During a rapid-fire, animated interview, Yorgos Loukos frequently drops the first names of choreographers. “Billy,” “Trisha,” “Ralph,” “Bill” and others are mentioned frequently, because their works are the essence of his company’s repertory. Lyon Opera Ballet (whatever images its name might conjure) is not about tutus and tiaras. Au contraire, Loukos consistently brings in works by leading innovative American choreographers and proudly cites the number of works by Trisha Brown and Ralph Lemon his dancers perform. Lemon and Bill T. Jones each did a stint as LOB’s resident choreographer, and his dancers also have performed works by such local mainstays as Susan Marshall and Tere O’Connor. Read more

Sometimes there is a work whose very premise proves irresistible. Such is the case with David Neumann’s Big Eater, an evening-length dance based on a video—the video—of David Hasselhoff drunk in a hotel hallway attempting the ingestion of a cheeseburger. But, premise aside, Neumann’s work is as touching as it is strange and you never feel, no matter how absurd the material seems, that he’s taking the piss.That he holds it in is testament to his creative discipline. Bottom Line: With The National Enquirer up for a Pulitzer, could a dance about a TMZ video win a Bessie? This one could. Read more Read it in print

When a dance can still take your breath away with its subtle beauty after 28 years—revealing new and deeper nuances—it’s fair to call it a classic. That was the impression left by last Sunday’s stirring performance of Paul Taylor’s Sunset, which led off a notably strong program. In this 1983 work, not only do all the elements—music, choreography, design—seamlessly and eloquently complement one another, but Taylor achieves something truly transcendent. We see six soldiers (in khakis and red berets, no specific time or location is suggested) encountering four sweetly flirtatious women in a setting that suggests a park on a balmy day. But somehow this elegiac, layered work, set to serene string compositions by Edward Elgar, carries us off into a disturbing realm of dreams and memories. Read more

During a week that sees several of the dance world’s most established and veteran figures open their New York seasons, one of the most intriguing newer artists on the scene is offering his first full evening of work in the City. Kyle Abraham has made a riveting impression with his sinuous-yet-funky, elegantly articulated dancing whenever he has turned up. But with Radio Show, he is taking a major step, offering a work for seven dancers (himself included) filled with juicy, varied movement and propelled by thoughtful, evocative inquiry. Read more

It was once the mess hall where militiamen who trained at the vast Park Avenue Armory took their meals. But for the past 18 months, the expansive, wood-paneled third-floor room of the armory has been the artistic home base for Brennan Gerard and Ryan Kelly, co-founders of Moving Theater. They have been pioneers of a sort, entering a room that had been shut for years (“there was literally dust on the keyhole,” Kelly recalls) as recipients of the Armory’s first space grant. They were given free range to explore, create, and also share the space with other artists. Read more

Don’t get me wrong: Garrison Keillor is a war criminal. So why should you shell out $20 to see the fish man on screen? Two words (or one, hyphenated): People-watching.What kind of people pay $20 to watch on a movie screen a live performance of a radio show? Imagine the lobby chatter!. Read more Read it in print

Her name is widely known and revered in dance and theater circles; her work and ideas were deeply influential for many decades. Anna Sokolow was a seminal figure in American modern dance—a deeply individual, strongly committed artist who connected profoundly with the issues, conflicts and sensibilities of her times. For Jim May, who danced in her company starting in 1966 and now directs the Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble, what made her work distinctive and powerful was “the honesty. It’s not superficial. She believed that emotion created motion,” he says. “And a lot of dance is done with the motion first, and then they add emotion on top of that. With Anna, you had to find the emotion, and then that would lead to the movement.” Read more

The nice thing about owning a place is you can do whatever you want. For Andrew W.K., co-owner of Santos, this means inviting Jonte, to headline a hot night of dancing, drinking and entertainment from Cherie Lily, Roxy Cottontail and something called Dante's Fried Chicken. Read more Read it in print

David Zambrano who has described himself as a “full-time movement researcher,” was an active presence in this city’s Downtown dance scene for about 15 years starting in the early 1980s. But since the mid-’90s, the Venezuelan dancer-choreographer been conducting his research and pursuing his deep interest in cultural exchange primarily in Europe, from his base in Amsterdam. This week, he returns to Danspace Project, where he often showed his new works starting in the mid-’80s, with Soul Project, in which he and six others offer their decidedly idiosyncratic, unpredictable interpretations of songs by Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, James Brown and others. Read more

Twenty-five years is an impressive anniversary for a contemporary dance company to attain—especially a company as politically and socially engaged, idiosyncratic and feisty as Urban Bush Women. Read more