2023 SOLODUO FESTIVAL
February 11, 2023
Ten dance groups joined the Young Soon Kim Dance Company, celebrating works of
young, mid career, and veteran choreographers in the SoloDuo Festival produced by White Wave at Dixon Place.
Highlighting the evening was Amos Pinhasi’s Walking On Frost.
Appearing in the center spotlight, a sleepwalker or a dreamlike ghost in a
white nightshirt, expresses the soul of a man teetering on the
precipice of life, death, and uncertainty in each moment. He moves with folk dance-like steps, stomps
and occasional small, sprightly hops, framed by graceful undulating arms to the music of Vivaldi and Purcell.
This evolves into a more
somber, foreboding section. Slow thoughtful lunges express
resignation continued with walks to and from the edge of the light
touching and questioning the unknown. Finally, arms thrust in the air punctuated by defiant fists, and he leaves the dream.
In Old Man Adagio to music by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
("Life Boat"), David Popalinsky and Michael Hazinski from Santa Clara University, elegantly portray two older men
reminiscing on their careers, friendship, and longevity with humor,
understanding, and poignancy. Dressed in pedestrian shirts and pants and seated in
wheeled rotating desk chairs, they first dance with only their arms,
depicting typical youthful male activities. Soon they wittily scoot
forward in the chairs using only one lazy foot, eventually rising to
convey years of body
experience, knowledge, and love of the stage.
Maddie Burnett and Madeline Kuhlke of the New York based Alison
Cooke Beatty Dance Company, presented Song of Thunder, a
luscious duet. The two begin upstage, progressively
attaching and detaching with pulls and pushes, developing into an
aggressive confidence, eating up the stage with pure dance
movement.
Robenson Mathurin and Kristi Ann Schopfer, in choreography by
Winston Dynamite Brown and Latra Ann Wilson, seamlessly
harmonized weight exchanges on the floor and in dynamic lifts.
Jared Harbour, Georgia Greene and
Xander Perone revealed their flawless technique in a lively cavort to
In 3’s by the Beatie Boys.
Other respectable works on the program were performed by Heather
Roffe/HR Dance, Dibble Dance, Emily Bufford’s choreography on
Central CT. State University dancer Karis Bongiolatti, Bailey Seymour
Dance, and Alyssa Myers and Aurora Vaughn.
Ending the evening, WHITE WAVE performed a sextet iyouuswe III
and Section 8. This strong, energetic, compatible company
showcased its continuing success and resilience, navigated by the
indomitable Young Soon Kim.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY -- Mary Seidman
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