Dance Review: Keigwin and Juilliard Dancers Take City Center in Fall for Dance

In my personal experience when people hear that anyone is a dancer they often say, "You must tear it up at the club."  Sometimes this yields an awkward laugh because professional dance is sooo serious.  Select members of Keigwin and Company with Juilliard Dance could easily answer "yes" at Fall For Dance at City Center.  Their work Megalopolis was shown during NY's Fashion Night Out and could easily make any high fashion model jealous of their struts.  It proves that professional dance can be beyond fun and sexy while maintaining all technical components.  Dancers donning unitards that would make Lady Gaga jealous grace the stage in stunning spatial patterns to a score by Steve Reigh and M.I.A.  The duality of classical music mixed with club beats provides a proverbial playground for dance that is seductive, athletic, sensual - and nothing these dancers can't handle!  One movement that plays out over and over again is a parallel chug across the floor with arms so buoyant they look like slinkies.  The dancers master the piece with strength and subtlety.  This hammers their ability to be far more than a one-trick pony.  The fluidity continues as the dancers circle their forearms overhead like Gwen Stefani in her Wind It Up video.  Back-up dancers can be heard crying around the world! 

Brother and sister team, Angel and Carmen Corella, change the tempo with their Flamenco inspired ballet duet.  They stun the audience with a precise and compelling exploration of ballet. Joyous sibling rivalry plays a huge role in this performance, and its tough to tell who would be the winner if the audience is keeping score! Between Angel's stunning fouette turns and Carmen's untouchable grace that extends through her fingertips, their parents are undoubtedly still beaming.  From a club atmosphere to an "impulsive wedding dance-off," they ignite the audience's excitement immediately.  The audience cheers and roars with laughter as Angel completes a round of tour jetes complete with a shit eating grin. 

Bringing an understated and spectacular dénouement to the uproarious audience is British choreographer Russell Maliphant.  His US premiere of Afterlight Part 1 begins with legato turns in a pool of light.  Movement this slow demands highly specific artistry, and Maliphant wields his in abundance.  After two minutes of progressively quicker and quicker turns, he has the audience in the palm of his hand.  As he removes his skully, Maliphant moves beyond that small pool of light almost appearing to float.  The effortless and seemingly uncountable turns on both his knees, feet and hands brings immense pride to the term whirling dervish.  Sometimes dance has the ability to shed light on the miracle that bodies can be, and Maliphant lives this miracle.  Catch him as soon as you can to witness his phenomena firsthand!

Fall for Dance provides affordable entrance to prestigious works that run the dance gamut - and well!  Do yourself a favor and don't miss it!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Eileen Elizabeth
Performance:  Fall for Dance
Company: Keigwin and Company with Juilliard Dance
Venue:  City Center
Show Date:  October 6, 2010
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