Five choreographers set their sights on commission prize in Regalia competition, Repertory Dance Theatre’s annual fundraiser

Few dance companies in the U.S. would take the audacious path of holding a choreographer’s competition in which the audience determines the winner with the prize of a commission for a composition to premiere in the company’s next season. However, the format of Regalia, the largest fundraising event each year for Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT), … Read more

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Allegory concert opens up multicolored vistas for bilingual audiences

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mark Alvarez, an immigration attorney who also has written for various publications on many subjects along with radio and television appearances, is the guest reviewer for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Allegory concert, which he and his family attended recently as part of the company’s Moving Parts Family Matinee Series. His review is presented … Read more

World premiere Aberrations of Light, restaging of the live creature and ethereal things, to highlight Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Allegory concert

In the second chapter of his 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Carl Sagan wrote about the “human-centered conceit” and the work of Copernicus and Galileo proposing to “displace us from cosmic center stage.” It was the image of the earth as a mere orbiting dot that the … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge an artistically satisfying start to the new year

One of the most important takeaways from Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT)  artistic culture is the sincere encouragement its dance artists receive not only as performers but also as choreographers. In the fourth annual edition of Emerge, undeniably the strongest so far in this RDT series as a New Year’s opener, the dancers embraced their creative … Read more

Repertory Dance Theatre to open 2020 with new works by dancers in Emerge

Following several weeks of a hiatus, performing artists of the Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) are returning to full speed and for 2020’s first weekend, most of the company is setting new short pieces to be performed at Emerge. The concert, in its fourth year, fulfills in part a major component of the dance artist’s contract … Read more

Fascinating, innovative, collaborative: Top Ten Moments of the Utah Enlightenment for 2019

Since The Utah Review started publishing in 2014, the emphasis on the Utah Enlightenment has dominated the coverage of what is new and original in the arts and culture landscape locally. Utah’s natural beauty always has appealed strongly as a branding asset. But, as we have covered the arts and cultural scene, there is no … Read more

Dan Higgins’ Speak is fascinating choreography of spatial form in storytelling

If we abide by tradition, many storytellers pursue the arc for the temporal narrative model. Suggesting a different emphasis, 75 years ago, Joseph Frank published the essay The Idea of Spatial Form, and among the novelists he discussed was Marcel Proust, who excelled at streams of consciousness writing. He wrote, “Proust gives us what might … Read more

Sphere: Phase One dance concert highlights outstanding work from LajaMartin, Joseph ‘jo’ Blake, The Penguin Lady Dance Collective

The diverse, multilingual sphere of dance in Salt Lake City succeeds because choreographers and performers continuously take the risks to translate their movement into elucidating expressions that compel audiences to see dance as enhancing how we communicate about the issues, emotions and experiences that affect us. Introducing Sphere: Phase One, Natosha Washington told the audience … Read more

Speak, by Dan Higgins, set to premiere as part of Repertory Dance Theatre’s Link Series

Perhaps the most consequential development in Salt Lake City’s outstanding modern dance scene is the uninhibited freedom of choreographers and dance artists to create movement with a potent story-telling connection. Movement languages provide multiple canvases for dancers finding their voice precisely in the way a poet, author, playwright or philosopher would approach. Add music to … Read more

Dan Higgins: A profile of an emerging choreographer in Salt Lake City

In explaining the unrelenting discipline of training, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote, “Then when the contest comes on, you have to ‘dig in’ beside your opponent, and sometimes dislocate your wrist, sprain your ankle, swallow quantities of sand, sometimes take a scourging, and along with all that get beaten. After you have considered all these … Read more