Concert
Season Archives - 2001 return
November 7 - 10, 2001 @ The Painted Bride
Review by Deni Kasrel, City Paper
A few years ago, when Jeanne Ruddy Dance debuted, the company immediately stood apart from other dance ensembles based on the fact that all of its members were age 40 or more. At the time, Ruddy indicated she wanted to work with colleagues that shared a mutual maturity and mindset.
Now that the company has grown from four to eight, plus one apprentice, the age limit is lowered a bit, but the end goal remains the same. "It’s not quite all over 40, though everybody’s over 30, and it’s still mature experienced performers," says Ruddy. The company director notes that regardless of age, those she chooses to work with have a strong stage presence and are "people who can put their own particular stamp on movement… I’m very interested in the humanity of the dancer as well as the technical brilliance and artistry." The new crew, Donald T. Lunsford II, Janet Pilla, Miko Doi Smith, Stephen Welsh, Britta Heermann-Wynne and Holly Colino, plus original members Karen Carlson and Christine Taylor, expressive movers all, clearly fit that bill.
JDR’s program for an upcoming show at the Painted Bride presents something old; Marie’s Diary – Three Stages of Marie Antoinette’s Life, a dramatic contemporary classical work originally created by Ruddy in 1986, one year after she left Martha Graham Co., and something new; Suite Reel, a world premier "Americana piece that’s very affirmative of some of our larger principles" set to live four-part harmony and Appalachian bluegrass music. There’s a short romantic duet, along with two works of feminist bent, Mark Dendy’s No Fear of Flying – Second Leg and Jane Comfort’s Four Screaming Women, both of which concern women seeking their own voice and identity.
While Ruddy is enthusiastic
about each of the pieces, she’s particularly hyped about the 25-minute
Suite Reel, which incorporates her vast dance studio experience and influences,
from childhood days doing tap, through time with Jerome Robbins, Agnes
DeMille and beyond. "It’s an abstract treatment," she observes. "But
it’s going to be much more entertaining than you might think of as
a modern dance… It’s a mixture. A real soup."
— Deni Kasrel
