"WEEBLE WOBBLE invites the viewer to think as well as to enjoy what she is doing. In this work, Smith has placed herself in the desert surrounded by beautiful cacti and utilizes three different sized bobbling objects that respond to her movements like the toy punching bags kids once played with. Two look like space age capsules – one large, the other small – and the third is shaped like a large musical gourd with an antenna. They make one smile, but the film is intriguingly hypnotic. Smith’s movements and the camera work mirror the wobbling of her “props” and I found myself asking why these objects and why in the desert. Answer: why not? Weeble Wobble is visually beautiful and seeing Smith move within that environment is a treat."
-Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle | December 8th, 2021
Read the full article here: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/los-angeles-dance-festival-international-2021-concludes-with-a-powerful-program-c/
"At the start of the piece the camera pans up past the parched earth and resting nude bodies. Then without warning the location changes to a lakeside marked with leafless trees hiding from view parts of the dancers lithe bodies. The use of chairs, sofas and makeshift construction are resting places for the languorous and very human Birds of Paradise. A young woman in red toile, blue eye shadowed men, soon the costumes begin to get more creative and outrageous. White soundscapes, ruffles, animal-like movements and preening bodies in highly hued plumage covers the dancers faces as they work. It’s this disorder, spangles, netting that puts color on the parched earth. The white soundscape becomes a chanting that instigates the birdlike creatures to fall in line and fade into the night. This is not dance per se, but takes dancers to do the movement, yet it is a feast for the eyes."
-Joanne DiVito for LA Dance Chronicle | June 8, 2021
Checkout the full review here: www.ladancechronicle.com/brockus-shift-west-residency-helps-women-choreographers-bloom-after-pandemic/
"Smith speaks about how many of us feel as if the entire world is on fire, driving us inside, and leaving us to look inward for a path to renewal.
Smith chose a burned-out landscape to film Pyriscence, dressed in a long white dress, signaling purification, with Greenberg wearing a floral patterned sarong style skirt, a nod to rejuvenation. Smith’s movement is primarily slow pace, restive, reflective and loving. Throughout this beautiful film she ponders the situation around her, longs for what has been lost and how to move forward."
-Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle | Oct 20, 2020
Check out the full review here: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/week-three-of-la-dance-festival-2020-best-thus-far/
"Though her movements are simple, the rocking is enhanced by quick panning shots, which distort the direction of her body, often making it appear as though she is falling off of the hill. The disorientation knocks the viewer for a loop, intentionally disrupting and upending the choreography, similarly to Sauma’s Coalesce. Sixth Sense however more solidly reflects an altered state of mind and a dizzying sense of self."
-Lara J. Altunian for LA Dance Chronicle. Aug 6, 2020
Read the full review here: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/the-virtual-la-dance-festival-showcases-quarantines-most-necessary-skill-adaptability/
"The latter dance film, Cavernous Consciousness (Charlotte Katherine Dance Company), as its title suggests, depicts one whose fate is trapped in a cave that has to fight through fate physically, is portrayed through various angles. Like life, where you can zoom in on the conditions of human existence through physicality,〈Mind in a Cave〉is a simple subject, using a mirror as a prop and contained variety."
-Kim Chae-Hyun I Editor-in-Chief of Dance Webzine.
Translated from Korean by: Hyosun Choi
"Delicate spins paired with Zac Greenberg’s deep bass melodies invoke a calm ambience, occasionally disrupted by slightly erratic movements embodying moments of realization within an ongoing thought process. As the music’s pace quickens, so does her waltz, which transitions into pauses full of outstretched arms, hand-staring, and close-ups on the dancer’s face. One of Virtual LADF’s longer pieces, there is a repetitiveness to the routine, which works well, considering the number’s overall message. One final movement features Smith lying on the floor while hugging the instrument that kept her flowing throughout the work, personifying what might be an epiphany or peaceful mental surrender — a satisfying conclusion."
-Lara J. Altunian for LA Dance Chronicle | Aug 6, 2020
Read the full review here: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/the-virtual-la-dance-festival-showcases-quarantines-most-necessary-skill-adaptability/
" Warm light, wistful glances and strong bonds between the performers create a comforting contrast to the rest of the lineup, emphasizing the general feelings many of us have been craving during the pandemic: closeness and unity."
-Lara J. Altunian for LA Dance Chronicle | Aug 6, 2020
Read the full review here: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/the-virtual-la-dance-festival-showcases-quarantines-most-necessary-skill-adaptability/
"With extensions for days, classical gestures, and magical acting, finally something joyful and soulful in the often bogged down,
avantgarde world of modern dance." -Amber Adams for BroadwayWorld.com I May 2, 2019.
Read the full review here: https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/BWW-Review-LA-DANCE-FESTIVAL-FRINGE-FRIDAY-at-The-Diavolo-Space-20190502
"Each châinés was followed by captivating looks upward, as the women leaned on one another, then extended their arms and cupped their hands as though attempting to grab the ethereal. Theirs was by far the most heartwarming of the evening."
-Lara J. Altunian for LA Dance Chronicle I Apr 30, 2019
Read the full review here: https://www.ladancechronicle.com/fringes-opening-night-reveals-an-edgier-side-to-la-dance/
"Together, they seamlessly partnered through the space, lifting and melting into one another. There was a movement theme of imbalance and falling that moved the piece forward and carried with it an emotional drive that was not overdone, but instead read honest and visceral," - Beth Megill for LA Dance Review
Full review of WHDF: https://ladancereview.com/2016/08/27/powerful-start-to-the-west-hollywood-dance-festival/