Concept Versus Content At ‘Fall for Dance’
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
It was above all the concept, the organizing principle, rather than the individual performances on view that emerged triumphant at City Center’s opening night “Fall for Dance” program last Thursday. In 1943, the city reopened the former Masonic temple on West 56th Street as a venue for popular priced ballet, drama, and opera, and now “Fall for Dance” returns City Center to its populist roots, offering audiences diverse programs for a uniform $10.
But the performances must be judged regardless of programming strategies, and there was merit to the performance fare itself. First on the program was South Korea’s Yi-Jo Lim Sum Dance Company, performing “Heaven and Earth,” a new piece that was most effective when most traditional: Whenever indigenous dance forms are slicked-up and commercialized they attain something of the ersatz; that was true here as well. The troupe’s performers were skilled and they were decorative, wearing some ravishing costumes — as well as some that were on the gaudy side.
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