Nancy Wozny is editor in chief at Arts and Culture Texas, a contributing editor at Dance Magazine and a frequent contributor to Pointe Magazine and Dance Teacher.
When I saw that this year's Marfa Sounding focused on the great California-based legend and dance maker Anna Halprin, I knew that I had to make trek to Marfa for Memorial Day weekend.
Dallas dance-lovers are proud that a dance-centric presenter like TITAS Presents exists in their city—and they should be. Executive Director Charles Santos is famous for his eye for up-and-coming troupes, as well as showcasing international groups.
“What are you working on?” asked Anis Shivani, a Texas poet, novelist, pundit and provocateur. “A story called ‘The loneliness of the arts writer’,” I replied. “All artists are lonely,” he shot back. “Maybe so, but arts writers are the loneliest,” I said.
Texas is having an Alice boom with Ballet Austin performing Septime Weber’s Alice on May 12-14 at The Long Center and Texas Ballet Theater performing Stevenson’s Alice, May 19-21 at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, and June 2-4 at Winspear Opera House in Dallas.
I’ve always had a pestering curiosity about Anna Sokolow. A great American choreographer who influenced the development of modern dance in America, Israel, and Mexico—to say nothing of the famous actors who credit her as a force in their training, including Faye Dunaway, Julie Harris, Eva-Marie Saint, Jean Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Patti LuPone, and Kevin Kline—Sokolow nevertheless remains at the periphery of the canon.
What do you do when a dancer crawls out from under the bench that you are sitting on? Then, a moment or two later, he takes the bench away entirely.
Such is the life of an audience member in immersive dance theater.