The New York Times

July 31st, 2006

by Jennifer Dunning

 

Keith A. Thompson danced with Trisha Brown for nine years, and there was something of her whim-of-the-wind loose-bodiedness and spring to the pieces Mr. Thompson’s danceTactics Performance Group presented at Dance Theater Workshop on Friday night. But what made the program so exhilarating was the choreography’s simplicity and directness. This was an evening of dance that lived up to the promise of its title, “Without Pretense.”
 
Created in the last two years, the six pieces suggested in their range of moods and themes that Mr. Thompson was laying out a variety of choreographic impulses. But the dances had a similar authority, in both style and emotional tone, perhaps in part because of the certainty of his engagingly individual dancers, who looked so thoroughly at home in each of the pieces.
 
“JumpCut,” a male quartet to music by Robert Een, was an easy-moving introduction to Mr. Thompson’s choreographic world. “Razor Principle,” also for four men, added a slightly erotic tinge to the airy mix.
 
“Merge,” a dance for two women and two men performed to music by N. B. Aldrich, opened out that world into a darker, more spacious realm. And “Vignettes: A History of …,” a group dance performed to Pergolesi, introduced a signature move in Mr. Thompson’s choreography in which bodies fold supplely in on themselves.
 
Mr. Thompson proved equally adept at overt drama and comedy. His “Remembering Your Paradoxical Whisper,” to music by Mr. Aldrich based on compositions by Ryuichi Sakamoto, was a nuanced, well-plotted exploration of urgent emotional divides between an individual, danced by the eloquent Sara Roer, and four others.
 
“Big Love,” danced to Etta James, Otis Redding, Mozart, Handel and Ernesto Lecuona, was a big, hilarious mess of a pajama party without a single wasted bit of silliness. Nicole Pope stood out for her bossy, goofy performing in a full-company cast that also included Robbie Cook, Gabriel Forestieri, Megan Mazarick, Jennifer Morley, Daniel Puneky, Ms. Roer, Ben Wegman, Daniel Zook and the lithe Billy Smith. Katrina Mauer designed the evening’s scene-setting lighting.

Phillyist

July 1, 2007

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

 

Following Popkin and a brief intermission, danceTactics took the stage. Their piece, “JumpCut,” was truly the
highlight of the evening. The quartet of dancers showed a sort of consistent virtuosity that even some of the
best-known companies in the world sometimes lack: there wasn’t one missed step, one drop, one slip, one
miscount. The four (really, really attractive) men onstage moved in perfect synchrony with one another, almost
always touching, but never in a sexual way, and displaying the incredible power and strength that male
dancers possess and female dancers, by nature of both physiology and stigma, do not. It was truly beautiful to
watch.

The New York Times

May 20, 2008

Gia Kourlas

 

Keith A. Thompson’s years dancing for Trisha Brown resonate in “JumpCut,” his muscular, silky quartet for the danceTactics Performance Group. Heated emotions flicker below a fluid surface, as skeins of understated, virtuosic movement unfurl to Robert Een’s moody score.

offoffoff.com Dance Review

May 21, 2008

Quinn Batson

 

danceTactics performance group — the name manages to describe the quartet of Sho Ikushima, Ernesto Mancebo, Daniel Puneky and Daniel Walczak without conveying their sheer ease and flow, choreographed by Keith A. Thompson. “JumpCut” is not choppy or chopped-up at all, with plenty of capoeria and smooth lifts and apparently effortless acrobatics from nowhere, as in a moment of what looks like a reversed filmclip when Ikushima manages to roll across the floor and “fall” up into the arms of the others. Really good composed acoustic music by Robert Een, full of string bass and Brazilian flavor, complements the really good dancing.

offoffoff.com Dance Review
March 6, 2009
Quinn Batson

 

Keith A. Thompson’s JumpCutput a nicely active cap on the evening, with the well-matched crew of Chris DelPorto, Jeff Jacobs, Daniel Puneky and Dan Walczak dancing the piece well. There is plenty of smooth lifting and more capoeira flavor, with small men moving big and fluid. The opening music has a circular feel as does much of the movement. The energy flow is continual and strong, with no real breaks other than two sections with spotlit circles, the first like a performance circle for each to show off and the second like a conversation circle for pairs to interact.