If it weren’t for the countless sleepless nights before Thursday, September 30th, I’d easily be able to stay awake and watch all the dances without the intermissions. This was my first dance show that I’ve attended and although I’m used to intermissions during Broadway plays, I felt that in a dance there shouldn’t be an intermission. Rather, a brief introduction of each new performance by different companies would have been enough. After our class discussion with the two dancers and after watching YouTube videos of Red Angels, I thought this would be completely different from the stereotypical ballet format that most associate with. Thankfully, I was right.

The opening dance secured my interest for the rest of the night. Three Movements by Company Rafaela Carrasco opened my eyes to a new way of looking at and appreciating dance. I felt that the dancers and various musicians, whether it be guitar or some sort of drumming on the floor, perfectly fit together. At times, I even zoned into the music and forgot about the dance. This made me realize how much effort went into this one piece alone.

Red Angels by New York City Ballet only made the experience that much better for me. The dancer’s athletic capabilities were the backbone of that dance. The perfectly mixed lighting, music, and movements exuded a feeling of fiery passion for something. The highlight of my night happened momentarily after this dance was over. The musician, Cenovia Cummins, was a guest artist apparently and played the electric violin throughout the dance. I was astonished to see a person come up because I thought the music was pre-recorded.

As I watched Duet, choreographed by Bill T. Jones, I kept thinking how it reminds me of a Broadway show. Maybe it was that shady voice narrating in the background.

The Brazilian dancers in the last dance, ID:Entidades by Companhia Urbana De Dance, moved in unison which reflected in their similar curly afro hairdos and all black uniforms. Fall For Dance taught me that there is more to dance than just dance. We need to appreciate the lighting, costumes, music, scenery, and of course, choreography.

With the opera Rigoletto still fresh in my mind, I have set my expectation high on the dance. I expected something equal or even better quality, because I could see tons of people lining up to get into the building. Even though later I found out that there were other Macaulay students, it was still a lot of people.

The first dance was a flamenco dance, performed by Rafaela Carrasco. I was confused when the woman started singing. This was supposed to be a dance, not a music contest. Then, the dancers came out and performed an energetic dance. The woman and the man showed a romantic and passionate love. It was like watching the fire. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. I was amazed how their dance movements and the music were so in sync. They came to my mind as one whole action, not two separate things.

The second dance was Red Angels by the New York City Ballet, which was shown briefly in our Art Seminar class. The music started, but it was not the music I expected. I was looking forward to hearing the music that was played in my class. It finally came out in the last scene. Even though the other musics were not that impressive and ear-catching, the dancers’ movements astonished me. They were so flexible that it felt like they were trying to show the limit of distortion of the human body. Although the piece was quite abstract, I could concentrate on their body movements rather than the plot.

The third dance was performed by the Bill T. Jones & Arnie Zane Company, and frankly, it was boring. I fell asleep after few minutes. The only thing that caught my eyes was the background, which reminded me of a chess board. I didn’t know what the music was saying. I think I heard Jesus but I didn’t know how to interpret that with the choreography.

The last dance, performed by the Companhia Urbana de Dance, was worse. At first, it kept me interested because it seemed like it was going to have some kind of plot and meanings. However, it went on and on. I couldn’t figure out what the story was anymore, and just hoped that they would end this piece soon. After many fake endings, the dance finally ended.

In conclusion, this event did not give me much impression. Maybe it was because I was too tired and could not concentrate. But I definitely would have enjoyed it more if the last two dances were replaced by others.

New York City Center’s, Fall for Dance Festival, is pleasing to audiences because of its attempt to bring many different genres of dance into one performance.  On Thursday September 30, the dance companies, Company Rafaela Carrasco, New York City Ballet, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, and Companhia Urbana de Danca, each were granted their time to shine on City Center’s stage.  The performance began with the Company Rafaela Carrasco.  With a dim stage, Gema Caballero, sat close to the company’s musicians Suarez “Cano,” and Nacho Arimany.  After a long instrumental introduction, Caballero began to sing.  Yes, that’s right, not dance but sing.  And I couldn’t help but to ask myself if she was having an off day.  I know that the vocals were supposed to have a rough tone; however,  it seemed like the vocalist was having a difficult time getting words out of her mouth.  The actual flamenco started off slow with a sexual duet between Rafaela Carrasco and David Coria.  The piece quickly moved to the third part of the performance, entitled “Percussion,” which Carrasco performed by herself.  Her movements were intricate and showed great skill, and her love for flamenco shined through her movements.

When the New York City Ballet dancers proudly walked onto the stage with their red unitards, I instantly was convinced that their performance of “Red Angels” was going to steal the show.  Even if one is not familiar with dance, it is impossible to miss the strength, agility, and flexibility of these dancers.  As the ballet dancers effortlessly transitioned in and out of second position grand plie, they made the movements appear to be much easier than they actually were. The fact that Ulysses Dove’s choreography did not require the ballerinas to go on pointe toe for their turns added a new feel to their ballet performance. Dove chose to end his piece with all of his dancers simultaneously walking upstage into a bright red background. Does this represent hell?  It’s up to each audience member to decide for him or herself.

The duet performed by the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company was rather disappointing.  Expectations were high for this piece before it began.  Regretfully, this piece certainly did not exceed or even meet these.  The piece, performed by Shayla-Vie Jenkins and LaMichael Leonard, Jr, is very distracting for audience members, especially in seats where the whole stage was not visible.  Jenkins and Leonard frequently used opposite ends of the stage, which made it difficult to grasp the piece as a whole since a viewer could only concentrate on one dancer at a time.  Even though I was able to recognize some of the style choices behind the piece, for example the shoulder shakes frequently used in Lester Horton’s technique, the meaning behind the piece was difficult to grasp, if not impossible.  If a piece does not tell a story, it is helpful for the movements to be capturing and entertaining, of which they were neither. Let’s just be grateful that they did not close the show.

The Companhia Urbana de Danca, choreographed by Sonia Destri, approached dance in a unique way.  Using all black costumes and an all male company, they began their piece with a small solo performed by each of their dancers.  Their piece was more abstract and instantly captured viewer’s attention.  The strength, agility, and diversity which exists among their company members was obvious, and this made the piece even more enjoyable because it introduced many different styles to the same genre of dance.  However, to taste something is always better than to shove a large amount down one’s throat.  As the piece went on, I began to feel like the piece was being shoved down my throat because the length of the piece was too long to keep anyone’s attention.  This was disappointing because the company began their performance so forcefully.

City Center’s presentation of Fall for Dance really made the audience fall…quite possibly fall asleep.  The overall performance was filled with extremely engaging parts, as well as many parts that were so uninteresting; they should have been omitted all together.  I guess they warned us in the title.