Morales Dance @ Ailey Citigroup

Above: Karina Lesko and Christopher Rudd of Morales Dance; photo by Rachel Neville

Friday April 18th, 2014 – In one of those perfect-timing happenstances, photographer Rachel Neville sent me her photos from Morales Dance‘ production entitled FOR YOU just as I was sitting down to write about the performance. Rachel’s beautiful images so perfectly captured many of the individual moments which lingered in the mind and are now made tangible thru her artistry. The only problem was in deciding which of the pictures to post since they are all so fine.

Tonight at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Tony Morales put together a programme of new and older works which he’s choreographed, as well as bringing forth a Leni Wylliams ballet QUIET CITY (re-staged by Tony) to open the evening. 

Above: the ensemble in QUIET CITY, photo by Rachel Neville

Aaron Copland composed QUIET CITY from 1939 to 1941 as incidental music for a play by Irwin Shaw. Shaw’s play of the same name was a flop, never making it out of previews, and Copland’s original score went unpublished for years until it was restored to currency by sax player Christopher Brellochs. And thank goodness, because it’s really evocative music.

In the Wylliams/Morales setting, the ballet opens with a stylized triple pas de deux; the three women and then the three men dance separate trios and then there are three brief, intermingling pas de deux. It’s a piece that makes big use of the space and it was very well-danced, and especially well-lit (as was the entire production) by Mike Riggs.

Cassandra Lewis and Antonio Fini in QUIET CITY, photo by Rachel Neville

Jessica Black and Christopher Rudd in QUIET CITY, photo by Rachel Neville

Three familiar works from Tony Morales’ repertory followed:

PLEASED 2 MEET U is a duet, sometimes danced by two men and sometimes by two women, set to a folkish score by Bohuslav Martinů. Tonight this sporting, light-hearted piece was performed by Jessica Black and Karina Lesko, as seen in Rachel Neville’s photo above.

Above: Jerome Stigler in ABLUTION, photo by Rachel Neville

ABLUTION, which for me is Tony Morales’ most potent work, is a solo danced to music of Bach; it was chroeographed in 1992 and retains its full power to this day. Danced tonight by Jerome Stigler, the solo is ritualistic and athletic by turns with the dancer covering the space in agile leaps or bowed down in supplication on the floor. Jerome’s performance was intense and moving.

Above: Jerome Stigler in ABLUTION, photo by Rachel Neville

By the way, I love the symbol of the three religions which is projected during this solo: Islam, Judaism and Christianity are united in this image – and how lovely the world would be if that image became reality. 

Above: Christopher Rudd and Karina Lesko in TRANSITIONS, photo by Rachel Neville

Lyricism, passion and tenderness were drawn forth in TRANSITIONS, a 1998 duet to music of Maurice Ravel. Here the Costa Rican beauty Karina Lesko was at her most ravishing, dancing with Christopher Rudd. In the second part of this sensuous – but also sometimes wary duet – each dancer moves in an individual pool of light.

Above: Rachel Neville’s photo of Karina Lesko and Christopher Rudd in TRANSITIONS

Above: Karina Lesko in TRANSITIONS, photo by Rachel Neville

After a pause, Tony Morales’ domestic dance drama AMOR BRUTAL was performed to a mix of songs by Manuel de Falla and the title song, performed by Tony’s father Isaac ‘Casito’ Morales on an old recording.

Above: Karina lesko and Antonio Fini in AMOR BRUTAL, photo by Rachel Neville

In AMOR BRUTAL, a long-married couple – a devoted but controlling wife and a care-free husband – find themselves in a love-hate tangle as each seek to align their three teen-aged daughters’ affections and loyalty. Although she looks far too young to be the mother of grown children, Ms. Lesko did a fine job expressing the emotional turmoil of the anxious woman while the handsome Mr. Fini danced with free-spirited energy as the errant but likeable husband. Jessica Black, Elaine Gutierrez and Cassandra Lewis were the lovely daughters.

Above: Karina Lesko and Antonio Fini in AMOR BRUTAL, photo by Rachel Neville

Above: mother and daughters…Karina Lesko with Mlles. Lewis, Black and Gutierrez in AMOR BRUTAL, photo by Rachel Neville

Antonio Douthit-Boyd of the Alvin Ailey Company (above) made a guest appearance dancing a new solo by Tony Morales, FOR YOU, set to the Elton John pop classic. In this tailor-made dancework, Mr. Douthit-Boyd was able to show off his astonishing technique and his emotional generosity, to the audience’s delight. Antonio dances with his whole body and soul; what a pleasure it must be to create something on such a dancer.

Above: a great leap by Antonio Douthit-Boyd, photo by Rachel Neville

Above: the majestic extension of Ailey’s Antonio Douthit-Boyd, dancing Tony Morales’ FOR YOU in a Rachel Neville photo

Six young women from Ballet Forte (above) put me in mind of Isadora Duncan in the opening phrases from SCENES, a 2012 Tony Morales work dedicated to the memory of Ruth Currier. Dancing at first in silence, the sextet of nymphs begin exploring the space to music of Benedetto Marcello. Their dance has a celebratory innocence about it.

In the ballet’s second part, six dancers from Morales Dance (above) dance in varying combinations, both in silence and to music by Chopin.

At the end, the twelve dancers unite in a communal circle: a grace-filled final image from this evening of dance.

All photography by Rachel Neville; my gratitude to her for her timely delivery of these inspiring images.