“Barnes (is) one of the wittiest young choreographers around. Although she can stir your heart as well as make you laugh, Hollywood Endings is essentially a charmingly outlandish revue in which nothing is predictable.”
“Barnes has made zippy and understated magic. When we were pretty specializes in comic gangliness ... but when Lydia Martin stands on a chair and, sings with absolute, childlike faith, as if she meant the words for her mother, it's hard to imagine anything prettier.”
“Inspired nuttiness with Up the Hanging Tree a funny, tender and knowing evocation of young female adolescence. It was performed to perfection by the wonderfully shameless Jennifer Ward and by Melanie Aceto, a touchingly solemn foil for Ms. Ward's exuberance.”
“Imagine an all-female, multigenerational, Elvis-crazed dance arena wherein hearts are broken but dreams come true and abiding love conquers all. Barnes' When we were pretty is such a place. Barnes' images have a David Lynch lucidity. Better than a bra burning, this is unapologetic, inclusive, baseline feminism.”
“Potent theatrical nostalgia sets off dilemmas of contemporary life. Barnes constructs an Edwardian vaudeville of enormous charm: Three generations of performers decked out in spangles, tulle and tuxes parade through the space. A trio of raunchy showgirls strut their stuff, while a matched pair of early-adolescent angels swing from wires in a toy theater, blessing the sweet, pathetic bravado of the proceedings. The setting is sheer heaven.”
“With sharply synchronized movements performed in the circular fountain at Bowling Green Park, the performance of Monica Bill Barnes' dance was too much fun to miss.”
“Barnes suggests the blithe maiden of decades-ago dance, but with kinks ... where charm and discomfort duke it out.”
“Once I was in a Beauty Contest, but my Strap Broke is comic delight. Barnes is an impudent flea of a dancer ...and the solo made perfect sense as a zany, purely physical response to the music.”
“Monica Bill Barnes (is) the downtown darling.”
“In a completely different flavor, Monica Bill Barnes performed her mesmerizingly wacky solo. Barnes excels at physical, comic dancing evoking silent film comedians with coy primping, dramatic pauses and cartoon running, moving supplely from silly to grand.”
“When We Were Pretty, an outdoor performance, is a charmer. With an occasional solemn smile, Barnes' character telegraphed her awareness that mastering the body language of flirtation is serious business.”
“Ms. Barnes was extraordinary - her masterful face adds a whole other level of theatricality and meaning to her performance.”
“There's a reason comedy and dance are rarely paired. But Barnes is the mistress of such mischief and has the technical dance ability to make it all work. She breaks all the rules, but also tempers the clowning around with enough darkness and pity to make us care.”
“She (Barnes) is a kind of conjuror, pulling movement out of her small strong body as if this were a rabbit-hat deal, but without fanfare. She's constantly startling. I can't take my eyes off her - not just because she's a beauty and her actions are compelling, but because, within the silky dancing and the curious gestures, I see her thinking, sense her feeling.”
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