Welcome to the blog. Look, fair warning at the front: This is going to be an experiment.
We’re all about to find out what happens when multiple voices (including, hopefully, yours) and views (of our photographer and documentary videographeras well as any artists out there working with dance and video or film) are given a public forum to respond toand possibly initiatesome of the latest developments at the American Dance Festival.
Tomorrow on the site? ‘Being that unidentified flying object is a pain in the ass”the complete text of our interview with choreographer Martha Clarke.
Now, riffing on our story in this week’s Indy, here’s a convenient chart that makes the case for déjà vu in this year’s festival programming: Hey, haven’t I seen you somewhere before?
‘Wait a minutehaven’t I seen you somewhere before?”
A number of this summer’s dance works should look familiar to ADF aficionados: They’ve been staged here before. (Some received their world premiere in Durham.) These 16 works should give sharp observers more than a moment’s sense of dèjá vu:
Work
Artist
2007 Date
Previous Date
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Martha Clarke
June 7-9
Played here in 1985, after rocking New York off-Broadway the year before.
Planetary Dance
Anna Halprin
June 10
An early, indoor version called Circle the Earth, in 1986
Odunde
African American Dance Ensemble
June 12-13
Seen here in 1984
Worship
African American Dance Ensemble
June 12-13
First performed at ADF in 1999
Nostalgia
Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theater
June 14-16
World premiere of shorter version as A Little Bit of Nostalgia at ADF’s 2004 International Choreographer Commissioning Program concert
Pseudopodia
Pilobolus
June 21-23
Seen here in 2000. And 1998. And 1996.
And 1995, 1992, 1991, 1986, and 1978. (And at Connecticut College, the old ADF, in 1974.)
Megawatt (15 minute version)
Pilobolus
June 21-23
Performed in 2004 and 2005.
Grain
Eiko & Koma
June 25-27
First performed at ADF in 1984.
Folding
Shen Wei Dance Arts
July 1-3
The ‘swollen head” piece bowed here in 2000.
The Rite of Spring
Shen Wei Dance Arts
July 1-3
Two, not one, ADF world premieres for this stunning work: Part I in 2002, Part II in 2003.
The Stab
Susana Tambutti
July 8-10
This manic, comic solo has played here 1989, 1992 and 1996.
Arden Court
Paul Taylor Dance Company
July 12-14
This sunny ensemble piece has played Page Auditorium seven times since 1981.
Esplanade
Paul Taylor Dance Company
July 12-14
Somebody in programming must really like this one. One of the most frequently repeated works at ADF, Esplanade has been performed at nine festivals since 1978.
How Long Brethren?
Helen Tamiris
July 16-18
Tamiris’ 1937 setting of old African American protest songs was last seen here in 1993.
Sky Light
Laura Dean
July 16-18
Dean’s dervish and African dance fusion was staged in 1993 as well.
Grand Duo
Mark Morris Dance Group
July 19-21
We saw this witty illustration of Lou Harrison’s dramatic music in 1996 and 2000.