Ballet Hispanico @ The Joyce

Above: Min-Tzu Li and Jamal Rashann Callender of Ballet Hispanico in Nacho Duato’s JARDI TANCAT. Photo by Jeaux McCormick.

Sunday April 21, 2013 matinee – A recent visit to a Ballet Hispanico rehearsal was an ideal introduction for me to this vivid and delightful Company. Today at The Joyce I got to see them in full regalia: lights, costumes, the works. It was an exhilirating afternoon.

Nacho Duato’s JARDI TANCAT finds its roots in folk tales from Catalonia, transformed into songs sung by Spanish singer Maria del Mar Bonet. The ballet opens in silence with six dancers in a patch of sunlight on a darkened plain; they are simple countryfolk who work the barren land,
praying to God for the rain that does not come:

“Water, we have asked for water

And You, Oh Lord, You gave us wind

And You turn Your back on us

As though You will not listen to us”

As the music begins, the sun brightens further and the choreographer presents us with passages of ensemble work in which the dancers capture the spirit of the land and the longing for relief from the hardships of their lives. Despite the bleakness of their daily labours, they seem to find a quiet joy in their sense of community. 

In three stunningly beautiful duets, Duato extends the art of partnering in fresh ways and the Ballet Hispanico dancers respond to his vision with clarity and passion. The three couples today were: Melissa Fernandez with Donald Borror, Martina Calcagno with Mario Ismael Espinoza, and Min-Tzu Li with Jamal Rashann Callender. JARDI TANCAT is a spell-binding work, holding the audience in a keenly attentive state. The moment it ended I was ready to watch it again: and how often can we say that of a dancework?

Above: from TANGO VITROLA, photo by Paula Lobo. Click on the image to enlarge.

An old gramophone sits illuminated on a high pedastal at the back of the stage as Donald Borror, his dorsal muscles expressive in the golden light, dances the opening solo of TANGO VITROLA. This magical tango-ballet unfolds against a sonic tapestry of scratchy old 78s; among the songs from the 1920s are “Rosendo”
and “La Cumparista” by Orquesta Típica Criolla de Vincente Creco; and
“El Llorón,” “Pena Mulata” and “El Porteñito” by Roberto Firpo.

Magnificently lit by Joshua Preston, the dancers – the women in slinky black frocks and stiletto heels and the men bare-chested in black trousers and wearing fedoras – weave thru choreographer Alejandro Cervera’s intoxicatingly seductive patterns, periodically retreating to watch the others dance from rows of cafe chairs at either side of the stage. Desire and provocation tingle in the air of this dreamlike nightclub where the sexy atmosphere is over-laid with the almost formal courting rituals of the tango. Attitude is all as the dancers revel in their own attractiveness.

Above: from NUBE BLANCO, photo by Rosalie O’Connor

Theatrical elements come into play for the final NUBE BLANCO; again Mr. Preston’s lighting is a vital factor in this work set by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa to recordings of Maria Dolores Pradera. The dancers, all in bright red shoes, are called upon to act and vocalize along with executing the earthy moves, hand-clapping and foot-stomping culled from the flamenco vocabulary. Meanwhile an allusion to ballet comes in the fluffy white tutus worn by the women. A particularly riotous male quartet (“uno! dos! tres! cuatro!”) clearly caught the audience’s fancy, as did a charming mimetic vignette by Mario Ismael Espinoza, one of the Gotham dance scene’s sexiest guys. In the end the dancers stagger in, each wearing one shoe with the other foot bare; one of the girls has put on all the white tutus at once, tramsforming herself into a giant animated snowball. Her final arabesque, foot pointing to heaven, gave NUBE BLANCO its concluding mirthful image. As the dancers stepped out for their bows, I found myself whooping and screaming along with the rest of the crowd.

Above: Mario Ismael Espinoza in NUBE BLANCO, photo by Rosalie O’Connor

An absorbing, sexy and vastly pleasing afternoon of dance. Ballet Hispanico continue their season at The Joyce for another week: performance and ticket information here.

I give Ballet Hispanico six stars out of a possible five: go, and be seduced.