Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company

Three worthy February performances: NOVA Chamber Music Series’ On the Threshold of Winter, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Strata, PYGmalion Productions’ I And You

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NOVA CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES: ON THE THRESHOLD OF WINTER, CHAMBER OPERA, MICHAEL HERSCH Michael Hersch is an extraordinary composer. His chamber opera titled On the Threshold of Winter, which recently was presented in an astonishing production by the NOVA Chamber Music Series, makes as huge demands on audience members as it does on the soprano … Read more

Ririe-Woodbury’s Strata, Elements/Elementos! programs to celebrate the theatrical magic of dance classics of Nikolais, founders of Pilobolus

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In the middle of a season flanked by two programs of world premieres of dance works that expand the genre’s story-telling abilities, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company will present Strata, encompassing some of the best known works of Alwin Nikolais, one of the 20th century’s most forward-looking choreographers. It has been 25 years since Nikolais died … Read more

The glorious expressive power of dance: Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Parallax, Repertory Dance Theatre’s Sanctuary

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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

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company opens 54th season with Parallax, new family matinee series

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The eyes stream data to the brain through something like two million fiber bundles of nerves. Consider the exponential aspects of perception when you multiply this kind of density by the fact that not only does the brain do this all the time, but the millions of bits of information streaming through your mind at … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2017: Three SLC pillars of dance highlight Utah’s excellence in performing arts

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In a quick glance, one realizes just how prominent dance is at the Utah Arts Festival and how it encapsulates the deep roots of Utah’s incredible dance culture. Salt Lake City is home to one of the most active dance performing arts spectra, even accounting for the city’s size. In addition to Samba Fogo, Salt … Read more

Exodus by NOW-ID plays SLC and Copenhagen

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EXODUS

Later this month Utah-based contemporary dance and design company NOW-ID brings their fourth major performance, EXODUS, first to Salt Lake City, and then to Copenhagen. This year’s production keeps with the company’s mission of collaboration as well as stretching creative boundaries and genres by partnering with the Danish Music Ensemble Figura and creating a collaboration … Read more

Backstage at The Utah Arts Festival 2016: Utah’s historically significant dance companies to perform

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In addition to the premiere of a dance composition by Ballet West’s Adrian Fry and performances by Christopher Ruud’s Stars of Ballet West (watch for a preview next week), three historically significant Utah dance companies will present performances to help commemorate the festival’s 40th anniversary. Many of the works were given either world or Utah … Read more

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Spring Season concert promises electrifying intimacy

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For this week’s spring program, the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company will offer three dance compositions – including two world premieres with original soundscapes in music – that imbue the simple Black Box Theatre venue in the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts with fresh cultural and emotional energy. For both performers and audience members, the works … Read more

Lavish Spectacle, Strong Voices in Utah Opera’s Aida

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Utah Opera's Aida. Photo credit: Heather L. King

It has been more than a decade since Utah Opera has staged the operatic blockbuster Aida by Giuseppi Verdi, and the energy at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre on opening night was palpable. The production, which runs through March 20, is strong, ambitious, and exciting, but not without a few missteps. Aida is the … Read more

Courageous artistic expression underscores memorable moments of Utah Enlightenment in 2015

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There was a lot to celebrate in 2015 with the Utah Enlightenment, a creative movement where courage defines some of the state’s most interesting and independent artists. Indeed, the Enlightenment disturbs and disrupts the peculiar Utah penchant to be civil and docile or to be content with platitudes and pleasantries. Artists are reclaiming Utah’s unique … Read more