Trajal Harrell, Pam Tanowitz and other APAP Showcases Turn New York Into One Big Runway

A A A Comments By Deborah Jowitt Tuesday, Jan 19 2010

...continued from page 2

Philip Treviño’s set design consists of gray, translucent hanging on three sides of the stage, with three doorways on either side; later an additional backdrop falls to suggest a colonnade. The choreography emphasizes the porousness of these walls by using the space beyond them. Suddenly you notice Ellie Kusner walking in an exterior corridor. The costumes by Renée Kurz are mostly gray, partly satin, and draped in various ways. But Treviño’s magical and impulsive lighting turns this monochromatic world pink, partly blue, and at one point entirely red.

It is a world, and an intriguing one. The performers come and go about their enigmatic errands—mostly serene, yet vividly present in the movement, and always aware of one another. They dance marvelously—in pairs, alone, in groups, in unison or in counterpoint, never staying in one situation for long. Tanowitz lets you see the differences among the three men (Crossman, Glen Rumsey, and Rashaun Mitchell) and the distinctive virtues of, say, small Christina Amendolia and tall, lanky Ashlie Kittelson. We live with them for 55 minutes, almost every one of which enlightens us.

Miana Grafals

Trajal Harrell in his "Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (S)"

Details

Trajal Harrell
The New Museum of Contemporary Art
January 7 through 8

Pam Tanowitz
Dance Theater Workshop
January 10 through 11

APAP week showcases and performances
Various venues
January 7 through 11

More About

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Offstage Voice Newsletter: (Up to multiple times a week) Information on theater and the performing arts.

The 2010 APAP is over and gone. Let’s hope, when the dust and glitter and sweat settle, that some companies get more work than they dared hope for and that far-flung audiences learn to love them.

Correction: In my recently posted review of New York City Ballet, I gave David H. Koch, for whom the New York State Theater has been re-named, the wrong middle initial.

Check out this week's featured ad for News