Saturday May 28, 2011 - After watching Roman Baca's HOMECOMING aboard the USS Intrepid, Kokyat and I went over to the DANY Studios where dancers from 360° Dance Company were in rehearsal for their upcoming performances at Dance Theater Workshop. The Company will present five works including a New York premiere entitled What was Still Is choreographed by Martin Lofsnes. Choreographers from Mexico, Norway and Italy will be represented. The performances are June 2nd - 4th. Information here.
New York is a city filled with beautiful dancers and today we had the pleasure of meeting two of them, Martin Lofsnes and Danelle Morgan, for the first time. Martin Lofnes has danced with the Martha Graham Company from 1993 to 2006 dancing principal roles in the Graham classics; he has also worked with Pearl Lang, Matthew Bourne and Maurice Bejart, and he serves on the faculty of The Ailey School.
Martin spoke to me briefly about choreographer Jane Dudley and then launched immediately into a solo created by Ms. Dudley in 1934 entitled Time is Money. Set to a spoken text, the solo looks as fresh and meaningful as if it were just choreographed this morning. Martin's spacious and fluid style seizes the imagination at once.
Martin Lofsnes rehearsing Jane Dudley's Time Is Money.
In the duet Que Color Tiene El Amor (What Is The Colour of Love?), choreographed by Ricardo Flores, the strikingly attractive Danelle Morgan was a splendid match for Martin in terms of vivid lyricism and dramatic nuance. I've seen an awful lot of wonderful dancers at close range in their studios these past couple of years but Martin and Danelle really had something to say to me today. Their dancing continually gave me those little rushes of emotion that make my quest of pursuing the city's best movers and shapers so rewarding.
The programme for 360° Dance Company's performances at Dance Theater Workshop further includes a second work by Jane Dudley: Cante Flamenco, and Alessandra Prosperi's Satsang. The new Lofsnes work, What Was Still Is, is set for six dancers to a score compiled from Middle Eastern, Mexican, Spanish and American works.
Rehearsal photos by Kokyat.
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