Matilda the Musical, the show about an uncannily – perhaps magically – brilliant child currently running at Area Stage Company in South Miami, is an ideal show for Giancarlo Rodaz, its director and designer. Rodaz, at 24 the youngest son of Area Stage’s founders John Rodaz and Maria Banda-Rodaz, has grown up telling stories onstage,…
Author: Jordan Levin
I've been writing about the arts in Miami since the early 90's, including 18 years at the Miami Herald, covering everything from experimental dance and performance to Cuban music and Latin pop.
Cuba, Color and Contradiction – Carl Juste and Photos of Paradise Lost in Nostalgia
The pictures tell the story in Cuba: Paradise Lost in Nostalgia. And like in a good painting, the more you look, the more you see. Colors practically explode – red, blue, green, yellow. There is exuberance – a woman in a flaring red dress dancing with men in the street under a glaringly bright blue…
As Good As it Gets – Seeing Theatre in London for the First Time
This is not Miami. But I can’t resist sharing impressions from my first experience of seeing theatre in London. Particularly The Hunt, a riveting new play at The Almeida, a small, highly regarded venue that’s roughly the equivalent of an Off Broadway theater. I’ve never seen acting of such intensity, depth and nuance, nor a…
Beautiful Brutality – Machismo and Femicide in Tania Perez-Salas’ “Macho Man XXI”
Tania Perez-Salas’s Macho Man XXI is relentless: an hour of visually gorgeous, physically gripping, emotionally grueling – even abusive – dance. After her company’s Saturday night performance at Miami Dade County Auditorium, presented by Fundarte, one woman said she was left longing for some kind of redemption; for the men to be punished, for the…
Like Life and Love. A review of Rosie Herrera’s “Carne Viva.”
Rosie Herrera’s Carne Viva at Miami Light Project last Thursday started with a deceptively static pose: dancer Simon Thomas-Train holding Ivonne Batanero overhead. But this is not a traditionally triumphant dance lift. His arms extend straight up, his hands gripping her armpits, while her arms reach directly out to the side, so that she becomes…
Body Power – Rosie Herrera’s “Carne Viva” Bares Body and Soul in Wynwood
For a dancer, flesh is power: content, identity, expression, being. In Catholicism – and romantic love – flesh is weak: temptation, vulnerability. Choreographer Rosie Herrera digs into those contradictions in Carne Viva, the first group piece her company has performed in Miami in years, showing at the Miami Light Project’s space in Wynwood Thursday through…
Forever War – Combat Hippies and Teo Castellanos Fight for Hope in “Amal”
Amal, the name of the ferocious theater piece from the Combat Hippies which I saw last Friday, means “hope” in Arabic. And this riveting, authentic original work supplies that in all kinds of ways. Combat Hippies and Amal are the latest creations from Teo Castellanos, the theater artist and teacher/mentor who, despite numerous awards and…
Funk it up ya! Cuba’s Cimafunk brings new groove to Miami
Cuba’s Cimafunk isn’t just the next force in Cuban music – he’s the new funk hero. A review of his Miami show.
She’s no FAKE – Carmen Pelaez’s true story of art and Cuban-American heart.
In Miami New Drama’s latest production, FAKE, author Carmen Pelaez takes on: art world politics (social, financial, ethnic), Cuban politics, cultural legacy, why art matters, how art is valued, who decides that value, who controls culture (Cuban, etc.), and – no biggie! – the nature of truth. Plus, since this is a play about Cuba,…
Talking about Dougla and Dance Theatre of Harlem
The next Dance Talk in the series I’ve been hosting for the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center is for the much anticipated return of Dance Theatre of Harlem, which made a big stir last year when the Center hosted the company’s return to Miami after almost two decades. We’ll explore the inspiration and background of…
