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The multitalented founder of Nikolais Dance Theater, who died in 1993, created the scenery, costumes and music for his choreography
A constant innovator, he delighted in new lighting techniques, employing all sorts of props and incorporating recorded snippets of sound in his scores joyce "
The evening consisted of seven works dating from 1953 to 1987, performed by Utah's Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and selected by Murray Louis, Nikolais' longtime partner and co-founder of the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance Their human forms were further abstracted by the hypnotic striations of reds, greens and yellows pooling and beading across their bodies like oil on water As the work continued, the dancers revealed more of their bodies in intricate, twisting patterns Those audience members who invest in the stock market must surely have nodded their heads in recognition In 1987's "Blank on Blank," the white-clad dancers performed in front of a giant projection of the New York Stock Exchange's imposing, columned facade org
At one point, the dancers rolled into a messy clump in the middle of the stage, staring at the audience as if to ask, "Now what?"
Their answer came with the renewal of Nikolais' discordant music, which started their bodies shaking violently
Nikolais Dance Theatre performs at the Joyce through Nov
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These bursts of light resolved themselves into hands, moving rapidly back and forth across the top of a large mirror slanting down toward the front of the stage
The result is a psychedelic, illusion-filled world of color, movement and sound in which the dancers, though an important part, are only one element Seen through 21st-century eyes, his world sometimes feels a bit dated, particularly when the music reminds of a spacy soundtrack from those long-ago, campy horror-flicks full of Mars invaders Many choreographers use sound, costumes and scenery to create a canvas on which to spread their dancers 2
Everything else was pure Nikolais
In 1985's "Crucible," the first piece of the night, the curtain rose on a dark stage, with bursts of light that glowed like red claws chasing each other across a horizontal axis
At its best, however, his choreography still shows us something of ourselves, and does so with humor
Not all of Nikolais' works hold up so well The Joyce Celebrates Alwin Nikolais Dance
Oct 29, 12:49 PM EST
The Joyce Theater went back to the future Tuesday night, with a celebration of Alwin Nikolais' "total dance theater Nikolais' works often do just the opposite, as his dancers are cocooned in pockets of stretchy fabric, jerked around by strange noises or used as moving screens on which kaleidoscopes of color are projected |