http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/arts/dance/alvin-ailey-american-dance-theater-at-city-center.html
Brian Seibert’s review of several of Alvin Ailey’s dance performances under the guidance of multiple directors focuses on the impact the directors and dancers have on the feel of the performances. Seibert’s review mainly focuses on what Robert Battle’s artistic hand brings to the performances as the new artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Seibert describes Battle’s work using Feldman’s model, using the four aspects of dance criticism to accentuate his review. He describes the dancers as large and bare-chested, wearing long skirts and backed by a heavy drum beat. He analyzes the dances to reveal the solid, powerful feel of the dance, and interprets it as overblown and too bombastic. Aspects of the dances, such as silent screams and oddly feminine gestures, are seen by Battle as out of place and too grandiose for an otherwise solid and masculine dance performance. Overall, Battle interprets Alvin Ailey’s dancers as strong and heroic, but a little too stiff and bombastic to fully realize the gracefulness of the dance numbers. Additionally, Battle regards Alvin Ailey as at their best when they are energetic yet precise, acting in bursts of grace and power backed by drum beats and spirituals.
Wendy Oliver’s text helped me greatly with understanding the review, as I have little experience with dance and dance review. Feldman’s model for dance criticism does a fantastic job of explaining how to truly convey the emotions and atmosphere that dance evokes onto text. Through this text and Seibert’s review, I feel as if I have learned how to be able to accurately convey my own feelings and experiences towards dance when I one day go to see a performance.
Milan Bien-Aime (Blog B)
