Farewells @ New Chamber Ballet

Above: Elizabeth Brown and Sarah Atkins of New Chamber Ballet, photo by Kokyat

~ Author: Oberon

Saturday November 23rd, 2019 – While I felt happy to be part of New Chamber Ballet’s 15th anniversary season, tonight felt bittersweet as two dancers long associated with Miro Magloire’s company were giving their farewell performances: Elizabeth Brown (a founding member) and Sarah Atkins.

Over the years since I began following Miro’s work, his Company has undergone many changes in roster. Inevitably, with smaller dance troupes, one forms an attachment to individual dancers, and this is especially true of New Chamber Ballet as Miro has frequently invited to me rehearsals over the years, so that I’ve often felt like I’m a non-dancing member of the family. Watching Elizabeth and Sarah tonight brought back so many memories, not only of their own performances but of all the other women they have danced with thru the years. This kind of nostalgia is lovely in its way, but it also means we’re all getting older.

The evening’s program opened with Klavierstück, to solo piano music by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The grand piano had been rolled into the center of the space, where pianist Melody Fader deftly took in stride the composer’s demands. Danced by the evenings two honorees – Elizabeth Brown and Sarah Atkins – it’s a work in which the piano becomes an altar or shrine. 

Above: Sarah Atkins, photo by Kokyat

Next came a solo, For Another Day, created by Miro specially for Sarah Atkins. With the piano now back in its usual place at the point of the seating diamond, Melody Fader played the sixth of Franz Schubert’s Moments musicaux to which Ms. Atkins danced with a deep sense of the music’s lyrical flow. Circling the space, the dancer made eye contact with audience members: a beautiful expression of leave-taking. To dance this gorgeously at one’s farewell speaks volumes for Sarah’s technique and artistry. As the solo ended, a tidal wave of vociferous applause cheers was unleashed; everyone stood up to salute the dancer, who had to bow many times. 

For an excerpt from Miro’s full-length work Phantom, music of Wolfgang Rihm, which veers from dreamlike to dramatic, was marvelously played by Ms. Fader and the enormously talented violinist Doori Na. Here we must pause to praise the technical assurance of the fearlessly adventurous Melody and Doori, who tackle any score Miro sets before them with flair. Over the years, they – as much as the choreography and dancing – have made New Chamber Ballet so distinctive. A chance to peer over Doori’s shoulder at his illuminated score for the Rihm was a highlight of my evening.

The dancers – Amber Neff, Rachele Perla and NCB newcomers Anabel Alpert and Megan Foley – coped well with the choreography, which is often floor-oriented and includes demanding passages of the same-sex partnering that Miro has been developing in recent works. Tonight, in this gala setting, it seemed earthbound and over-long. Matters were not helped by the audience seating configuration, which feels like a airport boarding lounge when the flights have been delayed. 

Above: Elizabeth Brown rehearsing Morning Star with violinist Doori Na, photo by Nir Arieli

This was my third viewing of Morning Song, the solo Miro made in 2017 for Elizabeth Brown to John Cage’s violin piece “Cheap Imitation”. A new costume for this ballet tonight was less to my liking than the original, but that became irrelevant during this sensational performance by Ms. Brown and Mr. Na.

Morning Star is one of Miro’s greatest creations, and my favorite among all his works.  Elizabeth Brown is the inspirational force behind the solo’s success, with its feeling of timeless ritual and quiet ecstasy. It is a portrait of feminine power and mystique, and Ms. Brown dances it divinely. It ends as the dancer circles the space in hypnotically slow turns, finishing with an Isadora-like greeting of the dawn, arms upraised.

As a founding member of New Chamber Ballet, Elizabeth has been an superlative muse for Miro, and an inspiration for dance-lovers; her technical prowess, unique persona, and deep devotion to the art merit the highest praise.

During the mammoth applause that greeted her after Morning Song this evening, Elizabeth and Doori bowed deeply to one another, underscoring the intrinsic connection between music and dance that is Miro’s trademark.

To conclude the program, Miro offered a pièce d’occasion entitled As One. Set to Antonín Dvořák’s Romance for violin and piano – played with impeccable verve, charm, and joy by Melody Fader and Doori Na – the work is Miro’s hymn to all the dancers who have performed for him thru New Chamber Ballet’s 15-year history.

As such, and in a celebratory move that seemed to take Elizabeth and Sarah by surprise, a bevy of former NCB dancers who had been seated randomly among the crowd suddenly rose and stepped into the dance space, performing an homage to the two departing stars whilst also celebrating the continuum of Miro’s tireless work, in which the dancers and the dance are one.

Above: Elizabeth and Sarah. Thanks for the memories, ladies…and please: keep on dancing!

~ Oberon