FALL FOR DANCE Program 1 Speaks

REVIEW by CELIA IPIOTIS

Over the next two weeks, folks will be flocking to City Center, now helmed by Michael S. Rosenberg, for Fall For Dance’s 20th anniversary season. The evening opened on Crystal Pite’s TheStatement  that stunned Fall For Dance audiences when it first appeared  in 2017 with the Nederlands Dans Theater. A mesmerizing ballet, it returned this season with Ballet BC. 

Dressed in black suits with white shirts, dancers surround a conference table while a voice over narration by Meg Roe, Colleen Sheeler, Andrew Wheeler and Jonathon Young intones the dark text by Jonathon Young.  

Sumptuous, precise movements evoke the angst of workers on the verge of a corporate take-over or re-scaling. Trying to decipher who said what to whom in the office, the human power center keeps flipping, creating a sense of instability ingeniously expressed through the tight, laser sharp movements. Chest leaning forward, a dancer’s arms spread across the table, legs split open, head tilts with ear to the table. “Whats’s going on?” These pedestrian movements calibrated to the nanosecond by Pite read as evocatively as any piece of fine theater. Perhaps this should have a run Off Broadway?

Another ballet dealing with life’s moments of mystery, light and resilience — Sonya Tayeh’s Oh Courage! –closes the show. Units of dancers gripped by sudden clutches of motion vibrate. Taut bodies drop to the floor and rise in lifts that force bodies overhead and at odd angles. Adding to the atmosphere, a batch of tall theater lights and speakers encircle live musicians, The Bengsons, a folk rock duo. Expertly performed by Gibney Dance company members, the extended piece begins to wane with the repetition of the unison forms. 

Sandwiched in-between the opening and closing numbers emerged a delightful lagniappe. Dancer Caleb Teicher and pianist Conrad Tao  jive over Gershwin’s famous Rhapsody in Blue. White overalls and taps shoes outline Teicher’s lithe body against the black background. Much like a jazz combo trading riffs, Teicher listens to Tao, and responds swinging his limber arms and legs in rhythm to the music that breaks into spits of tap dancing crackling with wit and soft shoe elan.

Something for everyone, a happy crowd streamed out of City Center.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis