Rehearsal: Emery LeCrone for New Chamber Ballet

Saturday August 28, 2010 – Choreographer Emery LeCrone invited us to her rehearsal at MMAC today for the upcoming performances of her ballet FIVE SONGS FOR PIANO by Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet which take place at City Center Studio on September 18th and 19th. Above: the dancers, Alexandra Blacker at the right. Click on the above image to enlarge.

The ballet was originally created for the Columbia Ballet Collaborative and is set to music of Felix Mendelssohn. Pianist Melody Fader was on hand to play the score ‘live’ for today’s rehearsal; Melody and Emery above. The ballet is set for five women, the dancers being Victoria North, Madeleine Deavenport, Elizabeth Brown, Lauren Toole and a new face at New Chamber Ballet: Alexandra Blacker.

FIVE SONGS FOR PIANO is truly lyrical, taking wing on the music of Mendelssohn which Emery has visualized with clarity of movement and rich emotional undercurrents. One key element of today’s rehearsal was the meshing of steps with the right tempo for each movement to show the dancers to best advantage. Adjustments were readily made and Emery also asked Melody for to linger momentarily in a couple of transitional passages to underscore the nuances of a dancer’s upper body or port de bras. In a final run-thru, everything seemed to be jelling quite nicely.

Here are some of Kokyat’s images from the rehearsal:

Victoria North

Victoria and Emery

Elizabeth Brown

Maddie Deavenport

Lauren Toole

Victoria North, Alexandra Blacker

Victoria North

Melody, Emery and Miro

For New Chamber Ballet’s upcoming performances, in addition to Emery’s Mendelssohn ballet, there will be a revival of Miro Magloire’s Adue
(http://www.newchamberballet.com/rep/adue.html); then Miro’s Haydn
ballet (which premiered this past Spring but will be completely re-worked and re-titled), and a new ballet set by Miro to his own music. Melody Fader will be the pianist. Ticket information here.

All photos: Kokyat.