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The
year in review 2006
Best
of 2006
Critic: Mae G. Banner
1. Tero Saarinen Company with Boston Camerata
Jacob’s
Pillow, July 23
Tero
Saarinen Company’s Borrowed Light was a radiant work
from conception to execution. Every element: movement, music,
costumes (sweeping black robes, heavy square-heeled shoes),
and especially, the changing shafts of holy light conjoined
to reveal the essence of Shaker life and thought. The audience
left exalted.
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| Buddha
goes to math class: Shen Wei Dance Arts. |
2.
Shen Wei Dance Arts
Jacob’s
Pillow, Aug. 13
Mathematics
and Zen Buddhism joined in two mesmerizing group dances from
this Chinese ensemble. The androgynous dancers flowed over
the stage like a rising tide, swelling and receding.
3.
New York City Ballet’s Russian Seasons
Saratoga
Performing Arts Center, July 18
Director
of the Bolshoi Ballet and virtual king of NYCB’s 2006 Diamond
Project, Alexei Ratmansky brought Russian soul out of these
usually cool dancers, notably Jenifer Ringer, Sophiane Sylve
and Wendy Whelan. Simple tunics in bright paintbox colors
and deep-rooted songs traced a cycle of love, marriage, and
death in a peasant village.
4.
Battleworks Dance Company
Skidmore
Dance Theater, Feb. 11
Propulsive,
sometimes feral dancing about urban life, plus Flock,
a tour de force that lays bare the soul of a doubting priest
as he flagellates his congregation.
5.
[bjm danse]
The
Egg, Oct. 27
Artistic
director Louis Robitaille of the group formerly known as Ballet
Jazz de Montreal had the wit to commission fellow Canadian
Aszure Barton for a premiere, Les chambres des Jacques,
in which she pulls forward the unique strengths of every dancer.
Barton creates a loopy wedding from rags and tatters of costumes
and an amazing pastiche of music, including Vivaldi, Celtic
songs from Brittany, and the Cracow Klezmer Band. Many half-hidden
stories emerge.
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