Merged: A Dance Concert, taking place at the Geva Nextstage, features the work of two locally based but nationally renowned choreographers. Heather Roffe is an assistant professor of dance at Nazareth College, while James Hansen is an associate professor and the undergraduate program director of the Department of Dance at The College at Brockport. This […]
Dance
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: Present Tense Dance “Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry”
The folks behind Present Tense Dance’s Fringe Festival show at Kilbourn Hall must know a thing or two about truth in advertising, because “Make ‘Em Laugh / Make ‘Em Cry” does just that. The sweeping, hour-long performance (which flew by faster than I wanted it to) reminds us, in simple terms, the best of what […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: Rhythm Tap Rochester, “12 Dollars”
I’ll admit, as a lifelong tapper, I had lofty expectations for “Rhythm Tap” at RAPA Wednesday night. The art of hoofing is often lost this day in age – and I’m thrilled to say that in William “Bill” Evans and Cheryl Johnson’s performance, it’s been found again. The duo’s 50-minute Fringe Fest show is a […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: Mounafanyi
On Sunday I got to check out African performance group Mounafanyi at MuCCCC as part of the ongoing Fringe Festival. The day was overcast and depressing, a kind of grim precursor to the upcoming work week, but I was happy to find a burst of energy in the Mounafanyi performance. In fact, if I were […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: “Waiting at the Crossroads Cafe,” “Anomaly”
I saw only two shows at the Fringe Fest on Sunday. While they were wildly different in content, they were alike in two ways. First, they showcased some of the truly astonishing artistic talent we have right here in Rochester. And second, they cemented for me that the quality of Fringe Festival shows in general […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: “Psychopomp & Pageantry,” PUSH Physical Theatre
Fringe Festival Day 3 and a full bill of dance and theater for me: Garth Fagan Dance, FuturePointe Dance and PUSH Physical Theatre. Three hard-hitting local biggies. Each so much its own entity that seeing them all in one evening was like reading three good novels back to back to back. How can you digest […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: Garth Fagan Dance
By nature, the Fringe Festival varies widely in scope and talent. Let’s just say, when it came to seeing Garth Fagan Dance on Saturday, it was good to come in from the rain knowing I was about to see expertise. “The spirit has to come out to grab you when we dance,” Fagan told the […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: “A Man, A Magic, A Music,” “Bag of Tricks,” “Ping,” “Same Sex Shakespeare”
“A Man, A Magic, a Music” is a one-man show starring Movin’ Melvin Brown, playing at Geva Theatre Nextstage as part of Fringe Fest. The piece is essentially Brown’s life story as told through a retrospective of black pop culture from the 1950’s through the early 21stcentury. Brown was bitten by the showbiz bug at […]
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Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: Mariah Maloney Dance, “The Goldilocks Score…”
If you braved the downtown streets once darkness fell and made it to the TheatreROCS stage at Xerox Auditorium Thursday night, you were rewarded with the brightly lit performance of Mariah Maloney Dance. (Sidebar: Why did I not spot a single police person, on foot or in car, anywhere in the vicinity to grant Fringe-goers […]
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DANCE: On their toes
You can’t discuss the dance year in Rochester without bringing up Garth Fagan Dance, now in its 43rd year. Most locals — at least those with an interest in the arts — know about this powerhouse troupe, but, then again, the name should trip automatically off the tongue of anyone citing Rochester as their home […]
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DANCE PREVIEW: “Arc of Ages”
PUSH Physical Theatre’s new masterwork, “Arc of Ages,” embraces epic stories of Western civilization and explores basic human archetypes by depicting the legendary struggles of biblical characters. Dramatic, action-packed interpretations of Samson, Delilah, David, Bathsheba, and Job connect audiences to these characters’ flawed humanness, and to the continued relevance of their plights today. “What do […]
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DANCE: “Past, Present, and Future”
At an April rehearsal at the Rochester City Ballet studios on University Avenue, the company was running through the George Balanchine work “Serenade” under the direction of Leslie Peck, one of an elite group of dancers authorized by the George Balanchine Trust to stage his ballets, in an effort to keep the artistic integrity of […]
