"There was nothing gimmicky or trendy about "The Shape of Poison," the new full-evening work by young Manuelito Biag that premiered at ODC Theater over the weekend -- no multimedia conceptualizing, no self-important sociological statements, no cleverness. The dance is absorbing from start to finish for one reason: absolute craftsmanship. If that sounds unexciting, the results are anything but."

Rachel Howard, reviewing The Shape of Poison
The San Francisco Chronicle, February 2007

"The standout work was "Giving Strength to the Fragile Tongue."...it's a seamless tour de force that I hope to see again...For a piece about the frustrations of words not spoken, it's surpassingly eloquent.""

Janice Berman,
reviewing Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue
The San Francisco Chronicle, August 2004

"Quiet Nights, a perfectly executed lyric quintet by Biag and members of SHIFT>>>, a Bay Area dance-theater group.  Here the choreography evoked a sense of people moving through life from partner to partner, always giving great tenderness to a relationship yet inevitably drifting away.  The result conjured a mood at once sad, sweet and deeply thoughtful."

Lewis Segal, reviewing Quiet Nights
Los Angeles Times, August 2001




"Mapping was both clearer and more compelling...Sam Mitchell and Manuelito Biag moved, to their own choreography, in and out of touch with each other:  together, apart, embracing, pushing away, feeling the difficulties of being together.  The choreography was inventive and convincing, and superbly danced with a real sense of tension and love."

William Glackin, reviewing Mapping
Sacramento Bee, February 2000

"Wednesday's major discovery was the nearly new Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue , an abrasive and utterly compelling duet...Biag's acid tone and his eclectic vocabulary lend the duet its individuality...The tension is breathtaking...If Lazarus ever produces a Best of Summerfest program, Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue will merit a place of honor"

Allan Ulrich,
reviewing Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue
Voice of Dance, August 2004

"With Poison, developed as an artist-in-residence project at ODC, he has created a work about the inarticulate, often unacknowledged forces that shape our realities. Watching the dancers in pursuit of endless and often turned-in-on-themselves encounters felt like looking for a cause in all those ruffles, vortices, and surges that continually disturb the ocean's surface...Manuelito Biag's The Shape of Poison solidifies his standing as a choreographer on the rise."

Rita Felciano, reviewing The Shape of Poison
SF Bay Guardian, February 2007

“Biag’s company called to mind descriptions of Mark Morris’s early company---people with personalities, real bodies, genuine spirits---and this added to the dance’s human quality."

Sima Belmar, reviewing Quiet Nights
SF Bay Guardian, March 2002

"SHIFT>>> offers smart choreography and strong bodies that move easily from the athletic to the lyrical and back again."

Sima Belmar, reviewing the company’s first performance
SHIFT>>>: an evening of movements
SF Bay Guardian, March 1999

"I saw three couples as if floating in space, in self-absorbed slow motion, each pair's attention focused only on itself.  Paradoxically, the couples formed a community with identical patterns flowing through each pair as if carried by wind that lifted the whole performance.  It make me glad I had come."

Rita Feliciano, reviewing Blind(sighted) Intentions
SF Bay Guardian, September 1999

DanceViewWest.com

"In the manner of contemporary German dance, Giving Strength made us feel the poison of politics where it corrodes generations to come—on the interpersonal level."

Ann Murphy,
reviewing Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue
DanceViewWest.com, August 2003

Ballet~Dance Magazine

"...as with most West Wave programs, there were some fine performances, and at least one clear winner in Manuelito Biag's intense and strangely gripping "Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue."... Easily the most polished piece on the program... Lam and Rivera juxtaposed silky transitions with small details -- whether it was a hand quivering with repressed rage or a careful placement of a chair, their every move spoke volumes. Few of the other works managed the same kind of impact."

Mary Ellen Hunt,
reviewing Giving Strength to this Fragile Tongue   
Ballet~Dance Magazine, August 2004

"...lushly cascading movement. The superb dancers move with lyrical abandon."

Linda Shapiro, reviewing "Making Invisible"
Pioneer Press, March 2006

"...danced with high-octane thrust in juicy reaches, low lunges, and virtuosic lifts and jumps. The recurring motif of one dancer stepping through a partner's circled arms underscored the work's apparent terrain: ephemeral human contact that keeps dissolving."

Lisa Kraus, reviewing "Making Invisible"
Philadelphia Inquirer, March 2006