Rebecca Kelly Dance. - Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, New York, New York - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, Feb, 1995 by Robert Greskovic

Rebecca Kelly Dance billed its program at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse (October 27-28, 1994) as "New Ballet." Chamber-size ballet in a suitably scaled auditorium ideally inspires thoughts of London's Ballet Club and its Mercury Theatre in the 1930s. Rewarding ballet, history reminds us, doesn't arise solely from big budgets.

Unfortunately, the standards of the danse d'ecole, which choreographer Kelly so plainly invokes, failed to be met fully by this showing. The most rewarding of the program's offerings was Drums, a cheery parade for three men and three women. Set to a brightoned percussive score that sounds like a Brazilian carnival, this series of two-, three-, and six-dancer appearances has a freedom and confidence that were lacking in the program's other dances.

The sea is dark/The moon is tender, a premiere, had the luxury of live music. But, especially with the references to Ashton's Monotones made by Kelly's trio of men framing a solo woman, the riches of sure ballet schooling were largely absent.