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Review: In 'Folds,' Caught Between Laughter and Grief
Ivy Baldwin's defiant and poignant work for four dancers at the Chocolate Factory Theater is the outcome of deeply considered collaboration.
“‘Keen [No. 1]“ is an emotionally charged work that, in just over an hour, transforms much of the Glass House property — from the area around the pond, to the house, to the vast front lawn — into a stage.”
“Baldwin is a collagist—a bit of absurdist humor here, a surge of violence there. She can be arch, but her new “Oxbow,” named for a bow-shaped lake formed by a meandering river, is suffused with sadness, and seems to continue a recent turn toward seriousness. Wade Cavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen’s set of twisted paper suggests the gnarled trees that come to menacing life in fairy tales, and Baldwin’s capricious imagination tries to find a way out.”
“… so smart and so well executed and so full of stimulating invitations for thought…”
The New York Times
Article: Her Longtime Dancer Died. Instead of Moving on, She Embraced Loss.
“This juxtaposition of angelic grace and violent rage suggests that women can feel a multiplicity of emotions and exist in multiple states of being simultaneously, thwarting the notion that women should fit into one particular mold. To be female is to be and feel many things. And in feeling female, feeling beyond the boundaries of ordinary American culture, we can escape the stereotypical perceptions of what it means to be a woman and define femininity on our own terms.”
Culturebot
“..most of us haven’t the resources, the depth of feeling, or the tenacity to create or witness a ceremony like this.”
“Keen [No. 2], through its depiction of the finer gradations of grief, awakens deep-seated emotions that we tend to tuck away. Baldwin and these strong women remind us that we’re not alone.”
“Baldwin’s company traverses a bridge between built and “natural” spaces, the present moment and the past, to create a multi-dimensional map of an attempt to live a good a life, but also to leave behind something worth remembering.”
“Baldwin’s work contains very human aspects, such as endearing, sometimes awkward interactions, and a sense of lightheartedness. The feeling of randomness is quickly subverted when the dancers move together in formation, or suddenly resemble a Rodin sculpture. The piece is quietly moving without any overt narrative.”
“Baldwin is only getting better.”
“Baldwin’s rich, sensitive, and thoughtful choreography and mise-en-scene will keep you more than interested and-probably better-eagerly grasping at tendrils of recognition that strafe off her lovely piece, leaving you in a rapt state of fascination and curiosity for the duration of the show.”
Culturebot