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In many moments Ms. Hassabi casts her dark eyes down. She is as remote as a figure in a 200-year-old painting, but her attitude is more matter-of-fact modern.
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The work lasts about an hour of clock time--quite a testament to Hassabi's vigor and determination--but you might find yourself completely losing track of time. |
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Hassabi makes her way around the platform with awe-inspiring skill and dexterity, her muscles and veins bulging as her body shakes, often held slightly above the platform by hands that leave disappearing sweat prints on the dark surface. |
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Staggering genius…like the British art duo Gilbert & George...Hassabi eliminated the distinction between artist and art. |
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...a great collision of grace, tension, grotesqueness, seduction and pain... |
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...smart and subversive Maria Hassabi... |
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THE NEW YORKER, NOVEMBER 16, 2009
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Gazing at this exquisitely designed living sculpture, you also feel your own body straining with Hassabi, and in the slow friction between these two views, mysterious emotions ignite. |
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Ms. Hassabi’s body is astounding... |
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SOLO...[is] really a very different kind of pas de deux — it’s a thrill watching what Hassabi the dancer is capable of. |
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In her GLORIA (2007) Ms. Hassabi, born in Cyprus, created a powerfully theatrical environment … perhaps she will transport us again. |
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Maria Hassabi’s “Come in my house I want to hurt you!” continued her exploration of the female body as moving sculpture, objectified yet powerful. |
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A piece of pure theater in which the cumulative effect of their disaffected, sculptural poses was as compelling as it was mysterious. |
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"The best of 2007...duet for two beauties who never touch..." |
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"The boundaries between dance, artwork, installation and performance are subtly blurred... every sculptural position suggests unverifiable meaning." |
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Maria Hassabi and Hristoula Harakas—two of the most exciting contemporary dance artists in New York—exist alone together in Gloria, Hassabi’s latest work...Both dancers and viewers endure harsh exposure... |
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Split Screen Live: Maria Hassabi's Gloria. A double image of two intrepid dancers… The performers are arresting to watch... |
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Set to the sounds of cars honking and cell phones ringing, Gloria is a slow, haunting walk through a familiar city. |
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"...these captivating performers you want to watch at any given moment". |
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"Gloria days" |
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Gloria takes the form of overlapping solos..." |
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"In a Confluence of Style and Emotion, Finding the Art of Alienation…a world of detached sensuality" |
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"The dancers movement is eye-popping, pedestrian, and traffic stopping." |
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"25 Ace New Yorkers to keep an eye on" |
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THE NEW YORK TIMES, Claudia La Rocco, April 7, 2006
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"Hassabi works with an eye catching movement vocabulary" |
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"In excess – Maria Hassabi creates a world of grandeur in her latest piece, Still Smoking" |
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"What made "Dead is Dead" work so well… was its luck of pretension and its skillful staging and overall dramatic arc." |
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Hassabi subjects us to a bombardment of violent, gaudy, hypercharged images drawn from popular culture and fashion, carrying them to drastic extremes. |
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"La Vie Moderne" |
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"City grit – Maria Hassabi invades DTW with her action-packed romp Daed is Dead" |
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NEW YORK PRESS, STEVEN PSYLLOS, December 8-14, 2004
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"DANCER IN THE DARK" |
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...The stylish choreographer doesn’t do anything halfway, and Dead is Dead might turn out to be the event of the season. |
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"The sound of a tree crashing down without witness. The falling shapes behind your eyelids. "Lights" is a stunning new dance piece..." |
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"Hassabi’s "Late Night Future" begins marvelously... You feel skin scraping on skin. This goes on for a long time and is endlessly fascinating." |
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"Forest Near Chelsea"...there was an almost ritual quality to the movement. The women were very strong...I hadn't seen anything quite like it before..." |
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In an evening of convincing performers and hyper-aware dancers who demand you watch, Maria Hassabi stood out. In her piece, "sketch one,"... |