The opening gala features Garth Fagan's company, down from Rochester and first up on the summer program, and Larry Keigwin's lively troupe, which finishes out the schedule in late August.
And "nodrog doggo," a play on Mr. Gordon's name, is Mr. Feld continuing his exploration of a new choreographic and theatrical world suggested to him, possibly, by his richly multiracial troupe of down-to-earth dancers culled from his training program for New York City schoolchildren.
The weather was perfect for a New Age boot camp — hot and dry — and, after breathing exercises in a circle, the troupe filed down to the banks of an icy kill that runs through the property, where everyone, including Abramović, stripped for a communal swim.
After the revolution of 1974 swept away the dictatorship, there was a brief explosion of activity and a rash of new companies were founded, including Teatro Cornucopia, set up by Silva Melo and his partner, Luis Miguel Cintra, and A Barraca (named after Lorca's famous travelling troupe, shut down by Franco), which featured Augusto Boal, then in exile from Brazil.
The range and quality of what's offered more than fills the cultural void created as the city's main performing arts troupes wind down for summer vacation.
When it comes to plays and musicals, "the artifacts" are introduced to the committee of critics by a pale, beaten-down troupe of performers (Hanna Cheek, Tobias Burns, Amy Newhall) who sing, dance and act with the polished technique and cool personality of robots trained at a dystopian Juilliard.
The theater troupe is mowed down by foreign bullets.
Theater officials on Wednesday announced the start of auditions to create a new stripped down troupe of 18 dancers, which will begin rehearsing in August and touring in October and aims to return to a New York stage by April 2013.
In this topsy-turvy world, what could be more timely than a year-ending visit from a troupe of zanies from Down Under?
