Jeanette Stoner & Dancers at the Stoner Loft
Company:
Jeanette Stoner & Dancers
JEANETTE STONER & DANCERS
April 29-May 2 (Saturday through Tuesday) at 8 PM
Stoner Loft, 83 Leonard Street, 5th floor
Tickets: $20
Reservations: 212.226.1576
Company: Chase Booth, Isabella Diaz, Caroline Fermin, John Gutierrez, Kingsley Nwaogu
"Jeanette Stoner is a hidden treasure of New York dance. She makes dances that take us on unpredictable journeys through her
unique imagination." Gus Solomons jr, Gay City News
"A choreographer who has paid her dues in New York dance, Ms. Stoner is prized for the intelligence of her dances and her choice
of mature performers." Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
"Stoner draws archetypes and paints richly colorful dreamscapes through investigative and original movement."
Henning Rubsam, dance-enthusiast.com
"Stoner's dances are delicately humorous, or thoughtfully poetic, or strangely disturbing."
Ruth Grauert, Bearnstow Journal
Choreographer Jeanette Stoner, known for her very individual style of dance/theater, will present the world premiere of "Into," and repertory works, performed by an ensemble of veteran artists who have worked with the choreographer over the years. Four performances, April 29-May 2 (Saturday through Tuesday) in the friendly Stoner Loft, 83 Leonard Street., 5th floor.
In describing Stoner's work, Rachel Straus wrote: "Like many choreographers who have preserved, Stoner has bore witness to many U.S. dance movements: the high drama of Martha Graham, the abstraction of Alwin Nikolais (in whose company she danced), the anti-virtuosity of Yvonne Rainer, the minimalism of Lucinda Childs, the fusion dancing of Twyla Tharp, and the formalism of Balanchine and Cunningham. Stoner's work incorporates aspects of each of these movements, but she doesn't appear to be a direct descendent of any of them. There is something to be said for being on the outside of the concert dance machine, which grinds many a choreographer up....She is choreographing with a broader stroke and with the maturity of an artist who has witnessed much dance history." (Musical America, March 2014).
"Into" is the season's premiere. Set to music by Gabriel Faure, the trio is an abstract dance piece.
The company will repeat "Dormant,' which premiered last year. Set to a music collage, the dance presents two figures under a landscape of dark fabric, enacting an archaic ritual to enliven a third figure.
"Stairs" (2015) is one of Stoner's fascinating studies that centers around a woman suspended in a net that hangs from the ceiling. Four men, enacting a rite, climb up and down the stairs, building into a wild energy that gradually rouse her from a dormant state. "Stairs" is set to an electro-acoustic score by composer Svetlana Bukvich.
"Masks," set to music by Evren Celimli, finds a woman who falls into a place in herself where she is able to unmask what she finds there.
"Duet," for Chase Booth and Kingsley Nwaogu, is a reworking of an old duet in which a man is struggling with and pursued by his shadow.
Share Your Audience Review. Your Words Are Valuable to Dance.
Are you going to see this show, or have you seen it? Share "your" review here on The Dance Enthusiast. Your words are valuable. They help artists, educate audiences, and support the dance field in general. There is no need to be a professional critic. Just click through to our Audience Review Section and you will have the option to write free-form, or answer our helpful Enthusiast Review Questionnaire, or if you feel creative, even write a haiku review. So join the conversation.
