Event Review: Koresh's COME TOGETHER
Event Reiew: Koresh's COME TOGETHER Dance Festival
A friend of mine invited me to see her perform in Koresh's second annual "Come Together" Dance Festival. The basis of the festival is to bring together a variety of dance troupes and dance studios to perform in a beautiful, state-of-the-art venue, a venue which may not always be possible for smaller dance troupes or just-starting studios. The festival lasted two weeks in 2013, but was condensed into one week this year to bring more focus and control to the overall performance.
The event was listed as $35 per ticket, but promotions for students were floating around that could drop the price all the way down to $12! I foolishly thought that I could meet a friend there and buy a ticket at the door... thank the dance gods we decided on a whim to buy tickets online a few hours before the performance, becuase by the time we bought, there were only 6 tickets left! And by the time we got to the show on Friday night, all tickets were sold out for the rest of the shows! Awesome!
I flipped through the program upon arrival, and glanced at the headshot of the Creative Director of Koresh, Ronen Koresh. With his cool demeanor and artsy scarf, he almost looked pretentious (could I blame him, though? Director of an internationally known school of dance? I would probably be a smug, scarf-wearing director too!). But, I couldn't have been more wrong (why am I such a judger?!). He came out before the curtains opened, and in the most friendly and approachable manner introduced himself, and gave a breif summary of his story. Even cooler, though, was how interested he was in getting to know us, the audience. He wanted to us to fill out a questionnaire about why we were there, why we love dance, what dance means in our community, etc. Then, even EVEN cooler, he invited us, the audience, to join him and his dancers for drinks at an after-event, so he could get to know more people within the Phladelphia Dance Community. Very, very cool.
The performaces were polished, entriguing, creative, and strong. Each show is different (as it showcases different studios), but the show I attended offered mostly modern/contemporary pieces. Within the pieces, though, there was a lot of versatility. There were elements of acrobatics, break dancing, latin dancing and more. The strength and skill of some of these dancers was mind-blowing. The friend who sat next to me in the audience kept saying "Damn!!!" Enough said.
One of my favorite performances was Brian Sanders’ JUNK, which told a story, through the use of props, acrobatics and theatrical dancing, of "Dancing with the Dead." Another chorepgrapher could have easily put forth a cheesey zombie-dance with the same end goal in mind, but Sanders offered a moving, engaging, sometimes comical, sometimes bittersweet, always gravity-defying performance that I didn't blink through!
My other faovrite performance was Tyger B.'s choreography. I have to admit that I am biased here because my friends participated in this performance, BUT it was amazing on its own. Really, really amazing. The strenth, power, and beauty of the dancers was beyond impressive, and Tyger B choregraphed a seamless performance between different solos, duets and group numbers. The versatility of the dancers and the music created an exciting dynamic throughout the entire piece.
Overall, I was GLAD I bought tickets ahead of time (phew!) and left the theater smiling, fulfilled, inspired, and on my way to dance.
I 100% recommend checking this dance festival out come 2015!
