Press - Karen Stokes Dance

Links to recent press:

WHAT'S BEEN SAID . . .

Excerpts on Karen Stokes Dance:

"Secondary Colors is not a secondary work by an means. It is fiercely collaborative it all ways: music and movement, music and movement with visuals. Stokes’ company is dancing better than ever, even relishing in the pregnant presence of Lauren Cohen and Erica Okoronkwo, who’s impending motherhood has given their steps an added bounce. It’s given the entire troupe an extra bounce, too, not that it hasn’t been in evidence before. Bounce and elan are just two of Karen Stokes’ many specialties. Nothing secondary about that at all." Dance Source Houston 2011
"The premiere of choreographer Karen Stokes and composer Bill Ryan’s The Secondary Colorsin Houston was not only a chance to hear some first-rate musicians play Ryan’s strikingly original score, but also a gathering of the finest contemporary dancers in the city. The piece is a great success, sophisticated and imaginative, unlike any other dance I’ve seen." Texas, A Concept 2011
“Karen Stokes is down with a video camera, is a wiz at Home Economics (check out those cool, grunge Renaissance Faire gowns and corsets in Distreston), loves to sing in a Laurie Anderson kind of way, and has more quirky moves thana guilty student caught by the principal . . . she is ripe with fun . . . the evening passed by in a blink, which says something lovely about the pleasantness of the enterprise.” David Groover, Dance Source Houston 2008
“Normally an artist is careful to avoid recycling ideas. With The Recycle Club, Karen Stokes reclaimed her own. All was sorted and in the right bins for an evening teeming with clever fun.” Nichelle Strzepek, Dance Source Houston 2009
“Karen Stokes’ Prelude to Three Temperaments blasts open the quirky world of human gesture . . . the piece plays like a careful study of eccentricity – charming, deep with delight, and elegantly rendered by these three diverse movers.” Nancy Wozny, Dance Source Houston 2007
HOMETOWN was, simply put, brilliant. The combinations of spoken and sung dialuge coupled with the ryhtym, line, story , color, and sheer unceasing inventiveness prouduced a stage presence in which one could revel . . . I was floored.” Mark Powell, Former Director of Uniquely Houston at the Hobby Center for Performing Arts 2006
“Stokes has mastered the art of making something special from what she’s given . . . Portables shows the depth of her inventiveness.” Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle 2008
“Based on a bold, rhythmic score created by Stokes, Green plays out in strokes broad enough to capture the attention of passers by.” Nancy Wozny, Houston Chronicle 2008
“Olka Module, a work from Houston, was ultra-cool and utlra-amusing. Wearing black sunglasses, Karen Stokes was clad in a silver skirt and Brent Smith in a matching silver shirt. After prancing around the stage, they alighted behind two microphone stands and sang a quite credible rendition of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,” from Oklahoma . . . the tour force came as they sang backward, the music ending with “Oh” . . . they ended with a delirious dance.” Margaret Putnam, Dallas Morning News 2005
“The highlight of Program B, The Pronoun Pieces has an enigmatic edge . . . the force of the section comes in Stokes’ agile use of stage space and shifting groupings.” Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle 2005
“One of the most inventive and experimental pieces of the evening (“Traffic” performed at Dance/USA national conference) was choreographer Karen Stokes incorporating dance, acting and prose into one performance in an attempt to po9ke fun at the instanity of Houston’s heavy traffic, aggression of Houston’s drivers and gas-guzzling Suburbans.” Clara Riggs, The Daily Cougar 2009
“Karen’s work is intelligent, challenging but accessible, interesting to watch, exciting, and surprising . . . I don’t know if Karen would like this, but she is like a Twyla Tharp. You see an evolution, her work is highly intellectual, yet witty, and she has different vocabulary which makes it time after time an interesting evening of dance theater.” Toby Mattox, Former Director of the Society for Performing Arts in Houston in interview about Hometown 2006
“Stokes’ multi-media work refuses to be pigeonholed in a category of the past – which is exactly what we need more of in the future.” Lauren Kern, Houston Press 1999
“HOMETOWN is a pastiche of expertly woven dances, songs and spoken texts that reflect familiar themes in unexpected ways . . . Stokes’ quirky movement vocabulary is often angular and robotic – there’s a lot of freezing in place – but it’s not predictable. There’s plenty of joyful leaping and nimble tumbling too.” Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle 2003