Indomitable Waltz, created by Aszure Barton, opened the evening. The curtain was gently removed to reveal a black box stage. Bathed in a subtle diamond and champagne lighting design by Nicole Pearce, a slow feed of dancers approached the proscenium from the up-stage center. A shoulder roll of the leading dancer set off the trajectory of dense movement traces that seem to flow from an internal yearning.

Building form a weight-driven spiral motif, the complex commendable movement discourse was built through transparencies of Afro-Cuban isolations, aerodynamic capoeira dexterities, sharp gymnastic off-balanced transitions, and classical dance. As music from Alexander Balanescu, Michael Niman, and Nils Frahm intertwined, the eight company dancers took the stage to converse in an interplay of duets and group gatherings gliding away in suspended portés.

The audience was drawn into the conversation as the dancers reached out with delicate gestures that broke into a syncopated flick while fixating their eyes intensely through the house.

Among the most memorable images echoing through the evening was the revolving spinning trajectory of aerial transitions through which the dancers would fly over each other or the nostalgic weight bearing embraces where a dancer would lean on their partner to listen to their heart while being welcomed by a kiss.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY -- Gabriela Estrada