A Carnival of Events

11/06/2009 by Joey Lico in Diaries

New York, NYâ€"For over eight years Carey Ysais and his team have brought the top choreographers and dancers together for what is, as its title suggests, truly a carnival of performing arts. Whether it be modern, funk, hip-hop or even spoken word, Carnival has traveled the world bringing dance to the masses.

BAE Students Get All the Love They Need (and Deserve)

05/24/2009 by Joey Lico in Diaries

Walking into Ballet Academy Easts Spring Performance at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, I noticed the parents first. Eager and proud of their little dancers accomplishments, presents and flowers abundant in their arms, they were already congratulating students before they graced the stage. Odd, I thought, What if they fall out of their pirouettes?

Lightness and Weight-A Philosophical Look at Helen Simoneau

05/21/2009 by Joey Lico in News

In the sixth century b.c, Parmenides proposed that the world was divided into pairs of opposites: light/darkness, warmth/cold, being/non-being. One half of the opposition he called positive (light, warmth, being), the other negative. Centuries later Milan Kundera asked a multifarious question based on Parmenides classification: is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness splendid?

These two men came to mind as I watched Helen Simoneaus work presented at Joyce SoHo. As though reading a dense philosophy text, I found moments of clarity and convolution in her work.

Carnival of the Choreographers

05/14/2009 by Joey Lico in News

Hearing the word carnival brings to mind only one image for me: Im six years old, pink scarf in my hand, twirling and jumping across the oak wood floor, occasionally stopping to grab the ballet barre or to look at my purple tutu in the mirror. I look just like the princess version of Patricia McBride and I know it. Playing from Camille Saint-Saens Le Carnaval, is L Elephant (The Elephant). Hearing the piano play that waltz-like triplet figure while the bass hummed beneath it sent my little body whirling around the entire dance studio. Since then whenever I think of a carnival I think of movement.

Juilliard Senior Dance Production-The Dance Critique as Art

05/04/2009 by Joey Lico in Diaries

In an attempt to revise how people view dance critiscm in the ongoing dance dialogue I've decided to post my notes (which I always write on the program) as the review itself. It becomes (hopefully) an artful object in itself. I've translated the hand writing below knowing full well that my notes (because I never deter my attention from the dancers) are messy. Normally, I would have reviewed these pieces within a context of student work, but considering the talent of these 4th year Juilliard dancers (moments away from graduation) I've held them to the highest standard and made my comments with that bench mark.

Keigwin Kabaret at Symphony Space (Review)

04/29/2009 by Joey Lico in News

What do you say about a performance that ends with a naked, voluptuous, blonde female female-impersonator on stage in a spread out, star-fish like position? The World Famous Bob turns to show the audience her jewel encrusted vagina and the theater fills with a thunderous applause. Keigwin Kabaret has kept its promise to entertain.

Sight of love

12/10/2008 by Comedydance32 in Diaries

This is the second dance I really want to choreograph