The Standouts of 2017: Jackie Nash in Amy Seiwert's "Wandering"

Jackie Nash left an indelible impression as a member of Amy Seiwert’s Imagery during this summer’s performances at New York City’s Joyce Theater. In Seiwert’s Wandering, Nash, an Atlanta Ballet dancer during the regular season, demonstrated a keen technical sensibility that grounded her in the detail-rich, contemporary movement. But where the petite powerhouse shone was in her navigation of the challenging music, Schubert’s rich, dramatic Winterreise cycle. She danced along a razor-thin line between allowing the breadth of the sound to overpower her movement and resorting to melodrama to match its feeling, succumbing to neither. An instinct for nuance lent maturity, visible in a movement as simple as an arabesque that did not strain to meet the space but instead swelled effortlessly to fill it. One can only hope that Nash might find her way to New York City stages more often.

Imagery in “Wandering.” Photo by Chris Hardy, Courtesy Imagery.