in-progress showing to mark Pennsylvania Dance Theatre’s transition to TanzTheater André Koslowski

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Pittsburgh City Paper

Pittsburgh’s Attack Theatre to kick off year-long community dance project

By Steve Sucato What better way for Attack Theatre to kick off its year-long community dance project Remainder/Northside than with a free, family-friendly community day at the New Hazlett Theater? On Sun., June 22, the Pittsburgh-based, internationally touring troupe will launch the project and entertain audiences as only Attack Theatre can, with interactive movement activities, mini-performances, and games including life-size chess, Four-Square and Bag Attack Boogaloo. “We have had a … Continue reading Pittsburgh’s Attack Theatre to kick off year-long community dance project

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Pittsburgh City Paper

Local dance troupes and voguing battle highlight PrideFest Pittsburgh’s dance showcase

By Steve Sucato “Ladies with an attitude, fellows that were in the mood / Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it / Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it.” Madonna’s 1990 call to vogue lives at this year’s PrideFest Pittsburgh. The free June 15 street fair’s dance showcase on Liberty Avenue includes newcomers True T Entertainment’s voguing tribute to the 1990 LGBT-ballroom-scene documentary Paris Is … Continue reading Local dance troupes and voguing battle highlight PrideFest Pittsburgh’s dance showcase

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Pittsburgh City Paper

Maree ReMalia’s ‘The Ubiquitous Mass of Us’ explores how we take up space

By Steve Sucato Outer space may be the final frontier, but it is the space we humans occupy on Earth that has inspired countless choreographers and their works. The latest to address that subject is choreographer Maree ReMalia, whose The Ubiquitous Mass of Us premieres June 14 as part of the New Hazlett Theater’s Community Supported Art performance series. ReMalia — who also performs with the Staycee … Continue reading Maree ReMalia’s ‘The Ubiquitous Mass of Us’ explores how we take up space

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Dance Reviews 2014

Verb Ballets’ ‘DanceWorks’ Program Out of Character

Verb Ballets DanceWorks ’14 Gordon Square Theatre at Cleveland Public Theatre  Cleveland, OH May 1-3, 2014 Reviewed by Steve Sucato Cleveland-based Verb Ballets closed out Cleveland Public Theatre’s 2014 DanceWorks series with a program of two new works that harkened back to the modern dance style of its predecessor company the Repertory Project. Audiences used to Verb’s mix of classical modern dance works from Paul Taylor … Continue reading Verb Ballets’ ‘DanceWorks’ Program Out of Character

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Dance Reviews 2014

Grand Rapids Ballet’s Contemporary ‘Midsummer’ Ballet a Glowing Success

Grand Rapids Ballet Company A Midsummer Night’s Dream Peter Martin Wege Theatre Grand Rapids, MI May 9-18, 2014 Reviewed by Steve Sucato In keeping with Grand Rapids Ballet Company’s penchant for contemporary reinterpretations of story ballet classics that has included updated productions of Romeo & Juliet and Swan Lake, the world premiere of choreographer Olivier Wevers’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream May 9 at Grand Rapids’ Peter Martin … Continue reading Grand Rapids Ballet’s Contemporary ‘Midsummer’ Ballet a Glowing Success

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Dance Reviews 2014

Envy, Betrayal and Murder: Neos Dance Theatre’s New ‘Snow White’ Ballet Traveled a Dark Road to reach its Happily Ever After

Neos Dance Theatre Snow White and the Magic Mirror: A Grimm Tale  E.J. Thomas Hall at The University of Akron Akron, Ohio April 19, 2014 Reviewed by Steve Sucato As he did with Neos Dance Theatre’s 2013 production of Count…The Legend of Dracula, artistic director/choreographer Bobby Wesner turned to the original source for in coming up with the storyline for his new ballet Snow White and … Continue reading Envy, Betrayal and Murder: Neos Dance Theatre’s New ‘Snow White’ Ballet Traveled a Dark Road to reach its Happily Ever After

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Pittsburgh City Paper

Pittsburgh’s Alexandra Bodnarchuk debuts her new work ‘CONNOTATIONS: unknown’

By Steve Sucato The fleeting nature of interpersonal relations is the theme of dancer and choreographer Alexandra Bodnarchuk’s latest production, CONNOTATIONS: unknown. The 45-minute modern-dance work will be performed May 2 and May 4 at PearlArts Studios. Bodnarchuk, 24, is a Pittsburgh native who graduated from Ohio University in 2012 with degrees in dance and French. A new dancemaker on the local scene, Bodnarchuk says she … Continue reading Pittsburgh’s Alexandra Bodnarchuk debuts her new work ‘CONNOTATIONS: unknown’

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Pittsburgh City Paper

Neuroscience and the Age of Enlightenment come together in Wayne McGregor/Random Dance’s ‘Far’

By Steve Sucato Dancemakers have always sought to take the art form in new directions. Developing new techniques and styles, pushing the boundaries of what is considered dance … and even, in recent decades, beginning to view dance as “creative science.” Choreographer Elizabeth Streb, for instance, has worked with engineers at MIT to find new ways of testing the human body’s physical limitations, while choreographer … Continue reading Neuroscience and the Age of Enlightenment come together in Wayne McGregor/Random Dance’s ‘Far’

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