To close its 55th season, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s upcoming Bloom concert will offer two world premieres and a performance of a 2011 work from its repertoire – astutely timed for this particular phase of the spring season. Each work explores the themes of transitions and nostalgia as rites of passage leading to a blossoming … Read more
Voices, perhaps the most apt conclusion to Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) superlative Manifest Diversity season, will be a celebration of community as represented by the synthesizing of each individual’s movement to transform the body (or company) of dancers metaphorically into a creative organism attuned emotionally to support each other through the unique strengths of their … Read more
For a critic who sees the creation of art, in its broadest terms, as framing difficult questions that pull us out of our comfort zones, creative expression that is fearless in taking risks becomes the most meaningful to consider. In Utah, we put a premium on civility, politeness and gentility that tacitly signals restraint – … Read more
Within the first three minutes of the exceptional documentary Intelligent Lives, the viewer is introduced to the film’s two most important themes. The first dismantles the narrow yet long accepted perceptions of measuring intelligence that have done more damage than good in gauging a person’s meaning or value to their community. The second strikes down … Read more
In the heart of one of the country’s reddest states, it might surprise more than a few that some of the Utah Enlightenment’s finest arts organizations are putting substance behind the talk about diversity and inclusion. Women have pioneered two of the nation’s longest running contemporary dance institutions. The state’s arts and museums division was … Read more
NOVA CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES’ ODYSSEY With Odyssey, its most recent Gallery Series concert, NOVA Chamber Music Series once again flexed its perfectly tuned muscles, by curating intellectually inspiring music from two Pulitzer Prize winning composers: the Israeli-born Shulamit Ran (1949-) and Steve Reich (1936-), who unquestionably has influenced the direction of American classical music more … Read more
Among the healthiest and most encouraging developments in the performing arts world is how artists consciously draw themselves closer to their audiences. It’s a development that emancipates the artist from the cult of perfectionism and mysticism, where candid expressions about doubts and uncertainties in taking creative risks are welcomed. Likewise, audiences begin to see the … Read more
In 2002, Cédric Pescia was 26 when he won the gold medal in the international competition of The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation. It was the first and only competition Pescia, a dual citizen of France and Switzerland, in which he participated. He had shied away from the competitive performance arena, assuming that everyone else … Read more
When Supa Modo, the award-winning feature-length narrative film from Kenyan director Likarion Wainaina, opens the Utah Film Center’s Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Children and Youth on Friday (March 1, 7:30 p.m., The City Library auditorium), Wainaina will be in attendance. As mentioned in the festival preview last week at The Utah Review, Supa Modo sets … Read more
Wendy Burger is as definitive a character could be for the young person living in the remote hinterlands of a state like Utah who finds the empowering comfort zone of the theater as the perfect home for a budding confidence in her sexual identity. She is the lead character in Julie Jensen’s 2003 play Wait!, … Read more