Category: Ballet

Paul Taylor @ Lincoln Center 2016 – Part II

Above, one of the best of the best: Robert Kleinendorst of PTAMD

Tuesday March 29th, 2016 – This evening’s performance by Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance in the final week of their Lincoln Center season opened with a classic Taylor ‘white’ ballet, Equinox, set to music of Johannes Brahms which was performed (lovingly) live by a string quintet.

Two principal couples – Laura Halzack with Robert Kleinendorst and Paris Khobdeh with Michael Apuzzo – perform some of Paul Taylor’s most inventive and pleasing partnering passages with a feeling of lyrical athleticism. A long solo by Ms. Halzack was enchanting to behold. A quartet of dancers – too stellar to be deemed “supporting” – moved with captivating urgency and grace: Michelle Fleet, Eran Bugge, Sean Mahoney, and James Samson. The white costumes evoke Summer, but the Brahms themes hint at the approach of Autumn. Heartfelt dancing and playing from everyone involved.

The Weight of Smoke (a new Doug Elkins work) was a hot mess. The choreography is loaded with gimmicks and clichés while the fusion of Baroque (here, Handel) with contemporary club beats and noisy effects has been done before and has lost its cleverness. The dancers may have enjoyed the opportunity to cut loose, not having to think too much about technique or precision, but to me (and my choreographer-companion) the work seemed endlessly aimless and mildly embarrassing. Laced with gender-bending elements, with two women in a sustained kiss, and sashaying gay-boy stereotypes, the work ambled on with lots of energy being expended on retro-provocations. In the end, I was thinking: “You have sixteen of the best dancers on the planet to work with, and this is what you came up with?”

The evening ended on the highest of possible high notes with Paul Taylor’s Promethean Fire; the same sixteen dancers who slogged their way thru the tedious Elkins now appeared in Santo Loquasto’s incredible black costumes and treated us to a feast of impeccable dancing in this darkly dazzling ballet.

Paul Taylor’s choreography here gives Mr B a run for his money in terms of musicality and structure…and it looks gorgeous on Mr. B’s own stage. The Leopold Stokowski orchestrations of music by J. S. Bach seem jarring at first but Mr. Taylor was right to choose them as they mesh well with the opulent energy of the dancing.

The live music (Orchestra of Saint Luke’s under Donald York’s baton) was a wonderful enhancement to the onstage splendour; it’s a great piece for zeroing in on individual dancers as they move with such assurance and beauty of spirit thru choreography that must be a sheer delight to dance.

The central passage of Promethean Fire is a pas de deux which was danced tonight by Parisa Khobdeh and Michael Trusnovec (above). Their physical allure and their sense of the importance of the steps and port de bras made this such a richly rewarding experience, both visually and spiritually.

Production photo © 2015 Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance

March 29, 2016
Ballet Hispanico in Rehearsal

Above: Martina Calcagno rehearsing at Ballet Hispanico today; photo by Nir Arieli

Monday March 28th, 2016 – In anticipation of Ballet Hispanico‘s upcoming season at The Joyce, photographer Nir Arieli and I stopped by the Company’s home space on West 89th Street to watch a rehearsal.

The Hispanico dancers are among the most vivid in New York City’s vibrant community of dance. Watching them in the up-close-and-personal studio setting, their power, unstinting energy, and sheer sexiness are a testament to their generosity and commitment.

For their impending Joyce performances, Ballet Hispanico will offer the New York premiere of Gustavo Ramírez Sansano’s Flabbergast. The Company have previously performed Mr. Sansano’s dramatic narrative ballet CARMEN.maquia and his charming El Beso.

Flabbergast is a complete joy to experience: lively, sexy, and playful, the choreography calls for non-stop action. And the dancers are even called upon to sing, which they do enthusiastically. Here are some of Nir’s images from today’s run-thru of this exciting dancework:

Eila Valls and Lyvan Verdecia

Kassandra Cruz

Chris Bloom

Melissa Fernandez

Mark Gieringer

Mark (foreground) & Company

Kassandra Cruz

Cole Vernon

Mark Gieringer

The Flabbergast ensemble

As an ideal contrast to the extroverted Flabbergast, choreographer’s Ramón Oller’s darkly ritualistic Bury Me Standing will also be on the Joyce program. A section of this ballet, in which a cortege of mourners move slowly across the space while a male soloist performs an expressive dance of lamentation, was being rehearsed today with Hispanico’s charismatic Mario Ismael Espinoza in the featured role.

Above, and in the following images: Mario Ismael Espinoza

During this run-thru from Bury Me Standing, I had one of those unusual experiences that you can only get at a rehearsal: while Mario was performing the solo and Nir was capturing it, I was at the other end of the studio where Mario’s alternate, Christopher Hernandez, was also dancing the solo directly in front of me. Mario and Christopher have very different physiques and stage personalities; shifting my gaze between the two, I was able to experience their interpretations simultaneously; an exciting finale to our studio visit.

I want to thank publicist Michelle Tabnick for arranging everything, Mr. Sansano for his cordial greeting and very appealing choreography, Hispanico’s Michelle Manzanales – ever the gracious hostess – and every single one of the Company’s incredible dancers.

And I’m particularly grateful – as always – to photographer Nir Arieli.

I want to draw your attention to Nir’s upcoming gallery show of Flocks at Daniel Cooney|Fine Art on West 26th Street, which will run from April 21st thru June 4th, 2016. Ballet Hispanico is among the companies featured in this series. More information below:

March 28, 2016
Paul Taylor @ Lincoln Center 2016

Wednesday March 23rd, 2016 – “Taylor Does Graham” was my alternate headline for this article. Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels has triumphantly entered the repertory of Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance Company. I’ve always loved seeing the Graham dancers in this work, and now I also love seeing the Taylors: between these two companies, some of the greatest movers and shapers of our day are to be found. In the photo at top: Michael Trusnovec.

Graham paragons Blakeley White-McGuire and Tadej Brdnik set Diversion on the Taylor company. The casting of the work’s three main couples seemed spot-on, with the elegant, patrician Laura Halzack in White paired with Michael Trusnovec; restless, passionate Parisa Khobdeh (in Red) dancing with Sean Mahoney; and the sun-filled joy of Eran Bugge’s Woman in Yellow handsomely partnered by Michael Novak. A women’s quartet consisting of Michelle Fleet, Jamie Rae Walker, Heather McGinley, and Christina Lynch Markham comprised a marvelously high-end “supporting” cast, and George Smallwood’s strong performance as the odd-man-in all made for a great deal of spacious, eye-catching dance.

Several passages linger in the memory: the long frozen, stylized pose sustained by Ms. Halczak and Mr. Trusnovec early in the piece, and the lovely floated quality of Laura’s series of slow turns; Ms. Khobdeh’s agitated solo amidst the four women, her great sense of urgency as she rushes across the stage on some unknown quest, and Mr. Mahoney’s wonderful “catch” of her as she rushed to him; Ms. Bugge, who captivated me all evening, has a most congenial role; she brought Springtime freshness to her solo passages, and to her lyrically animated duet with Mr. Novak.

A sustained deep note in the Norman Dello Joio score signals the “White” pas de deux; it almost goes without saying that the Halzack/Trusnovec duo were truly inspired and inspiring here.

Paul Taylor’s Three Dubious Memories is a gem of a ballet. When I first saw it a couple of years ago, it was mainly the witty elements that persuaded me of its stage-worthiness. Tonight somehow it seemed much deeper and more of a story-telling ritual than a mere series of relationship-vignettes.

In Three Dubious Memories, an incident from the evolving story of a romantic triangle is remembered differently by each of the three people involved. The competition between two men (Robert Kleinendorst and Sean Mahoney) for the affections of Eran Bugge brings the men to blows. But then, in a volte-face, the men are seen as a cozy pair and Ms. Bugge as the interloper. We’ll never know the real story, but Mr. Taylor has left us to ponder the way in which we each remember things.

In addition to brilliant dancing and acting from the principal trio, Three Dubious Memories provides an intriguing role for James Samson: a silent narrator, a sort of master-of-ceremonies. James summons up each telling of the tale by the three protagonists; he also leads an ensemble of ‘choristers’ in stylized rituals. James did a beautiful job in this role which calls for both expressiveness and athleticism. In one memorable moment, Heather McGinley perches on James’s shoulders like a looming icon. The ballet was beautifully lit by Jennifer Tipton.

In the evening’s concluding work, Spindrift, dates from 1993 and is set to Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet Concerto (after Handel), played live by the Orchestra of St Luke’s. To the sound of wind and waves, Michael Trusnovec emerges from the midst of a communal group moving in stylized slowness. Michael’s character displays the shifting nature of a romantic spirit with an affinity for the natural world; he’s an outsider, cast upon a mystic shore among a rather suspicious tribe.

Certain movement motifs recall Nijinsky’s Faun, and in fact the costuming also makes us think of the Debussy ballet. The Handel/Schoenberg music seems at once old and new as Mr. Trusnovec pursues Mr. Halzack and is occasionally distracted by the quirky presence of Ms. Bugge.

In the ballet’s second movement, an adagio solo for Mr. Trusnovec is the heart of Spindrift; in subtle twists of his torso, the power and beauty of this magnificent dancer’s physique given full rein, as is his indelible artistry: so compelling to behold. The movement becomes livelier and more off-kilter for a spell, then slows and – as Mr. Trusnovec melts into a reverential kneeling back-bend, the ballet seems about to end. But there’s another movement, laced with solos and duets for all the participants.

As is all the great Taylor works, there are moments of seeming simplicity that make an unexpected impact; one such in Spindrift was a passage where four woman crossed on a diagonal, walking slowly. Other impressive passages were a duet for Ms. Bugge and Mr. Trusnovec and another one in which Michael was paired with Robert Kleinendost; Robert was on peak form all evening.

In fact, the entire Taylor company’s looking pretty extraordinary these days. I was hoping to see more of Michelle Fleet (she only danced in the opening work, with Ms. Bugge replacing her in Spindrift); Francisco Graciano and Michael Apuzzo also appeared all-too-briefly, yet – as always – they each made their mark. Madelyn Ho, the newest dancer on the roster, appeared in the ensemble in Spindrift.

I had great seats (thank you, Lisa Labrado!) and was delighted to spend the evening with my ballet-loving friend Susan, who I rarely see these days. And it’s always so nice to run into Janet Eilber, Blakeley White-McGuire, Take Ueyama and his wife Ana, and Richard Chen-See.

Onward now to more Taylor…and then, in April, Graham!

March 23, 2016
Ian Spencer Bell: Poet and Dancer

Friday March 18th, 2016 – There are only a handful of true originals on the Gotham dance scene these days, and Ian Spencer Bell is one of them. In the past, his very sophisticated choreography of small ensemble pieces has always intrigued me; more recently, Ian has been exploring his two passions – dance and poetry – simultaneously in unique solo presentations.

Tonight at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on 13th Street, Ian performed his newest work, MARROW, in the intimate yet airy space of the recently-renovated Room 210. It was in the same setting, last June, that Ian’s double bill of GEOGRAPHY SOLOS and HOLLER made such a distinctive impression.

An attentive and wonderfully silent audience seemed mesmerized this evening by Ian’s every word and move. Lithe and beautiful to behold, Ian dances with a rather gentle physicality; but the choreography can also take on a sharper aspect when the narrative gets more intense.

His poem tonight drew on his experiences as a Southern boy, a youth who was different from everyone else. How many times has this story been told??…and yet, rarely with the same poignancy as in Ian’s words and dancing.

Waiting for the performance to start, we were listening to Ode to Billie Joe; thus was the setting for what we were about to witness already evoked. Beginning with a story about swarms of bees which attacked his home (“I’m allergic, and alone.”), Ian went on to describe a dream of men climbing out of manholes. (Yes, physical laborers have always created fantasies for gay boys…) As Ian spoke, his body spoke also – in rapid turns, or simple walking, with expansive port de bras; the sweeping motion of a foot; plunges to the floor where he cowered or lazed.

Confidences and local gossip become part of the story, as does an incident of Ian’s mother falling into a hole on their property while tending horses. This left her with a permanent injury. Meanwhile, his siblings and step-father play out their expected roles: “Boys don’t act like that!” his step-dad yelled, uncomprehendingly. “I wanted my step-father to die,” was young Ian’s thought in response.

From repose to restlessness, the dancing moves on: a harrowing episode where his step-father attempts to strangle him is the work’s most dramatic moment; but even the more mundane aspects of daily life – as of waiting in the checkout line at a local store to buy supplies for “making a funeral wreath” – take on an unusual resonance in Ian’s words.

In the end, our stories of growing up gay are mostly all the same – a theme-and-variations setting of what it’s like to be different. What’s sad is that, apparently, so little progress was made in the years separating my experience from Ian’s.

Waiting in the Center’s lobby for the performance to begin, I watched the hordes of young people coming and going. They have found a community and a haven here: such lovely kids, unbounded diversity. And while I am certain they are dealing with many of the same problems that have beset us all, they have resources now that we did not have…and they have each other.

I had no one to turn to, and nothing to reassure me; I was alone, thinking – as I so often did in those first harrowing years of self-discovery – that I was the only one.

Thus it is deeply moving to have Ian telling our story, and in such an imaginative and compelling way.

(Note: this article is now updated with new photos by Kyle Froman)

March 18, 2016
New Ravel @ New Chamber Ballet

Saturday February 27th, 2016 – Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet presenting five Magloire ballets, including a premiere, at City Center Studios. Exceptional music, played live, is always on offer at NCB; then there’s the bevy of ballerinas: five distinctive dancers who bring Miro’s classically-based but sometimes quirky – and always demanding – choreography to life.

Tonight, the house was packed; extra chairs had to be set out, and some people were standing. The program was one of Miro’s finest to date – and he’s had an awful lot of fine evenings. Two classic French violin sonatas – Debussy’s and (part of) Ravel’s – were in the mix, along with some Schoenberg (the more Schoenberg I hear, the more I like), and works by Beat Furrer and Friedrich Cerha (who just celebrated his 90th birthday).

The opening (premiere) work, RAVEL’D, is still “in-progress”; tonight we saw the first movement, with Miro promising the rest of it for his April performances. Doori Na and Melody Fader played beautifully, and Sarah Thea’s fringed tunics added an unusual flair to the movement. Stylized motifs – eating, praying, biting – are woven into the dance. One girl’s toe-shoed foot rests upon another girl’s head: this is one of several unexpected balancing devices. A space-filling unison trio stands out, and the closing section finds Sarah Atkins in a reverential pose as Amber Neff and Shoshana Rosenfield ‘converse’ in a series of mutually dependent balances.

The space was again well-utilized in GRAVITY; we were seeing the finished version of this work that Miro had started on last year. Doori Na’s expert playing of the Cerha score was something to marvel at: great subtlety and control are called for, and Doori delivered. The three dancers – Elizabeth Brown, Traci Finch, and Amber Neff – are engaged in extended paragraphs of the partnering vocabulary Miro has been exploring of late. Extremely challenging and movingly intimate, the intense physicality of these passages push the boundaries of what we expect from women dancing together. Miro’s dancers have taken to these new demands with great commitment: watching some of their improbable feats of balance and elastic strength gives us a fresh awareness of possibility. Adding yet another dimension to the work: when not actively dancing, each ballerina curls up on the floor to sleep.

Pianist Melody Fader evoked an air of mystery with her superb playing of Arnold Schoenberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces for the ballet QUARTET. Here Mlles. Atkins, Brown, Finch, and Neff appear in elegant, backless black gowns. They take seats at the four corners of the playing area, facing outward. With her hair down, a waif-like Shoshana Rosenfield dances in the center with a feeling of halting insecurity; her character seems dazed, perhaps drugged. Periodically, the four seated women move their chairs towards the center, slowing encroaching on Shoshana’s space. The four become aware of the lone ballerina as a potential victim: they turn and observe her intently. In the end, the four women have Shoshana trapped; as she sinks down in surrender, they caress her and run their fingers thru her hair. Eerie, and leaving us full of questions, QUARTET is as intriguing to watch as to hear.

In VOICELESSNESS, Beat Furrer’s mystical score was performed by Melody Fader; her playing had a fine air of somber quietude. Dancers Amber Neff and Shoshana Rosenfield, in Sarah Thea’s sleek body tights, become fervently entwined and mutually dependent in a duet that develops further elements of Miro’s intense and engrossing partnering technique.

For a revival of TWO FRIENDS, Doori Na and Melody Fader had the lovely experience of playing Claude Debussy’s violin sonata, the composer’s last completed work. Wearing black gauzy tunics and black toe shoes, Elizabeth Brown and Sarah Atkins are the eponymous duo; they partner lyrically, and all seems right with the world. Then Traci Finch appears out of nowhere and the ballet’s dynamic shifts and splinters, with fleeting pair-ups as alliances form and vanish in a trice. The subtexts of attraction and jealousy are very subtly threaded into the movement; an in-sync duet for Elizabeth and Traci is one outstanding moment, and the sonata’s final movement calls for large-scale virtuosic dancing from all three. But then Sarah impetuously rushes off.

True to life, TWO FRIENDS often finds multiple narratives developing at the same time, and over-lapping. There is so much to watch and to savor: I especially relished a brief passage where Elizabeth Brown, suddenly finding herself standing alone, quietly runs her hands up and down her arms in a caressive gesture. Elizabeth, a dancer who always lures the eye with her confident technique and personal mystique, turned this fleeting moment into something of deeper resonance.

Having followed Miro’s New Chamber Ballet for several seasons now, what I’ve come to appreciate most about him is his musical integrity. His tastes are eclectic, but always sophisticated, and he’s able to win us over to some very unusual and not always ‘easy’ music thru his own personal enthusiasm for the works he presents. The benefits of having the music played live are numerous, and greatly enhance the atmosphere at NCB‘s performances. And Miro’s excellent dancers take up each new musical and choreographic challenge that he sets for them with a wonderful mixture of strength, musicality, willingness, and grace.

The dancers tonight were Sarah Atkins, Elizabeth Brown, Traci Finch, Amber Neff, and Shoshana Rosenfield, with the music played by Doori Na (violin) and Melody Fader (piano) and costuming by Sarah Thea. Kudos to all, and to Miro for yet another fascinating evening of dance.

During the intermission, I really enjoyed re-connecting with Melissa Barak, the former New York City Ballet ballerina who now runs her own Los Angeles-based company Barak Ballet. Melissa is currently here in New York City as the inaugural Virginia B. Toulmin Fellow for Women Choreographers at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. We shared an awful lots of news and ideas in our 15-minute chat. I love her energy!

February 27, 2016
New Chamber Ballet ~ Gallery

Above: dancers Sarah Atkins and Amber Neff in Miro Magloire’s RAVEL’D

Photographs from New Chamber Ballet‘s February 2016 performances at New York City Center Studios. Read about the program here, and about a rehearsal I attended here.

All the choreography depicted is by Miro Magloire, and all the images are courtesy of New Chamber Ballet:

Amber Neff and Traci Finch in GRAVITY

Amber Neff, Elizabeth Brown, and Traci Finch in GRAVITY

Shoshana Rosenfield in QUARTET

Shoshana Rosenfield in QUARTET

Shoshana Rosenfield with Sarah Atkins and Traci Finch in QUARTET

Elizabeth Brown, Amber Neff, Traci Finch and Sarah Atkins surround Shoshana Rosenfield in QUARTET

Amber Neff and Shoshana Rosenfield in VOICELESSNESS

Shoshana Rosenfield and Amber Neff in VOICELESSNESS

Shoshana Rosenfield and Amber Neff in VOICELESSNESS

February 27, 2016
Rehearsal: New Chamber Ballet

Above: New Chamber Ballet dancers Amber Neff and Sarah Atkins

Monday February 22nd, 2016 – I dropped in at Ballet Hispanico’s studios today where Miro Magloire, just back from choreographing the ballet sequences for Sarasota Opera’s production of Verdi’s AIDA, is preparing his New Chamber Ballet dancers for their upcoming performances: February 26th and 27th, 2016, at City Center Studios. Ticket information here.

Marina Harss wrote a wonderful article for DanceTabs about Miro’s Sarasota experience: read it here.

At today’s rehearsal, Miro was fine-tuning the ballets we’ll be seeing on the coming weekend at City Center Studios. Here are some photos of the dancers I took at the studio today:

Amber Neff

Shoshana Rosenfield, Amber Neff, Sarah Atkins

Shoshana Rosenfield, Sarah Atkins

Sarah Atkins, Amber Neff

Shoshana Rosenfield

Traci Finch

Elizabeth Brown, Sarah Atkins

Traci Finch, Elizabeth Brown

Elizabeth Brown, Traci Finch

Elizabeth Brown, Amber Neff

Elizabeth Brown, Amber Neff

Elizabeth Brown

The works to be presented at the upcoming City Center Studio performances are: the premiere of the full version of Gravity to music by Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha, who turns 90 this month; the premiere of a new ballet to Maurice Ravel’s 2nd violin sonata; a revival of Quartet, a dramatic solo set to Arnold Schoenberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces; a revival of Two Friends, a trio danced to Claude Debussy’s violin sonata; and Miro’s recent success Voicelessness, a duet set to music by Beat Furrer.

The dancers are Sarah Atkins, Elizabeth Brown, Traci Finch, Amber Neff, and Shoshana Rosenfield, and the music will be played live by Doori Na (violin) and Melody Fader (piano).

February 22, 2016
Ballet Academy East @ Ailey Citigroup

Above: from Claudia Schreier’s ballet “Charge“, a Rosalie O’Connor photo

Saturday February 20th, 2016 – Young dancers from Ballet Academy East appeared tonight in performance at Ailey Citgroup Theatre. Ballets choreographed by Ashley Bouder, Jenna Lavin, and Claudia Schreier were on offer, as well as George Balanchine’s classic “Raymonda Variations”, staged by Darla Hoover, BAE’s artistic director and a répétiteur for the Balanchine Trust.

Though billed as a ‘studio showing’, the presentation was fully staged, with lighting and costumes. The house was packed, with some dance-world luminaries who teach at BAE among the crowd.

Jenna Lavin’s “Barcarolle” opened the evening; set to the beloved music of the same title from Offenbach’s CONTES D’HOFFMANN, Lavin’s charmer of a ballet was danced by the youngest group of dancers on tonight’s programme: ages 10 to 12 years. The ballet’s three boys were showing early development of the courtly style which is an essential component to classical ballet, whilst the girls – in pretty pink tutus – danced with amiable grace.

Ashley Bouder, principal ballerina with New York City Ballet, has choreographed “Mozart’s Little Nothings“, a ballet to the great composer’s “Les petits riens” for a cast of 13 BAE dancers ranging in age from 12 to 15. The choreography is elegant and well-structured – as perfectly befits the music. The girls wear white with violet ribbon trim, and the ballet has a classic hierarchy of principal couple, pas de trois, and corps de ballet. The dancing was accomplished, the young dancers successfully imparting a sense of both balletic decorum and the joy of performing, and celebrating in a wonderful ‘big circle’ moment. Ms. Bouder, with a beautiful baby bump, was greeted warmly when she took a bow at the end of her ballet.

Boldly and thrillingly choreographed for 22 of the school’s most technically advanced dancers, Claudia Schreier’s premiere, “Charge” calls upon her youthful cast for both strong traditional ballet technique and an unusually supple fluency of the upper body, with correspondingly fluid port de bras. “Charge” is set to the third movement of the contemporary Dutch composer Douwe Eisenga‘s piano concerto.

Ms. Schreier showed a clear mastery of structure in deploying her large cast with consummate skill from start to finish in this exciting ballet. Opening with a single girl onstage, the choreographer commences to build her ballet with a duo, a trio, and a quartet of dancers arriving in succession, eager to dance. By the time the full cast are onstage, the choreography and Mr. Eisenga’s sparkling, dramatic score are whisking us along on an exhilarating ride.

“Charge” unfolds with a dynamic sense of the inevitable: the music propels Ms. Schreier’s choreography at every moment, and the dancers give it their all. So many highlights along the way: a passage for six boys is echoed by six girls; a stylized pacing motif; a grand circle that rushes to form and then vanishes just as quickly; an off-kilter pas de deux; four quartets in canon; fleeting solos; unusual lifts. Ms. Schreier miraculously managed her large cast – in a limited space – so compellingly that things never seemed over-crowded or chaotic.

In sum, “Charge” writes another vivid page in Ms. Schreier’s dance diary: a perfect follow-up to the memorable works she presented on this very stage in August 2015. Kudos to the young dancers who illuminated “Charge” with their flair and commitment.

After the interval, Ms. Lavin turned to Schubert’s piano trio # 2 in E- flat major, Opus 100, for the premiere of “(S)EVEN”. Three girls in blue and four is pale rose comprise the cast. Ensemble moments give way to a series of short solos performed on pointe, each tailored to the specific technical gifts and personality of the seven teen-aged dancers.

“Raymonda Variations”, one of George Balanchine’s signature ballets, offers the BAE dancers a showcase for their diverse lyrical and virtuosic gifts. Darla Hoover cast the Academy’s advanced students with a keen sense of showing them off to best advantage. The level of dancing was high, and was matched by the musicality and Romantic-era sensibilities of the performers.

Alexander Glazunov’s music, exuding the perfumed elegance of a bygone era, is captivating – and surely inspired the young BAE dancers to put forth their charming and scintillating best. It must have been a thrill to dance Balanchine at a young age, and for a very receptive audience.

Several individual dancers in tonight’s performance could be singled out for special praise, but I don’t feel it’s really beneficial to do so at a student performance. Everyone gave of his or her best, and these young talents seem to be in very good hands at Ballet Academy East.

February 20, 2016
New Works By Parsons and Skarpetowska

Wednesday January 20th, 2016 – The opening night of the Parsons Dance 2016 season at The Joyce. New works by David Parsons and Katarzyna Skarpetowska were on offer, as well as Robert Battle’s TRAIN, a revival of David Parsons’ UNION, and two of David’s signature classics: NASCIMENTO and CAUGHT.

It was a grand night for dancing; each of the six works presented offered ample opportunity for the vibrant Parsons Dancers to dazzle us with their strength, passion, and fearlessness. If it’s true that there’s no rest for the wicked, then these dancers must be very naughty indeed. They danced full-out, with nary a hint of pacing themselves, all evening. The vociferous screams (yes, screams) of delight from the packed house at the end of each piece said it all.

David Parsons and I go way back, to his dancing days with Paul Taylor’s company and his earliest explorings of the choreographic terrain at Jacob’s Pillow. Read a bit about this history here.

Above: dancers of Parsons Dance in a © Lois Greenfield photo. (Check out Ms. Greenfield’s latest book, Moving Still, here). These six dancers – Ian Spring, Omar Roman de Jesus, Geena Pacareu (back row), Sarah Braverman, Eoghan Dillon, and Elena D’Amario (foreground trio) comprised the cast of tonight’s opening work: David’s newest creation, FINDING CENTER. Having its New York premiere this evening, the piece is inspired by a series of paintings created in the 1980s by artist Rita Blitt.

FINDING CENTER is danced to a laid-back score by Thomas Newman. Throughout the work, Ms. Blitt’s oval-shaped images – in vivid, ever-changing colours – are projected behind the dancers. Howell Binkley, David Parsons’ long-time lighting collaborator, again proved his essential value to the on-going success of the Parsons repertory: his lighting is always perfect.

Among the many arresting choreographic elements in this new work are unusual lifts of the women in seated positions. An adagio for Elena D’Amario and Ian Spring finds Mr. Parsons’ gift for inventive partnering at full-flourish: not only are there some gorgeous lifts, but twice Ian suspends Elena in a floating plank position, her body parallel to the floor and only inches away from it. Mlles. Braverman and Pacareu, squired by Eoghan Dillon and Omar Roman de Jesus, turned what might otherwise be considered ensemble roles into beautifully expressive moments.

Photographer Travis Magee and I watched a rehearsal of David Parsons’ UNION a couple of weeks ago. This dancework premiered at the New York State Theatre in 1993 as part of an AIDS benefit gala. It marked a collaboration between the choreographer, composer John Corigliano, and fashion designer Donna Karan.

The elegy from Mr. Corigliano’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra creates an atmosphere of luminously pensive mystery…even before the dancing begins. The eight dancers, clad in Ms. Karan’s provocatively ‘nude’ costumes, enter in slow-motion from upstage left; they cross the diagonal and pause center-stage where they become entwined and entangled. Individual dancers rise out of the dense human hive only to inexplicably vanish again. Suddenly they begin to move faster, though the music maintains is eerie adagio tempo. As the music fades, the tribe gather their energy to continue their diagonal trajectory, moving toward some unknown fate.

Among the individual dancers in this work, Sarah Braverman stood out – as she had at the rehearsal (above, with Ian and Omar in Travis Magee’s photo) – for her ability to maintain a deeply feminine lyricism every moment she is onstage. Whether she’s dancing fast or slow, or being suspended upside down, Sarah is always hypnotic to watch.

It was also in UNION tonight that we met the two newest members of Parsons Dance…

…blonde and luscious Zoey Anderson…

…and Ahmad Simmons, a pillar of strength and a born mover.

The evening continued:

Above: Elena D’Amario, in a Travis Magee portrait. Elena’s solo in Robert Battle’s TRAIN was simply thrilling.

TRAIN is set to a blazing percussion score performed by Les Tambours du Bronx. It’s not about trains as a mode of transportation, but rather about training the body for rigorous sports activity. Here the dancers, whether in marching mode or sailing about the space in free-flowing passages, took on an almost animal intensity. Elena D’Amario’s solo, in which Mr. Battle makes uncanny demands on the dancer, was performed with Ellie’s trademark daring and all-out commitment, winning this beauteous dancer a forte round of cheers when she took her bows.

Katarzyna Skarpetowska, a particular favorite of mine among choreographers currently on the scene, offered her latest creation, ALMAH, and added yet another feather to her cap with this finely-conceived and musically inspired work. Performing live, the musicians of Ljova dazzled us with their colourful playing. A felicitous soundscape – combining fadolin (an acoustic 6-string violin/viola/cello hybrid made by Eric Aceto), tuba, trumpet, bass clarinet, and drums – evoked beer gardens, country weddings à la LES NOCES, and visions of Russian villages and the people who live there.

Ms. Skarpetowska had wonderful dancers to work with – Elena D’Amario, Zoey Anderson, Eoghan Dillon, and Omar Ramon de Jesus – and she used the music as an inspiration for their rich and detailed movement, with some intriguing partnering motifs in the mix.

Two pas de deux for Geena Pacareu and Ian Spring (above, rehearsing with the musicians of Ljova in a David Parsons photo) are high points in this excellent work; in the longer of the two, the voice of Inna Barmash cast a spell over the theatre with her one-word vocalise – talk about creating an atmosphere! – to which Ian and Geena responded with dancing that was truly heartfelt.

Ms. Skarpetowska took a bow to warmly affectionate applause at the close of this premiere of her newest piece, her silver shoes a charming touch. How I would love to see Kate working with oh-so-many dancers/dance companies…and most especially with the Martha Graham troupe. Let’s make it happen!

Above: beloved dancers Sarah Braverman and Ian Spring, in a Lois Greenfield photo

No Parsons Dance evening is complete without CAUGHT, the unique strobe-light solo that includes 100 jumps and leaves audiences in a stupefied state of “how-the-hell-did-he-do-that?” wonderment. I have seen it dozens of times and tonight, as always, I was thinking: “Oh…Caught…again!” and then moments later I was whooping and hollering along with the rest of the crowd.

Ian Spring gave an astonishing performance; at first he moves slowly from one pool of light to another as Ljova intoned the opening phrases of the Robert Fripp score live. And then Ian takes off, flashing in and out of our vision in a series of perfectly timed snapshots. Like a dreamworld spirit, he pops up uncannily in various parts of the stage, seems to suspend himself above the floor, walks on air. Periodically the ‘real’ Ian materializes, as if he’d been standing still the whole time. Dazzled by the visual magic and by the dancer’s mouth-watering physique, the crowd went absolutely wild at the end while the sweat-drenched Ian – who, during his seasons with Parsons Dance, has developed into one of Gotham’s modern dance icons – basked in a standing ovation, casting a benevolent smile on the adoring throng.

David Parsons’ sunny and seductive NASCIMENTO (1990) is always a perfect closing work. Here the dancers fill the music of Milton Nascimento – and David Parsons’ casually sexy combinations – with the effortless charisma that seems to be de rigueur for joining this elite dance family. Everyone has ample opportunity to shine – or glow, really – as they leap and sway to the tantalizing music, which includes some spine-tingly vocal passages. Meanwhile, the Binkley lighting scheme with its warm, rich colours, is an ideal setting.

So many moments give NACSIMENTO its visual appeal: there’s a great passage when the girls race upstage and fly into Ahmad Simmons’ arms. And a simple but savorable section where Sarah Braverman wanders wonderingly among her colleagues who are hailing us from the shore with stylized arm gestures. Overall, it’s an irresistible piece performed by irresistible dancers.

A few more images:

Eoghan Dillon, a young Irishman who is carving out his own niche in the Company…

…and Geena Pacareu, the Spanish beauty, with Omar Ramon de Jesus, a sweetly sexy guy, and a suave mover; I borrowed this picture of them – on vacation – from Geena’s Instagram.

And finally…The Boss, getting everything perfect. Photo: Travis Magee.

Parsons Dance continue their Joyce season thru January 31st. You’d better go see them!

January 20, 2016
Graham Winter Intensive Showcase

Friday January 15th, 2016 – Tadej Brdnik invited me to a showcase performance today at the Martha Graham Dance Company‘s home space on Bethune Street where participants in the Graham 2016 Winter Intensive showed a standing-room-only crowd what they’d been working on for the past three weeks.

Following some solo composition studies and repertory excerpts, presented by the Graham school’s Yung Yung Tsui and Lone Larsen, choreographer Joshua Beamish had a group of male and female students demonstrate how dance can be developed from a single phrase. Maxine Sherman then presented several women in an excerpt from CAVE OF THE HEART; this solo was danced by the girls in unison and in canon.

The male contingent from the Intensive then appeared for CELEBRATION, a 1934 work which Graham set to music by Louis Horst. Graham originally created CELEBRATION with an all-female cast; Tadej has now been tasked with re-working it for a male ensemble. Fifteen men danced it today; it’s a very dynamic piece, showing Graham’s customary skill in structuring movement to achieve the maximum effect. Tadej mentioned that the choreography includes approximately 400 jumps, putting it into a special category alongside David Parsons’ CAUGHT.

Among the dancers today, both male and female, some showed great promise.

I always love being at Graham events, and was so happy to see – in addition to Tadej and Joshua – Denise Vale, Blakeley White-McGuire, Ying Xin, future maman Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch, Abdiel Cedric Jacobsen, and Lloyd Knight.

I had planned to take lots of photos, but latecomers arrived and took seats to my immediate right, and I didn’t want to disturb them with my camera. So I have only the one image (at the top) of a dancer in her composition study at the start of the presentation.

January 15, 2016