On the wonderful evening of September 26, I had the fortune of attending the Fall for Dance Festival; a performance hosted in the New York City Center. The festival features a series of performances from 20 renowned dance companies and artists around the world. Although I was only able to witness one of the five programs, I was given insight into the various forms of dance that exist and the culture portrayed through them for the ridiculously low cost of $15 (I’m not complaining though).

After settling into my seat, I proceeded to watch the performances in awe of the dancers’ technical abilities and obvious enjoyment of what they were doing. Of course, certain performances left a larger impression than others.

The first performance was a ballet titled The Devil in the Detail by the Richard Alston Dance Company and choreographed by Richard Alston. Now, I’m not an aficionado of dance and unfortunately I am unfamiliar with many terms associated with it. However, the performance did strike me as being whimsical and heavily choreographed. It gave me an impression of many fairies dressed in pastel colors prancing around in a meadow holding and dancing competitions with each other. According to Luke Jennings, an editor for The Observer, Richard Alston has a reputation for using strong-charactered music and then, with an engineer’s precision, rework it as dance. Despite the obvious technical ability, I felt a bit bored towards the end due to repetition.

The second performance was an energetic and lively tango titled Escenia de Tango preformed by Gabriel Missé and Analía Centurión.. It was a dynamic and heavily choreographed piece that seemed to portray a story between four individuals, specifically two lovers. “Esencia” starts with them performing an enchanting gaucho dance from the early 19th century. As the short piece evolves, they and another couple show successive stages of Argentine dance; they even include rock ’n’ roll, dancing to Elvis Presley but returning to tango. With many clear uses of ballet techniques, the two “protagonists” attempt to make each other jealous by dancing with other partners only to reconcile in the end with an epic and fast-paced performance. With comedic gesture thrown in, this was my favorite part of the program.

The next performance was a short and old-fashioned ballet piece titled The Bright Motion performed by Sara Mearns and Casey Herd and choreographed by Justin Peck. First of all, I respect anyone who can stand on the tips of their toes let alone dance and jump on them. The dancers wore a neutral white as to not distract viewers from the actual performance. Overall, I felt a positive emotion was being conveyed through the body movements of the dancers. Their skill and physical ability was duly noted, both partners working off each other in a seamless performance.

The program concluded with Fé do Sertão by Jelon Vieira and performed by the DanceBrazil company. The longest section of the program, in my opinion, the physical prowess of the dancers was evident. The performance transported the audience to the tropical environment of Brazil and portrayed through culture of its indegenious people through clever use of lighting, costumes and body movement. It was very intense, border line creepy even with the eerie facial expressions shown by the dancers. But overall, it was something I had never seen and was very enthralling to witness.

The Fall for Dance Festival was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an inexpensive form on entertainment that doesn’t involve you staying at home in front of the computer.