Jessica Lang Dance @ The Joyce

Above: dancers Clifton Brown and Kana Kimura of Jessica Lang Dance; photo by Kokyat

Friday August 16th, 2013 – The Joyce’s Ballet V6.0 festival draws to a close with performances by Jessica Lang Dance making their Joyce debut with in a visually rich and musically inspired programme. Jessica Lang’s
choreography has been on my A-list since I saw her Astor Piazzolla ballet Oblivion danced by the ABT Studio Company a few years ago. Jessica comes to The Joyce fresh from her operatic-directing debut at Glimmerglass (Pergolesi’s STABAT MATER) and a sold-out run for her Company at Jacob’s Pillow. Tonight’s performance at The Joyce was also a sell-out.

The evening commenced on a high note and soared onward from there. To music of Antonio Vivaldi, Jessica’s 2010 A Solo in Nine Parts seemed to immediately captivate the audience. Her excellent company of dancers came on, all clad in summer-white, and danced their hearts out in this ballet which drew to mind Paul Taylor’s most joyous works.

Performed against a sea-green back-panel, Jessica’s choreography looked clean and clear. and she has ideally visualized the Vivaldi score. Woven thru the ensemble passages are solos for each of the nine dancers. The central slow movement is a pas de quatre for Julie Fiorenza, Laura Mead, Kirk Henning and Milan Misko. Each dancer in the ensemble made his or her mark: Sarah Haarmann, Claudia MacPherson, Kana Kimura, Todd Burnsed, and Clifton Brown. Clifton in particular danced superbly in three of the four works shown tonight; he’s one of the most fluent and charismatic dancers of our time.

Clifton Brown’s partnership with Kana Kimura, a striking dancer with a mystical presence, was the highlight of the second work, i.n.k. In this ballet which fuses music, dance and film to hypnotic effect, Kana and Clifton perform a remarkable adagio which ends with a thrilling slow backbend from Kana, supported in Clifton’s arms. The audience seemd to hold their collective breath as the dancers executed this unusual passage with complete control.

i.n.k. overall is enthralling. The black-clad ensemble move before a glaring white back-panel, sometimes dancing with their shadows. Meanwhile drops or waves of dark ink splash across the screen. The crystalline score by Jakub Ciupinski, the costuming of Elena Comendador, Nicole Pearce’s lighting, and the captivating film elements (KUSHO by Shinichi Maruyama, edited by Tetsushi Wakasugi) all combine to make this poetic dancework a 21st century jewel: imaginative and beautifully executed.

The evening’s second half kicked off excitingly with Aria, a quartet set to Zenobia’s tragic/frantic aria “Son contenta di morire” from Handel’s RADAMISTO. In this world premiere performance, three boys (Todd Burnsed, Kirk Henning and Milan Misko) in grey tights and bright red shirts sail thru the strongly musical choreography with the delicious Laura Mead the object of their attention. Laura, in a flame-red frock and dancing on pointe, gave a vivid and impetuous performance. Mr. Burnsed is her primary partner, though she often seems to want to evade contact altogether. My only slight concern here was that the singer on the chosen recording sometimes seemed slightly below pitch.

Pianist Taka Kigawa took the keyboard to play Schumann live for the evening’s concluding work, From Foreign Lands and People; Taka’s playing was refined and beautifully supportive of the dancing. Like everything else on the programme tonight, this ballet was visually impressive. The midnight-blue-clad dancers move on, over, and under glossy black architectural pieces which they skillfully manipulate and re-arrange throughout the ballet. Pools of white light enhance the shifting landscape as the dancers clamber onto, slide down, and even partner the oblong boxes. The mood of the piece veers from playful to poetic, dictated by Taka’s playing.

Milan Misko, a long-limbed dancer I have seen performing with TAKE Dance and the Lubovitch company, seems to have found an ideal dance-home in Jessica Lang’s style.  And Clifton Brown’s dancing – all evening – was a marvel: his solo in the concluding work was astonishing in its clarity and expressiveness. If Mlles. Mead and Kimura stood out among the other dancers by virtue of their featured roles, the entire ensemble deserve bouquets for their impressive performances in this vastly pleasing evening of dance.