Larry Keigwin’s “Elements” (Dancer Magazine)

by Mary Staub — Aug 29, 2008

In Larry Keigwin’s newest work, “Elements,” inspired by the elements of nature, cabaret and concert dance coexist. Keigwin + Company performed this four-suite work – comprising “Fire,” “Water,” “Earth” and “Air” – in their Joyce Theater debut this July. In numerous short vaudevillian vignettes, Keigwin brings comedic lightness to the proscenium stage and sets seemingly frivolous, entertaining acts to a broad range of music: from Mozart, to Cole Porter, to Philip Glass, to Patsy Cline singing “Crazy.”

Throughout “Water” – encompassing “Shower,” “Sea,” “Spa” and “Splash” – carefree characters strut or dance around in white towel cover-ups as they alternate between camp comedy skits and synchronized, demanding, lyrical movement sequences more typical of the theatre dance stage.

In a spoof on spas, a male spa-goer (Alexander Gish), his hair wrapped high in a turban-shaped towel, repeatedly shoots his arm out to demand a bottle of water from the spa attendant offstage. Gish poses effeminately, throws his head back with revelry and guzzles with glee. The scenario repeats itself again and again to the syrupy voice of Marcela Cortes Galvan singing “Que Será de Mí.” After emptying his last bottle, Gish eventually prances off stage in high-heeled shoes.

At the Joyce, a man in high heels is still enough to keep many spectators entertained and elicits audible laughter. But Keigwin is not completely clear in what he’s trying to convey. Is this buffoonery a mockery of our indulgent cultural habits (spas) or criticism of our culture’s consumption (bottled water) or even a protestation against the seriousness that modern dance often sets forth.

Is Keigwin just playing with props, or making a point?

“Fire” and “Earth” are less direct in their interpretation of the elements. “Fire” takes the quality of burning into the human realm. Egos burn for attention as three dancers inspect themselves in an invisible mirror. Or, a diva desperately runs to display herself in an ever-shifting spotlight. Or as Samuel Roberts gives a comical, yet impressive, rendition of a dainty hip-hop dance to “Walk It Out,” he becomes a heartthrob flame.

“Earth” is also trod upon lightly by varying forms of lizards as they creep across Astroturf in “Gecko,” “Chameleon,” “Dragon” and “Iguana.” Keigwin is known for creating entertaining and engaging dances that often mix the highbrow and the lowbrow, the intellectual and the popular, the professional and the amateur, and “Elements” leans strongly on the side of levity.

During the “Fly” section of “Air,” pilots and stewardesses with carry-on suitcases hurry to catch their planes, jovially wave one another good-bye, give a harmonized version the life vest routine (well-known to any air-traveler), and frequently break into more abstract choreography of triple turns to arabesque extensions. The company dances exceptionally, both technically and theatrically. Set to Jim Webb’s “Up, Up and Away,” “Fly” has to be performed with convincing cheeriness, and Keigwin’s dancers, which include Keigwin, manage to do so without neglecting skill.

“Wind,” the final vignette of the final suite, at first seems to leave humor behind, not an unwelcome move after a night filled with frivolity. The dancers ebb and flow through space with a texture that effectively mirrors Philip Glass’s “Channels and Winds.” They hypnotize through sound and movement. As the pitch and intensity of the music increase, the multitude grows; as they decrease, space gets more room. The movement creates an invisible wind that can nearly be seen. Keigwin almost bursts his own bubble, though, when he finishes with yet another bit of playfulness and drops about 40 bright pink balloons from the sky.

Keigwin clearly knows how to entertain. He also knows how to create visually and musically hypnotizing worlds. When combined with care, these two facets effectively enhance one another.

One Love:Tabitha and Napoleon Take on Life, Love, and Hip-Hop Together (Dancer Magazine)

by Mary Staub — Aug 29, 2008, originally published in Dancer Magazine

The hip hop choreographers, teachers and directors Tabitha and Napoleon D’Umo, are in love – both with their work and with each other. Their steps and style are well-known to any commercial dance enthusiast. The two, a happy husband-and-wife team, have judged on television shows including “So You Think You Can Dance,” choreographed for “America’s Best Dance Crew,” hosted Rock the Reception, and worked on the tours of recording artists such as Celine Dion, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera.

But their path to hip-hop prominence was far from planned. Tabitha first dabbled in dance in small studios in her hometown in New Jersey, where she learned her initial steps of ballet, jazz and tap. But hip-hop – especially in the form of a career – was still far from site.

“You couldn’t take hip-hop in any old dance studio at the time, so I only started doing hip-hop in college,” Tabitha, said during a few minutes in between rehearsals in a phone interview from California. “I always thought dance was something you did recreationally, as a hobby. Little did I know that opportunities would present themselves.”

She encountered hip-hop on the college dance team at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas where she was a communications major. It was there, too, that she met her future husband and partner, Napoleon D’Umo, pre-med at the time studying cellular and molecular biology. Napoleon, a California native who grew up in B-boy culture in the early 80s, had pretty much left dance behind until he saw what Tabitha had been learning in dance class – hip-hop.

“I said ‘I can do that’ and started taking class too,” Napoleon told me on the phone while driving to his next rehearsal in L.A.

Soon thereafter they made the cut for a hip-hop company, Culture Shock, and slowly began choreographing, teaching and team-teaching workshops for the company too. They taught classes at the local gym – at first for just $10 an hour – and choreographed industrials – at first for free. By graduation, though, they’d become the authority in all things hip-hop in Las Vegas, and it was then that they realized hip-hop might become a career.

Photo by Peter Randolph

“We both loved what we did, and when we graduated we said, ‘Why don’t we give it a shot?’” Tabitha said. “We rolled the dice, took a gamble and have been very blessed.”

They loved what they did, and each other, so they got married and moved to L.A. about 10 years ago to stake their claim in the more competitive world of West-Coast dance.

“It was like being a little fish in a big pond again,” Tabitha said. “We had to network all over again and learn how to swim in the big pond.”

They’ve been swimming – yes, sailing – along together ever since. With their influences reaching far beyond West-Coast venues to nationwide endeavors and more, what was a pond has since become an ocean. To observe the duo in action, you can watch any one of numerous networks and shows this fall. On TLC’s “Rock the Reception” they’ll be teaching husbands and wives to be (often with no previous dance training) to pull of some elaborate moves at their own wedding festivities. Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, catch their craft with professionals and travel to any one of Celine Dion’s stops on her current U.S. tour, co-choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon – from New York to Cleveland and beyond in September; from Sacramento to Vancouver and beyond in October; Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, Denver, and elsewhere in November; Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe in 2009.

One might wonder how two people could be partners, both in work and life, 24/7, with endless high-caliber commitments and choreographies traveling across the globe, and still be entirely enamored. But Tabitha and Napoleon seem to have made it work.

“We work together so much; it’s weird doing even an interview separately,” Napoleon said with a tone of admiration. “And when we teach we vibe off each other. I’ll start a joke, and Tabitha will finish it. I’ll start choreographing, and she’ll continue. We don’t plan it like that; it just happens.”

For a more immediate experience with the couple in action, they’ll be touring to a range of cities with "Shock the Intensive" and "Monster’s of Hip Hop." You might catch them in Atlanta, New York, Mobile, Pittsburgh, and beyond (for more details tours and events, go to the links below). In October and November, they should be headed to Canada (Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver). There, they will be on faculty at "Coastal Dance Rage," where there will be a variety of offerings for both dance students and teachers. If you’d like to organize a more personalized encounter with Tabitha and Napoleon in your own studio, and get a feel for their working passion, you can contact them directly (bookings@nappytabs.com). In all likelihood, their enthusiasm will rub off. Even by phone, it’s easy to tell that the two of them are elated and enthusiastic about what they do and the people they do it with.

“We’ve been working hard for 10 years in this field. You can’t look for quick fix,” Napoleon said. “You can’t do this because you want to be famous or make money. You’ll have bad times and good times, and you have to do it because you’re passionate about it.”

Move In And Around Manhattan

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 18, 2008

Frequenters of the financial district may encounter a sidewalk surprise in Lower Manhattan this week. Starting today, members of MoveOpolis! the two-year-old dance company of Richard Move, who is otherwise well known for his impersonations of Martha Graham, will colonize corners of this district as they strut their way through six events that are part of Sitelines, the site-specific performance series organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Mr. Move's hour-long Sitelines performances, called "Hostile Takeover," are part play on the gender imbalance of the financial district perceived by Mr. Move and part play on the financial world's usage of manipulative terminology to name — and often gloss over — events within it.

"The financial district is definitely a male-dominated world, with very few women in it," Mr. Move said. "I wanted to have a very strong and sensual female energy take over and become the center of attention, with the women as the smartest persons in the room."

"Hostile takeover," "golden parachute," and "golden handcuffs" are just a few of the expressions Mr. Move was thinking of when he developed his extravagantly costumed characters. "There are such interesting, vivid terms in finance," Mr. Move said. "And I wanted to do something outside the proscenium theater this summer because there are so many amazing places around Manhattan."

Although Mr. Move is no newcomer to site-specific works — he has crafted many in France — this is his first such piece in Manhattan. "I started walking around, discovering some great places around Lower Manhattan," Mr. Move said. "And these spaces informed the creation of characters with a vocabulary and prop design growing out of each space." Mr. Move's characters include a take on the futurist Japanese installation and video artist Mariko Mori, a revived prehistoric flightless bird, and the embodiment of the Italian porn star La Cicciolina (Ilona Staller), who is also known for having advocated sex for prisoners while serving as Italian MP.

Today, a dancer will become an extinct aquatic bird that comes to life in "Hesperornis Regalis," performed on the third floor of South Street Seaport's Pier 17, with seagulls, sailboats, and the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop. Tomorrow, in "Mariko Mori Musings," a version of Japanese anime will take over the site of William Tarr's "Rejected Skin" sculpture on Water Street. On Wednesday, the former Graham dancer Blakely White-McGuire, as La Cicciolina, will perform in front of the "Red Flower" sculpture — by La Cicciolina's ex-husband, Jeff Koons — overlooking ground zero.

"The women are very isolated in their context," Mr. Move said. "It's interactive in terms that there are observers who are not just interested in theater and dance, but people who just happen upon the sites — tourists, locals, construction workers, blue collar, white collar. I love that. It makes dance seem less rarefied."

Later in the week a fantastical princess will reflect on the Stock Exchange from the Hermès window on Wall Street, and the Fulton Fish Market will become the home of a large human mackerel in "Cavalla Bianca." With movement stemming from the traditions of Japanese Butoh, these characters will culminate their takeover on August 25 in "Dances at a Gathering," an early-evening party at South Street Seaport with DJs, visuals, projections, and a cash bar.

"This setting is more intimate, more communal — the women who were alienated before will become part of this festive lounge and nightclub feel," Mr. Move said of the final event. "It's exciting because there's no telling who's watching or what their reactions will be. There are a lot of variables that we have no control over."

Although Mr. Move is still well known for his "Martha @ ..." performances and continues to bring them to the stage, he is clearly moving on. He escapes being pinned down to any one of his past incarnations as runway model, nightclub dancer, actor, or film choreographer. He's now also working on his own documentary: the story of another strong female figure, the Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta, who met her death when she fell from her Greenwich Village apartment window in 1988.

"I feel like everything needs to be like an experiment or exploration to some degree," Mr. Move said. "It's strange to me when you can watch a video of certain choreographers' work and recognize immediately who it is. That's nothing I strive for. I like to keep pushing myself, challenging myself, and site-specific works definitely do that."

Starting today. For further information, visit the Sitelines website.

Downtown Dance Festival Brings Global Dance Closer To Home

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 11, 2008

Manhattan's Battery Dance Company will bridge waters for the first time this year with its multiday Downtown Dance Festival, presenting performances on the greens of Governors Island. During the course of nine days, 30 companies with styles including flamenco, hip-hop, Indian, and Chinese traditional dance will tackle the stage on the island and also, as in previous years, at Chase Plaza and Battery Park in Lower Manhattan.

"New Yorkers are very open-minded and look for new opportunities to get out of the heat and explore new places," the artistic director of Battery Dance, Jonathan Hollander, said of his decision to add Governors Island to the performance venues.

During nine months every year, Mr. Hollander's Battery Dance is more than just a performing dance company; it takes on the role of presenter, seeking sponsorship, culling companies, and searching for sites in preparation for the annual festival, which begins its 27th incarnation this Saturday. Mr. Hollander takes it upon himself to bring dance to the people with post-performance opportunities for audiences to learn excerpts from the choreographies they've just seen.

"I have traveled all over the world and I still think that the amount of dance here is more than anywhere else," Mr. Hollander, whose own company has performed in countries including India, Turkey, South Korea, Mongolia, and China, said. "Yet general people on the street don't have anything to do with the dance world. We need to demystify dance."

The Downtown Dance Festival is one way Mr. Hollander has tried to do so for more than two decades. These daily, free, outdoor performances take place during daylight hours — over lunch or on weekend afternoons — thus reaching audiences who don't frequent the typical concert-dance theater, such as families with children who are too fidgety for prolonged seating, professionals who think dance is not for them, or downtown senior citizens who appreciate events within walking distance.

"The dance community aggressively needs to pursue new audiences," Mr. Hollander said. "There's a lot of great dance out there and we want people to know about it. We think it's our obligation."

Dance and movement exhibit a shared humanity, across borders, cultures, and ethnicities, Mr. Hollander said. "I am constantly inspired by what I see overseas," Mr. Hollander, who is traveling to 10 countries this year, said. "There are moments of serendipity when I see something maybe in South Korean dance, something that looks like waves on the shore, and it looks like what's in one of my own modern dance pieces that we're performing."

New York audiences can have a similar experience in Lower Manhattan, where, in a single day, they may see traditional Chinese dance by Dance China NY, followed by classical from Ballet Noir, traditional Kabuki by the Japanese Sachiyo Ito & Company, Isadora Duncan's more than century-old repertoire, and finally some flamenco moves by Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana. New York audiences, Mr. Hollander hopes, may start seeing connections themselves and thus open themselves to more unfamiliar cultural forms, whether in dance or elsewhere.

"We all have the same anatomy and people have explored this anatomy throughout history in folk dances," Mr. Hollander said. "It's sort of like beadwork. When you see Mexican and Indian and Native American beadwork, it makes you realize that they're all coming from the same place. I love the opportunity to break the matrix, so that audiences realize they can access other forms."

With people tightening their belts throughout the arts world, the Downtown Dance Festival is increasingly collaborating with other arts organizations to make the festival happen. Two festival days will focus fully on classical Indian dance and contemporary choreographies by South Asian dancers in a first-time collaboration with the Indo-American Arts Council. The Center for Traditional Music and Dance has also extended a hand and helped bring traditional dance from Japan and the Ivory Coast to the outdoor stage.

"Once you see how people respond and what effect the festival has, it's impossible to stop," Mr. Hollander said. "We get lots of letters and e-mails, and I recognize people year after year even though I don't know their names. I know for example there's a large senior center following, older people, retirees. For them it's great to have free events that they can walk to."

Saturday through August 24. For complete schedule, see batterydanceco.com.

Hubbard Street's Up-and-Comer

New York Sun
By MARY STAUB August 4, 2008

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which begins its two-week engagement at the Joyce Theater today, nurtures and cultivates young choreographers from within its own ranks to add company-exclusive works to the repertory. Hubbard Street's artistic director, Jim Vincent, is intrigued by the subtlety and uniqueness that arise when dancers work with their peers.

An annual choreographic workshop introduced by Mr. Vincent, "Inside/Out," lets Hubbard Street dancers create choreography for fellow company members, complete with sound, lighting design, and costumes. It was in a 2005 workshop that Alejandro Cerrudo's "Lickety-Split" began as a simple duet, set to music by indiefolk singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart. Mr. Vincent was so impressed with the duet that two of Mr. Cerrudo's works have since become company repertory and will have their New York premieres during Hubbard Street's stint at the Joyce. "There was a humanity and humor that drew us into the space between the couple," Mr. Vincent said. "Alejandro was tapping into something that brought out the personality of the dancers, something that somebody from outside was not going to be able to do right away." So, Mr. Vincent asked for an expansion. Although reluctant at first because he saw the duet as done with, Mr. Cerrudo found more Banhart music that created the same aura, and turned the duet into a work for three couples — "Lickety-Split."

"Banhart is a nonsense-singer, where words don't always make sense, but at the same time the music gives you a specific sense, like poetry, that you don't necessarily understand, but love," Mr. Cerrudo said. "I think using a collage of music is always iffy, but Jim wanted me to expand so I looked more into Banhart and found some songs that worked."

Mr. Cerrudo, 28, is both flattered and daunted that his own creations — "Lickety-Split" and "Extremely Close" — now appear alongside the artists he so admires. "It is an honor and also pushes you to always want more and more and more," Mr. Cerrudo explained from Reno, Nev., during a break in performances two weeks ago. "When you have respect for other works in the repertoire you put your own standards very high and want your works also to be up there."

When the Spanish-born Mr. Cerrudo first saw Hubbard Street Dance Chicago perform at a Houston gala six years ago, he knew he wanted in. The dancers were fantastic, he thought, and the repertory, including works by Nacho Duato, Jirí Kylián, and William Forsythe, were impressive. He moved to Chicago and joined the company just a few years later.

"When working with your colleagues it's a great support structure to find your own voice as choreographer in, and not just to create movement, but to bring out individuality," Mr. Vincent said. "This gives the audience the opportunity to meet the dancers as people, and not just see them as dancers. They are exhibited, celebrated, and shared with the viewer." When Mr. Cerrudo creates a new work he envisions an atmosphere, and this guides the steps, scenery, and music he selects. To create the aura he wanted for his newest work, "Extremely Close," set to piano solos by Philip Glass and Dustin O'Halloran, he began by altering the studio space and changing lighting and design. "I turned off the lights and brought in stage lighting so that it was lit from the floor," Mr. Cerrudo explained. "I wanted to take the dancer out of the studio where we work every day so that when you enter it's a little bit different. I wanted to avoid the feeling of 'this is a studio and just another rehearsal.'"

As in most of his works, Mr. Cerrudo prefers to avoid specifying the subject matter of "Extremely Close" and "Lickety-Split."

"The understanding of different works is so much up to the individual," Mr. Cerrudo said. "I have my own interpretation but that doesn't mean that everybody else has to see it that way. Sometimes I hear a different interpretation and feel it works very well. This can change the way I feel about my own work. There's no right or wrong on how you feel about art." Although Mr. Cerrudo's work has toured extensively already, this will be its first appearance in New York. "I am very excited," Mr. Cerrudo said. "I see New York as the center of many arts and dance; it's culturally a very rich city and it's an honor to perform in New York."

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago's Joyce engagement will also include New York premieres by Mr. Vincent, Hubbard Street associate artistic director Lucas Crandall, and the Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki. Further on the bill are works by Ohad Naharin, Doug Varone, and Nacho Duato.