Top 5 at Fall for Dance

Last week City Center's annual awesome Fall for Dance season wrapped up - and what a fun season it was! I was lucky enough to see 4 of the 5 programs this year (the most I've ever seen at these festivals) and it was such a treat to see the diversity of dance and the genuine enthusiasm of audiences across the board.

Because Fall for Dance tickets are only $10 it seems to draw a different crowd than the typical concert dance lovers. These people hoot and holler and give standing ovations to nearly every artist - and though many deserve this fanfare year-round, it's only at the festival that people really show that support. It makes for a fun atmosphere and a good time. The cheap drinks and cool people watching in the Fall for Dance lounge certainly help, too!

Though there were quite a few pieces on the various programs that stood out, here are my top 5 Fall for Dance 2010 favorites:

1. TIE: Miami City Ballet
and Dresden Semperoper Ballett
Okay, I can't decide. I just love Tharp and Miami's "The Golden Section" was thrilling! I really like their dancers and they had killer energy throughout the whole piece. It was also cool to see dance to David Byrne's music, whom I danced with at Radio City a while back! But I also enjoyed being introduced to Dresden Semperoper Ballett in the Forsythe piece "The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude." Those dancers were so smiley and looked like real people rather than cookie-cutter ballerinas. Both works are ones I'd just love to dance, and being injured made me appreciate them just a little bit more, I think.

2. Gallim DanceTheir piece "I Can See Myself in Your Pupil" was definitely a crowd pleaser and...I fell for it. Andrea Miller's super athletic go-go-go choreography is in your face. The dancers, in bright colors, each had a personality of their own that shone through strongly. They were a hit!

3. Keigwin & CompanyI like everything I see by Keigwin. It's easy to literally be blinded by the light in his piece "Megalopolis," with its set of flouresant lighting. The dancers had sparkly, robotic-looking costumes and danced in sharp, angular, otherworldly movements. Very cool.

4. Russel Maliphant CompanyI always wonder at these things why some companies choose to (or are chosen to) show a long solo at Fall for Dance. Both this year and last year there were a number of solos that just...could've been shortened or, better, cut out completely. But Maliphant's "Afterlight (Part 1)" was gorgeous! The images onstage looked like an optical illusion. The dancer spun centerstage below dim projected light patterns, his strong arms rotating fast like a flip book. It was haunting.

5. TIE: ABT and San Francisco Ballet

Both are beautiful ballet companies, and both presented gorgeous pas de deuxs. I saw ABT's "Thais Pas de Deux" at the Met with the same cast last spring (Hee Seo and Jared Matthews) and it was just as lovely. Hee Seo has the most luscious bourres and footwork. But it was my first time seeing Yuan Yuan Tan from SFB and wow, she's huge! I mean, skinny, tiny, but so tall! I sat literally in the front row center just beneath her, which I guess made her seem even more tall, but wow. Such beautiful lines and smooth partnering. The piece itself was just okay ("Diving into the Lilacs") but the dancers really make it. 

Runner-Up: Paul Taylor"Company B" is always a favorite, but I was excited to see newer works by other companies this time.

Side note: To be fair, the program I didn't see included Company Rafaela Carrasco, NYCB, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, and Companhia Urbana de Dança.

Looking forward to next year's Fall for Dance!

Larry Keigwin at Fashion's Night Out

About a month ago on a scorching August morning, I got to walk the runway in front of fashion queen Anna Wintour.

Me and 180 other mere mortals.

We were volunteering to help popular modern dance chorographer Larry Keigwin prepare a big-scale event as part of Vogue's Fashion's Night Out, which happens for real tomorrow, September 7 (the full Fashion's Night Out is the 10th). It's to be the largest public fashion show in NYC history, featuring over 150 of the industry’s top models and giving over 1,500 guests a look at Vogue’s key trends for the fall.


Keigwin put out a call to the dance community for volunteers to be the "models" while he tested his choreography. Lincoln Center plaza was the stage, and the gray titles coiling around the new fountain marked the "runway." We were broken into groups and given different colored Gap t-shirts to wear (we were told in real life the distinction would be different fall "looks" rather than different colors). Then we took places in a giant circle, stretching from Avery Fisher Hall to the Koch Theater (I really still want to call it State Theater...) and close to the Met.

It was a game of follow the leader. Group by group we followed our real model leaders through an intricate path around the paved "runway," trying hard to avoid collisions. All the while the morning sun beat down on us - is it over yet?

After several goes and some spacing practice, we got 10 minutes to relish in the air-conditioned lobby of Avery Fisher. Then we headed out and down to Lincoln Center's new underground traffic tunnel to wait for the real deal: Anna Wintour as our audience.

When she finally arrived an hour after expected, I was already late for a class and frustrated with the heat. But...it was cool to see her in person! Each time I circled past her on the "catwalk" I tried to sneak a closer glimpse - she had huge sunglasses on and was whispering the whole time with her entourage. Probably about how un-model-like we all were, haha. (Oh and if you haven't seen "The September Issue" yet, I highly recommend it! And of course my favorite...)

The whole time Larry kept us laughing and made the mood light. There wasn't much in it for us except a free t-shirt (which, ahem, I never got...) - but it will be cool to see the real event and know I played a small part in making it happen!

There will be a live webcast of the whole evening, including Larry's show at 7:30pm - watch it here.