Two recent Salt Lake City performances once again highlight the creative entrepreneurial impact of the Utah Enlightenment. DAN HIGGINS: IN. MEMORY. OF., AN EVENING OF STORYTELLING AND DANCE Talkbacks after a performance or a screening of a new film can be risky, frustrating and deflating. There are plenty of justifications why many creative professionals hesitate … Read more
The four choreographers who will participate in the competition part of Repertory Dance Theatre’s Regalia, the company’s largest annual fundraiser, will maximize the creative opportunity of every minute in the four and one-half hours they are allocated to compose and set a short dance work which audience members will see later that day. They may … Read more
The theme of lifting and eradicating the stigma of mental illness is prominent in Stephen Hinshaw’s book Another Kind of Madness: A Journey through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness (St. Martin’s Press, 2017). The UC-Berkeley psychologist is unfailingly honest in how he learned at the age of 18 about his father’s struggles with … Read more
In the middle of a momentous season that already has brought thrilling performances of works representing the company’s artistic roots and new forms of storytelling in dance, Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) will mark the new year with Emerge, a portfolio concert of sorts featuring new dance compositions created by the dancers. Last year’s Emerge program … Read more
It is not an artifice that the mind has added to human nature. The mind has added nothing to human nature. It is a violence from within that protects us from a violence without. It is the imagination pressing back against the pressure of reality. It seems, in the last analysis, to have something to … Read more
The challenge in any holiday season is to find fresh entertainment that carries a theme without resorting to conventional tropes or clichés. Two local companies have offered their own version of a holiday program not set necessarily in the season but with a spirit that fits perfectly into the celebration: Sackerson’s ongoing production of The … Read more
In spirit, creative passion and his life experiences, William ‘Bill’ Evans epitomizes that beloved family member who occasionally returns home to reconnect, celebrate and nourish the memories of wonderful times and to exchange stories about how the family came together to turn the most challenging moments into a new expression of love and learning. At … Read more
While the competing theoretical, philosophical and ontological discussions of dance’s unique status as a performing arts form are too complex and dense to handle or digest in a compact peroration, it is sufficient to acknowledge the extraordinary happenings in the world of dance that challenge conventional ideals. Choreographers and performers are probing new territories that … Read more
In many traditional perspectives – political, cultural, environmental, anthropological – sanctuary often is articulated in terms of its physical preservation and distinct integrity. But, as we contemplate the issues of public lands, national monuments, and the vitality of cultural legacies, we also are learning that sanctuary is not just ecclesiastical, physical, political and anthropological. Sanctuary … Read more
For the astute viewer, understanding what the Gaga dance movement language involves is clarified by the opening and closing scenes of Mr. Gaga, a fully absorbing documentary about Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. The film opens with a dancer who is following Naharin’s instructions on how to execute a collapse backward onto the floor. She repeats … Read more