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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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