What Counts: Dancers Sarah Pon, Laura Di orio, Katie Lohiya
This past June, the Maplewood-based Lydia Johnson Dance company presented a selection of originally choreographed performances at the Ailey Citigroup Theater in Manhattan.
The reviews were something to write home about, starting with The New York Times:
Among the tasteful, finely wrought works that Lydia Johnson Dance presented at Ailey Citigroup Theater over the weekend was the premiere “What Counts.” What seems to count most for Ms. Johnson is music. The four pieces on the program all showed uncommon skill at matching ballet movement to music, both at the large scale of structure and in small, felicitous details.
Dance View Times called the LJD company “musically incisive and nuanced” and Johnson’s tastes “eclectic.” The review continued, “Her company wears its ballet training lightly, with soft, rounded arms, controlled movements and unmannered, unexaggerated lower bodies.” Of the piece “Giving Way,” DVT reviewer Mary Cargill wrote, “Like all her dances, one view is not really enough to absorb the subtle musical nuances and underlying dramatic grace notes.”
The website Oberon’s Grove enthused: “In a Gotham dance scene that is abundantly rich in dance and dancers, Lydia Johnson and her troupe bring integrity, sincerity, and a human connection to their performances, presenting work that reaches the receptive viewer on a personal level.”
Read the full reviews here:
NYTimes: Review: ‘What Counts,’ a Lydia Johnson Dance Work, Attends to the Music
Oberon’s Grove: Lydia Johnson Dance: NY Season 2015
Lydia Johnson is the director of Lydia Johnson Dance (LJD), the acclaimed dance school based in Maplewood. Fall Registration is now open. All levels welcome. Classes begin September 8. Go to
https://www.lydiajohnsondance.
