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AUDIENCE REVIEW: Interim Spring Concert is Giving Talent Time

Company:
Interim Dance Collective

Performance Date:
April 12th 2026

Freeform Review:

As I walk by the blooming trees on the Upper East Side, down the steps to the York Theater, I see a raffle contest with prizes for various goods, services, and merchandise. Every dollar counts for Interim Dance Collective. Alexa Racioppi, co-founder of Interim, steps on stage begining the show to speak about Interim’s mission: empowering professional performers between employment by hosting free dance classes. As class prices have dramatically changed in the last 5 years, this mission is more relevant than ever. Amazingly, for $1,000 a month, Interim holds classes 5 times a week to 150 dancers per week or 600 dancers a month. The matineé performance was exciting to watch and while the concert has ended, Interim’s mission is on-going. Alexa Ricioppi and Lexis Danca, co-founders of Interim, are exhibiting the exciting possibility of what good it does to give talent time. 

The concert featured individual choreographers with an associate, one dance company, and solos. Ensemble performances like Funkytown by Sarah Juliet Shaw were as groovy and funny as solo numbers like Agreement (Still) by LaQuet were somberly and cathartic. Performers were highly expressive in their calling for justice in Kathleen Laituri’s To Be A Woman and also deeply introspective and sensorial in Cradle by Myles Tracy & Aubrey Mason. 

Truly a favorite in the matinee performance, Cradle was a duo that captivated audience attention with dynamic pouring of weight off each other’s bodies and deeply human contact that went beyond the sense of sight and more into a sense of belonging. Quick spurts of white noise and gentle harmonizing vocals give Myles Tracy a softness underneath his feet as he supports Aubry Masson fantastically inverting herself in his charge. Belonging to each other or perhaps one another’s space, Cradle held the audience as it lulls us deeper into an ambient landscape of their making. 

A piece with no need to be held was Girl in the Red Dress by AJ Love. Love’s choreography in the Fosse style was pouncing with sharply placed hands, rhythmic hip isolations, and a cool gaze that paired fiercely with Alma Robbins’ hot red-dressed performance. The ostinato of the piano gave the dancers plenty to play with stylistically and rhythmically in conjunction with sparkling chimes, a low and warm bass, and a quietly funky guitar. Their groundedness gives a levity to their back and shoulders as they sway to the smooth jazz spirit. Jake Siffert and Ryan Lambert’s confident poise supports Alma Robbins as she takes the stage with an alluring presence. Never needing more than what the music abundantly gives, the trio give a clean jazz performance that lingers much like cigarette smoke in a club.

Would that I by Lili EleanorJacobs continues that feeling of levity and joy with the Hozier track of the same name. The ensemble of women imbue a lush freedom in their movement with swaying arms and quick turns. Their hair follows as they turn and drop and give a wild sense of joy that rocks my head as I watch. Their backs and arms carry a sense of delight in dancing together as they release themselves into the ground through their feet when the organ enters on a powerful chorus. The music says it best as the words “you’re good to me, baby” are marched with claps that raise their hands in gentle triumph. Lili Eleanor Jacobs and dancers share a mighty sense of fun and comradery to the stage. 

Agreement (Still) was unmatched in the concert with stunning displays of physicality. The side lighting framed a void stage which LaQuet slips in and out of the negative space. They grain through their body in space so full of energy making the dance a fluid interplay of the physical body and the spiritual release. They look out into the audience as they bourreéd the edges of the stage, their upper body and face displaying a mature and profound yearning.  LaQuet takes to the floor suspending their torso and legs. They float and swim through the still space elegantly. The room holds on to every second until the lights slowly fade away. They lie on their back in stillness that gives the audience a moment to reflect on what was watched. A near silence fills the theater before major applause. 

Author:
Parker Ramirez

Website:
Instagram: @parkingfreespace and Substack @freeparkingspace

Photo Credit:
Christina Casillo @chrisrosecas