Choreographer Natalie Desch says the experience of setting movement for a duet of dancers to Gity Razaz’s Chance Has Spoken emulates perfectly the mysterious yet clear-directed nature of the young Iranian-American composer’s music for string quartet and vibraphone. “It is a very haunting piece with beautiful lyricism and movement sensibility,” Desch says. Composed in 2011, … Read more
In its third annual edition, the Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) Emerge concert revealed so much character and soul of the company’s dancers in the works they created for this concert that underscores why, indeed, this is an extraordinary period in RDT’s life as a performing arts institution. Every new piece offered a significant theme, personal … Read more
Jaclyn Brown’s husband, Terry, may not be a professionally trained dancer but she says that her husband, “has expressed some strong opinions about [the] choreography” he sees when she and her colleagues perform on the Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) stage. “He often has many detailed questions about why choreographers made certain choices, and disagrees with … Read more
More apparent every year, the Utah Enlightenment is audacious, experimental and unflinching in its artistic entrepreneurship. In 2018, the pool for considering the most definitive moments of the Utah Enlightenment was as expansive and diverse as ever. The Utah Review presents the top ten moments for 2018, precisely because of promise and strength among its … Read more
Two recent premieres of works by young Utah artists demonstrate their skills in developing as creative entrepreneurs in the community. Reviews of both are presented. Will The Sheep Come to Be Cleaned – Dat Nguyen In his most recent work Will The Sheep Come to Be Cleaned, Choreographer Dat Nguyen riffs off a metaphor that … Read more
This month, three leading organizations in Utah’s arts and culture scene presented programs: Repertory Dance Theatre’s Mosaic, NOVA Chamber Music Series’ Royal Musings and Spy Hop Productions’ 16th annual PitchNic premieres. Reviews of all three programs are presented. REPERTORY DANCE THEATRE: MOSAIC It took 93 minutes of dance to create the opulent mosaic of movement … Read more
In a mosaic, the complete picture and the array of artistic tiles or photographs are distinguishable at the same time. More than a dozen years ago, scholars Georgia Chao and Henry Moon elegantly applied the mosaic metaphor to understanding how diversity is manifested in the workplace. If we view the cultural mosaic of an individual … Read more
In their respective season openers, two of Salt Lake City’s most distinguished dance institutions — Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Repertory Dance Theatre — gave more than ample proof of why their artistic excellence commands attention not just locally but also nationally and internationally. The Utah Review offers reviews of both season openers. RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY: … Read more
Entering its 53rd season, Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) always has been at the modern dance forefront in expressing the complexities of the past and the ever-shifting contemporary present. In the 1960s, the idea of Manifest Destiny still dominated the mindset of the American West although it was being obscured increasingly by the civil rights movement … Read more
In between its 54th and 55th seasons, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company traveled in May to Mongolia and South Korea, as part of DanceMotion USA℠’s cultural diplomacy program. In Mongolia, the dancers and company staff taught master classes in contemporary dance and improvisational technique at a state university as well as the police academy. In South … Read more