18 THENEWYORKER,MARCH16, 2020
ILLUSTRATION BY DAIANA RUIZ
“Fla.co.men”: the title says it all. In this show, part of Flamenco Festival
New York 2020 (at Skirball, on March 13), Israel Galván—an astounding
dancer, capable of the most exciting rapid-fire footwork—deconstructs
flamenco to an even more extreme degree than he has in the past. For
seventy-five minutes, on a stage strewn with musical instruments and
sheets of paper, he riffs in a random-seeming, improvisatory way. He
makes strange yelping sounds, flickers his fingers, plays a drum with his
foot, sits on the floor moving only his hands. Then, in bursts, he dances
explosively. The music is an interesting combination of saxophone, violin,
tambourine, and, yes, flamenco guitar. It’s mad, and at times self-indul-
gent, but there are flashes of genius in there as well.—Marina HarssFLAMENCOFESTIVAL
twenty-seven million people worldwide. It also
put Irish step dancing, which before then was a
rather localized form with folk roots, on the map
in a massive way, amplifying it with flashy stage
effects, large battalions of dancers, and a score
meant to keep the audience’s hearts pumping.
Thousands of young Irish dancers have filled out
the show’s ranks since its inception, tapping and
jumping in unison, arms held straight by their
sides. After a ten-year absence, “Riverdance”
returns to Radio City Music Hall with a new
recording of Bill Whelan’s original score, a few
new numbers, and updated costumes, lighting,
and projections.—Marina Harss (March 10-15.)
Scottish Ballet
Joyce Theatre
The last time this company came to town,
three years ago, it performed a wonderfully
evocative piece by Christopher Bruce, set to
poems by Dylan Thomas, that really showed
off the excellence and the commitment of its
dancers. The ballets included in its current run
at the Joyce are decidedly more contemporary
in look and in tone. One, “Sibila,” was created
by a dancer in the company, Sophie Laplane,
now its resident choreographer. In a series
of encounters performed in a style by turns
angular and fluid, the work navigates the ins
and outs of human relationships. The witti-
1
THETHEATRE
About Love
Sheen Center
Will Pomerantz adapted this charming
chamber musical, presented by Culture
Project, from Ivan Turgenev’s novella “First
Love.” A callow but gallant sixteen-year-old
(Jeffrey Kringer) falls hard for a captivating
but penniless twenty-one-year-old daughter
of a princess (Silvia Bond) and joins the
menagerie of helpless suitors who cater to
her whims throughout the summer of 1833.
The setting is nineteenth-century Moscow
(Whitney Locher’s costumes are nicely pre-
cise) and Nancy Harrow’s score is jazz, but
both the script and the songs are on the same
sweet, wistful wavelength. Turgenev’s tale
is delightfully attuned to the heightened
emotional nuances of a crush, and the actors
take turns reciting much of the text while
enacting its story—which works thanks to
Pomerantz’s smart, playful staging and the
well-selected cast.—Rollo Romig (Through
March 22.)Cambodian Rock Band
Pershing Square Signature Center
Fact and fiction, past and present are in-
terwoven in Lauren Yee’s play with music.
When a young Cambodian-American, Neary
(Courtney Reed), arrives in Phnom Penh
to help prosecute Comrade Duch (Fran-
cis Jue), a real-life Khmer Rouge official
who oversaw the killing of thousands in
the notorious prison camp S21, she does
not realize that the case is going to hit so
close to home. A flashback takes us to 1975,
when the rise of the genocidal Communist
regime put an end to the young rock band
the Cyclos—and we discover what happened
to the guitarist Chum (Joe Ngo) and the
bassist Leng (Moses Villarama). Yee’s story-
telling is undermined by credibility-testing
coincidences, but Chay Yew’s production,est sections are set to whistled ditties—sibila
means “whistling” in Latin. The other half of
the program is taken up by “MC 14/22 (Ceci
est mon corps),” a work for twelve male danc-
ers—not accidentally, the number of Jesus’
apostles—by the French choreographer An-
gelin Preljoçaj.—M.H. (March 10-15.)Patricia Guerrero
Baryshnikov Arts Center
Young, bold, and beautiful, Guerrero is the
kind of flamenco artist who can honor the past
while appearing of the present, secure enough
in the old ways to blend in other styles. Less
overtly avant-garde and feminist than most
of her recent works, “Proceso Eterno,” her
contribution to Flamenco Festival New York
2020, is intimate. She dances in playful ex-
change with the singer Sergio El Colorao,
the guitarist Dani de Morón, and the percus-
sionist Agustín Diassera—and in silence, in
searching dialogue with herself.—Brian Seibert
(March 13-14.)Kazu Kumagai
92nd Street Y
For nearly two decades, Kumagai has been
one of the world’s top improvising tap danc-ers. Japanese-born but deeply versed in the
art’s African-American roots, he’s focussed
on sound; his solos tend to drill down, build
up steam, and explode in dense discharges of
high-speed particles. But he’s also a sweet-
heart, and that side of him should emerge
in “Good Rhythm Wonderful Life,” part of
the 92nd Street Y’s Harkness Dance Festi-
val. Inspired by his daughter’s reading of
Maya Angelou’s “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,”
the show features Alex Blake on bass, Akio
Mokuno on keyboards, and the subtly charm-
ing Lisa La Touche as a guest hoofer.—B.S.
(March 13-14.)Leonor Leal
Le Poisson Rouge
Traditionally, the heart of flamenco is song.
But for Leal’s evening in Flamenco Festival
New York 2020 she does without it. A skilled
and grounded innovator, she experiments
with the percussionist Antonio Moreno,
who might play a washboard or a table or
the objects on the table.—B.S. (March 14.)