News
BODYTRAFFIC: The new kid on the block (Broad Street Review)
March 25, 2014
By Gary Day
For
Broad Street Review
In case you
haven’t noticed, modern dance is booming, with new high-caliber companies
springing up in major cities around the country and quickly arranging
successful nationwide tours.
BODYTRAFFIC is one of those newbies, founded in
2007 by dancers Tina Finkelman Berkett and Lillian Rose Barbeito, and the
company will be making its Dance Celebration debut at the Annenberg Center on
April 3-5.
According
to Berkett, when she and Barbeito migrated from New York to L.A., “We both felt
a lack of quality contemporary dance in the area. We perceived a strong demand
in Los Angeles for work that is both entertaining and fulfilling.” They founded
BODYTRAFFIC, serving as co-artistic directors and regular company dancers.
(Barbeito has since retired as an onstage dancer, while Berkett continues in
both roles and will be featured in one of the new pieces set to be seen at
the Annenberg.)
One big difference
BODYTRAFFIC
is different from many smaller dance companies in that, from the beginning,
they have not had a house (or “resident”) choreographer. “We choose to work
with choreographers who are distinctive, versatile — and diverse,” explains
Berkett. “We bring in the best people from around the world to create works
with us that are both entertaining and challenging — as well as, when possible,
being accessible to new fans of modern dance.”
That
approach has worked well, earning accolades and an ardent following in their
home city of Los Angeles almost from the beginning. The company made
Dance Magazine’s list for Top 25 to Watch in
2013
.
A MacArthur grant,
Martha Graham, Michael Jackson, and
more
The
current program coming to the Annenberg promises to live up to BODYTRAFFIC’s
short but sparkling reputation for both quality and entertainment value. The
program of all-new works kicks off with prominent Israeli-American
choreographer
Barak Marshall’s piece,
and at midnight the green bride
floated through the village square..., which features an eclectic
sound score ranging from traditional Yiddish, Latino and Judeo-Arabic sayings.
Recent
MacArthur “genius” Award-winner
Kyle Abraham follows up with
Kollide, his first new
piece since winning the MacArthur. This is described as a fusion “of ballet and
hip hop in a fluid, sensual style…that draws on the vocabularies of Merce
Cunningham, Martha Graham…and Michael Jackson.”
Wrapping
the evening up will be
o2Joy by
Richard Siegal (a winner of the Munich Dance Award),
which pays a cheerful tribute to American jazz standards by, among others, Ella
Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Glenn Miller.
