offoffoff dance
 RELATED PROJECTS

      







 ADVERTISEMENT













Site links
  • OFFOFFOFF Home
  • About OFFOFFOFF
  • Contact us

    Get our newsletter:
     
    Search the site:
     


    Dance section
  • Dance main page
  • Dance archive

    Current dance


  • A.W.A.R.D. Stars
  • Ad Hoc Ballet: Her
  • Akiko Furukawa: Room 702
  • Alexandra Beller: War and other stories
  • Alley of the Dolls [this is not a Sequel]
  • Ballet Preljocaj: Empty moves
    (parts I and II)

  • The Barnard Project 2010
  • Belinda McGuire
  • Bennyroyce Royon: Chronos Project
  • Brian Brooks
  • Chen/Chang: Tipsy Point
  • Chunky Move: Mortal Engine
  • Cool NY 2010
  • Cool NY 2011
  • The Current Sessions: Volume 1
  • Dance Gallery Festival
  • Dance Gang: Dog Free
  • Dance Sampler 2
  • DanceNow 2011
  • DanceNow 2011 Two
  • David Appel and Daniela Hoff: Take Root
  • David Neumann: Big Eater
  • Donna Uchizono: Longing Two
  • Doorknob Company: We Are Here After
  • Dumbo Dance 2010
  • Dumbo Dance 2011
  • Ephemerui: As Long as We Endure
  • Fall for Dance 2010
  • Faye Driscoll: There is so much mad in me
  • Festival Twenty Ten
  • Festival Twenty Ten Too
  • FLICfest 2012
  • Foofwa: Neopost Ahrrrt
  • Fresh Tracks 2010
  • Fresh Tracks 2011
  • Gallim Dance and Camille A. Brown
  • Gerald Casel: Fluster and Plot
  • Gibney Dance: View Partially Obstructed
  • Gotham Dance Sampler 1
  • Green Space:
    Take Root

  • HATCHed WAX: two to view
  • Heather Olson: Shy Showoff
  • Hurricane Party
  • Jenni Hong: Mach.com
  • Jody Oberfelder: Heads or Tales
  • Jody Oberfelder: The Soldier's Tale
  • John Jasperse: Canyon
  • Jonathan Pratt
  • Julian Barnett: Sound Memory
  • Julie Bour: Why Now?
  • Julie Fotheringham: Stress Positions
  • Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes
  • Katie Workum: Herkimer Diamonds
  • Keigwin and Company: Joyce Theater
  • kerPlunk and Friends
  • Kidd Pivot: Dark Matters
  • Kim Gibilisco Dances
  • Kota Yamazaki: Rays of Space
  • Kyle Abraham: Heartbreaks and Homies
  • Lar Lubovitch 2010
  • Larry Keigwin: Exit
  • Lincoln Center Kenan Fellows
  • Lucy Guerin: Structure and Sadness
  • Mari Meade and Companies
  • Mark Morris
  • martha clarke: angel reapers
  • Merce Cunningham
  • Nathan Trice: Recognizing Women Project
  • Neal Medlyn and Dance Gang
  • Neta Dance: 2280 Pints!
  • Nicholas Leichter: The Whiz
  • Nicole Wolcott: 100 Beginnings
  • Niles Ford: In Search of Invisible People
  • NLD: The Whiz
  • Patricia Noworol Dance: Circuits
  • Performance Mix Festival 2010
  • Petronio 2010
  • Petronio: Underland
  • Pina Bausch: Vollmond
  • Ralph Lemon: How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?
  • Raw Directions 2010
  • Raw Material 2009
  • Re-Views: Sensate and Mad
  • Richard Move: Martha 1963
  • Rioult
  • RoseAnne Spradlin: beginning of something
  • Sarah Skaggs: Roving 911 Memorial
  • SeNSATE
  • Shannon Gillen & Guests: Clap for the Wolfman
  • Shen Wei Dance Arts
  • Sidra Bell
  • Skybetter and Associates: The Laws of Falling Bodies
  • Solar-Powered Dance 2010
  • Splice: Japan
  • Stefanie Nelson: Proximity Spiral
  • Take Dance
  • Tatyana Tenenbaum: the near(ness)
  • This One Goes Out To You
  • Three at DTW
  • Three at the Tank
  • Valerie Green/Dance Entropy
  • Walter Dundervill: Candy Mountain
  • Wave Rising 2011
  • William Forsythe at BAM
  • William Forsythe: Decreation
  • Wrought Iron Fog
  • ZviDance: Zoom

    Archive


    Complete archive, 1999-present

    2011-2012 reviews:

  •  REVIEW: VON USSAR DANCEWORKS

    VON USSAR danceworks

    Showcasing strength

    VON USSAR danceworks offered refreshing, original and vigorous works ranging from the soft and lush to the sharp and birdlike.

    By QUINN BATSON
    Offoffoff.com

    VON USSAR danceworks presented a program at Joyce Soho that traveled from languorous and smoldering to full-out explosive, only occasionally stopping along the way. Astrid Von Ussar's choreography has a strong Ailey sensibility, with most of the dancers being Ailey-trained, but there are usually enough unique elements to give the dances originality as well. Excellent lighting design by Stephen Petrilli and costume design, especially by Colleen Leung, really added to high quality performances by the dancers to give the evening a polished and accomplished feel.

      
    VON USSAR DANCEWORKS
    Choreography by: Astrid Von Ussar.
    Dancers: Nasha Thomas-Schmitt (guest), Colleen Cintron, Seiko Fujita-Maekawa, Dominic Guerra, Danon Hinty, Bostjan Ivanjsic, Meredith McGovern-Cooper, Anastasia Soroczynski, Alvon Reed, Tina Vasquez, Andrew Vaughn, Nichelle Wright, Nicholas Wright.
    Costumes by: Colleen Leung, Elena Comendador.
    Lighting design by: Stephen Petrilli.
     SCHEDULE
    Joyce SoHo
    155 Mercer (btw. Houston and Prince)
    July 15-18, 2004

    "Enter My Silence" began, as most subsequent pieces did, softly and beautifully, with low light and soft music. Blues and purples set the mood in sheer hanging fabric and in lighting, with well-chosen music adding layers of lushness and dimension. Much of this piece worked well, especially the partnering of Bostjan Ivanjsic and Seiko Fujita-Maekawa and a section of quickly shifting partnerings as dancers encountered each other passing through the space, but there was also a forced feel to much of the unison floorwork, heavy sliding falls and occasional hard contact. Though it began and ended quietly, this was a piece more about entering/invading space than about silence.

    "Hearts Divided" showcased Nichelle Wright in a well-designed red dress, dancing her heart out in trying to choose between two men, the younger, more awkward Dominic Guerra and the smoother, more sophisticated Alvon Reed. The following trio, "Time Shows No Face," showcased another Wright, this time Nicholas, wearing a flowing skirt that only enhanced his sharp physicality. Lushly expressive dancing by Anastasia Soroczynski and Fujita-Maekawa gave the piece good range, especially the quick smooth beauty of Soroczynski. Music by Wojciech Kilar also made this piece strong but occasionally drifted very close to syrupy.

    VON USSAR danceworks  
    "The Search Goes On" was an aptly titled solo by ex-Ailey dancer Nasha Thomas-Schmitt, who gave a masterful performance of powerful choreography. Brief blackouts cleverly separated the piece into sections, with movement ranging from sharp and birdlike, to dramatic and deliberate, to quickly spinning.

    "Three Ways to Love" presented a second two-men-one-woman triangle, with the men getting the attention this time, especially in a solo by the supersmooth Andrew Vaughn. Reed again played the suave suitor role well, and Danon Hinty gave the woman character a sad, soft and slow quality.

    "And Nothing But The Truth" was an excellent finale. A soft introduction of strings and light percussion gave way to a strangely over-the-top bombastic choral music section that felt somewhere between a Greek tragedy and a Richard Wagner opera, though vigorous movement onstage kept the part from crossing the line, and soothing yet tribal drums soon brought the piece back to an intriguing bit of slow and fast floorwork. Perhaps the most successful combination of music and choreography came with a section of atmospheric strings and "sonar" percussion pings, with a line of dancers slowly crossing the stage like tracings on a radar screen, occasionally broken by single dancers breaking off into airplanes of activity. The music for this piece and for the evening was excellent but truly all over the place. A solo by wild-haired Colleen Cintron stood out after a beautiful quintet of women gradually dropping to the floor as if unable to resist its pull. The active, exciting end of the piece built well and left the audience hooting in appreciation.

      
      Brief blackouts cleverly separated the piece into sections, with movement ranging from sharp and birdlike, to dramatic and deliberate, to quickly spinning.
      
    Other than occasional hyperbolic or syrupy moments, the evening was refreshing and successful, with bits of really excellent dancing in wide-ranging choreography, lit exquisitely.

    JULY 23, 2004
    OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK


    Reader comments on VON USSAR danceworks:

  • super   from Barbra Drnac, Aug 15, 2004
  • good show ;-)   from jahnis, Feb 6, 2005

  • Post a comment on "VON USSAR danceworks"