Recently I've seen an array of art that is a lot different from what I grew up with. I'm in my early 80s and yes, there was modern dance and contemporary works in all disciplines and yes, I always enjoyed the arts, but after attending Dance St. Louis' "Spring to Dance" festival, the lid was blown off of what dance is and what it can be.
The leaders of Dance St. Louis say, "Dance St. Louis continues to transform our region into a dance mecca and destination by way of presenting seasons and the creation of "Spring to Dance" in 2008, as the region's leading cultural ambassador for world class dance. The festival is now famous in the dance world and is a cultural gem for our city."
Michael Uthoff, artistic director of Dance St. Louis, spoke with Kathy Lawton Brown on the radio and talked about how contemporary dance and music have come together and how it has all put a new face on the look of dance. Two of my favorite pieces in "Spring to Dance" were "Pink" and "Buckets and Tap Shoes."
The Dance Festival had 12 different dance groups and 75 dancers, but these two performances really stretched my imagination. "Pink" was performed by the Eisenhower Dance of Detroit. Now in its 34th season, it is a professional contemporary dance troupe led by director Stephanie Pizzo, and has been hailed by critics such as the “New York Times” and “Detroit Free Press” for its artistry. The company's mission is to deepen the understanding and appreciation of contemporary dance regionally, nationally and internationally, while reflecting on issues of social significance
Andy and Rick Ausland of “Buckets and Tap Shoes” not only perform in their native Minneapolis but internationally they have toured Austria, Ecuador, Finland, Malta and Russia and have performed in 39 U.S. states. They teach tap and bucket drumming across their beloved Minnesota and around the world.
And one can still see standard opera favorites at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, but for the past three years OTSL has presented New Works Collective. Nine new works have been created which amplify under- represented voices and showcase opera as an inclusive form.
Also, over OTSL’s 50 year history the company has commissioned 44 new works including two by famous jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard in collaboration with Jazz St. Louis. “Champion,” based on the life of boxer Emile Griffith, in 2013 and “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” in 2019. In 2021 that work made history when it became the first opera by a Black composer to be performed at the Metropolitan Opera.
This past season "This House" was the creation of a mother-daughter team. Rob Levy in an article about the new work wrote, "This House" is truly a family affair. Two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and MacArthur Genius grant recipient Lynn Nottage and her daughter Ruby Aiyo Gerber, a published writer and poet, wrote the libretto with music from award winning composer Ricky Ian Gordon."
Nottage says, "When we were thinking about a home for this production, Opera Theatre of St. Louis felt like an ideal space because it has premiered so many new operas centered around Black voices.
OTSL is always on the cutting edge in its presentations whether it be in set design, music and librettos, or interpretation of older and world renowned works.
And then we have the St. Louis Art Museum with its recent, "Roaring: Art, Fashion, and the Automobile in France, 1918-1939.” The exhibition explored the transformative role of the automobile in pre-World War II France and highlighted innovations across the industry by those who embraced it as a provocative expression of the modern age. The expansive exhibition featured paintings, photographs, sculpture, furniture, films, fashion, textiles and 12 historic automobiles.
SLAM was also riding right alongside these other fast paced organizations in its presentation of "Roaring."
St. Louis just keeps shining and strutting its stuff to all its enthusiastic audiences who keep coming back for more.
Nancy Kranzberg has been involved in the arts community for more than forty years on numerous arts related boards.