The Green Room: From on stage, back stage and the theater seats, the Performing Arts blog illuminates the intersecting worlds of dance, theater, and music.
Just finished reading Lightsey Darst’s review of Momentum. Whether or not I agree with her assessment is neither here nor there. Beautifully written. Someone give this woman a permanent gig as a dance critic, please.
Just finished reading Lightsey Darst’s review of Momentum. Whether or not I agree with her assessment is neither here nor there. Beautifully written. Someone give this woman a permanent gig as a dance critic, please.
Yes, I’d be really interested to hear what anyone else thought of the work. I’ll withold my judgement on this site, but it’s always great to hear what others thought. (I know this probably sounds like a cop out, which it is, but I’m still trying to work out if this is the right medium for the presenter to critique work…more thoughts on this later.) Both Colin’s and Risa’s works (polar opposites, which causes tension for better and for worse) tend to elicit extreme responses. Also would love to hear what people thought of the first week, Morgan and Jennifer.
i loved faker. it started out as a headscratcher, but got loopier and loopier. it was funny and unfamiliar and entertaining and challenging; it hooked me.
the other 3 performances didn’t register much: the aerial work seemed like an exhibition of the form (beautiful and athletic, but it never transcended to become a cohesive work of contemporary art, for me) and jennifer hart’s piece was unremarkably fine. colin rusch’s piece… i disliked it immensely. it seemed to exhibit disdain for the audience, like an inside joke he couldn’t let go of. he used some excellent dancers, whom i’ve seen in other nice performances, but did so poorly. aside from morgan thorson’s work, the series doesn’t seem to reflect well on the state of dance here, or the walker. (no offense, diana.)
No offense taken, honestly. This is was the third year of the series, and it’s always sort of a crapshoot, as it always is when you present work focusing on emerging artist (or any artist who wants to chellenge themselves and the viewer, frankly). I have my own opinions on whether the works that have been presented through Momentum have been successful, some wonderful, some questionable, some I’ve really hated, some I felt were disastrous, and some that really left me thinking. The value of Momentum, however, in my view, is primarily the fact that it exists to provide a platform for emrerging artists to take their personal work, whatever it may be, to their next level. Because it’s a commission series for new work, we never really know what the outcome is going to be. Of course we always want everything to be of high artistic quality, though that in itself is also a subjective thing. And we do evaluate each year whether we feel this community can sustain the series creatively. I continue to believe that this state has some of the brightest and most daring choreographers in the country, but also know that we need to expand our reach and make sure that all those individuals are throwing their hats in the ring.
Well put, Diana. I’ve been to nearly all the Momentum shows, and I haven’t loved many of them. But I’ve seen some great dancers take a stab at choreography, with varying degrees of success. It’s a crapshoot for sure, and I’m glad somebody’s crapping. Or shooting. Whatever.
Thanks. And nice blog.
then there’s this one. right on the money, as i see it.