What with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presenting Pittsburgh International Festival and the Kelly Strayhorn Theater achieving a strong foothold on the national dance scene when it sponsored the NPN conference and PearlArts joining the presenting fray, there was a flurry of activity during this uncommonly rich dance year. The highlights:
SHANA SIMMONS DANCE. (Bricolage, Mar. 4 ) On the surface, this group of mostly choreographic artists — Shana plus Jamie Erin Murphy, Brady Sanders and more — had a lot on their social awareness plate for Missing Peace — Alzheimer’s, cancer, homelessness. But the topical transitions were smooth, the performance fulsome in a small space and the result so compellingly poetic that it still resonates a year later.
CORNINGWORKS. (Mattress Factory, Mar. 13). Beth Corning always makes her presence felt with her particular brand of dance theater. In the House literally took place in a North Shore house that belonged to the Mattress Factory, replete with onsite installations, and the dancers evoking the varying emotional landscapes of inhabitants. The audience was also on the move here, up and down staircases, and Corning was even more intense than usual in a fiercely up close and personal production.
PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE. (Benedum, May 4-7) It was the 100th anniversary of Jerome Robbins and PBT threw him a birthday party. The dancers danced and sang in highlights from his landmark ’50’s musical, West Side Story, flirted through the World War II-inspired Fancy Free and peered into In the Night and its starry backdrop.
NEWMOVES DANCE FESTIVAL. (Kelly Strayhorn Theater, May 13-19). This is always a bright dance light here in Pittsburgh, celebrating, as it does, local dance and more. This edition was highly symbolic of the ever-growing vision of janera Solomon and her fabulous, hard-working staff. The first indicator came with Bill Shannon’s Touch Update, so extraordinary for a vocabulary emanating from Bill’s blend of able and disabled movement. Sometimes stretching into too many nooks and crannies, it was still a bracing look into his sweeping genius. The next weekend followed workshops with 10 choreographic displays over two nights, featuring Chris Babingui, Ira Cambric, Nick Daniels, Exhalations Dance Theatre, Jamal Jackson, Moriah Ella Mason Staycee Pearl, Shamel Pitts, Jil Stifel and Joan Wagman.
CIVIC LIGHT OPERA. (Benedum Center, July 17). The CLO had an uncommonly strong emphasis on choreography this summer (On Your Feet, Thoroughly Modern Millie). But Brigadoon stood out, not only for Agnes de Mille’s timeless choreography, but how Mark Esposito re-imagined it for this production. Erica Wong (Maggie) provided a luminous and sorrowful highlight with her mourning solo for Harry.
THE BLANKET. (New Hazlett Theatre, Oct. 27). This relatively new company, co-founded in 2016 by Matt and Caitlin Scranton, and intended to introduce new choreographic blood into the Pittsburgh dance scene hit another home run after last year’s homage to Lucinda Childs. This time it was Christopher Williams, a New York artist little known to Pittsburgh, and his series of fantastical solos in Ursula and 11,000 Virgins. As provocative as the title might suggest, it was seductive and mesmerized its audience throughout. May The Blanket continue to cast its mantle here in 2019.
CORAM BOY. (Pittsburgh Playhouse Downtown, Nov. 15). Tomé Cousin has been directing/staging/choreographing his particularly adventurous brand of physical theater for years in Pittsburgh, shedding a bright light on the diversity of this art form like no one else. He brought an uncommonly large vision via a very large cast to the new Highmark Theater.
ATTACK THEATRE. (Pittsburgh Opera, Dec. 29). In a rare move, the Attackers reworked their collaboration of “In Defense of Gravity” with cop, boxing coach and poet Jimmy Cvetic, giving it a new-found poignancy in a work that found hope despite the tragedies of life. It was a new way to feel a true holiday spirit. Maybe it was because Jimmy had such a big heart, which the new edition truly captured. Note: Jimmy passed away Feb. 16.
CONSERVATORY DANCE COMPANY. (Pittsburgh Playhouse Downtown, Dec. 7). It was the first departmental performance in the new PNC Theatre and Garfield Lemonius gathered a stellar line-up by not only collegiate, but professional standards. Edwaard Liang (Ballet Met) in the aggressive Art of War, Tyce Diorio (So You Think You Can Dance) choreographing in an oddly Chaplinesque way, the wonderfully inventive Aszure Barton and a particularly accomplished and tight knit Nacho Duato work, Gnawa. Remarkable.
DANCEFILM. (SPACE Gallery, Dec. 31) Thanks to Carolina Loyola Garcia for curating an exceptional assemblage of, yes, dance films. From Loie Fuller’s historic impact to contemporary works around the globe and, of course, artists here in Pittsburgh like Mark Conway Thompson, slowdanger, Gia T and Carolina herself. It snuck in New Year’s Eve and continues through March 3. A must see. Tip: the exhibit takes a total of 3 hours to see it all. If you can, take it in by bits and pieces.
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