PRESS
SEATTLE DANCES SPOTLIGHT FEATURE:
“Full of aesthetic storytelling and off-beat characters, Piacenza’s work feels like a process of transformation: for the space, for the dancers, for the viewers…These major choreographic works reveal a depth that comes from a multi-year process and producing multiple iterations, as well as a lineage of working with revered artists of Seattle and beyond.”
Seattle Dances : [Read full article here]
ABOUT SWEET, ROTTEN, SWEET:
“Piacenza has used the specific abilities of film and projection with keen choreographic sense… the quality of the dancers’ performances is no small part of what keeps the films so alive. Each performer is distinct and highly animated. Each moment is unpredictable, specific, and committed. Achieving a deep sense of intimacy, this 36-minute loop is well worth your time, and is a lesson in the versatility and potency of film installation.”
Seattle Dances : [Read full article here]
ABOUT THE EVENT:
‘The Event’ is an intense evening of contemporary dance, short film, song and existentialism.
Melody Datz Hansen, Seattle Times : [Read full article here]
“Peggy Piacenza’s The Event is a dreamy, magical experience.”
“Both deeply personal and vividly abstract, Piacenza’s dreamy, emotional landscape shows us that the lonely experience of our humanity is something we all have in common.”
“Piacenza’s movement has a particular quality that erupts out of her dancers like an exclamation, a reflex. It’s at once precise and difficult to categorize, like a wrist flicking or a body jostling through happenstance, but intentional and repeatable.”
“Peggy Piacenza’s The Event manifests an experience that’s never quite here nor there, but magically suspended in between.”
“The Event dips into dark, fraught places, followed by quietude, questioning or unexpected humor, capturing the complexity of grief.”
“Dickinson’s featured moments often take on an extreme physical state.”
“Its intimacy comes not from the dancers’ connection to one another, but from each navigating their own experience for the audience to see, their alone-ness made visible.”
Kaitlin McCarthy, City Arts : [Read full article here]
"The Event is packed with strong sections . . . so many beautiful moments, like beads threaded onto a necklace.”
“Peggy Piacenza literally put her heart into this work, and I admire what she has achieved.”
“This multi-media work featured four exceptional dancers, in addition to Piacenza, some evocative videos, and a fabulous cloud-like wall partially constructed of cotton candy. From the first video of Lusk and Reeber blowing cotton balls across a smooth surface at one another, to images of dandelions gone to seed, to Lusk pulling a hank of cotton from the wall and stuffing it into her mouth, Piacenza strives to remind us of the ephemeral nature of our lives and our world.”
Marcie Sillman, KUOW
ABOUT TOUCH ME HERE:
“Introspective sensuality and a disturbing trend of turmoil and self-doubt.”
“She proved the connection between the absurdity of mortal life and the higher calling of the human spirit.”
“The humor in the piece complemented the poignancy of its fiercely tender heart.”
“Piacenza demonstrated skillful use of comedic timing, along with a vast understanding of how to use her physicality as a tool for storytelling.”
Ciara McCormack, Seattle Dances : [Read full article here]
“Her work is frequently bold, challenging audiences to watch and think about dance out of traditional boxes, and this new solo extends that edginess.”
“It is deeply, sometimes uncomfortably, personal to watch-a moving illustration of an artist’s most intimate thoughts and moments.”
“Piacenza owns the movements and spoken words in Touch Me Here with astonishing
intelligence and mettle.”
Melody Datz Hansen, Seattle Dances: [Read full article here]
About OTHER Past Work:
“Piacenza seems to have erupted from some Dada burlesque; jarring, implacable, and completely compelling.” — Bret Fetzer, The Stranger
“Piacenza’s blend of athletic movement and compelling theatrics combined with the lush sounds of composer Fred Frith and illusory images of animator Kristin Varner draws the audience into a hallucinatory setting in which the boundaries between the real and imagined are indecipherable.” —Claire Whitely, Queen Anne News
“Their actions create a unified artwork from a Fellini-like collection of objects and events” —Sandra Kurtz, Seattle Weekly
“Awesome kinetic energy.” —Philippa Kiraly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“By far the most idiosyncratic of the Seattle new wave dancer-choreographers is Peggy Piacenza....she presents the watcher with a series of sharp sequences of swiftly shifting still images.” —Roger Downey, Seattle Weekly
“Piacenza and her dancers move naturally from the free-ranging, uninhibited movements of children to the well-oiled staccato jerks and leaps of a sophisticated machine.” —Tonia Steed, The Stranger
“Peggy Piacenza contrasts natural movement with pure mechanics, these robotics all done with a finely tuned sense of comic timing and intense physical control.” —Mary Murfin Baley, The Seattle Times
“The sharpness, the control, and the completeness with which her body was involved in every movement, was inspiring. She moved as if in a symbiotic relationship with the music.” —Matthew Richter, The Stranger
“Her brazen physicality has made her a favorite dancer’s dancer, and she continues to develop a strong identity, mixing a wealth of stage props, vocalization, and quirky movement.” —Chris Kaufman, Seattle Weekly