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Unmasking A Brilliant Performance
Rebecca Rice Dance Co. Performs at Merce Cunningham Theater
Rebecca Rice Dance (Photo: Lois Greenfield)
“The highly respected choreographer, teacher, performer tweaks classical ballet and traditional modern dance forms with an imaginative contemporary eye and a keen sense of musicality,” is just one description of the famed dancer Rebecca Rice.
Rice’s repertoire of experience is sensational and extensive. She grew up training alongside her grandmother, where she learned the ins and outs of classical ballet and Denishawn dance styles. Later, she shifted to modern dance, working with Bill Evans, Mark Morris, the Limon School and the Utah Repertory Dance Theater to name a few. Performing for “Marion Rice Denishawn” for 30 years and teaching members of the Boston Ballet for 17 years simply add to both her talent as a performer and the grace by which she shares it with others. She has choreographed her own solo performances as well as helped to create works for the Boston Ballet II, and the Boston Ballet Company’s very first workshops.
The latter accomplishments that make up her career bring to light no surprise that she is credited with the creation of her very own dance company, Rebecca Rice Dance. And, after a four year interval without any performances from Rice, she is now set to perform in NYC with her company. Fans, dance-lovers and those who enjoy the beauty of the arts can expect to see an exquisite performance that combines the intricacies and specificities of ballet matched with a more free-spirited and flowing art form of modern dance performance. Five separate works will be showcased, including two premieres entitled Unmasked, performed to the accompanying music of JS Bach, and Verge, a solo performance to be danced by Mariah Steele to the music of Boston composer Christos Koulendros. Revivals will include Busy Blues, Bach Dances, and Suite for Solo Cello. Guest musicians for the performance will include Sebastian Baverstam and Constantine Finehouse.
Rice’s selfless acts of providing her talent at the hands of others has helped develop her company to what it is today. From teaching at MIT to creating choreography for her own company and other productions that she has helped to create, to being given the Best of Boston awards by both the Boston Herald and the Boston Phoenix, she has used her gift of talent to help others find theirs. The inspiring performance of her company will show the depths of the knowledge and life that she has breathed into it, and should spark the spirits of all of those in attendance.