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Press and Audience Reactions |
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The Wallflower by Jennine Willett; photo by Richard Termine
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"movement segments that are touching and deep... add up to a vague sense of Faulknerian doom,
set to good music" – THE NEW YORKER (on Vanishing Point) "...movement that shimmers with unusual psychic static." – THE NEW YORKER "impelled by the drums of the Heyna Second Sons...Pearson and his dancers pivot at the pelvis like oil-pump jacks" – THE NEW YORKER (on LACUNA) "Don't Miss!" – Gia Kourlas, TIME OUT NEW YORK (on LACUNA) "...aggressive lifts and tense stillnesses" – Gia Kourlas, THE NEW YORK TIMES (on Seatbelt) " an evocative poetic feel... They fit the movement to its environment as water takes the shape of its container... Hope & Anchor offered a measure of beauty, a little fun, and a few thoughts to mull over at Manhattan's edge where the invisible past floats below the present." – Eva Yaa Asantewaa, GAY CITY NEWS (on Hope & Anchor) "...I veered off for awhile and followed the mermaid flopping through the seaport and the drunken sailor spilling on the maiden. But I came back to the singing and the ropes and sails... What a strange, lovely and melancholy piece. I enjoyed it very much. I thought it wonderfully evoked the threadbare weariness, the dirty beauty and the bawdiness of maritime mythology. And one of the unexpected pleasures of its site specificity was overhearing the anxious cellphone play-by-play conveyed by the sunglass salesman to... someone. "You won't believe it, they are dancing and singing. Many of them. Listen, listen! So close to my cart! There's a crowd. Who knows what it is!" – Tom Healy, President, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (on Hope & Anchor) "Some of the city's best choreographers... the piece features ghost-like illusions from shipwrecks of the past and present colliding with modern-day citizens in an exploration of man's continual connection with the sea... if the cool costumes and quirky choreography don't get your kid hooked, then the open air of the Seaport will." – TIME OUT NEW YORK KIDS (on Hope & Anchor) "Their movement–now angular and thrusting against the air, now sinuously splayed against the ground–looked as if it might belong to an ancient tribal culture with ties to various postmodern nations, and it was thrilling." – Tobi Tobias, THE VILLAGE VOICE (on REEL) "swift, explosive movements... people deeply engaged in purpose" – Eva Yaa Asantewaa, (on REEL) "The structure and movement in 'Reel' build upon a similar circular momentum as dancers leap in the air and plummet to the floor in jerky spurts... Ultimately, the ghosts of the rotunda come to life." – Gia Kourlas, THE NEW YORK TIMES (on REEL) "...clever, innovative and delightfully campy." – Uncoolkids.com (on Beehive) "...like a round of Clue deconstructed by acerbic drama students." – THE NEW YORKER (on Screaming Shrubbery) "The shrubbery did scream in this comically macabre piece of dance theater... They sang, spoke and danced their way with gusto through a multitude of roles... a comedy of menace" – Jack Anderson, THE NEW YORK TIMES (on Screaming Shrubbery) "...there is no escaping the feeling that you have been doing drugs for the past hour when the cast finally bows. Good drugs." – Troy Tolley, NEW YORK COOL (on Screaming Shrubbery) "The promise of an amusing Edward Gory-like evening unwraps to deliver an unexpected exploration of human betrayal that is fresh, and even breathtaking. Unfossilized stuff." – Bill McCullum (on Screaming Shrubbery) "...a brief, ritualistic solo that combined a rapt mood with movement suggesting a fierce form of martial art." – Tobi Tobias, THE VILLAGE VOICE (on Ceremony) "...a soul-drenched delicacy... soothing images of long-sought healing and liberation." – Eva Yaa Asantewaa, THE VILLAGE VOICE (on House of Jasmine and Bone/Parched) "...there is humanity in the performers' presentation and interaction, even a wry humor in some of the steps... and it's all good." – Brian McCormick, LGNY "... takes this choreographic storytelling to new heights, with a spirited ensemble and exciting creative force that touches the soul... stunningly original... robust, unifying, and powerfully demonstrative." – Jeannette Toomer, BACKSTAGE (on Spun/Uktena 2001) "...a surreal fusion of original choreography with African folk tales, Native American traditional forms, and oral traditions." – NEW YORK MAGAZINE (CUE Best-of-the-Week pick for Spun/Uktena) "... there are lovely moments... its transformation magical." – Deborah Jowitt, THE VILLAGE VOICE (on Spun/Uktena) "... fast and furious, other times tender and tranquil... almost ecstatic dancing." – Jessica Cassity, DANCE SPIRIT MAGAZINE (on Spun) "...coiled tension... terse and direct." – Anna Kisselgoff, THE NEW YORK TIMES |
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