Dance Critique

Name: Mai Nguyen Dance Performance Critique

ESS 104

Instructor: Kathy Gorman

A Pleasant Night at Toland Theatre

On 27 March 2010, I attended the show named “Kinesis Dance “(Modern and Jazz dance) by the company “Kinesis Dance Theatre” at Toland theatre, UW-L . It was an interesting show consisting of nine separate performances in the following order: “Sing, Sing, Sing” ; “148 miles”; “Stand in the Rain”; “A Musical Interlude”;” The Worry Dance”; “Who is Figaro and What is He Doing in my Soup?”;” The Spanish Variation from the Nutcracker”;” Keep Breathing”; and” Angels of Autumn”. Each of them brought me different feelings even when the duration for each was not so long.

“Sing, Sing, Sing” was the first performance on the stage and also one of my favorites in the show. There were ten female dancers in beautiful sparkling costumes in this piece. However, their costumes reminded me of the witches in the old folk tales, which made them even more attractive and powerful under vaporous light. The dance had high levels with very fast tempo; also, it involved much ensemble work. Surprisingly, all the dancers co-ordinated with each other very well. I was really impressed by their movements especially when they made a wave and very good turns and still stayed in the right place after that. Furthermore, they totally controlled the stage and never made me let my eyes off them even for a second. In my opinion, it was really a good idea to make “Sing, Sing, Sing” the beginning performance since it was full of joy, passions with lively old Jazz music that can inspire anyone.

Another joyful dance in the show was “Who is Figaro and what is he Doing in my Soup?” Just like the first dance “Sing,Sing,Sing” ,I loved this dance for the same reason. It filled me with joy, excitement through its music, fast tempo and high level. All the dancers looked so professional in their black...