by Rita Felciano
Posted on 4/12/08 on danceviewtimes.com
Gimmicks are all the rage these days. The idea of pulling the members of a string quartet out of their chairs to have them interact with dancers sounded like a clever marketing device but not something one necessarily wanted to see. In fact “StringWreck,” the collaboration between Janice Garrett & Dancers and the Del Sol String Quartet turned out to be a deliciously entertaining, slightly wacky evening of music and dance that could charm a turnip. Collaborating choreographers Garrett and her partner Charles Moulton set the tone but its blithe spirit floated on Del Sol’s exceptionally rich musical choices.
Entire article
Monday, April 14, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Review: Garrett dancers with Del Sol Quartet
Rachel Howard, Chronicle Dance Correspondent
San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, April 12, 2008
Within minutes of the start of Janice Garrett & Dancers' new "StringWreck," one dancer has wrestled an actual violinist, precious instrument in hand, to the floor while another dancer is pulling the violist's hair while he plays on. But that's only the most flamboyant way the hourlong work, which opened Thursday and repeats tonight and Sunday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, moves a step beyond most collaborations between dance and music.
The dance - a team effort of Garrett, fellow choreographer Charles Moulton and the Del Sol String Quartet - is a delight from start to finish. It takes what could have been a merely cute, contrived concept - dancers and musicians collide - and shapes from it a continually thoughtful, surprising and even touching journey.
Entire article
San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, April 12, 2008
Within minutes of the start of Janice Garrett & Dancers' new "StringWreck," one dancer has wrestled an actual violinist, precious instrument in hand, to the floor while another dancer is pulling the violist's hair while he plays on. But that's only the most flamboyant way the hourlong work, which opened Thursday and repeats tonight and Sunday at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, moves a step beyond most collaborations between dance and music.
The dance - a team effort of Garrett, fellow choreographer Charles Moulton and the Del Sol String Quartet - is a delight from start to finish. It takes what could have been a merely cute, contrived concept - dancers and musicians collide - and shapes from it a continually thoughtful, surprising and even touching journey.
Entire article
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Culture Clash: Janice Garrett & Dancers and Del Sol String Quartet Mix It Up
by Jean Schiffman
San Francisco Arts Monthly, April 2008 Vol. 19 No.9
A rehearsal for Janice Garrett & Dancers' upcoming premiere, "StringWreck," is underway in the Margaret Jenkins studio. Outside, it is a blustery evening; inside, the energy is electric. The dancers, two men and two women, are warming up. Only two of the musicians comprising the Del Sol String Quartet are here tonight, but ultimately all four will perform—not just playing the music but physically interacting with the dancers.
The section that Janice Garrett and co-choreographer Charles Moulton are working on is set to "Eine kleine Nachtmusik," one of 15 pieces selected from among Del Sol's repertory of about 150, most of them by contemporary composers. Tonight, Del Sol founder Charlton Lee is It. The dancers swing him like a battering ram, leap over his shoulder, lift his legs, turn him around, carry him in a stiff standing position, swirl around him like dervishes. Throughout, Lee gamely tries to play his violin (in performance, he'll play the viola) while violinist Rick Shinozaki accompanies him from the sidelines. When Lee's bow arm is obstructed, he plucks helplessly at the strings. In performance, musicians will be tossed in the air with great abandon. Dancers will fall under the spell of the musicians' shifting tempos, morph into music stands that fly off with the sheet music. Lee will plummet through space, be dragged belly-down across the floor, playing all the while.
"We're exploring the interface between musicians and dancers," explains Garrett. "What can they do in common, where can they function together, where can't they? How do they co-exist? Where are the points of friction, tension, compatibility, harmony? And how do we weave a piece that moves through those variable landscapes of what all human interactions and relationships move through?"
Entire, original article
San Francisco Arts Monthly, April 2008 Vol. 19 No.9
A rehearsal for Janice Garrett & Dancers' upcoming premiere, "StringWreck," is underway in the Margaret Jenkins studio. Outside, it is a blustery evening; inside, the energy is electric. The dancers, two men and two women, are warming up. Only two of the musicians comprising the Del Sol String Quartet are here tonight, but ultimately all four will perform—not just playing the music but physically interacting with the dancers.
The section that Janice Garrett and co-choreographer Charles Moulton are working on is set to "Eine kleine Nachtmusik," one of 15 pieces selected from among Del Sol's repertory of about 150, most of them by contemporary composers. Tonight, Del Sol founder Charlton Lee is It. The dancers swing him like a battering ram, leap over his shoulder, lift his legs, turn him around, carry him in a stiff standing position, swirl around him like dervishes. Throughout, Lee gamely tries to play his violin (in performance, he'll play the viola) while violinist Rick Shinozaki accompanies him from the sidelines. When Lee's bow arm is obstructed, he plucks helplessly at the strings. In performance, musicians will be tossed in the air with great abandon. Dancers will fall under the spell of the musicians' shifting tempos, morph into music stands that fly off with the sheet music. Lee will plummet through space, be dragged belly-down across the floor, playing all the while.
"We're exploring the interface between musicians and dancers," explains Garrett. "What can they do in common, where can they function together, where can't they? How do they co-exist? Where are the points of friction, tension, compatibility, harmony? And how do we weave a piece that moves through those variable landscapes of what all human interactions and relationships move through?"
Entire, original article
Friday, February 1, 2008
Joyous Eclecticism
In the San Francisco Classical Voice, 1/29/08 ...
By Michelle Dulak Thomson
In a Bay Area music scene crammed full of resolute, relentless eclectics, the Del Sol Quartet stands out less for packing bewilderingly various elements into its programs than for doing it with such ease and stylishness. The Del Sols’ grand mélange of a recital Tuesday night, courtesy of Berkeley Chamber Performances, reprised its Old First Concerts program of a couple months back.
For a packed audience in the ballroom of the Berkeley City Club (more chairs were needed, and obtained), the ensemble and two guests, clarinetist Jeff Anderle and didgeridoo player Stephen Kent, presented a quartet of pieces divided by wild extremes of geography and united by the intensity of their colors and the vividness of their gestures.
More
By Michelle Dulak Thomson
In a Bay Area music scene crammed full of resolute, relentless eclectics, the Del Sol Quartet stands out less for packing bewilderingly various elements into its programs than for doing it with such ease and stylishness. The Del Sols’ grand mélange of a recital Tuesday night, courtesy of Berkeley Chamber Performances, reprised its Old First Concerts program of a couple months back.
For a packed audience in the ballroom of the Berkeley City Club (more chairs were needed, and obtained), the ensemble and two guests, clarinetist Jeff Anderle and didgeridoo player Stephen Kent, presented a quartet of pieces divided by wild extremes of geography and united by the intensity of their colors and the vividness of their gestures.
More
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