Do You Have a Coin?

I go to a number of kinds of dance shows, and two of them are very similar to each other.  Dance NOW! Miami (DNM) has been around for 23 years, and is run by Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini.  Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami (DDTM) has been around for about 10 years and is run by Carlos Guerra and Jennifer Kronenberg Guerra (they're married, and they met when both were at Miami City Ballet).   Both groups are a blend of ballet and modern dance.

For some years, I had the impression that DNM had better choreography, which was mostly older pieces, and DDTM had better dancers.  DDTM's common choreographer has been Yanis Eric Pikieris, whose father, Yanis Pikieris, also choreographs.

But I've changed my mind about which organization has which greater strengths.  Yanis Eric is getting better by the year, and whether or not I was right about who had better dancers, they seem equally magnificent now.

Last Sunday, I went to a DNM show in downtown Coral Gables.  It was a bit of a mess, because they were having some sort of Orange Bowl related event on Miracle Mile, so the street was closed, and parking was not easy.  Nor was it cheap.  But if I had wanted things to be easy and cheap, I would have stayed home.

DNM called its show "Random Patterns of Falling Leaves."  The week before, it was presented in Broward County.  On December 10, it was presented at a performance hall that had been a church.  Of incidental interest, Michael Eidson had taken a long term lease on this building, and he used it for performances like this one.  I don't know what Mr Eidson does or did for his career, but his wife, who had been a nurse, was in the medical school class just before mine.

The choreography for these pieces was spectacular.  And each piece was choreographed by Hannah Baumgarten, Diego Salterini, or both of them.  I hope it occurs to them that they have no need to present shows choreographed by anyone else.  The music was a mix -- essentially medleys -- and the costumes, which were very captivating, and fit the autumn theme perfectly, were by Haydee Morales, Maria Morales, Floyd Nash, and Marilyn Skow.  I know nothing about any of them, except they did a magnificent job, both of designing costumes, and keeping in mind the interplay of the people wearing those costumes.  There were not many dancers altogether -- one in the first piece (of four), and seven in the last piece -- and they were not familiar to me from past DNM shows, but they really could not have been better.

Two pieces, by the way, were from 2005, one from 2011, and one a "world premier."  DDTM's pieces are often new or recent, too, because seemingly most of them are choreographed by Yanis Eric, and he doesn't look like he's older than 20s.  Actually, he looks like a teenager, but I'm sure he's not.

Do you have that coin?  If DNM and DDTM are performing on the same night, flip the coin.  If they're not, go to both.  I feel very sure you won't be sorry.  The sizeable majority of DDTM's performances are at South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC), way down in Cutler Bay.  DNM performs in different places in Dade and Broward.  I did hear one unsettling rumor.  DDTM gets a lot of backing, encouragement, and performance opportunity from Eric Fliss, who is the impresario of SMDCAC.  The rumor I heard -- very disappointing, if true -- is that Eric has a contract with DDTM that prevents them from performing anywhere within 20 miles of SMDCAC.  That probably includes the Sactuary of the Arts in Coral Gables.  I know that DDTM is appreciative, if not grateful, for Eric's support, and it would cost him nothing to loosen that leash.  They like performing there, and the audience likes attending those performances.  If Eric's concern is a less than full schedule, all he'd have to do is ask DDTM to add dates there.

By the way, so you understand both of these local groups better, not only are they top flight, but DDTM paid their performers, even to participate in video streamed performances, during the worst of the pandemic, and DNM paid one of their dancers despite the fact that he had an Achilles heel injury, and couldn't dance for a year.  But there was nothing else he could do, so they paid him.  You can send me a list of the organizations/businesses/corporations you know that are that devoted to the people who work for them.