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In September 2020 and July 2021 LJD performed outdoors on the street during the Covid pandemic. These were uplifting and meaningful performances for the Company as most other events were being held virtually. In this Dance Informa article Lydia and 3 other Artistic Directors ( Robert Battle of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jonathan Stafford of New York City Ballet and Joshua Bergasse a NYC based theater choreographer) discuss the impact of the pandemic.
NEW YORK SEASON 2019
From Marina Harss, dance writer. Her articles and reviews appear in The New Yorker and The New York Times. Posted on June 7, 2019
“What a pleasure to see Craig Hall dance again at last night’s performance by Lydia Johnson Dance (through June 7 at Ailey Citigroup Theater). Here he is with the company’s Laura Di Orio, in Johnson’s “Night and Dreams,” set to 6 of my favorite Schubert songs, including “Du Bist di Ruh” (you are rest and peace). Johnson is adept at capturing the beauty and pathos in music—her musical choices are well-considered, and it’s clear that she really “feels” the emotion contained in the notes. She translates harmony and texture into a narrative of human intimacy and empathy. Her dancers really look at each other and touch each other sincerely. You get the sense they are helping each other along in the effort of getting through life, with grace and gravity. Humanity is the starting point. Hall has always been a quietly intense dancer, with a tendency to lose himself in the music and in the dynamics of partnering. This was a particularly poignant moment.”
From Mary Cargill, Dance View Times
"Her quiet but penetrating choreography uses the music in unexpected ways, and her seamless choreography combines a solid but not flashy ballet technique (her dancers have pristine arabesques) combined with a relaxed, almost casual upper body which creates a conversational feel, as if the dancers were talking with the music.
There are gleams of emotion in many of her dances, and "Clearing" featured three couples, Laura Di Orio and Chazz Fenner-McBride, Katie Martin-Lohiya and Jacob Taylor, and Min Kim and Malik Williams, whose pas de deux illuminated the subtle variations in Glass's music. Johnson used her small corps well to comment on and support the couples. The final movement was stunning, as the women, formerly in white tunics, changed into black leotards and formed silhouetted lines as the movements rippled backwards and forwards through the group, a haunting and memorable picture of a community.
In "Night and Dreams"Johnson used a recording by Ian Bostridge, whose light clear tenor gave the songs a floating, otherworldly quality, a comment on the emotions, not a cry of pain, and Johnson's choreography reflected that timeless, hard won serenity. Craig Hall danced in this work; always an impressive dancer, his quiet and grounded nobility blended well with the company. He was understated but magnetic."
From Philip Gardner, Oberon's Grove
"During Night and Dreams, an extraordinary atmosphere of silent attentiveness filled the hall as the combination of Ian Bostridge's haunting voice, the poetic choreography, and the serene dancing drew us away from the madding world and into Schubert's sanctuary of illusive romance and tenderness. This ballet for me blooms from one particular line in 'Du bust die ruh', the first of the songs: "You are the longing, and what makes it cease." These words stay with me throughout the piece.
Night and Dreams features a principal couple who weave their ongoing pas de deux like a silver thread thru the entire ballet. Impeccably danced by Laura Di Orio and guest artist Craig Hall their recurring duet passages were breathtaking to watch, and the entire audience seemed spellbound by the beauty and tenderness of their partnership.
Laura and Craig established a deep rapport very early in the rehearsal process; responding to the ebb and flow of passion in the Schubert songs - and the evocative colors of the tenor's voice - they savored the ardor and the urgency that Lydia's choreography embodies in this, one of her most moving works.
In Undercurrent the music provides three contrasting dance movements In the first, a feeling of bleakness seems all too well-suited to the current world situation. The music is dark and driven, with strokes of violent chords and an underlying sense of terror. There is a feeling of impending doom.
The second Górecki dance is the setting for some of the most emotional choreography of the evening. The music is pensive, uneasy, eerily mysterious. For all that, there's also a subtle feeling of hope. The dancing here - from the entire Company - was committed and resonant.....in the final section the community revels in the sheer joy of dancing, having shaken off - at least for a now - the prevailing gloom of the times we live in.....Ah, the sheer beauty of it all."
From Barnett Serchuk Broadway World
"Trio Sonata, set to George Frideric Handel, has a very austere look, yet the dancing is anything but. Johnson has seen the music and transferred it to stage terms with formations that delightfully collapse and then pick up, the music always pushing the dancers to take just another gentle step. Nothing is prolonged, everything is set, but dancers are allowed to bring that something extra and unique to their interpretations....
A repeat of Undercurrent from last year's residency brought out all the spikiness and quirkiness of the Henry Górecki music. Just like last year, I put down my paper and pen and enjoyed what I saw. How often does one come away from a performance with a smile on a hot summer night? On this night I did.
I wish others in the dance world would take notice of Johnson's work: she knows her mind-credible because it makes all the sense in the world without touching on any one theme, compelling because it makes you sit up and notice; and enticing, because you just want to see more!"
