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Scaled-Down Stage, Pared-Down Works
Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times
February 15, 2013

Scaled-Down Stage, Pared-Down Works

Dance has been a fashionable new element at art museums over the last few years, mostly popping up as part of exhibitions and curatorial programs. But the Museum of Arts and Design’s Dance Under the Influence series, beginning its third season on Friday and Saturday, has taken a different tack by offering dance a regular platform in its own right. Organized by Valerie Gladstone, these monthly performances, featuring an eclectic variety of dance styles and dance makers (both well known and new to the game), take place on a shallow stage that initially seems an unlikely spot for dance.

But Ms. Gladstone and her selected choreographers have turned the stage size into an asset by tailoring their dances to (or sometimes even creating works for) its very human scale and participating in relaxed post-performance conversations with the audience. This weekend’s program offers a characteristic mix: three very different contemporary choreographers — Molissa Fenley, John Heginbotham and Zack Winokur — and the brilliant tapper Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards. (7.30 p.m., 2 Columbus Circle, 212-299-7740, madmuseum.org; $20, $12 students and members.) ROSLYN SULCAS

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/arts/mar-17-24.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1360951831-lELIfrtAbudBnQ7yYOnPJw&

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