New York Notebook

April 24, 2012

Tell Me a Story

In the epic Persian tale 1,001 Nights, Scheherezade harnesses the power of storytelling to transform a vengeful king. Like that heroine, the dancers of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet enthrall their audience with the transformative power of their bodies. They use tension as propulsion. They can look weightless or move with the viscosity of honey. (That their taffy-like limbs stretch every which way goes without saying.) King’s acclaimed Scheherazade, commissioned by the Monaco Dance Forum to celebrate the Ballets Russes centenary in 2009, comes to the Joyce May 8–13. A second NYC premiere—and King’s latest visual stunner—Resin, draws from songs of the Sephardic diaspora.  www.joyce.org. —Kina Poon

 

Yujin Kim in Alonzo King’s
Resin. Photo by Quinn B. Wharton, Courtesy LINES.

 

 

Our 2 Great Grandmas

It’s time to honor our ancestors. This month is Isadora Duncan’s 135th birthday and Loie Fuller’s 150th. Did they know each other? Well, yes: La Loie, goddess of light and silk, actually gave Isadora her European start—though the younger dancer didn’t like to admit it. You can brush up on your American dance history by seeing Jody Sperling, renowned reconstructor of Fuller’s dances, at Joyce SoHo, May 10–13. Lori Belilove’s Isadora Duncan Dance Company gives performances, workshops, and discussions at Judson Memorial Church, May 22–26.  See www.isadoraduncan.org and www.timelapsedance.com. —Wendy Perron

 

Isadora Duncan around 1908. Photo by Haensel and Jones, reprinted with permission from Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

 

 

Long Live Carmen!

Talking about amazing women of modern dance, Carmen de Lavallade graces us with a new work at 651 ARTS entitled My Life in Dance and Theater and the Legends I Met Along the Way. Let’s see…would a couple of those legends be Alvin Ailey and Lester Horton? De Lavallade, at 81, is still the most fluid, sensuous, and glamorous dancer around. Come see the miracle that is Carmen de Lavallade on May 18 and 19 at the Kumble Theater, Long Island University (Brooklyn campus).  www.651Arts.org. —W. P.

 

Carmen de Lavallade. Photo by Julieta Cervantes, Courtesy 651 ARTS.