about Economies of Effort: 1, 2 & 3
about "Your Body is Not a Shark"
"...a finely crafted collaboration between Pearlman and her six dancers (aged 18-64); poet Denise Leto who has a dystonia, a neurological condition which sometimes prevents her from speaking clearly; and cellist/composer Joan Jeanrenaud whose performance career with the Kronos Quartet was ended by the onset of multiple sclerosis. The idea of limitations floated like a soft sub-current through "Your Body." Of course, you saw that young Nashon Marden's attacks were different from middle-aged David King's. You noticed the way senior dancer Sara Wilbourne was carried, but so was everybody else. Yet the work spoke more strongly through the liquid physicality by which the dancers defined themselves and interacted with each other. The piece evolved into variations on numerous themes. Gestural language - lots of touching, and bodily manipulation - were in clear evidence. Falling and sliding off chairs in every each way, dancers oozed over each other. As if on shaky ground, they bounced in time, whether lying on the ground, a desk or a bed. Horizontal line-ups contracted and released into perpendicular patterns becoming a game of geometry."
Rita Felciano, Dance View Times (full review here)
More Shark in the News
Rita Felciano in the SF Bay Guardian
SF Examiner
SF Classical Voice
SF Chronicle
Art Animal Magazine
San Jose Mercury News
Dance Magazine
Sequenza
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Rita Felciano, Dance View Times (full review here)
More Shark in the News
Rita Felciano in the SF Bay Guardian
SF Examiner
SF Classical Voice
SF Chronicle
Art Animal Magazine
San Jose Mercury News
Dance Magazine
Sequenza
Santa Cruz Sentinel
about "from estonia with love"
"The US Premiere of Cid Pearlman's fluidly attractive "What We Do in Winter," is based on her work in Estonia and was performed with primarily dancers from Tallin. With the support of a witty score by Jonathan Segel, she explored folkloric circle and line motives in a decidedly contemporary fashion so that recurring encounters felt like a never ending spiral that could have gone on expanding for ever."
Rita Felciano, danceviewtimes, full text here.
Dance writer Julia Chiapella reviews the Santa Cruz performances here.
Read a feature article in the Goodtimes here.
Read Wallace Baine's preview article in the Sentinel here.
Listen to Cid talk about the project on KZSC here.
Rita Felciano, danceviewtimes, full text here.
Dance writer Julia Chiapella reviews the Santa Cruz performances here.
Read a feature article in the Goodtimes here.
Read Wallace Baine's preview article in the Sentinel here.
Listen to Cid talk about the project on KZSC here.
about cid pearlman
"...it was Pearlman’s “Drowning Poems” that trembled with a poignancy and grief so textually rich it took my breath away. With startling motifs that put the performers in a watery underworld, Daniel Bear Davis, Damara Vita Ganley, and Molly Katzman danced the piece with a solemn passion that was mesmerizing."
Julia Ciapella, dance writer
“Wit is a rare commodity in dance. Even more than its gentler cousin, humor, it demands a finely tuned eye and ability to observe with detachment without letting go of commitment. Cid Pearlman has what it takes.”
Rita Felciano, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“The joy of Nesting Dolls lies in how many layers of meaning one can find embedded in the wash of movement. Pearlman’s choreography, palpably influenced by punk-rock aesthetics, is a stirring fusion of aggressive attack and strong technical lyricism. Her voice, mature but quirky, speaks volumes about what it means to be making dances in a world dominated by trends without falling prey to their commercial lures.”
Sima Belmar, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Unfolding with the muscular grit of 1930’s German cabaret, the three artists built a private, ethereal drama about love and memory. Here Pearlman’s movement had the power of sculpted still shots brought to life by the thrust of the language and sound. Showing off her gift as a director, she set the movers rocking, coupling, reaching and falling as Amat sang “Show me your shoulders” or “A kiss blunted by their lips”
Ann Murphy, Oakland Tribune
“Blocks of text projected on hanging screens described the smell of wet fur, the crackle of electricity, and the taste and texture of sour grass sucked translucent between one’s teeth, and the live chamber ensemble (conducted by Club Foot Orchestra’s Deirdre McClure) conjured up swirling storm clouds with quick puffs of breath into the woodwinds. Folding themselves around Wold’s languorous, jazzy score, dancers Jennifer Kesler and David King embodied what Murphy called “the seasons a body undergoes”, with a shifting, symbiotic partnership of resistance and surrender.”
Heather Wisner, SF Weekly
“Shiny Gun descends into a thick mood. At one point the dancers cock two fingers overhead, arms waving seductively. It looks like a sexual invitation. Then you realize it’s a gun; they’re ready to blow their brains out”
Apollinaire Scherr
“Pearlman is very much the astute social commentator, so it makes sense that she'd be drawn to another such figure, Dorothy Parker, whose acerbic, shrewd poems about female identity provide the focus for "Shiny Gun" (1997). Four female dancers dressed in the fashions of Parker's era quote her poems while alternating between loose, aggressive movements and constrained gestures heavily coded as female: carrying trays, typing, politely smiling. The piece seems almost a collaboration with Parker, so in tune are the gestures and the poetry.”
Sarah Rosenthal, Citysearch
“…as an investigation of intimacy, “Close” was filled with moments of shimmering intelligence and vulnerable relationship. One of the loveliest was of two standing dancers laying elbows on each others’ shoulders with animal tenderness. Appearing both early in the dance and again at the end, it summed up Pearlman’s talent for capturing the poetic attachment in human bonds."
Ann Murphy, Oakland Tribune
Julia Ciapella, dance writer
“Wit is a rare commodity in dance. Even more than its gentler cousin, humor, it demands a finely tuned eye and ability to observe with detachment without letting go of commitment. Cid Pearlman has what it takes.”
Rita Felciano, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“The joy of Nesting Dolls lies in how many layers of meaning one can find embedded in the wash of movement. Pearlman’s choreography, palpably influenced by punk-rock aesthetics, is a stirring fusion of aggressive attack and strong technical lyricism. Her voice, mature but quirky, speaks volumes about what it means to be making dances in a world dominated by trends without falling prey to their commercial lures.”
Sima Belmar, San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Unfolding with the muscular grit of 1930’s German cabaret, the three artists built a private, ethereal drama about love and memory. Here Pearlman’s movement had the power of sculpted still shots brought to life by the thrust of the language and sound. Showing off her gift as a director, she set the movers rocking, coupling, reaching and falling as Amat sang “Show me your shoulders” or “A kiss blunted by their lips”
Ann Murphy, Oakland Tribune
“Blocks of text projected on hanging screens described the smell of wet fur, the crackle of electricity, and the taste and texture of sour grass sucked translucent between one’s teeth, and the live chamber ensemble (conducted by Club Foot Orchestra’s Deirdre McClure) conjured up swirling storm clouds with quick puffs of breath into the woodwinds. Folding themselves around Wold’s languorous, jazzy score, dancers Jennifer Kesler and David King embodied what Murphy called “the seasons a body undergoes”, with a shifting, symbiotic partnership of resistance and surrender.”
Heather Wisner, SF Weekly
“Shiny Gun descends into a thick mood. At one point the dancers cock two fingers overhead, arms waving seductively. It looks like a sexual invitation. Then you realize it’s a gun; they’re ready to blow their brains out”
Apollinaire Scherr
“Pearlman is very much the astute social commentator, so it makes sense that she'd be drawn to another such figure, Dorothy Parker, whose acerbic, shrewd poems about female identity provide the focus for "Shiny Gun" (1997). Four female dancers dressed in the fashions of Parker's era quote her poems while alternating between loose, aggressive movements and constrained gestures heavily coded as female: carrying trays, typing, politely smiling. The piece seems almost a collaboration with Parker, so in tune are the gestures and the poetry.”
Sarah Rosenthal, Citysearch
“…as an investigation of intimacy, “Close” was filled with moments of shimmering intelligence and vulnerable relationship. One of the loveliest was of two standing dancers laying elbows on each others’ shoulders with animal tenderness. Appearing both early in the dance and again at the end, it summed up Pearlman’s talent for capturing the poetic attachment in human bonds."
Ann Murphy, Oakland Tribune
about the California Touring Project
“I want to live in the little societies that Cid Pearlman creates (in last year's Touring Project as well as this one): people hold their ground when they need to, still they have an essential gentleness toward one another.”
Janice Steinberg, San Diego Dance Critic
“From beginning to end, words and movement flow seamlessly within the "California Touring Project." Witty and provocative, the project presents physical storytelling that leaves you with a sense of compassion and humanity.”
Kris Eitland, sandiego.com
“It’s a rare joy when dance offers such freshness and depth as does California Triple Feature.”
Janice Steinberg, San Diego Union Tribune
LA Times article about the California Touring Project
San Diego Tribune review of California Triple Feature
Review of the California Touring Project
at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Janice Steinberg, San Diego Dance Critic
“From beginning to end, words and movement flow seamlessly within the "California Touring Project." Witty and provocative, the project presents physical storytelling that leaves you with a sense of compassion and humanity.”
Kris Eitland, sandiego.com
“It’s a rare joy when dance offers such freshness and depth as does California Triple Feature.”
Janice Steinberg, San Diego Union Tribune
LA Times article about the California Touring Project
San Diego Tribune review of California Triple Feature
Review of the California Touring Project
at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego