Dance

  Even casual readers of The Happiest Medium know that when it comes to Company XIV and Austin McCormick I am reduced to a screaming fan-girl.  I am older, of course -not a girl, so my screaming is done on the inside (most of the time), but when it comes to this neo-baroque dance ensemble [...]

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  Performance art pieces, in general, can be thrilling to behold, whether they break new ground, or simply retrace the steps made by others in new and innovative (or deeply personal and fascinating) ways. The idea of combining dance, theatre, and clown with music to portray emotional journeys and the struggle of gender roles sounds [...]

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What do cell phones, natural disasters, and the industrial revolution have in common? LOL: The End (written and performed by Michi Ilona Osato, Una Aya Osato, and Yoshimasa “Sen” Osato) sets out to investigate how the world got to where it is, starting with Man’s earliest domination over nature in order to create shelter, and [...]

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Company XIV – The Workshop You’ve All Been Waiting For …

by Karen Tortora-Lee February 7, 2012 Dance

If you read THM with any frequency you already know that I am a HUGE fan of Austin McCormick and his amazing Company XIV. What comes out of the 303 Bond Street Theatre is almost impossible to describe – because how can you describe the way your life is changed, over and over again? The [...]

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The Knocking Within: 4 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (Times Square International Theater Festival 2012)

by The Happiest Medium January 19, 2012 Dance

The Knocking Within ANIKAI Dance Theater Texts from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, MacBeth, Titus Andronicus and Othello Selected and compiled by Wendy Jehlen Direction, concept: Wendy Jehlen Choreographer: Wendy Jehlen with Pradhuman Nayak ANIKAI Dance Theater premieres “The Knocking Within,” a new text-based work looking at insanity and a dysfunctional relationship through texts from three of [...]

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A Time To Dance: 4 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (Times Square International Theater Festival 2012)

by The Happiest Medium January 16, 2012 Dance

  A Time to Dance written and performed by Libby Skala The story of a pioneering Austrian who transcends poverty, artistic repression and the rise of Hitler through the magic of dance. Show Times: Tuesday, 1/17 @ 6pm Friday, 1/20 @ 9pm Sunday, 1/22 @ 3pm Answers by Libby Skala (Playwright, Director, Producer, Performer)   [...]

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The Fairest Of Them All: Company XIV – Snow White

by Karen Tortora-Lee December 22, 2011 Children's Theatre

Of all the things to be tempted with this holiday season, nothing is so tantalizing as Company XIV’s production of Snow White which lures audiences to 303 Bond Street with all the seduction of an evil queen extending a shiny, beautiful, apple in order to cast a magical spell.  One thing is certain – there [...]

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When The Sky Breaks 3D (Fringe Festival 2011)

by Michelle Augello-Page August 23, 2011 Dance

Break dancing, waving, popping, locking, and expanding the very definition of hip-hop style, the dancers in Decadancetheatre’s When the Sky Breaks 3D weave a radiant and essential story, moving beyond narrative dance and into an abstract world where environment is infused, challenged, and released through the body. When the Sky Breaks 3D is directed by [...]

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Anna & The Annadroids: Memoirs Of A Robot Girl (Fringe Festival 2011)

by Stephen Tortora-Lee August 20, 2011 Art

Meet Anna.  In Anna & The Annadroids: Memoirs of a Robot Girl – an  interesting combination of modern dance, techno music, social commentary, science fiction, multimedia, and a bit of burlesque – Anna  is an android who is made of  ”pure synthetic organic flesh”.  So instead of being made only of metal with a “mind [...]

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Some Time For The OTHERS

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 13, 2011 Dance

  Yes, we may have Fringe on the brain, but that doesn’t mean that other things aren’t going on this weekend.  And, quite fittingly one of those other things is something called The OTHERS Project.  Paul Bedard, co artistic director for Theater in Asylum, took a moment to chat with me about a very exciting [...]

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She’s Mad But She’s Magic: LOVER. MUSE. MOCKINGBIRD. WHORE

by Karen Tortora-Lee April 18, 2011 Brooklyn

I’m glad when they arrive and I’m glad when they leave. I’m glad when I hear their heels approaching my door and I’m glad when those heels walk away. I’m glad to fuck. I’m glad to care. And I’m glad when it’s over. And since it’s always either starting or finishing I’m glad most of [...]

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Nutcracker Rouge – The Way The Nutcracker Should Be

by Karen Tortora-Lee December 17, 2010 Brooklyn

I’m not going to say a word.  First – take a look at this.  Then we’ll talk. NUTCRACKER ROUGE (Extended Teaser) from Austin McCormick on Vimeo. Just when you think that an Austin McCormick experience can’t get any more divine, any more sensual, or any more stunningly wicked, he whips up another tray of tempting [...]

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The Children!!!! Who Will Think Of The Children??? – Alter Ego Will. They Always Do

by Karen Tortora-Lee December 13, 2010 Dance

Okay, so – yeah . . . maybe Alter Ego is actually not usually appropriate for children.  But you can be there, thinking of them!  Because this Sunday – December 19th Alter Ego is having a very special Toys for Tots benefit performance party  – at Fontana’s which is exactly the place you wanna be [...]

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The Halloween Plays – Three Bursts Of Fire, Fear And Fantasy

by Karen Tortora-Lee October 30, 2010 Brooklyn

“How delightful are the pleasures of the imagination! In those delectable moments, the whole world is ours; not a single creature resists us, we devastate the world, the means to every crime is ours, and we employ them all, we multiply the horror a hundredfold.” – Marquis de Sade Company XIV has joined up with [...]

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Austin McCormick – Dancing Through Life

by Karen Tortora-Lee October 17, 2010 Brooklyn

I can count on one hand the men whose talent leave me dazzled – and while they all strike a chord for different reasons they all  have one thing in common: the ability to amaze me in a way that I’ve never experienced before.  Like the first time I heard a Sondheim phrase and had [...]

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Not Your Father’s Circus: Le Cirque Feerique (The Fairy Circus)

by Karen Tortora-Lee May 13, 2010 Brooklyn

Can you die from too much beauty?  Probably not.  But if you could, I came close to doing so as I watched Company XIV “A mixed media Neo-Baroque dance-theatre  company” spin  Le Cirque Féerique (The Fairy Circus) into being in front of my dazzled eyes last weekend.  The show consists of a series of fairy tales [...]

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Review- Danzon (Dzul Dance)

by Antonio Miniño February 12, 2010 Art

Dzul Dance is an ensemble troupe that has amalgamated  dance with aerial arts in their new show Danzon at Baruch Performing Arts Center. In Danzon we are submerged in Mayan rituals, offerings, the supernatural world, and a love triangle between a man and two women, while showcasing the music of different Latin American artists the [...]

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