Juilliard Dance Senior Graduation Concert 2018

The Juilliard Dance Concert performed by the graduating class of 2018 was spectacular.   The Juilliard Dance Department trains their students to be amongst the highest caliber of contemporary dancers with a rigorous program in classical ballet & modern dance.  Illustrious alumni dancers & choreographers include among others Robert Battle Pina Bausch, Paul Taylor and Lar Lubovitch.  This year's program provided solo performances for the dancers from works by leading choreographers including William Forsythe, Cristal Pine, Wayne McGregor, Kyle Abraham and Gustavo Sansano.   Every dancer demonstrated remarkable skills, musicality and artistry.  The bodily movements were intuned with expressive accentuations and lyrical fluidity.  The dancers eloquently demonstrated a wide range of meaningful assertions through every modality and gesture.  I will call out 3 works that I found to be extraordinary.  Hannah Park performed a premiere work "Borne" by Alice Klock that was ephemeral.  Ms Park floated above & within the music composed by Nils Frahm.  Alysia Johnson dressed in a gold lyrex body suit was bedazzling in "Show Pony" by Kyle Abraham.  Her every movement flowed majestically.  And, Taylor LaBrzzo premiered Peter Chu's "Fitting Out" which was electrifying from the first moments.  Seated on stage she rapidly removed a barrage of unending transparent masks and then proceeded to form the pieces into an arranged structure.  Her movements were lithe, surprising and intriguing.  My congratulations to an exceptional group of students who have had the opportunity to study with first-class teachers and top professional choreographers.  I was awed by the aptitude, understanding & unique interpretations by all the students.   Congratulations to the commendable class of 2018.