by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 02, 2024
Andrea Ariel's multi-ethnic, multi-generational workshop exercises flowered orange into a collection of borderless stories danced by talented performers to driving music with Latino/Western flavor.
Borders aren’t just the boundary lines between nations. Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre explored the many meanings of the term and how at the center of the concept borders divide. Hence the title Borderless and the theme of overcoming divisions among people. As Andrea Ariel writes in promotional material, “What connects us and disconnects [us] as humans across ethnicities and cultures?” She asked guest choreographers and musicians to answer that question and bring together their …
by David Glen Robinson
Published on May 02, 2022
Reimagining such bright art works is challenging creative exploration. Quoting T.S. Eliot: ". . . the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
What does it mean to reimagine? To imagine again, after having imagined a thing once? What does that mean? Stepping through the door to imagination, that some think of as a storage closet door, one revisits the private universe that everyone has, colored with the crayons of childhood memories, dream fragments, visions, epiphanies, ambitions, primal fears, and the pixillating disintegration of lost passions. Yes, the imagination vault can be bright and creative, but it is …
by David Glen Robinson
Published on June 22, 2019
In RALLY the conversion of movement and music into Soundpainting by Andrea Ariel and the company was an immensely generous community approach to performing art.
What does the word “rally” mean to you? My ideas run heavily to baseball teams who go on scoring frenzies when trailing on the scoreboard, as teammates in the dugout wear their ball caps inside out. I thought I was solid with the concept when I attended a show of the same name at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center off Rainey Street. Four powerful, athletic dancers entered the stage one by one …