Flying high at the dance fest
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“I dug how opinionated so many people were about what they were seeing. One person thought the Paul Taylor Dance Company was the end-all-be-all of dance, another thought it was boring. One friend said the Beijing dance would give him nightmares, another thought it was the most thought-provoking thing she’d ever seen and wanted to see it again immediately. I like how we each have our peaks and valleys for the festival, how it wasn’t just a series of performances but a real experience.
Oh, and I like trying to figure out whether Daniil Simkin or Herman Cornejo is my new favorite male dancer.”
– Wren Wertin
“One of my favorite moments was watching local kids fly jazz hands and swing chorus line kicks to Broadway tunes during Celebrate the Beat. Their smiles, open hearts and energy spread throughout the audience, and a special warm-and-fuzzy feeling blanketed the entire Ford Amphitheater. We all felt proud to be a part of the arts that night.”
– Cassie Pence
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“I was unprepared for how caught up I became in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s opening night performance of ‘Serenade.’ Perhaps it was the live music, perhaps it was the company’s technical prowess, perhaps it was the “under the stars” nature of the piece. Whatever the specific reason, I was cocooned by the dance in a way I hadn’t been before. It put me in another world entirely.”
– Wren Wertin
“Sometimes there’s so much anticipation for a world premiere that it falls a bit flat. But not so for Friday night’s premiere of ‘Rock Steady,’ which choregrapher in residence Larry Keigwin spent the whole festival putting together for a quartet of brilliant dancers – Sokvannara Sar, Tiler Peck, Robert Fairchild and Joaquin de Luz. The whole audience was buzzing by the time Aretha Franklin’s voice filled the cool night air. And by the end of the fun, imaginative piece, most everyone hopped to their feet and clapped until their hands hurt. Or at least I did.”
– Caramie Schnell
“One of my favorite moments at the dance festival was watching BeijingDance/LDTX’s ‘All River Red’ to Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring.’ An obvious commentary on communist life, the images on stage were chilling: Dancers blind folded in red cloth. Limbs bounded motionless in red cloth. Red cloth twirling uncontrollably, knocking dancers violently to the floor. At the end, I was amazed that just a dance could make me feel so haunted.”
– Cassie Pence
