Stress, healing, empowerment: The top 10 moments of The Utah Enlightenment in 2020

INTRODUCTION One year ago, when The Utah Review presented the 2019 edition of the top 10 moments of the Utah Enlightenment, it was a jubilant representation of Utah’s integral strengths as a community of the arts and the momentum that catapulted Salt Lake City as one of the Intermountain West’s most dynamic centers for creative … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s Flying Solo concert film stands out in season of virtual, streaming productions

A modern dance artist’s solo is more than an opportunity to demonstrate technique. It offers a rare moment for the individual artist to command the stage: to present their inner persona in ways that transcend the kinetics of the company ensemble performance. Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) latest concert film Flying Solo stands out as the … Read more

Dreamscapes exhibit at The Gateway perfect backdrop for enterprising new show The Carousel by SONDERimmersive

Dreams are the unifying universal driver of our human existence. Carl Jung, as he explained in The Collective Works, wrote that dreams “put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man dwelling in the darkness of primordial night. There he is still the whole, and the whole is in him, indistinguishable from … Read more

Double Take is flattering cinematic representation of historic dual season opener for Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company

While virtual presentations in the performing arts abide by pandemic-related constraints and adjustments in social distancing, they also afford unique advantages. The case for such advantages is evident in Double Take, the film of the historic collaborative season opener for the Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. There are obvious ones that pop … Read more

Historic collaboration Double Take virtual concert, with 2 world premieres, set to open Repertory Dance Theatre’s 55th season, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s 57th season

Modern dance always has adapted to extraordinary circumstances. “We always have been willing to improvise, adjust and be flexible,” Linda C. Smith, co-founder and executive artistic director of Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT), explains. “If we couldn’t afford a theater, we found a rooftop. If we didn’t have a budget for costumes, we performed in pedestrian … Read more

I Wanna Hold Your Hand: 9th annual Rose Exposed goes virtual with six companies hitting the nail on the head in these pandemic times

There always is something soothing in the familiar pop strains of such Beatles classics as I Want to Hold Your Hand, the 1963 hit that truly brought the British quartet to its fame with American audiences. Unfortunately, when one washes and sanitizes their hands, the immediate impulse to touch, however, is constrained by social distancing … Read more

Grace and beauty in a downtown underpass: OuterSpace concert sets high mark in Salt Lake City’s dance culture of impressive artistic entrepreneurship

One might never imagine that finding a tranquil sense of healing in the space of an underpass below 600 South and 600 West in downtown Salt Lake City is possible. Above this concrete open cave, cars rumble persistently on one of the city’s busiest interstate interchanges. Nearby, Union Pacific and Utah Railway trains pass by … Read more

SONDERimmersive’s Through Yonder Window transforms parking garage row at The Gateway into Fair Verona from Shakespearean classic

From teachers to stage producers and to filmmakers and artists, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been taken up as a fervent challenge to make one of the western canon’s most familiar stories relevant, meaningful and fresh to contemporary audiences. In SONDERimmersive’s new Through Yonder Window production, staged in a row on the upper deck of … Read more

Utah arts organizations make transition to online, interactive, live stream platforms, during coronavirus pandemic

Several major arts organizations in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area have adapted their programming and classes to streaming and interactive platforms. Initial responses and numbers of participants also have been encouraging, indicating that arts and culture are just as essential (if not more so), even as regular routines have been upended by the coronavirus … Read more

SONDERimmersive’s newest version of The Chocolatier deepens story-telling potential

Earlier this winter, one of the most unconventional yet captivating productions to arrive on the Salt Lake City performing arts scene was Thank You, Theobromine, by SONDERimmersive. Set in The Chocolate Conspiracy shop, near the corner of 800 South and 300 West, the show immersed its audience members, kept always on the move, in dramatic scenes incorporating … Read more