By Steve Sucato In ancient civilizations they were called “keepers of the flame”: those entrusted with tending the sacred fires. In a sense, August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble artistic director Greer Reed has taken up that mantle when it comes to black dance in Pittsburgh. Reed is organizing the August Wilson Center for African American Culture’s second annual Black Dance Festival, held Nov. 2-4. “Like the … Continue reading A Celebration of Black Dance

By Steve Sucato Modern office life has been a source of humor and consternation for decades, featured in everything from novels like Sloan Wilson’s TheMan in the Gray Flannel Suit and Joseph Heller’s Something Happenedto TV series like The Office and the comic strip Dilbert. Award-winning Japanese writer-director Toshiki Okada gives us his take on the subject in the movement-theater work Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech. The show is … Continue reading Japan’s chelfitsch Theater Company sends up office life

By Steve Sucato Elizabeth Streb is a mad scientist. How else would you describe a woman who devises diabolically dangerous-looking scenarios for her group of “action heroes” (a.k.a. “action engineers”), who dodge swinging cinder blocks, fall flat to the ground from multiple-story heights and run for their lives inside a monster-sized hamster wheel — all in the name of entertainment? In truth, Streb is an … Continue reading STREB: Forces is part dance, part circus, part stunt show

By Steve Sucato In the past few years, Pittsburgh audiences have been introduced to award-winning dancer/choreographer Camille A. Brown and her work. In 2010, she performed at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater’s newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival; this past March, the August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble performed an excerpt from her 2006 work New Second Line. This weekend, audiences can watch Brown’s New York-based dance troupe, Camille A. … Continue reading Acclaimed choreographer’s new work explores the history of African-American humor

By Steve Sucato Old favorites and slew of bold new works highlight Pittsburgh’s new dance season. Here’s a sampling of what will be on stages through year’s end: Move over Pinocchio, as CorningWorks presents a different kind of puppet experience in The Life & Death of Little Finn, an adult puppet dance-theater production continuing through Sept. 16 at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. To read the full article … Continue reading Fall dance in Pittsburgh ranges from classic ballet to edgy modern dance, flamenco and more

Little Finn is the life-spanning tale of a man abandoned by his mother at a young age for an unscrupulous lover. The lonely Finn grows up to be a bean-counter (literally) whose colleagues commit suicide because of the tedium of the work, and who finds happiness with a Russian mail-order bride. As the story is enacted, the performers will be visible on stage, but the focus … Continue reading Beth Corning talks about smart adult puppet dance-theater, getting the shit scared out of her and more