Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble
Premieres
A Virtual Performance of
Anna Sokolow’s
ROOMS2020
Music by
KENYON HOPKINS
Dance Directed by SAMANTHA GERACHT, ELEANOR BUNKER, &
LAUREN NASLUND
Video Directed & Edited by LAUREN NASLUND
Dancers
ILANA RUTH COHEN, ERIN GOTTWALD, SAMUEL HUMPHREYS, ERIKA LANGMEYER,
BRAD
OREGO, SIERRA POWELL, MARGHERITA TISATO, & LUIS GABRIEL ZARAGOZA
https://sokolowtheatredance.org/rooms-2020/
Available for
view until July 25, 2020
ROOMS2020 is an amazing
adaptation of Sokolow’s ROOMS, which premiered in 1955. It
portrayed the loneliness of city apartment dwellers post-World War II, in the
era of polio and the threat of Communism and atomic annihilation. What irony
that the year 2020 has time-warped us back to a parallel life. Once again we are
all living in ROOMS.
The company originally planned a live performance of
ROOMS, when COVID intervened. The result is this marvelous video production,
perfectly suited to the theme of isolation and its effects on the mind.
The names of the movements tell the tale: “Alone”, “Dream”, “Escape”, “Going”,
“Desire”, “Panic”, “Daydream”, “Street”, and “The End?”, followed by the entire
company in “Coda”. To the often-atonal edgy jazz accompaniment, each dancer
takes a star turn in one or more movements. Each is excellent, evocative,
beautiful, real. They stand, stretch, whirl, crawl, claw, hop, seduce, reach
elegant arms toward the sky pleading for release, for freedom. The viewer can
relate to their desires and frustrations. We are there with them. We understand.
Every aspect of this production is beyond stellar. The music, the video
editing, and the fact that each dancer did the video recording of his or her
performance. This is a classic.
-Karen D’Onofrio-