ARTS . Arts Picks

nEW Festival

Thu.-Sat., Jan. 25-27, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 28, 3 and 7 p.m., UArts Dance Theatre at the Drake, 1512 Spruce St.


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Jan 23, 2007

DANCE

The post-holiday season is traditionally a time when our local dance scene goes into hibernation. Too much eggnog, or are the artists just plain whupped from all those variations of The Nutcracker? Whatever, it's usually pretty quiet performance-wise for these folks. Except for the ones who had the cool notion to rev up the nEW Festival, a winter wonderland of freshly minted dance works, some of which are ready for prime time and others, still in the formative stage.

Main performances here include Cie Herve-Gil's En Corps, which delves into something we all confront, only perhaps more acutely when one's career is based on your body: middle age. PLUCK's Automatic Bastard presents a forceful solo intended as "a journey inside a crazed man's head." Further adventures — psychological, sociopolitical, and more — are offered by Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre and Tania Isaac Dance. Meanwhile a works-in-progress program titled DanceHouse offers a triple bill featuring familiar stalwarts as well as emerging artists, with pieces by SCRAP Performance Group, Meghan Durham/Merge Dance and Megan Mazarick.

The full fest serves up a juicy menu of all-original fare and it's a great way to ring in the new dance year.

Thu.-Sat., Jan. 25-27, 7 and 9 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 28, 3 and 7 p.m., $10, UArts Dance Theatre at the Drake, 1512 Spruce St., 215-359-7775, www.newfestival.net.