Untitled Document

Dramatic Classics

SOKOLOW NOW!
MA

Photos: Tom Bowling

As I Remember
(11:45 minutes) 3 female solos

These three solos were reconstructed from Anna Sokolow's extraordinary repertory
when she was a solo performer in the 1930's and 1940's.

Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter (1945) (5:00 minutes) Music: Silvestre Revueltas	*Ballad in a Popular Style* (1935) (2:00 minutes) Music: Chick Corea *Ballad in a Popular Style*	*Kaddish* (1941) (4:45 minutes) Music: Maurice Ravel Music: Maurice Ravel
_______________________ "The soloist doesn't move from her spot...her formal salutations define a dancer zone, her tightly coiling maneuvers wind the bull around her." Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice	_________________________ "...a wistful, lyrical excursion into jazz, at once subtle and exuberant, pure dance with no reason for being other than its rhythm and beauty of motion." Larry Warren, The Rebellious Spirit	_________________________ "Ms. Sokolow's gift for summing up loss and loneliness is captured in Kaddish with a searing simplicity and intensity." Jennifer Dunning, New York Times

Dreams
1961
(40 minutes) 8 to large group piece, 1 female child

Section 1
(4:30)4 or 5 men,
1 woman

"Almost 50 years after its debut, Anna Sokolow's Dreams looks as
fresh as ever. Sokolow's choreography strikes just the right note:
she manages to capture the terror and the magnitude of that
event without veering into the melodramatic. For much of the dance,
the stage is dark save for a single square of light, making the
dancers constantly appear confined. The music intentionally skips on
and off, abruptly leaving them to push through uncomfortable silence."

The piece closes with the dancers huddling close together and dropping
slowly to their knees. In unison, they let out a quiet, chilling whimper."

Sarah Halzack, Washinton Post (May 10, 2009)

____________________________________________

"Sokolow's vision is of the collective social experience and the power of this experience over the fragile human body. Sokolow's trademark is to distill movement and emotion, paring it down to something so simple that it takes on timeless resonance. These images present human beings mis-shapen by experience. They emerge from history as flesh and blood, eerily unnamed and without the personal stories which can serve to distance their lives from our own."

Alice Naude, Manhattan Spirit

Section 2
(5:00) male/female duet - trio (additional male)
Music: Teo Macero, J. S. Bach

Section 3
(3:30) male solo
Music: Teo Macero

Section 4
(4:00) female trio
Music: J. S. Bach

sect-5
Section 5
(4:00) female solo/ child
live text reading

Section 6
(2:45) male solo
Music: Teo Macero

Section 7
(3:00) male/female duet
Music: Anton Von Webern

Section 8
(4:45) 8 to large group
Music: Teo Macero

SOKOLOW NOW!
MA

Photo: Joseph Arthur

Bridgewater State
College, MA

Photo: Matt Green

Everything Must Go
1982
(15 minutes) large group piece

________________________________________________

Everything Must Go is a classic example of Sokolow's unique ability to structure choreography for large numbers of dancers. This 1980's work is a searing statement about the social and economic structure of American society.

How You Do'in (4:10) trio	*Ain't That Pretty* (2:24) 5-8 women
Go For It (4:04) large group	Why (4:22) large group

Kurt Weill
1988
(30 minutes) 8 to large group piece

Youkale Tango (4:36) 4 male/female couples
Surabaya Johnny (3:51) 3 male/female couples
String Quartet No 1, Op. 8 (6:29) 4 male/female couples
Epitaph (1:54) 3 woman
Soldier's Wife (4:18) 3 men, 1 woman
Matrosen Tango (3:28) 4 male/female couples

Music: Kurt Weill
*Music rights required

Youkale Tango

String Quartet No 1, Op. 8

___________________________________________________________________________________

"Kurt Weill fits the composer's roots in German Expressionism with Ms. Sokolow's singular brand
of American Expressionism... Ms. Sokolow can sum up a state of being
- an entire society - in an arrested pose."

Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times

_______________________________________________________________________

Soldier's Wife

Matrosen Tango

Anna Sokolow's Players' Project
NYC

Photo: Johann Elbers

Anna Sokolow's Players' Project
NYC

Photo: Johann Elbers

opus-1

opus-2

Opus 65
1965
(17 minutes) large group piece

Section 1 (5:00) large group
Section 2 (3:00) 4 or 5 men, 1 woman
Section 3 (3:45) large group
Section 4 (4:15) large group

Music: Teo Macero
*Music rights required

___________________________________________

"Opus 65 . . . is typical of a social protest ballet
that Ms. Sokolow virtually invented. This is
a genre that has been widely copied throughout
the world ...it is called the 'alienated
youth' ballet . . . but there is still no one who can
come up with the conviction of the genuine
article better than Ms. Sokolow herself."

Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times

______________________________

Ride the Culture Loop
1975
(25 minutes) large group piece

Music: Teo Macero
*Music rights required
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"A subway route through New York's patchwork of ethnic neighborhoods was the inspiration for
Ride the Culture Loop, but you don't need to know that to pick up on the voyeurism, the hard stares,
the jarring moods, the suffocating sense of crowds and the tension, even in the jauntier, Caribbean-flavored
moments. Sokolow paired her work to the clashing cords and infectious beats of experimental
jazz musician, Teo Macero."

Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post

Section 1
4:10) large group

Section 2
(2:00) women

Section 3
(3:18) 3-5 male or female

Section 4
(3:33) large group

Section 5
(5:00) male/female duet

Section 6
(3:50) male/female couples

University
of Wyoming,
WY

Photo: Dave Andrews
Photography

Hofstra University, NY

Photo: Johann Elbers
V. Paul Virtrucio

Rooms
1955
(55 minutes) 6 to 12 dancers

Music: Kenyon Hopkins
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Rooms is a powerful, deeply penetrating exploration of man's aloneness....Ms Sokolow has given her subjects stunning theatrical treatment through movements which are striking as pure dance action but also revelatory of the individual dreams of each of the participants. Indeed, she makes you care about her characters to the degree that their problems replace your own. And what more effective magic can a choreographer work?"

Walter Terry, Herald Times

Alone
(3:55) entire cast

Dream
(4:45) male solo

Escape
(5:51) female solo

Going
(3:30) male solo

Desire
(4:55) male/female sextet

Panic
(5:40) male solo

Daydream
(3:55) female trio

Daydream
(3:55) female trio

Alone
(2:25) entire cast

Steps of Silence
1968
(20 minutes) large group piece

Music: Anatol Vieru
___________________________________

"Steps of Silence carries to a searing extreme with
its distorted bodies. Yet the finish to this concentration
camp scene is theatrical and true. Newspapers blow in
from the wings and cover the bodies on
the floor, history's human debris."

Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times
____________________________________

Anna Sokolow's Players' Project
NYC

Photo: Johann Elbers

Dancefusion,PA

Photo: Ron Williams

Time +
1967
(18 minutes) large group piece

Music: Teo Macero

*Music rights required
________________________________________________________________________

Time + begins on a deceptively cheerful note, a mob scene of youngsters......The action is an amalgam, insolent
gestures, anti-social gestures, and current dance crazes. then a dramatic shift, a pack of ragged and bloodied soldiers stumble across the stage, falling into fantastic heaps and finally into stillness.

Jacqueline Maskey, Dance Magazine
_____________________________________________________

"The theme is timely and the punch line just as emphatic 36 years later."

Janet Anderson, Philadelphia City Paper

Section 1 (5:13) large group	Section 2 (6:00) 3 or 4 male/female couples
Section 3 (2:45) male/female quartet	Section 4 (4:00) male/female quartet

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