Texturally, François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles’ serve up diaphanous performances.
Dance
Dance Review: LA’s Contra-Tiempo — An Ecstatic Dance for Justice
Contra-Tiempo sees the pandemic as an invitation for transformation: the performance questioned who we are, how do we move among each other, and what gives us joy.
Dance Review: Paris Opera Ballet’s “Body and Soul” — Dark and Potent Boogie
Body and Soul generates a whirligig of passions — joy, frustration, pleasure, and rage.
Dance Review: Abilities Dance Boston’s “Firebird Ballet” — Taking Inspiring Flight
Re-envisioning and performing this beloved classic ballet with dancers that identify as disabled seems to me to be the definition of courageous.
Classical CD Review: Elliott Carter Ballets
Bottom line: these are excellent performances and a valuable documentation of Elliott Carter’s early work.
Classical CD Review: A Ballet of Human Sacrifice — Set in Ancient Mexico or Post–World War I Germany?
Egon Wellesz’s Weimar era critique of the cruelty of nations that are victorious in war still rings hauntingly true.
Dance Review: “Postcards from the Front” — A Pandemic Time Capsule
The 51-minute piece represents a digital time capsule. It comprises 16 short episodes — reflections in movement of lives caught inside the pandemic — crafted by dance-maker collaborators.
Arts Feature: Dance Favorites of 2020
Community is what I miss most of all the pandemic’s deprivations—doing stuff with others.
Dance Review — Reclaiming Space, Quarry Dance IX
The film allowed me to see the dancers’ connections to each other, and their connections to the quarries themselves.
Classical Album Review: Commedia dell’arte Clowns in a World of Heartbreak
Dohnányi and Schnitzler’s “pantomime” The Veil of Pierrette receives its first, and resplendent, recording.