​REVIEW:  BEAUTY - Dance Enthusiast

​

BEAUTY unfolded as a total sensory experience with trippy projections, a diverse soundscape, and a contemporary ballet aesthetic. The overall tone was dramatic, yet some dancers exhibited a calm, collected energy which produced a striking dissonance. Ballet allusions stood out to me: a “dying swan” arabesque, heteronormative partnering, waltz steps, and stunning lines. Complicated, leggy shapes rapidly came together and fell apart. The dancers formed quartets and executed unison phrase work between more loosely structured, expressive sections. Often, they’d walk deliberately onstage and face the audience before beginning a phrase. There did not appear to be defined relationships between specific dancers; they existed as eleven distinct parts of a whole.

BEAUTY was almost sensorially overwhelming, but this did not detract from my experience of the dancing. It felt a bit like a nightclub, if you took a fraction of the dance floor and put it on a stage with bright light and open space that would make the laydancer uncomfortable. Techno music, sometimes with strings and fluctuating degrees of emotional charge, appeared to guide the abstract narrative, often initiating new ideas or sections. Digital projections, which were active for the entire work, toggled between artificial and natural imagery: blue-sanded deserts, daisies in a field, dark spiraling tunnels, and 2006-Macbook-screensaver-esque multicolored waves. Once the forty-five minute work began, it did not stop moving — at a speed so relentless it distorted my sense of time. Still not unlike a nightclub: all pulsing sounds, dreamy visuals, and bodies exiting and entering the space in a psychedelic blur.

“Ballet” is probably the correct word for this evening-length work, which was athletic, formal, and sometimes theatrical. Odd, quotidian gestures and sounds would infrequently interrupt long stretches of virtuosic choreography and melodic music. I wanted more of these; they anchored me amidst the swarming colors. Dancers covered each others’ mouths, faced the audience with elongated, silent screams, and held quivering hands close to their chests; a dial tone startlingly sliced the soundscape. I wondered about symbols when these gestures and sounds appeared, but they were too brief and sparse for me to meaningfully grapple with them. 

 

Because of the speed and sensory density, it was difficult for me to grasp the movement vocabulary. There were active hands, expansive limbs that reached far from dancers’ centers, and a grounded, balletic confidence. Toward the end of the work, during an energetic unison section, it felt like the dancers were trying to prove something, or that they possessed higher knowledge about the world they’d created that the audience didn’t have the capacity to understand. When Thompson herself emerged in a blue dress for a short dance, it was a striking moment of clarity — I saw where the language of the work came from, on a body for whom it was utterly natural. Three dancers lifted and moved her through the space, but her interactions with them didn’t feel particularly charged. It felt like a moment of personal reflection, which departed from the work’s apparent insistence on a collective, unified experience.
 

The program describes BEAUTY as a “psychological ballet” that “illustrates how humanity needs to move past the forces at play in the world to restore their own divine power and the concept of true beauty.”

I wasn’t sure how these assertions of divine power and true beauty manifested in the work itself, but I did experience beautiful shapes, captivating colors, athletic bodies, and sounds that enveloped me — with brief flashes of the quotidian.

In the world of BEAUTY, the divine lies not in the ordinary, perhaps suggesting that we’ve moved so far from it that it has become unrecognizable.

- Hannah Lieberman,  The Dance Enthusiast

 

REVIEW- BEAUTY

​

The opening night of SOULSKIN Dance’s latest production “Beauty” was an electric affair. In front of a nearly sold-out audience, SOULSKIN kicked off their tenth season (the second in New York) with energy, warmth, and passion. Eleven dancers captivated the crowd with their dynamic production, and immediately received a standing ovation once the lights came down. “Beauty” is a fantastic show. Graceful and emotional, “Beauty” is not only an artistic feast for the eyes, it’s a thought-provoking performance with a powerful message. Choreographed and artistic directed by Adrianna Thompson, “Beauty” is a six-part psychological ballet. Its intended goal is to “illustrate how humanity needs to move past the forces at play in the world to restore their own divine power and concept of true beauty.” This mission statement comes through loud and clear as dancers move from the weight of the opening acts (“Gravity” and “Silence”) to the freedom of the later ones (“Velocity,” “Polarity,” “Ascending”). “Beauty” opens on a single dancer, alone on stage. Immediately, we’re thrown into a world of chaos and disorder. Movements are jagged and sharp, performed, it seems, not for the love of the form, but for the attention of others. Certain moments in the score (composed specifically for this show by Roxy Roller), contain clapping, as if to highlight the performative nature of every motion. There are times when the dancers move in unison, but not in harmony. There is more pressure to conform to the rest of the group than to stand out. This is especially true during the act “Silence,” when dancers literally attempt to speak, but can’t. Invisible forces mute their words, a motif that repeats when dancers move with hands over their mouths. However, these repressive conventions are broken halfway through the performance, in the act “Shatter.” During a particularly climactic moment, dancers seem to fall under the weight of the expectations that have been put upon them. They collapse on stage and struggle to pull each other up. Thankfully, they learn to rely on one another, finding strength through communication and touch. They reconnect tepidly, almost painfully at first, but over time, they discover how healing these moments of physical and emotional connection can be. They’ve bonded over their shared pains and are ready to heal through the power of community. And heal they do. As dancers pair off and shift pairings, they not only discover new things about each other, they seem to uncover findings about themselves. There’s a newfound fluidity and confidence in their movements as they shift from concerning themselves with how the world views them, to focusing on how they view themselves. It’s clear that these dancers have changed since the beginning of the show, as they break away from the crowd at seemingly random moments and remove their hands from their mouths. They’ve found their divine power, their own true beauty. Amidst stunning visual projections (created by Iwalani Kaluhiokalani), “Beauty” proves that when it comes to our own perception of beauty, the outside world is the least reliable narrator. To truly understand beauty, one must turn inward, paying close attention to our own intuition. And when we lose touch with that connection, we can always turn to our communities to pick us back up.

- Lily Blumkin.  New York Dance Journalist​

Aspen Fringe Festival Reveals Stellar Lineup for 16th Season

Sarah Girgis, Aspen Times

"Three For the World" : A Refreshing Return to Human Connection

Amy Piantaggini, The Dance Enthusiast

Fringe Fest reunites Aspen Santa Fe dancers 

Andrew Travers, The Aspen Times

​

Aspen Fringe Fest returns this weekend

Megan Tackett, The Aspen Daily Times

​

Aspen Fringe Festival returns to Wheeler Opera House

Aspen Daily Staff News Report 

A Potent Evening of Live Dance and Drama from Aspen Fringe Festival

Andrew Travers, The Apsen Times

​

Celebrating our Connection during isolation

Madeleine Osberger, Aspen Daily News

​

Aspen Fringe Festival Produces two nights of live dance and theater

Andrew Travers, The Aspen Times

Choreographer celebrates Bauhaus in her new ballet

 

Vicki Larson, Marin Independent Journal

​

​

Interview with Soulskin Dance Choreographers Adrianna Thompson & Barbara Koch

 

BayDance.com

Soulskin Dance conjures up a Hero

 

Claudia Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle

​​

 

Soulskin Dance take on text in "Hero"

 

Leslie Kratz, SF Examiner

San Francisco Examiner - January 25, 2018

 

Winter 2018 Arts Preview: Dance by Leslie Katz.

​

SF/ARTS - March, 2018​

 

Dance Highlight by Heather Desaulniers.

​

San Francisco Chronicle - March 2, 2018

 

SF Chronicle’s critic’s picks: What to do the week of March 4 by Claudia Bauer.

​

San Francisco Chronicle - March 7, 2018

 

SOULSKIN presents dystopian dance "To Command." by Maxine Marshall.

​

San Francisco Examiner - March 7, 2018

 

SOULSKIN Dance takes on tech. By Leslie Katz.

​

Bay Area News Group - March 8, 2018

 

10 cool things going on in SF Bay Area arts scene. By Randy McMullen.

KPOO - January 22, 2018

 

Artistic Director, Adrianna Thompson discusses The LAB Series with Marilyn Fowler on KPOO.

​

​

SF Chronicle - January 18, 2018

 

"The LAB Series" is featured in SF Chronicle's Classical Music and Dance picks.

​

​

SF/ARTS - January, 2018

 

"Works-in-progress, current creative musings, premiering repertory—all points of the creative process come together in The LAB Series..."

KPOO - March 6, 2017

 

Artistic Director, Adrianna Thompson discusses SATIN & SWING with Marilyn Fowler's segment on KPOO.

​

​

KALW Public Radio - March 8, 2017

 

​"This week on Open Air, host David Latulippe talks with Erika Hassan..."

​​

 

Bay Area Reporter - March 9, 2017

 

​"Adrianna Thompson, Soulskin's artistic director, has lived her life for dance.."

​

​

Diary of a Smart Chick - February 17, 2017

 

"SOULSKIN Dance has an upcoming San Francisco performance called SATIN & SWING that highlights the best of the 1920s..."

KALW Public Radio - March 17, 2016

 

SOULSKIN Dance on KALW Open Air. ​This week on Open Air, host David Latulippe talks to Adrianna Thompson, artistic director and founder of SOULSKIN Dance, about the company’s 3rd San Francisco season, ‘A Pop Culture Journey: from Folsom Prison to a Night at the Opera’, featuring music from Johnny Cash and Queen, this weekend at Dance Mission Theater.

​​

 

San Francisco Chronicle - March 16, 2016

 

"Soulskin Dance to take fans on A Pop Culture Journey." It might be hard to imagine taking a train from Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” into Queen’s “Bohemian” world, but that collision and collusion of memories and music is at the heart of choreographer Adrianna Thompson’s vision for “A Pop Culture Journey: From Folsom Prison to a Night at the Opera,” which her company Soulskin Dance presents this weekend at Dance Mission Theater.

​

​

San Francisco Chronicle - March 10, 2015

 

​"SOULSKIN Dance Puts the Pop in Dance." The young dancers of Soulskin Dance might never have seen the high-octane lunacy of Iggy Pop in person, but there is a certain head-banging drive in the San Francisco Dance Center studios where they’re rehearsing Adrianna Thompson’s “A Pop Culture Journey Part II: From Funk to Punk,” which the company will perform at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco this weekend.

​​

 

SF Weekly - March 15, 2013

 

"Downtown Funk." The program is a little bit retro, a little bit kitsch as choreographer Adrianna Thompson puts together an old-school playlist of groovy tunes for A Pop Culture Journey Part II: From Funk to Punk, the second part of her paean to the rhythm of modernity.