By Nitika Kaul ’12, Staff Writer

The Fall for Dance Festival, an exhilarating display of dances performed by professional companies from around the world, occurs every fall in New York City. On September 30^th, a group of NA dance students had the opportunity to see four companies perform dance pieces, each about 15 minutes long. The range of styles in both music and dance was vast.  For example, a Brazilian Hip Hop group followed a performance by the New York City Ballet.

Of all the dances performed, NA dance students generally agreed that the most visually striking was the New York City Ballet piece entitled “Red Swans.” Jeffrey Frankel ’13, commented, “Rather than sticking to a kind of stiff and less fluid ballet, [the New York City Ballet] added personality to [the dance] by bringing in bright red costumes and very unconventional music that isn’t normally used in ballet.”  Richard Einhorn choreographed the piece and interestingly included a part for the electric violin in his music score. As a whole, the dance was meant to highlight performers’ athletic ability and power.

Each dance was thought provoking, but the most unconventional one came from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.  The piece was a duet performed to a speech, created to explore the tension and elegance between two people moving in unison.

The trip was a great way for Newark Academy students to experience viewing not only dance of a very high caliber, but also an extremely varied assortment of performances.