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Artscope Magazine | May/June 2021

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performing arts

Seo Hye Han in Karole Armitage’s Bitches Brew by Liza Voll, courtesy of Boston Ballet; Costume by Peter Speliopoulos.

The Boston Ballet’s Mirrors at the Boston Opera House

// Theatre

By James Foritano Sometimes, it seems to me that classical ballet is bending over backwards, awkwardly, to demonstrate to modern audiences that it can be contemporary and convey a modern, democratic spirit with a blueprint conceived for the royal courts of Europe. In their final production of the season, “Mirrors,” the Boston Ballet has indeed seasoned its repertory with more than a whiff of modernity, a crackle of contemporary challenge and even a soupcon of angst. Four edgy ballets, two of which, “Smoke and Mirrors” and “Bitches Brew,” are specially commissioned world premiers, close out this season along with a concurrently running production of the traditionally classical “Swan Lake.” I was entertained by the elegance and spirit of three of the four ballets comprising “Mirrors,” but I was especially enthralled and intrigued by the fourth and final piece of this four-course … [Read more...] about The Boston Ballet’s Mirrors at the Boston Opera House

Marilyn Arsem, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, December 8, 2015. Photograph by Elizabeth Michelman.

The Clock Is Ticking

// January/February 2016, Theatre

Marylin Arsem at the MFA by Elizabeth Michelman Boston, Mass. - Tuesday, December 8. I’m attending Day 29 in a series of 100 unique perfor- mances at the MFA this fall and winter by Boston’s leader in performance art, Marilyn Arsem. Arsem has not yet shown up, but I can already hear her disem- bodied voice musing over the previous day’s performance. The wall text before me explains that each day’s performance provides the inspiration for the next. 10:30 a.m. I enter the all-white Towles Gallery, no larger than a college classroom. A paper calendar on the wall reads “Day 29.” I take a seat on a bench along the wall. The artist, wearing a black sweater-dress with black leggings, black socks and black slip-ons, is already at work. A square wooden table, flanked by two wooden chairs and a black-and- chrome floor lamp, occupies the center of the room. Black coats and … [Read more...] about The Clock Is Ticking

Bradley Henderson (Photo by Michael Meseke).

Les 7 doigts de la main presents Traces at Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre

// Theatre

By James Foritano Boston, MA - In English, their name means the seven digits of the hand. This current downtown presentation by Les 7 doigts de la main of “Changes,” until October 12, at Arts Emerson’s ‘the world on stage’ is, in this reviewer’s opinion, the closest an adult can sit to the magic of childhood at the circus. Originally formed in Montreal in 2006, this multi-dimensional production, spells ‘circus’ not only with derring-do and flair, but personality, connection, and even, may one say, soul. The seven performers have changed since the troupe’s Montreal advent in 2006, but hewed closely to their intention of presenting variety within unity like a handful of fingers plus 2. There was certainly ethnic variety, and, though just barely, gender variety, and then a pleasing variety of body types, from coiled to lanky and shades in-between. The ‘plus 2’ fingers is defined … [Read more...] about Les 7 doigts de la main presents Traces at Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre