ROMP invites the audience to be part of the show at the Joyce SoHo
Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer St. between Houston & Prince Sts.
February 17-19, $24, 8:00
212-242-0800
www.joyce.org
www.levydance.org
There has been a recent slew of dance productions that involve ticket holders becoming part of the experience, from being invited onstage to dance to David Dorfman’s Prophets of Funk at the Joyce and Alvin Ailey’s version of Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16 at City Center to having two dancers weave their way through the crowd on the floor in Maria Hassabi’s SHOW at the Kitchen. San Francisco–based company LEVYdance will employ a different method of bringing audience and performer together this weekend in its latest evening-length piece, ROMP. The dancers and audience members congregate at banquet tables on the stage, everyone immersed in the action. Thus, things can unfold immediately in front of you, under you, or on top of you as the company goes from floor to chair to table and back again, with the crowd encouraged to walk through the space as the show continues. The February 17 performance will be followed by a discussion with the cast and creators, while the February 18 performance will be videotaped by roaming cameramen, so be prepared to be in the picture if you go that night. Choreographer, dancer, and artistic director Benjamin Levy, who founded LEVYdance in 2002, is also holding ROMP classes in New York through February 23 at such locations as Dance New Amsterdam, Peridance, 100 Grand, and the Broadway Dance Center.