Nederlands Dans Theater’s The Statement Proves Business Is Warfare by Another Name

Last summer, dance theater shocker Betroffenheit—choreographer Crystal Pite and playwright Jonathon Young’s dark, carnivalesque ride through the underworld of loss—left audiences at the American Dance Festival buzzing. Its show-biz protagonist kept unbearable grief at bay with cirque moves, ruthless stage management, and a little Vegas-style razzle-dazzle. This week, we’ll see what Pite and Young have been up to since. Nederlands Dans Theater, the dazzling contemporary troupe that first brought Pite to our attention, presents The Statement at Carolina Performing Arts. It’s a psychodrama whose characters’ Machiavellian maneuvers around a corporate boardroom table prove that business is simply warfare pursued by other means. We’ll also see resident choreographers Sol León and Paul Lightfoot’s Shoot the Moon and Singulière Odyssée.