Thursday was a great day for dance at the Ringling International Arts Festival. All the performances were sold out and the performers received standing ovations from very enthusiastic crowds. And this is just the beginning of the festival.
Richard Storm of the Herald Tribune’s blog 24Seven had the following to say about María Pagés and Aszure Barton…
Compania María Pagés
“If all dance companies were as expert as that of Maria Pages, critics would have very little to do. In “Flamenco & Poetry,” the thoroughly astonishing program presented at the Ringling International Arts Festival on Thursday, Pages and her superb group of dancers and musicians from Spain displayed artistry and skill at a level seldom achieved, much less witnessed in performance.”
Aszure Barton
“As performed by young dancers at the peak of their powers, the various episodes of this sprawling work by Barton, while not obviously linear in their impact, were both sweetly appealing and breathtaking in their cumulative effect.
Here, too, production values were superb, including atmospheric lighting and the mix of wildly diverse music. It is hard to imagine how these two companies, even with the help of the FSU Center’s expert technical team, were able to bring these works to near perfection in such a brief period of residence.”
Call the box office at (941) 360-7399 or visit the festival website to get your tickets.
