“Summer Spendors” is a smash! Oregon Arts Watch‘s Bob Hicks raves “…this is one of the most appealing dance programs I’ve seen in months…virtuoso work by the company’s 10 dancers…an astonishingly tight ensemble. What’s special is that that they work so well together and yet also project such strikingly individual personalities…this group nails it.”
Willamette Week’s Aaron Spencer agrees, saying, “The annual summer show from NW Dance Project, Portland’s standout contemporary chamber company, is a sea of airy turns and dreamlike reflection. The four pieces, two of them world premieres, have notable similarities in style and approach, even though they were created by four different choreographers. If you can’t catch the entire show, know that the Summer Splendors program is unique among Portland dance shows in that you can watch bits of it through the studio’s open windows. The sun is still out, and plenty of passersby on North Mississippi Avenue do. NW Dance Project all but encourages it.”
Horizon Times notes “It is a beautiful space, the evening light gently illuminating through the windows…An existential exploration of the mind, the body and where the two connect. Where they then connect with another body…intensity shifts and we watch as the dancers find strange ways to develop and evoke connection with each other…a moving meditation on support…These works seem to all have a fluid connection…The strength and flexibility of the dancers, along with the personality that is presented through the movements, and the way this translates into the interactions between dancers were the highlights of the night.”