This year’s showcase held May 16th at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center featured 13 choreographers, 15 phenomenal pieces and aerialists. Most notably are “Heroes,” “Crawling on the Surface” and “Hovering in Doorways”. Kurka and Hale choreographed “Heroes” comprised of Janelle Jonna, Nadine DeLoughy, Lauren Carter, Erin Sanders and Rachel Van Shoick– the five admitted to the intensive training program this past October.
The girls’ transformative exhibition of graceful plies, arabesques, solid heel to foot contorts, pelvic alignment and elongated spines captivated viewers’ hearts. They were dressed in fitted-flowing deep violet-strapped gowns, tied at the waistline with flailing rose hued ribbons.
Emotionally provocative, girls carefully carve out their spaces with their hands, focus on elbow to finger relationships, and turn themselves inside out. They become the generative force that defies gravity yet surrenders to another’s hold. Resisting the temptation to feel betrayed, the girls are helplessly tugged into vacuity, loss. They are women abandoned by their man whose gone off to war.
