January 13–20, 2000
cover story

Best Bets — Dance
by Jonathan David Jackson

Consider yourself lucky to live in Philly, where dance is affordable and booming. Homegrown independent choreographers and professional dance companies (including such soul survivors as Anne-Marie Mulgrew, Germaine Ingram, Headlong Dance Theater and Group Motion) present work alongside some pretty terrific out-of-towners. If you want your dance full of twirls, split kicks and lots of big, juicy, space-gobbling moves, Philly’s got Koresh, Danco and the Ballet. If you want satire, deft improvisation and wordplay, try Headlong. And Lord knows Philly dance people can swing on ceilings like the pros. So as you try like an impotent troll on Viagra to fulfill your vaunted New Year’s resolutions, make going to see dance a top priority. You can start by adding the following to your must-see list:

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Annenberg’s Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., Jan. 13-15, 215-898-6791
Pittsburgh performs 20th-century ballet masterworks including the standout work of Choo-San Goh. Goh was hands-down one of the most original classical ballet choreographers ever. Before his untimely death of AIDS in the mid-’80s, he choreographed rich, complex, highly musical compositions that mixed intricate ballet vocabularies with traditional Chinese hand, head and torso movements for The Washington Ballet (among other companies). What was so striking about Goh’s vision was the extent to which he fully integrated cutting-edge ballet moves with Asian styles to create a truly original and new dance language. Pittsburgh Ballet takes a New Year’s step in the right direction by commissioning a Goh masterwork, Unknown Territory, to appear alongside excellent ballets by Jiri Kylian and Salvatore Aiello.

Eric Schoefer, Simone Forti, Grace Mi-He Lee, Deborah Hay, Leslie Elkins
Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., Jan. 28-29, 215-925-9914
Deborah Hay and Simone Forti are like the ad hoc mothers of postmodern dance. They are both committed to experimenting with innovations in text, improvisation and the discovery of new movement idioms. Two Philly choreographers take up the experimental challenges of their foremothers in the all-out postmodern dance tradeoffs titled "Binding" and "Fire and Burn." Grace Mi-He Lee and Leslie Elkins radically retell Hay’s word-packed poetry in dance stories that mix humor with myth and deliciously quirky moves. As for what "Fire and Burn" means, well, you’ll have to go to the performance to find out.

The Swingin’ Jump Rhythm Jazz Project
Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., Feb 8-10, 215-898-3900
We’re so caught up in the hip-hop era that we forget where it all came from. Well, learn your jazz dance history at this critically acclaimed exploration of what is now called "classic jazz dance" in a show full of what Broadway veterans call "triple threats" (that is, fiendish stage professionals who can sing, dance and act). Directed and choreographed by Billy Siegenfeld, the project showcases choreography that keeps it real, relying on syncopation-saturated movement that glides low to the ground like good old-fashioned hoofing.

Shut Up and Dance
The Forrest Theater, 11th and Walnut Sts., Feb 12, 215-496-2662
Shut Up and Dance — the all-out performance benefit for AIDS service agencies — has become one of the hottest tickets in Philly. Along with new works by dancers of The Pennsylvania Ballet, this year’s event (sponsored by the Fringe Festival’s Nick Stuccio) will be hosted by the incomparable dancer-actor Richard Move as the grand diva of modern dance herself, Martha Graham. If you missed Move in choreographer Mark Dendy’s Martha Graham drag fest last year, your rain date has arrived.

Kariamu and Company
Temple University, Conwell Dance Theater, Broad and Norris Sts., Feb. 18, 19, 25, 26, 215-204-1122
You may remember her as the only African-American choreographer (and one of the only women to win that most coveted Pew — yes, the big one). Well, Kariamu Welsh is back with a concert full of her strikingly original combinations of continental African dance techniques called "Umfundali." In Welsh’s work, African myth becomes a resource for rich, abstract designs. Most magical of all is the way in which Kariamu and Company dance as if their very life depended on it, which, spiritually, it does.

Myra Bazell and Company
Painted Bride Art Center, Feb. 18-19
This choreographer is on the move. Myra Bazell is one of the rare independent solo choreographers to have established herself through the excellence of both her teaching (at Group Motion and the Susan Hess Studio) and her raw, spunky dances. You’ll know her when you see her (just check out this week’s cover page). She’s cat-eyed, bruiser-bald, ripped and, yes, downright sexy. Girly-men and manly-girls will appreciate her no-nonsense approach to movement invention. Her dances fuse the speed, syncopation and strength of jazz with weighty muscular modern dance. And she assures that the dancers that she works with are all just plain "fierce." Bazell calls her latest work, "Endzone," a "parody full of ultra-physical games." These movement games allow her dancers to make emotional connections by pushing, pulling, melting and whipping into each other and through the space. In between all the delicious whirling and wrestling are interludes of tender dreamy movement. Wild yet down-to-earth? Tender yet aggressive? Yep… that’s Myra Bazell.

Philadanco
Prince Music Theater, May 31-June 3, 215-569-9700
Of course, this 30th anniversary celebration’s been going on for months — if not longer — but the official show-to-end-all-shows will feature historical commentary by S’thembile West, and both new and repertory ballets by the world-famous jazz dance choreographer and teacher Walter Nicks, and the ultra-hot contemporary choreographer Ron Brown. Sleek, elegant works by David Brown (no relation to Ron) and the sure-fire company favorites of resident choreographer Milton Myers round out the show. What are you waiting for? Let’s go!

In Germany, on their fall European tour, the Rennie Harris PureMovement dancers decided to come out on stage in their underwear. "For every last performance on a tour," Harris explains, "everyone does a crazy antic." One dancer, Ron Wood, decided to one-up his fellow performers and come out nude. He stood behind dancer Sabela Grimes and recited almost all of his poetic performance before stepping out and revealing his lack of costume. Responding to the audiences’ screams of laughter, Sabela chased Ron and his "wood" off stage with a broom.
—Debra Auspitz