PRESS
CITY STORIES — Center for Performance Research 2022
“In a pretty ingenious use of Center for Performance Research’s stark, white-box theatre, McQueen fills the space with wall-to-wall-to-wall video projections. It sounds very overwhelming; I assure you it was not. Or at least, it was not overwhelming in a way that wasn’t calculated and intentional. Technicolor scenes inundate the space with electricity and shadows of additional bodies, a la Times Square on steroids.”
“This, I think, is where Smashwork’s dance artists truly shine. Concert contemporary dance is not known for displaying the full range of human emotions, and certainly not in a way that is so eagerly expressive, yet the plasticity of these artists’ faces was remarkable. Without any sense of shyness or shame, they twisted their features into expressions of delight, disgust, and exhaustion, jump-roping the line between camp and sincerity.”
“CITY STORIES is refreshingly uncynical. It’s the frustrated and spell-bound love letter we’ve all written to New York City. In the unforgiving landscape of project-based dance, I truly hope Smashworks is able to bring it back.”
—Staff, Art Spiel | https://artspiel.org/smashworks-dance-city-stories-at-center-for-performance-research/#more-14535
FEMPIRE — Presented by The Tank, LADYFEST 2019
“Hope Salas Productions and Smashworks Dance Company brought a genius informative element to their collaborative work, FEMPIRE, at The Tank last night as part of the Third Annual LadyFest. I was deeply moved by the combination of French Clown, Dot (Hope Salas) directed by Justin Cimino, and Ashley McQueen’s choreographed dance team’s expressions of truth in the feminist experience.”
“In one dance segment illustrating our common female history, there are three brides dancing on the stage with folding chairs that constantly misbehave, menace with dangerous balancing acts, and embarrass clanging to the floor, yet these brides must make room for these space holders and keep them tightly by their sides. At one point a dancer, Sarah Starkweather, has two chairs encircling her body through the opening between seats and backs, leaving her arms and legs free but twisting with fierce strength required to support this “freedom.” My whole body empathized with the bruising determination these movements required. It was exhilarating. Beautiful. Finally, chairs and gowns are thrown and peeled away, leaving raw seasoned women whom Dot regards with awe because they are, indeed, awesome.”
“Smashworks . . . what a perfect name for these powerful sisters. McQueen’s company is tightly precise and fearless.”
— Margret Echeverria, Front Row Center | https://thefrontrowcenter.com/2019/08/fempire-a-work-in-progress/
Refusing to be Disposed — RADFest 2019
“Closing the night, Ashley McQueen anchors her solo “Refusing to be Disposed” with video of “Sufferin’ Til Suffrage” from School House Rock, and images of red and blue splotches echoed by paint-soaked American flags placed on the perimeter of a tarp on the stage. McQueen appears, wrapped in more American flags sewn end to end. In a captivatingly obscene tug of war with an audience member, she asks a guy in the first row to hold one end as she unravels her flag toga, revealing her naked body. The tarp becomes McQueen’s canvas as she then smears the saturated flags around and dives like a Slip-n-Slide, splashing paint on her body and face. Turns out, democracy is messy.” - Lauren Warnecke
Refusing to be Disposed — Evening of Contemporary Dance
Refusing to be Disposed Review: Picture This Post, by Bob Dreyfuss (2018)
“As the performance began, it quickly became clear why: two dancers, Laurie Deziel and Ashley McQueen, would soon be wrestling with a huge American flag and dripping with, well, what exactly? Blood? Paint? Oil? It was all part of a powerful and engaging excerpt of Refusing To Be Disposed, an allegory of women’s struggle and resistance, performed as part of evening of dance on October 21.”
“the dancers struck poses that alternated between oppressed, angry, and supremely defiant. At the piece’s finish, both dancers were literally painted from head to toe in multi-hued colors, survivors and triumphant.”
FOR WHICH IT STANDS, Review: The Dance Enthusiast (2018)
"McQueen's powerful solos — which combine mime, slip-and-slide pratfalls, Pennywise leers, and a mini toilet-plunger to perverse effect — are as riotously funny as they are sadly acute."
"Sarah Starkweather’s equally hilarious robotic and maniacally eager Hillary Clinton serves up blonde-bombshell "realness" complete with a line of ever-ascendant high kicks."
"McQueen’s humor is best in a duet with her puppet master, Jesse Obremski, sporting a Vladimir Putin mask. Set to Tschaikovsky's The Nutcracker pas de deux, the pointed absurdity of a preening president rubbing up against his shirtless overlord disturbs and amuses, particularly McQueen's show of craving approval in the face of Obremski's plastic mask."
"Watching the company sway from one embrace to another reminds us of a better time and proves that the most efficient way to demolish a monster is to refuse him space in your mind."
- Juan Michael Porter II
http://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/view/Evelyn-Joy-Hoelschers-Spaces-Fontana-Ashley-McQueen-Smashworks-Kevin-Ortega-Rojas-wandering-movers
FOR WHICH IT STANDS, Time Out Magazine NY (2018)
"Ashley McQueen and her scrappy young company take on the madness of the Trump era in an anthology of nine satirical dances on political themes, including the solo Plunge the Swamp."
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/dance/smashworks-dance-collective-for-which-it-stands
FOR WHICH IT STANDS, Brokelyn's 20 best cheap things to do this weekend (2018)
"Pledge allegiance to the gags at For Which It Stands, with nine episodic dances combining humor and reality to satirize the Trump Administration. (Fri-Sat, Center for Performance Research, $20)"
https://brokelyn.com/the-20-best-cheap-things-weekend-winter-mermaid-edition/
DRENCHED review, Arova Contemporary Ballet (2017) “ Ashley McQueen ’s DRENCHED took four dancers on an emotional, symbolic journey through the facets of change — apprehension, struggle and, in this case, eventual triumph. The score by Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm and Stephen Moccio provided an atmosphere to the choreography along with the sounds of water (yes, real water) falling like rain into a shallow pool onstage from a device above it. The water, which the performers immersed themselves in and embodied with their movements, gave a visceral charge to the work.”
http://www.artsbham.com/dance-review-arova-drenched/
The Santa Barbara Independent, ENDGAME (2017)
“... Endgame, a contemporary dance showcase offering a broad range of reactions to art and politics: from choreographer Ashley McQueen’s “Plunge the Swamp,” a memorable commentary on Trump’s tendency toward diarrhea of the mouth” - Maggie Yates
CITY STORIES, Village Voice "Voice Choices" (2017)
https://www.villagevoice.com/datebook/
Spring to Dance Festival Review, St. Louis (2015)
"McQueen’s kaleidoscopic “Psychosocial” was a showcase for the Big Muddy Dance Company at its most exuberant."
http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/spring-to-dance-festival-continues-to-charm/article_c6479f90-3a97-5084-a1b4-b30403f2e65c.html
Spring to Dance Festival Interview, St. Louis (2015)
https://jessruhlin.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/4-questions-4-very-different-choreographers/
Laune, Laumeier Sculpture Park (2014) -- Top 10 Things to Do in STL This October, St. Louis Magazine
“Ashley McQueen will gather her dance troupe on Way Field for “Laune” A Dance Performance . The choreography makes use of hedge trimmers, hoses, and riding lawn mowers, celebrating the hard work of keeping Laumeier’s 105 acres lush and verdant."
https://www.stlmag.com/news/the-top-10-things-to-do-this-october-in-st.-louis/
Variations on Exchange (2014)
By Jessica Ruhlin
""...choreography demonstrated a nice understanding of classical stage formations and showcased both ballet and contemporary vocabulary done with enough repetition and variation that the piece had a sense of construction and character without being narrative. "
"a showcase of her incredible physical capabilities- and extraordinary shoulder-joint rotation- and even more so, a demonstration of the intelligence behind motif and progression of a piece. "
"contrast within this piece was well done; I enjoyed the exotic flair of the music while the women seemed to represent something closer to home. This was a complete piece, with choreography that was at once innovative to the eye and relatable within the heart."
http://jessruhlin.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/review-variations-on-exchange/
Alabama Dance Theatre's Stars on the Riverfront
August 3-4, 2014
The Montgomery Advertiser, by Randy Foster
" 'Swing!' is a wonderful short work created by ADT alumna Ashley McQueen, who is with Common Thread Contemporary Dance Group in St. Louis. The dancers--Baylee Clark, Catherine Cobb, Cameron Crawford, Allyson Trimble, Olivia Vittitow—responded to the popular-dance-influenced, highly theatrical style of the piece with verve and elan."
"McQueen also created an absolutely terrific piece of choreography for Jessica Russell. 'Inversion' to music by Wim Mertens, a Belgian minimalist composer, is a stunning display of technical prowess, as well as expressive performance qualities. Russell maneuvers the unexpected twists and turns, stops and starts, and staccato accents set off against legato stretches required by McQueen with remarkable aplomb. The rehearsal tutu and bandeau of her costume are most effective. One recurring movement phrase has Russell in a wide plie that becomes a releve to show the beauty of her arched feet on pointe. Choreography and dancer are perfectly met in this dance."