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Reviews

Nikolaiss greatest legacy is the work his students continue to produce.
Please send us your reviews! (Links marked with * open new windows.)


- Bates Dance Festival, final seasonal concert: Different Voices; review by Ruth Grauert
- Sally Gross: The Pleasures of Stillness, a film by Albert Maysles and Kristen Nutile; review by Ruth Grauert
- Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York City, May 23 and 24, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- The Contributions of Martha Hill to American Dance and Dance Education, 19001995, by Elizabeth McPherson; review by Ruth Grauert
- Kim Gibilisco Dances Relationships, Merce Cunningham Studio, New York City, May 17, 18, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Art of Motion Performance, Ramsey College, Mahwah, New Jersey, May 10, 2008; report by Ruth Grauert
- Kun-Yang Lin Dancers, The Chi Movement Center, Philadelphia, PA, April 26, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Al Wunder Workshop, 115 Wooster St, New York City, April 19-20, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Arts Electronica, Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey, April 11, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Pearson Widrig Dance Theater, Thalia Dance, Symphony Space, New York City, April 1012, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Stage Magician: The World of Choreographer Alwin Nikolais, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Lincoln Center, New York City, March 27, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the LaGuardia HS Senior Chorus presents Dido and Aeneas, LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, New York City, March 19, 2008; two reviews:
- Nikolais Dance Theater performed by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, Pensylvania, March 6, 7, and 8, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Gerald Otte’s Awakening to Anger Exhausted, work in progress preview, Hunter College Dance Department, March 4, 2006Joyce Theater, New York City, March 49, 2008; review by Emma DeMorra
- Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Joyce Theater, New York City, March 49, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company presentation of Alwin Nikolais’ The Crystal and the Sphere , Capital Theater, Salt Lake City, January 30, 31, and February 2, 2008

The Crystal and the Sphere (1990) was commissioned by The Kennedy Center to be presented at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater in Washington, D.C., as a performance for children. The crystal and the sphere in themselves served two purposes—a screen for décor and an onstage exit and entering spaceboth devices that Nikolais had often used. There wasnt a great deal of time between the granting of the commission and the performance date so Nik dug into the archives and reconstructed properties, gadgets, and dances that he was fond of. A strip of cloth across the stage to simulate water (what work does that hark back to?), the girls trio from Galaxy, the monkey trio from Totem. One could extrapolate that the fish he used goes back to The Lobster Quadrille albeit properly prone and not upright. The excitement of battle is reminiscent of St. George and the Dragon. Disappearing behind the crystal and reappearing with a change of personaa device he used since Kaleidoscope and the magic of blacklight he used in several works. I am sure he had as much fun putting all that stuff together as the audience has in seeing it, for in a way it is a tour of his lifes opus. —Ruth Grauert
- The Life of the Neighborhood Playhouse on Grand Street, by John P. Harrington; review by Ruth Grauert
- Henning Rübsam’s SENSEDANCE, Amaranthine Road and other works, City Center Studio, New York City, January 16, 18, and 20, 2008; review by Ruth Grauert
- A Game For Dancers: Performing Modernism in the Postwar Years, 1945–1960, by Gay Morris; review by Ruth Grauert
- Traces of Light: Absence and Presence in the Work of Loïe Fuller, by Ann Cooper Albright; review by Ruth Grauert
- The Returns of Alwin Nikolais: Bodies, Boundaries and the Dance Canon, edited by Claudia Gitelman and Randy Martin, photos by Tom Caravaglia; review by Ruth Grauert
- Janis Brenner and Guests, St. Marks Church Danspace Project, Feb. 14, 2007; four reviews:
- National Conference on Arts and Aging, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, New Jersey, November 34, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Doug Varone and Dancers Program B, Joyce Theater, New York City, October 26, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Henning Rübsams company, SENSEDANCE, in Merciless Beauty, Joyce Soho, New York City, October 1922, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Robert Moses Kin, Schaeffer Theatre, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, July 21 & 22, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert.
- Mimi Garrards May videodance Synchronicity is worth the download wait (if you still have a dialup connection). It speaks, not only visually but kinetically with satisfying development. The dancer, Clare Holland, is eloquent; the musician, Glen Velez, clean and contributory; the electronics, inventive and interesting with its echoes, providing an ever-changing chorus to accompany the soloist. My only complaint is that it ended too soon and with what seemed a whimper after a really grand statement. But Mimi, thank you! This streaming video can be viewed online on Mimis Web site: mimigarrarddance.com.
- Art of Motion Class Presentation: Hansel and Gretel, Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey, May 25, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- The Dance Connection, Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey, May 13, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Jeanette Stoner & Dancers, 83 Leonard Street, New York, NY, May 47, 2006
Two reviews:
- Tere OConnor: Baby, Dance Theater Workshop, New York City, March 22April 1, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Sweat, Modern Dance Series, DeBaun Auditorium, Stevens Institute, Hoboken, NJ, March 10 and 11, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Chris Aiken and Ming-shen Ku: Chance Formation, Kaleidoscope Theatre, Ursinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, February 3 and 4, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- Forging a New Career: Creating Dance for Video, a new videodance by Mimi Garrard.
A review note to Mimi from Ruth Grauert: Your video is simply stunning. I had thought from the title, Forging a New Career: Creating Dance for Video, that I was in for a dry expostion of mechanics. But the narration ties your theme together so beautifully that the whole presentation makes one grand Art Piece. The video-motion seems to work with the dancers to make it human-propelled art rather than a display of technology (which we both know it could have been). And you tie together so simply and so graphically the 9/11 event with your art. Even the classical rondo compostion of the piece really fits. For me this is your very best work in this field, and I anxiously await what influence your new environment may have on your next video.
Forging a New Career can be seen by streaming video on Mimis Web site, mimigarrarddance.com.
- Daniel Shapiro and Joanie Smith, The Joyce Theatre, New York City, January 2329, 2006
Two reviews:
- SWEAT Modern Dance Series, Debaun Hall, Stevens Institute, Hoboken, New Jersey, January 2526, 2006; review by Ruth Grauert
- A Tribute to Murray Louis at the Kaye: Boston Conservatory Dance Theater, The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, New York City, December 1718, 2005; review by Ruth Grauert
- Bebe Miller, Dance Theater Workshop, New York City, October 1315, 2005
Two reviews:
- SENSEDANCE, Henning Rübsam, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York City, October 1216, 2005; review by Bella Rehnquist
- Beverly Blossom, Beruch Performing Arts Center, September 1517, New York City
Two Reviews:
- Dance Connection 2005, May 15, 2005; review by Ruth Grauert
- Mason Gross School of the Arts 2005 Spring Dance Concert, April 21, 2005; review by Ruth Grauert
- Pearson Widrig Dance Theater: Melt March 1620, 2005; review by Ruth Grauert
- Three DVDs by Mimi Garrard, Videodances performed by the Mimi Garrard Dance Company; review by Ruth Grauert
- The Nikolais/Louis Dance Technique: A Philosophy and Method of Modern Dance, by Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis; review by Ruth Grauert
- Marymount Manhattan Dance Department Fall Repertoire December 911, 2004; review by Pamela Levy-Arauz
- Jeanette Stoner & Dancers December 912, 2004; review by Ruth Grauert
- DANCE CONNECTIONS December 4, 2004; review by Ruth Grauert
- SENSEDANCE: Django, choreographed by Henning Rubsam, October 1317, 2004; review by Bella Rehnquist
- SENSEDANCE: To the Pointe, choreographed by Henning Rubsam, May 23, 2004; review by Bella Rehnquist
- Lyon Opera Ballet: Tricodex, choreographed by Philippe Decoufle, April 2024, 2004; review by Elizabeth Higgins
- Liebe Hanya, Mary Wigmans Letters to Hanya Holm, by Claudia Gitelman; review by Ruth Grauert
- Francesca Pedroni (dance critic, Il Manifesto) writes (1 March 2003):
In Italy everything was a success: the workshop (twenty-eight people enchanted by Niks pedagogy and by Titos, Joans, and Simonas lessons), performances of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (such a good programm!), and a lecture demonstration for all of us and with the very interesting videos Tito brought (Limbo, Relay, Nik: an experience in light and sound).
Also, Paris was a success. I was at Théatre de la Ville for
the conference dansée organized by Marc [Lawton]: so moving and well done. See workshop announcement: The World of Nikolaïs (PDF file) February 16March 6, 2004, at the Carolyn Carlson studio in Paris.
- Alwin Nikolais. The humanist of the abstract, Francesca Pedroni, Italian dance critic and coordinator of the Nikolais Workshop in Turin, Italy, has written
an insightful article on Nikolais (MS Word document).
- Bebe Miller Company at St. Marks Church, January 2225, 2004; review by Ruth Grauert
- An Evening of Four Choreographers, Jeanette Stoner, Beverly Blossom, Amos Pinhasi, and Satoshi Haga (November 1316, 2003)
- The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, of Salt Lake City, Utah, performed works of Alwin Nikolais at the Joyce Theater in New York October 28November 2, 2003.
See reviews:

Also, visit the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company Web site.*
- SENSEDANCE at City Center, May 30June 3, 2003
- Sally Gross and Company at the Construction Company, May 18, 2003
- Movement Research at Judson Church, Judith Sanchez Ruiz and Shelley Senter, May 5, 2003
- Jeanette Stoner & Dancers, April 30, 2003
- Dancing With Principle: Hanya Holm in Colorado, 19411983,
by Claudia Gitelman (reviews and how to purchase this book)
- The Return of Lots Wife, Sara Pearson, Patrik Widrig and Company at the Joyce, January 2003
- Family Night, Jan Schwartzs and Lynn Needle, January 2003
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