Keith Powers reviews Mark Morris Dance Group for Boston Herald

Keith Powers reviewed the opening night performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group for Saturday's Boston Herald.Here is a snippet:

"'Petrichor,' for eight female dancers, was the real deal. Set to the impressionistic second Heitor Villa-Lobos string quartet, the four sections filled the stage like a mystical nocturne. The dancers wore alluring diaphanous nighties and the movement, rather than centered onstage, moved in lines from right to left or vice versa, suggesting a story line but never revealing one. In fact, much of 'Petrichor' was like a dream - filled with stark images of clarity that quickly vanished or morphed. One signature gesture recurred: a kind of surfing pose, with arms extended horizontally, the body poised for action, but merely rocking in place."

Read Mark Morris Group's 'Petrichor' is dream come true.

Boston Globe review: "Darkness and Light with Mark Morris"

 
Amber Star Merkens (foreground) dances in last
night's world premiere of Petrichor

Thea Singer's review of last night's opening night performance by the Mark Morris Dance Group is in late editions of the print edition, but it is online. Here is an excerpt:

"'Petrichor,' a world premiere for eight women, is danced to Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’s 'String Quartet No. 2,' for violin, viola, and cello. The title describes the scent arising after a rain, especially on dry ground. It’s apropos, because the dancers seem to dance not on but between the notes, as if dodging raindrops."

Read all of Thea Singer's review.

The Mark Morris Dance Group performs through this Sunday at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Mark Morris talks with Globe about world premiere

Laura Collins-Hughes spoke with choreographer Mark Morris for Boston Sunday Globe about his new Celebrity Series of Boston commission, Petrichor:

"I love making up titles. You know, it's interesting because it makes people tempted to think that something has a relevance that it either does or doesn't have. There's a dance we do called 'A Lake,' and I just called it 'A Lake' because it occurred to me that I should call a dance 'A Lake.' There’s no lake in the dance. But, you know, 'petrichor,' it's a fabulous word that I'd never heard before. The dance is, first of all, it's for all women. There's eight women in the dance, and it's this amazing piece of music that’s very under-known and a very tricky, beautiful piece of music. And, you know, Villa-Lobos was very devoted to his Brazilian heritage. He says that all of his music is Brazilian; it all contains the rain forest. I’m not Brazilian, the dance isn’t a rain forest, and the title seemed to work."

Read the complete article.

Mark Morris Dance Group dances October 14-17 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. On October 14, Petrichor will receive its world premiere performance at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

World premiere of Mark Morris' Petrichor

Choreographer Mark Morris

It's always fun to anticipate a Mark Morris work you've never seen before. "What does he have up his sleeve this time? Will I have to stop myself from laughing out loud? Will his nack for filling his work with bona fide communitas make me all teary (again)?"

This time around it's your friendly neighborhood Celebrity Series that has arranged for this delicious sense of anticpation. Mark Morris’ newest work, Petrichor, is a work for 8 female dancers and is commissioned by the Celebrity Series of Boston (ahem) in honor of President and Executive Director Martha H. Jones’ 25th anniversary with the Celebrity Series.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines petrichor as "A pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions." As a gardener, the title intrigues me. As a Mark Morris fan, this is like waiting for the first day of summer while sitting in math class. It just can't come soon enough.

Petrichor gets its world premiere on October 14 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre when the Mark Morris Dance Group returns to Boston. We couldn't have done it without the generous funding of The Little Family Foundation.