Rush Hour (2016)
Choreography: Larry Keigwin
Music: Adam Crystal

Rush Hour is choreographed by Larry Keigwin and set to Murmuration by Adam Crystal. The inspirational launching point for Rush Hour is a sculpture by George Segal that captures urban pedestrians, exhausted and eyes downturned, during their daily commute. Rush Hour explores the daily activity of a crowded New York City sidewalk, combining pedestrian movement with explosive athleticism. Inspired by the grid of New York City’s streets, the work has dancers traversing and crossing the stage in ritualistic, mesmerizing motifs as they compete for attention and attempt to get ahead amid the fast-paced city.

“Never has Larry Keigwin’s choreography looked better than it did on the Taylor dancers in the world premiere of his Rush Hour last night. The non-stop, push-pull of his vocabulary set to the accessible score by Adam Crystal that included minimalist influences and a pleasing use of percussion had the dancers, well yes, rushing in every direction and encountering those who were trying to stop them. And there was plenty of Taylor vocabulary within the choreography, too. It all meshed extremely well to make a very high-powered whole. Clifton Taylor’s lighting design of white squares on the stage and Fritz Masten’s handsome costumes in gray and black that complimented the dancers’ lines added much to the success of this new piece.” – Haglunds Heel, 2016

The second-night audience rose to its feet to cheer Keigwin’s Rush Hour, and no wonder. The brilliantly designed work, set to a commissioned score by Adam Crystal, gets your pulse racing. It makes use of all sixteen Taylor dancers, without foregrounding any one of them for long. Fritz Masten has costumed them in interestingly designed black and gray attire. Clifton Taylor’s lighting includes a bit of fog, beams angling down the rear wall, and a horizontal bar of lamps (also near the back) suspended above the stage. The floor is white and divided into sections. The dark rear of the space swallows up any who congregate there. Larry Keigwin’s Rush Hour. Keigwin deploys these superb dancers to convey the pressure and speed of city rush hour. They walk, run, and leap this way and that; maybe each is on his/her own track to the L train. Often they find themselves herding. They arrive from the dimness at the back and retreat to it. At various times, all or some of them freeze, collecting themselves amid the tumult. – Deborah Jowitt, DanceBeat, 2016

Choreographer Larry Keigwin enjoyed a huge success with RUSH HOUR, his stunningly energetic and visually eye-popping new work that employs all sixteen of the Taylor dancers. – Philip Gardner, Oberon’s Grove, 2016