Press
Fleeting Glimpse (work in progress)
Lakeside
“…she is transported to a time of childhood dance recitals while maintaining the rage of lived womanhood.”
Performing Arts: Dance: Karen Bernard [PDF] in Eye on Dance 3/7/20
Poolside
Showgirls
30th Anniversary Performance Mix Festival 2016
1993-1996 It Could Have Been Different
1993-1996 It Could Have Been Different & Suspending and other Tricks
- Dancing down the years: Karen Bernard’s Triskelion weekend by Eva Yaa Asantewaa on InfiniteBody, 10/17/14. Read on InfiniteBody | In PDF format
- 1993-1996 Reperformance: It Could Have Been Different/Suspending and Other Tricks by Jane Goldberg, consultant for Dance Magazine Read in PDF format
Suspending and Other Tricks
“Scenarios linked to the mystical projections onto both femininity and androgynous body of a dancer, sensuality of a performing body, and drama of a solo performer were faithfully re-enacted.”
Femmes article by Marija Krtolica, 11/17/12. Read Power, Vulnerability, Risk-taking (PDF)
Ouette
“Karen Bernard… has delivered her development of a performance, Ouette, engaging the feminine shadow into a new dialectic surrounding dark energy dark/kundalini with her unveiling of Femmes.“
Femmes reviewed on (R)evolution blog, 7/5/11. Read Karen Bernard’s “Femmes” & the Birth: On R(evolution) | In PDF format
“The evening was a welcome throwback to a time which unapologetically valued all things queer, provocative and new.”
Femmes reviewed in Ms Magazine Blog, 6/24/11. Read Feminist Performance Art Blooms Anew at Dixon Place in Ms Magazine Blog (PDF)
“Bernard…talks about her autobiographical work Ouette, which borrows a cinematic construction from the movie Swimming Pool by Francois Ozon where imagined and real experiences are shown without distinction.”
Evi-Dance Radio Interview
“…an exquisitely crafted solo piece, visually gorgeous and thoroughly intriguing, emotionally captivating, a shot in the arm of audience imagination.”
Robert Tyree, Ultra
Surfing the Shadow
“For Bernard abstract is okay, but telling a subtle story about being human seems crucial.”
Marilyn Russo, Attitude Magazine
Totally In Love
Striking a Sexy Pose, Recalling Younger Days [PDF] in The New York Times, 2/27/06
“Totally In Love melds material from 1995-2006… With confidence and humanity Bernard weaves a feeling based story that has the audience laughing loudly.”
Marilyn Russo, Attitude Magazine
“Bernard isn’t concerned with the aesthetics of cool. She mixes the raw and the cooked, past and present, love’s grief’s and joys as if puttering about her house. Sometimes, the television screens hold only snow.”
Deborah Jowitt, Living by Fragments [PDF] in The Village Voice, 2/28/06
Removed Exposure
“Ms. Bernard and Ms. Claude share an interest in themes that are most often treated with violin accompanied seriousness. But they also inhabit the stage with such fearlessness, adroit timing and quiet authority that they draw in the audience to live, with them, in their performing. We follow them wherever they go.”
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
“Were this Europe Bernard would be a revered film star and sex symbol.”
“Her honesty plus the intimate room equaled unforgettable theater.”
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, If Wishes Were Horses, Bernard Would Be a Flamenco Dancer [PDF] in The Village Voice, 11/30/04
“At times gorgeously sumptuous and at others cheekily comical, Bernard was openly expressive in allowing access to what would normally be a most private ritual: the examination and scrutiny of one’s mirrored reflection.”
Mandy Cook, The Telegram
“Removed Exposure – explored the body (her own!) in which the wild joy of dancing resides…”
Margurete Affenzeller, Der Standard Spezial
Appropriations (from Madonna Loves Me)
“Karen Bernard’s vivid commentary on choreography’s shticks and foibles met with roars of laughter… Her capacity to unveil strategies for reading new dance through humor frames her as an exciting intermediary for live performance. She rides a wave of acerbic and unpretentious commentary that tramples over the fourth wall.”
Virginia Preston, Montreal.com
Short Works
“Bernard is a solidly built dancer with a big, round face capable of making every lift of an eyebrow or twitch of her lips comically effective.”
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
“… dark and brainy solos”
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
“A gift for capturing the essence of a gesture”
Dance In Review [PDF] in The New York Times
- September 2018: Featured Artist: Cross-discipline performance artist, choreographer & founder of New Dance Alliance Karen Bernard [PDF] in Sanctuary Magazine, 9/18
- Karen Bernard in conversation with Michael Helland [PDF] on Movement Research‘s Critical Correspondence, 4/11
- In Performance: Dance; Glamour Takes a Toll, Especially on the Feet [PDF] in The New York Times, 5/22/01
- Dance Review; Vulnerable Behind the Sassy Roles [PDF] in The New York Times, 4/7/98
- Dance in Review: Karen Bernard [PDF] in The New York Times, 6/7/93
- Dance: Karen Bernard [PDF] in The New York Times, 2/4/88
- Dance: Contrasting Approaches [PDF] in The New York Times, 1/5/81
- Dance: Karen Bernard Presents Her Experimental ‘Interphase’ [PDF] in The New York Times, 8/19/79