Press
Bear Crown
Dance Theater Workshop, NYC
March 18-21, 2009
The 10 Best Dance Experiences of 2009
"Long live the bear!" Long live choreographers who succeed in taking audiences on a
dreamlike journey, out of the realm of the rational into the pleasurable absurd."
Brian McCormick, Mediatized
"Baldwin's work is highly theatrical, brimming with loopy ideas and evoking idiosyncratic characters and situations
through music and her own slightly weird, highly specific movement language."
Marina Harrs, The New Yorker
"Ivy Baldwin makes puzzling, theatrical pieces full of arresting images and allusive ideas."
Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times
"There's something about Ivy Baldwin's work that's transporting. It could be the movement, which shifts between
childlike play and virtuosity. It might be the attention to detail in every element, from lighting to set to sound,
including a settling overture. It might be the five engaging performers, including Baldwin. In all likelihood,
it's everything assembled and polished til it gleams."
"Baldwin's new work at DTW, Bear Crown, makes the cavernous theater look wonderful."
Susan Yung, CHANNEL 13 - Sunday Arts
"Bear Crown is pitch-perfect throughout."
a brilliant convergence, where everything comes together."
"a fantastic and whimsical world made accessible by stimulating the pineal gland of audience members through their three-pronged sensory approach."
"splendid cast."
"Their interactions are cartoonish, but never infantile; they are whimsical, absurd, and delightful."
"Long lighting changes, harmonious sonic ambience, and movement phrases that take time to accumulate
all served the same purpose in this exquisite piece..."
Brian McCormick, Gay City News
"It's hard to believe that Ivy Baldwin has been choreographing for ten years; she formed a small company the
same year she collected her MFA from NYU-Tisch (yes, I knew her when). Since then, she's become a bright feature
of the 'downtown' scene in New York and shown her work at festivals abroad."
"Baldwin makes sure we get an impression of grandeur right away. I can't recall seeing a purple velvet curtain at DTW before
or listening to a lengthy overture."
"The shadow of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu hovers over the space. Yet in the end, the dancers, clustered,
kneel on one knee and open their arms and chest to a downpour of light. Whatever events this hall-of-mirrors arena hosts,
winning trophies is not in the cards."
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
"'Imagination' is a frequently cited attribute when critics discuss Ivy Baldwin's choreography. In recent years,
she has created a series of compelling and evocative-if not always clearly decipherable-human landscapes..."
"In recent years, those journeys have proved intriguing in their allusions and imagery,
and decidedly persuasive in inviting audiences along for the ride."
"As the dancers run through portions of Bear Crown a week before its premiere, one striking aspect are the unusual
and often constrained positions in which the dancers hold their arms and hands. Closed fists, stiffly angled arms,
hands pressed together but with the palms facing away color the action, which alternates crisp, forceful passages
of movement with intimate, off-kilter encounters."
Susan Reiter, NY Press
"Congratulations to Body and Soul interviewee Ivy Baldwin and her creative team upon the successful opening night
of Bear Crown at Dance Theater Workshop. The piece dreams up an environment of open, luminous structure with
pockets of wit, mystery and danger."
"Lighting designer Chloë Z Brown and sound designer Justin Jones are each on top of their game, and their magical work for this piece will be long remembered."
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Body and Soul
"Bear Crown lets time stretch at its beginning and end, and it is never in a hurry. In the middle, humor competes with
coldness and violence, and what is a sparse but beautiful stage-world becomes by the end a sparse and darkly ominous place."
Quinn Batson, offoffoff.com
