Armitage Gone! Dance

Aug. 4, 2006 performance, reviewed by Sandy Michel

Armitage Gone! Dance

Karole Armitage pushes boundaries and fascinates and challenges the dance audience over and over again. One viewing, so up close, gives the audience a jolt, a shock, and at times, we feel waves of confusion. One must come back again and again. One wants to come back again.

The music for "In this dream that dogs me," composed by Annie Gosfield, is ultra-modern and jarring. This dance is a "literal translation of calligraphy," full of bodily curves and accents. The dancers are so physically unalike - not the old way of uniform physicality - tall, short, Asian, Black, Filipino. A mix one has constantly to readjust to and always challenging in their interpretations. I applaud the expertise and talent of Theresa Ruth Howard.

The second dance, "Time is the echo of an axe within a wood" - music by Bela Bartok, is more fluid and we have a chance to observe relationships between different dance groups. We need more time and exposure to Armitage and her brilliance.

Berkshire residents and visitors owe a debt of gratitude to Jacob's Pillow and the Doris Duke Theatre for making available such electrifying new and experimental dance as we saw today.

The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival | jacobspillow.org
358 George Carter Road, Becket, MA  01223
Box Office: 413.243.0745.