she dreams in code - 2011
“The amalgam of formality and informality, of technique and rawness (sometimes wildness) in the work of the choreographer Liz Gerring is something rare. Her six dancers, all attractive, look purpose-bred. The intensity with which they all use their backs is particularly impressive, as is the accentuation they bring to very simple steps. Yet they look neither homogenized nor groomed. Though the way any one of them raises a limb often looks wholly unschooled, you later realize that each moves the very same way the next time, and that so do the others. What looked naïve proves to be precise.
…a beautifully poetic stream of video imagery by Willy Le Maitre as décor; individualized dimly blue costumes by Jillian Lewis; and a score by Michael J. Schumacher that, like Mr. Le Maitre’s video projections, covers a wide range of subjects and moods. Carolyn Wong’s lighting is marvelous…”
—Alastair Macaulay, New York Times, October 2011
"Liz Gerring’s she dreams in code began with enough velocity to lift even the most drained viewer out of a stupor, but it was the choreographer’s nimble and wise way with structure that kept us absorbed.
…She Dreams in Code achieves the farthest reach. It was hard not to feel an ache of recognition each time a pattern came into sharpest focus only as it was disappearing into something else."
4/5 stars
—Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times, October 2011
"Gerring relishes full-out movement and athleticism. Several strong motifs recurred, including an arabesque on a bent leg, torso tipped forward with one arm overhead, to form one long swooping line. It was not only the elongation of the body that was intriguing, but how the foot was stretched almost to its fullest, stopping just short of pointed toes. There was a freedom in those toes, seen in the hands as well, that encapsulated Gerring’s style—fully extended and modern."
—Susan Yung, Dance Magazine, October 2011
One thing that makes Gerring’s choreography so memorable is that she explores the possibilities of her thoughtfully designed phrases – archetypal outlines, attacked with force and headlong, risky momentum – before introducing new material. She brings one kinetic conversation to a conclusion, as it were, before broaching another topic. That gives her dances the expressive power and cohesiveness that’s missing from so much current modern dance...
Gerring’s movement choices positively revivify the modern dance lexicon with a freshness borne of expressive commitment, not acrobatic sensationalism. Although she maintains a fairly low profile, Gerring is one of those dance makers that connoisseurs appreciate and the general public should get to know better…
Gus Solomons jr, Solomons-Says.com, October 17, 2011
New York Times Best of 2010
“Mulling over the dances of 2010 my mind flies first to three modern-dance works I saw this spring, all by female choreographers. In March, at the Baryshnikov Arts Center the choreographer Liz Gerring presented the premiere of Lichtung/Clearing. I watched this twice; both occasions showed powerfully the world she had created onstage. Was it a wildlife study? Was it a psychodrama? Possibly both. Arresting from the outset was the seven dancers’ blend of precision and wild looseness. The entire physique of each performer looked intensely motivated.”
—Alastair Macaulay, New York Times, December 2010
Lichtung/Clearing - 2010
‘You watch “Lichtung/Clearing” much as you do Cunningham’s “RainForest” (1968): a drama where the feral, the primitive and the civilized all interconnect. Steps keep dissolving into through-the-body gestures, and every part of the physique is given a fresh inflection. There are other choreographers from whom Ms. Gerring has learned, notably Trisha Brown (those peripheries!). But Ms. Gerring seems unencumbered by any such debts. Her immediacy is her own; “Lichtung/Clearing”, which I recall as both psychodrama and zoological reportage, is a major achievement.’
—Alastair Macaulay, New York Times, March 2010
Montauk - 2009
“The choreographer’s unerring intelligence at organizing her powerful movement motifs is palpable. Strong, linear geometric patterns in space organize rhythmic foot patterns that have the buoyant lilt of folk dance. Simple, unmannered movement masks its technical challenge, but galvanizes the dancers’ concentration and energizes their unaffected dancing.”
–Gus Solomons Jr, Gay City News
When You Lose Something You Can’t Replace - 2006
“an unabashedly abstract piece of choreography. abstraction is so central to the logic of this work that it’s impossible to take for granted.”
—Alison D'Amato, The Dance Insider
“Gerring and Barr’s collaboration explores the intriguing border between the everyday and the unusual.”
–Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
Yield - 2003
“a surfeit of exhilarating creature precision and morphing spectacle.
–Alan Lockwood, The Brooklyn Rail