Dance

A A A Comments By Julie Bloom Tuesday, Sep 28 2004

photo: Weirferd Watts

A Bay Area choreographer worth noticing

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LEVYdance
Joyce Soho
155 Mercer Street
212.334.7479
October 15 and 16

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Benjamin Levy's choreography may actually deserve all the attention it's been getting. At 23, he's won praise from the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post. Dance Magazine named him one of 25 artists to watch in 2004, and his LEVYdance makes its New York debut next week. A Beverly Hills high school alum, he graduated from the UC Berkeley dance department in 2002, and has been creating work since the age of 16; he also dances with the Joe Goode Performance Group. Influenced by other San Francisco artists like Janice Garrett, Ellie Klopp, Robert Moses, and Berkeley's Graham-based department, his pieces trade in extremes. He looks for "little gestures that come from honest places and then are expanded and amplified to the point where the entire body is expressing a singular nuance and emotion." His program includes four premieres: pOrtal to an original cello score, That Four Letter Word to Icelandic pop and Portuguese Fado music, and Falling After Too, co-created and performed with guest artist Darrin Michael Wright. In pOrtal, an angry, forceful piece, he weaves dancers together in abstract patterns, offering a extreme movement vocabulary.