Tag: Kerry Shea

Lydia Johnson Dance @ Newport

Rehearsal photo: dancers Kerry Shea and Eric Williams

Lydia Johnson Dance have been appearing at the Great Friends Dance Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. The Company presented Lydia’s intimate 2005 work, IN CONVERSATION. This piece, set to Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto, was the first work of Lydia’s that I ever encountered…and from there my admiration for her choreography, musical choices and wonderful dancers has grown exponentially over the ensuing years.

Above: dancers Laura DiOrio and Anthony Bocconi in the studio

The Festival performances of Lydia’s IN CONVERSATION drew a very positive review:

“Another visiting dance company – Lydia Johnson Dance from New
York and New Jersey – provided a lovely romantic and classical mood as
two couples danced contemporary pas de deux to Philip Glass’s
Violin Concerto. Further defining the classicism of the dance was the
attire – the two men in long black pants and tops, the females in white
and wearing halter tops. The couples displayed, seemingly without effort, slow motion pirouettes that lifted lightly over heads and backs, and
graceful, precise coordinated movements that extended even to the the
fingers and wrists.

The artistry of
this group was truly breathtaking and must be seen to be appreciated.
The lifts, swirls, leaps, turns, falls, risings and meldings were performed
with such athleticism and grace that watching the changing
geometry of limbs it seemed as though Da Vinci anatomy sketches had come
alive to dance.”
~ Sandra Matuschka
The Newport Daily News

Lydia Johnson Dance will return to the Great Friends Dance Festival to perform NIGHT OF THE FLYING HORSES on July 25th, 26th and 27th. Ticket information here.

July 19, 2013
Lydia Johnson Dance @ Peridance – Part 2

Above: Max van der Sterre and Kerry Shea in Lydia Johnson’s FALLING OUT, photo by Kokyat. This dancework, set to Philip Glass’s 3rd Symphony, was created in 2006 and revived for Lydia’s 2012 season at Peridance. FALLING OUT centers on a romantic triangle in which the tranquility of a domestic relationship is threatened by the appearance of another woman who captures the roving eye of Max van der Sterre.

Kerry Shea (above) portrays Max’s established lady love…

…and Jessica Sand (above) is the woman who, at first perhaps unwittingly, causes the disruption by her mere presence.

In a complex pas de deux which is a continuous thread throughout the work, the central couple veer from tenderness to outright antagonism.

For a brief moment the man seems close to making a choice, yet he is continually drawn back to his longtime lover.

In the end, though Max and Kerry are still together, the situation remains unresolved.

FALLING OUT provides a sustained and demanding central role for the male dancer in which Max van der Sterre’s magnetic stage presence and the compelling security of his partnering make a vivid impression. Kerry Shea, looking striking in a cerise frock, captures both the strength and vulnerability of the woman whose peace of mind is threatened: beautifully danced, Kerry’s performance is marked by subtle shifts in facial expression that reveal the insecurities beneath the surface of a long-established relationship. Jessica Sand, in the physically demanding role of the ‘other woman’, spends quite a bit of the piece facing upstage; her upper back, shoulders and neck become expressive instruments even when we cannot see her face.

A quartet of women provide a sort of chorus for the work; at first they remain on the sidelines doing synchronized moves either prone or seated. Later they take a more active part in the drama. They seem to represent the man’s past loves – no longer essential to him, but still unforgotten.

More of Kokyat’s images from FALLING OUT:

Jessica Sand

All photography by Kokyat. Read more about this performance here, with more to follow.

June 24, 2012