2018 Audience Reviews
Member Reviews
The following reviews were submitted by Fringe Member:
Company: Universal Dance Destiny
Show: African Roads, American Streets
Venue: Ritz Theater Mainstage
High energy spunk
Joie de vivre expressed in great dancing, showing off the skills and interrelation of different street dance styles - we're all connected. I appreciate good live musicians working with dancers in performance, too. I'd like to see this developed more, flesh out the immigrant story and use the dancing to tell it; there'd still be plenty of room for all the improv that is part of this dance world. From the hot 5.30 Friday doldrums I went in with, I left inspired, energized, delighted.
Company: Gabriel Mata/Movements
Show: DREAMING
Venue: Southern Theater
Powerful expression
I could watch this man snoring with a cold, he moves so beautifully. I appreciate the combination of music, dialogue and silence to accompany the physicality. The timing, strength, expressiveness, all there. More dancing, please, though. The spoken dialogue might have been better served as another recorded piece to move with and through, especially in a larger theatre like the Southern. Loved how he explores the stream-of-consciousness nonsense that is our minds, especially in dreams. Terrific use of props and the entire space.
Company: Pacific Midwest Ballet
Show: Zombies And Pirouettes
Venue: Southern Theater
Fun story concept, uneven execution
I'm not into Zombies but was really curious about combining them with classical ballet. That part made for extra fun but this story lacked in execution. I don't mind simple choreography, but if the dancers can't even do that much, it detracts. And if the dancers are novice, then some acting chops or stage presence could have still gone a long way. It was particularly noticeable, as some were very good, so the overall effect was up and down - from enjoying the performance to sudden distraction that a dancer didn't know her steps. Perhaps some are indeed very new to dance, so this then became a studio recital, giving lots of stage experience to all.
Company: Minneapolis Ballet Dancers
Show: Activate
Venue: Theatre in the Round
Nice dancing, well-handled quirky space
There was some fine dancing and excellent professional moments working with moving props, managing uncleared props still lying on the floor, wrong sound-cues... It's an odd space for ballet, but I heard from another audience member that they got off the wait-list 2 weeks ago, so I think they took what they could get. In-the-round encourages creative use of space. With more time, I bet they could've really played more with it. It did feel like a recital; I have no issues with that, but fyi.
Company: Bollywood Dance Scene
Show: BollyProv: NOT a Dance Drama!
Venue: Ritz Theater Mainstage
Bollywood fun
Original concept - tell a heartfelt story, then riff on it, over and over. Excellent mix of humour, movement, music, story, improv ... they know how to work together and it's delightfully something new every performance. Not the big show we're used to from them but still the same joie de vivre.
Company: Black Market Dance & Film
Show: Voyagers Project
Venue: Minnsky Theatre
Terrific dancing, effective use of light
Delightful, creative, magical use of lights to take us into space, musical score and voice-over carrying us along. Terrific dancing - great partnering, timing, strength, lines - all of it. My one quibble would be that to keep the effect of the light strings, there were times the stage was too dark to see the movement at all, and I missed it. Small house Fri night - I hope you get more people to experience this journey with you.