"García's dance began with great promise, with Erzulie (a lush, regal Caroline T. Dartey) appearing in a stunning costume designed by Carlton Jones. Her enormous, umbrella-shaped white with purple trim 'tutu' looked like a supersize jellyfish a person might see at the Monterey Aquarium."
"Unfortunately, from there it was mostly a slow, downhill slope for the piece, although individual dancers did the usual marvelous favor of bringing richness and nuance to choreography that only occasional achieved the same level."
"The Ailey dancers can tell entire stories with the bend of a finger, the angle of a chin, the stomp of a foot; Jazz Island could have relied less on transparent hand gestures and trusted more in the dancers' embedded physicality."
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed at Zellerbach Hall, presenting four programs including five Bay Area premieres. The program featured Maija García's Jazz Island, inspired by Geoffrey Holder's Caribbean folk tales. The narrative follows the Afro-Haitian goddess Erzulie as she overcomes Baron Samedi's evil. The performance began with a visually stunning portrayal of Erzulie but struggled to maintain momentum. While individual dancers showcased their talent, the choreography relied too heavily on gestures rather than the dancers' physicality to convey the story effectively.
Read at 48 hills
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]