THENEWYORKER,MARCH2, 2020 7
ILLUSTRATION BY ELENI KALORKOTI
As fail-safe vehicles of spiritual uplift, not many works of the past two
decades approach “Grace,” a dance that Ronald K. Brown made for Alvin
Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1999. It’s not that the piece is blind
to struggle—the lyrics of the Duke Ellington spiritual in its sound score
plead for the Lord to come down and “see my people through.” Yet the
path toward salvation is clear, and so, especially, is the groove, irresistibly
expressed in Brown’s African-inspired moves. That’s also true of his piece
“High Life,” from 2000, even though that dance of migration starts with a
slave auction. Brown’s “Mercy,” created last year, is different. Set to a hazy
score by Meshell Ndegeocello, it’s much foggier, gloomier, attuned to the
bleak, disorienting present. When Brown’s company, Evidence, performs
all three of these works during its thirty-fifth-anniversary programs at
the Joyce Theatre, Feb. 25-March 1, audiences can acknowledge the
darkness and be reminded of the light.—Brian Seibert
CONTEMPORARYDANCE
1
DANCE
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch
The choreographer (and occasional dancer)
Justin Peck has been incredibly busy in the past
two years, choreographing for Broadway (“Car-
ousel”) and then for Hollywood (the upcoming
Spielberg version of “West Side Story”), so it’s
no surprise that he hasn’t been around his alma
mater much of late. On Feb. 26, he returns with
a new ballet, “Rotunda,” set to a commissioned
score by Nico Muhly. (This will be their first
collaboration for City Ballet, though Muhly
has composed extensively for dance, notably
for Benjamin Millepied.) “Rotunda” is the
centerpiece of a program that opens with “In
G Major,” a summery romp by Jerome Robbins,
whose work is one of Peck’s greatest sources of
inspiration. The flashy “DGV: Danse à Grande
Vitesse,” by Christopher Wheeldon, closes the
evening.—Marina Harss (Through March 1.)
Sara Juli
Dixon Place
Juli’s autobiographical shows are like stand-
up-comedy routines with dance interludes.
In her 2015 work “Tense Vagina,” she took on
motherhood, looking for humor in the postpar-
tum loss of bladder control and other indigni-
ties. In her latest, “Burnt-Out Wife,” she asks
whether she should stay married, considering
the usual sacrifices. She sings in the bathtub.
She makes the conflicting desires of spouses
into a dance.—Brian Seibert (Feb. 27-28.)
Platform 2020
Danspace Project
Danspace Project’s monthlong, artist-curated
series “Platform 2020: Utterances from the
Chorus” is concerned with collective song:
with the voice and the body and practices
shared among artists and audiences. Orga-
nized by Judy Hussie-Taylor and the MacAr-
thur grant-winning choreographer Okwui
Okpokwasili, it is anchored, on Friday nights,
by four hours of “Sitting on a Man’s Head.”
The name is taken from protests used by Ni-
gerian women to shame colonial officials into
action, but here there is no shaming and the
goal is healing rather than redress. Guests may
join the artists in walking closely together,
very slowly, as improvised sound and song
emerge in response to the question “What
do you carry that carries you?”—B.S. (Feb. 28.
Through March 21.)
takes as its starting point a 1739 slave uprising
in South Carolina that led to the banning of
drum playing by African-Americans, which the
local white population perceived as a threat;
in response, the local African-American pop-
ulation turned to body percussion. Through
dance, the company tells a story of ingenuity
and survival.—M.H. (Feb. 28-March 15.)
Ballet Vlaanderen
Joyce Theatre
For its fiftieth anniversary and its New York
début, this Antwerp-based company brings
a potpourri of dances by three luminaries of
the contemporary-dance scene: Akram Khan,
Crystal Pite, and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the
ensemble’s current director. “Kaash,” a rela-
tively early work by Khan, is strongly influenced
by his training in the Indian classical-dance
form kathak. Pite’s “Ten Duets on a Theme of
Rescue” was originally made for Cedar Lake
Contemporary Ballet; the duets, set to electronic
music, explore themes of tenderness, isolation,
and compassion in a fluid, ribbonlike language.
Cherkaoui’s “Faun” expands on Nijinsky’s 1912
work for the Ballets Russes “L’Après-Midi d’un
Faune.”—M.H. (March 3-7.)
for the Negro Ensemble Company, the scenes
in Shange’s signature “choreopoem” style shine
brightest, especially those anchored by a dancer
named Michael (Imana Breaux). The more nat-
uralistic scenes have a repetitive quality (the
running time approaches three hours) and lean
heavily on stereotypes—which could be seen as
a shortcoming, but seems intended to show how
the characters have been damaged by a racist
and patriarchal world. Hot tunes composed by
the saxophone great David Murray summon the
ghosts of Theatre 80, whose previous incarnation
was a storied jazz club.—R.R. (Through Feb. 29.)
Daniel Lévéille Danse
92nd Street Y
The 92nd Street Y’s Harkness Dance Festival
continues with this Montreal-based troupe. In
Catherine Gaudet’s “The Fading of the Marvel-
ous,” five performers, nearly nude, stand side by
side, stare at the audience, and walk forward and
back slowly. Very gradually, their bodies contort,
until the tension snaps and they cry like babies
and skip like bacchantes. The walking becomes
strutting, then slo-mo writhing that breaks down
into rhythmic jerking and grunting—typical
dance-orgy stuff.—B.S. (Feb. 28-29.)
Step Afrika!
New Victory
Stepping, a dance form that uses the whole
body as a percussive instrument, was popular-
ized by fraternities at historically black col-
leges, and it has spread into pop culture—TV
dance shows, Beyoncé routines—as well as onto
the concert stage. The company Step Afrika!
has further expanded the scope of the style,
infusing it with storytelling and influences
such as African dance and hip-hop. “Drum-
folk,” the troupe’s latest evening-length show,
