Casa Captivating
“The commissioned dances for Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens’ Casa Kinetic: Contemporary Dance Collective transformed each of the sites that inspired the choreography,” writes Lisa Black in her review of Casa Kinetic: Contemporary Dance Collective on Friday, April 21, 2017 at Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens. “Lasting from sunset to dark, the shifting light lit the dancers and sparked the imagination.”
The review has evocative insights about each of the site-specific dances that were commissioned by Casa Romantica. A few highlights include:
The Assembly
“The emptied Art Gallery just inside the central courtyard became a struggling lovers’ loft in The Assembly’s Brusque … the dancers never lost concentration, executing the pas de deux with attack taking precedence over perfection, fueled by both tension and tenderness. By the piece’s end, I was convinced they still loved each other deeply but a breakup was imminent.”
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Orange County Ballet Theater
“[Megan Goldstein’s] back rippled like liquid one moment, then her whole body knifed into an arabesque with the speed of an iron chef’s chop. As I watched, I began to imagine she lived at Casa Romantica back in the 1920s, and that such was her talent, she should have been an international star … Goldstein, clad in red with a tight bun that made her look as if she could step into a Carlos Saura flamenco film, is a remarkable dancer, possessing talent, line and technique well beyond her 15 years.”
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Helios Dance Theater
“Helios Dance Theater made the Ocean Terrace into a craggy cliff of ancient Greece where alluring Sirens crawl. Their hands bent at steep angles into silhouetted bird heads, making them resemble the Sirens once Persephone’s mother gave them wings … The dance was mysterious, yet playful, executed with gender-defying strength and grace, with choreographic detail made manifest from fingers and toes to the architecture to the vista beyond the playing space.”
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See more stunning photos from Casa Kinetic: Contemporary Dance Collective
