Recent Alum Silas Riener ’06 Dances His Way to Rave Reviews (news item)

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
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<p>[New</a> York Times Review](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/arts/dance/merce-cunningham-troupes-last-us-repertory-night-review.html?_r=3&ref=dance]New”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/arts/dance/merce-cunningham-troupes-last-us-repertory-night-review.html?_r=3&ref=dance)</p>

<p>Here’s a recent grad turning heads in the world of professional dance. This is what the New York Times wrote about Silas Riener ’06 and his current show:</p>

<p>“On Friday and Saturday the triple bill included “Pond Way” (1998), “RainForest” (1968) and “Split Sides” (2003). At each performance, toward the end of “Split Sides,” gasps attended an extraordinary solo danced by Silas Riener. As this marvel of both tautness and pliancy moved from position to position, often while changing balance on one leg, he must have done 15 successive acts that were physically astonishing and 50 that went beyond any choreographic precedent. Much of “Split Sides” is about maintaining equilibrium while the body is tilting one way or another: this solo takes that challenge to new virtuoso extremes, phenomenal in terms of sheer gymnastics as well as rhythm, shape and linear complexity.</p>

<p>It was created for another remarkable dancer, Jonah Bokaer, who danced it many times, superbly. But Cunningham, less than two years before he died, reworked it for Mr. Riener. This far-more-breathtaking version shows Mr. Riener to be one of the superlative performers of our day. . . . (continued)”</p>

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<p>For more information about Princeton’s program in dance and the arts in general, see:</p>

<p>[Welcome</a> - Lewis Center for the Arts](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/arts/]Welcome”>Lewis Center for the Arts - Princeton in service of the imagination)</p>

<p>[Dance</a> at Princeton - Lewis Center for the Arts](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/arts/arts_at_princeton/dance/]Dance”>Dance - Lewis Center for the Arts)
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