(artículo) Dance's move toward 'physical theater'

By John Rockwell The New York Times

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006
LEEDS, England To a friend, the news that I was going to fly across an ocean and see 34 dance performances in slightly less than three days evoked images of circus clowns in tiny cars, or the Keystone Kops. To me, at the end of the marathon late Saturday night, the whole experience seemed just exhausting.

But informative, too, and often exhilarating. The event was British Dance Edition 2006. Almost every country has an annual or biennial showcase intended primarily or exclusively for national and international presenters. In Britain the biennial dance edition rotates around the country.

This year it took place in the northern English city of Leeds, courtesy of the Yorkshire Dance Center and presented in mostly handsome theaters all about town. Leeds is a city on the vigorous rebound, and it has one of the most active dance scenes in the country.

The Yorkshire Dance Center fosters dance of all kinds, with presentations and classes and educational outreach. Diversity is rampant but does not include much of the large Muslim population in Leeds and contiguous Bradford. Most first-generation Muslim immigrant men are unenthusiastic about seeing Muslim women onstage, although some of the younger men, said Bush Hartshorn, the ebullient artistic director of Yorkshire Dance, had been lured into dance through hip-hop.

(leer +) [vía international herald tribune]