Category: Ballet

In the Studio with Miro Magloire

Above: Holly Curran and Traci Finch rehearsing for New Chamber Ballet

Wednesday August 28th, 2013 – Miro Magloire, always one of the busiest people on the New York City dance scene, is busier than ever these days. Not only is he preparing for the upcoming performances of his New Chamber Ballet (September 6th & 7th at City Center Studios) but he is also creating five new works for the Austrian Cultural Forum’s Moving Sounds Festival for a performance on September 20th, as well as looking ahead to New Chamber Ballet‘s tour to Germany.

For the Moving Sounds Festival, New Chamber Ballet will team up with
the Argento Chamber Ensemble for a program of five new ballets – and a
revival – to music by contemporary Austrian and American composers. A world premiere collaboration with
composer Michel Galante, a new work to a new score by composer Nina C.
Young, and new creations to scores by Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas,
and Arthur Kampela will be featured. The program – which will also include a revival of Miro’s ECHOES to music by Anton Webern – takes place at the Bohemian National Hall, Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, NYC on September 20th. Visit the Festival’s page here.

I stopped in at Ballet Hispanico today where Miro and his dancers – Elizabeth Brown, Sarah Atkins, Holly Curran, Amber Neff and Traci Finch – were working on some of the new rep. Composer Nina C Young dropped by to see the piece Miro is creating to her score.

Here are some photos I took of the new works in rehearsal:

Ellizabeth Brown and Amber Neff

Traci Finch and Holly Curran

Amber Neff

Elizabeth Brown

Holly Curran, Amber Neff

The final half-hour of the rehearsal time was devoted to Amber Neff working on the solo IN A SIMPLE BLACK DRESS, one of my favorites among Miro’s ever-expanding repertoire of intimate ballets. Here are some images of Amber rehearsing this solo:

August 29, 2013
In the Studio with Kensaku Shinohara

Click on the image to enlarge.

Wednesday August 28, 2013 – I stopped by at Far Space today where dancer/choreographer Kensaku Shinohara was rehearsing a work for four dancers that he’ll be presenting on September 29th, 2013 at the Dumbo Arts Festival. Performance detail here.

Currently titled MATH TIME, the evolving work will most ilkely have a new name – possibly 1000 DESIGNS – by the time of the Festival performances. The piece was shown at Bryant Park in early August, so it is structurally completed; today Kensaku and his dancers were working on fine-tuning and nuances.

Here are some images from the rehearsal:

Ellyn Sjoquist and Lynda Senisi

Lynda Senisi, Damani Pompey and Ellyn Sjoquist

Ellyn

Jake and Damani

Kensaku, Jake and Damani discuss the fine points

Jake Bone, Damani Pompey

Lynda, Ellyn, Jake

August 28, 2013
The Current Sessions: Volume III Issue II

Above: singer/composer Julie Hill (background) and dancers Chloe Felesina and Ian Hussey in Colby Damon’s Let me Live. Photo by Corey Melton.

Saturday August 24th, 2013 – Down to The Wild Project, an intimate venue in the East Village, for the latest installment of the Current Sessions, a series of performances featuring the work of contemporary choreographers of the Now and Next generations. With mix-it-up programming, each evening in the run produces a unique experience. Allison Jones and Alexis Convento are the co-founders of this ongoing project, and they’ve put their stamp on the series which started in 2011 and continues to hold a unique place on the New York City dance map.

Colby Damon ’s Let me Live (above photo) opened the evening impressively, with a string quintet playing Julie Hill‘s evocative score live onstage. Ms. Hill’s plaintive, unamplified singing wove thru the shiningly lyrical textures of the strings; her natural voice lent an air of vulnerability to the piece. Dancers Chloe Felesina and Ian Hussey performed Colby’s pas de deux with perfect expressiveness; their complex relationship veers from tenderness to traces of violence. In its unity of music, movement and mood this piece made a strong impact.

Roya Carreras’ A Table is an intimate domestic drama performed by Ms. Carreras, Leslie Curtis and Alexandria Yajl. “I remember but not every time, never is order” describes the state of a woman, perhaps in the stages of Alzeheimer’s, struggling with daily tasks while an attendant couple – perhaps real, perhaps imagined – inhabit her world to mysterious effect. Stylized movement and a layered score construct the situation, giving way to a melodious rhythmic solo (danced with one shoe off) a l’Espagnole. A lemon and some potted marigolds come into the scenario. An air of hopelessness seems to seep in, and a feeling of long days and unresolved, thwarted emotions. The individual performances of the three dancers were strong and moving.

Above: from dyad

Allison Jones and Hayley Jones took the stage for dyad, a fantastic duet in which the two girls – in ‘nude’ tops – danced in stylized and often synchronized moves to a Sam Silver soundscape. Sam Hart’s projections of both kozmic abstractions and glowing solid colours gave the dance its electric setting, while the intense shadows cast by the two dancers added a striking visual dimension. The piece is vivid, the dancing hi-energy and exciting to watch.

Two of Gotham’s smoothest movers – Christopher Ralph and Daisuke Omiya (photo above) – performed Gregory Dolbashian’s witty duet Go H.A.M. The boys have just started getting their groove on when the music halts, freezing them in ballet poses. They start again, but it keeps happening. After several thwarted attempts to do their own thing, Dai and Chris surrender to Mozart (the opening duet from NOZZE DI FIGARO) and carry on their competition in a fusion style. The crowd loved the piece and the two boys who danced it.

Charli Brissey made a fine impression with her engaging mixture of naturalness and quirkiness in a solo work-in-progress Human Friend, described as “….an experimental embodiment of queer animalism and social awkwardness.” The dancer effortlessly held the stage with her gamine physique and quiet intensity; eye contact with her viewers kept us in firm focus as the work unfolded.

Hayley Jones returned for the final piece, LoudHound Movement’s A Sentinel Without Lips. Hayley was joined by Kacie Bobitt and Sarah Stanley in this darkish, unsettling work which is planned as part of an upcoming installation. Synchronized duets and intense solos mirror the mind-states of the three women; their humming casts an eerie quality into the soundscape, and again shadows on the wall play a part in the works overall mystique. Allusions to eating disorders and a sense of despair are present, and so is an offbeat lyricism that keeps us engaged. Again – as all evening – the dancers excelled.

All performance photography by Corey Melton.

The Wild Project is a great space, and I loved running into some danceworld friends: aside from Allison and Alexis, Giorgio Bovo, Elise Ritzel, Colby Damon, Gregory Dolbashian and Bennyroyce Royon were all out on this refreshingly cool summer’s eve.

August 24, 2013
ABARUKAS + vivake @ MMAC

Sunday August 18, 2013 – One of my few opportunities to try a new dance company, since their performance happened to fall on one of my rare free days: Abarakus Contemporary Dance Company gave two performances at MMAC this weekend where they were joined by the hip-hop company vivake.

vivake opened the show, dancing Scar. The Company, led by Vivake Khamsingsavath, is made up of sexy boys and beautful girls, and they danced up a sultry summer storm in this darkly alluring piece. All clad in black, and illuminated by the fine lighting design by David Opara, the dancers exuded sensuous energy. Vivake himself is an ultra-charismatic personage, a dancer who put me very much in mind of such super-smooth Gotham movers as Bennyroyce Royon and Norbert de la Cruz. I look forward to seeing this dynamic group again.

I loved looking at the cast listings this evening and finding familiar names: Lizzy Zevallos dancing with vivake and Guang-Lei Hui dancing with ABARUKAS. I really enjoyed seeing both of them again.

ABARUKAS offered Yoshito Sakuraba’s “Lullaby to Mr. Adam“; this note from the choreographer had me expectng a narrative dancework:

“Lullaby
to Mr. Adam emerges from from an idea of a complete separation from
reality, imagining myself returning to the past.   I imagine myself
walking to my home where I lived and loved when I was little.   The
moment I start imagining that, I continue to recall a letter from the
first girl I fell in love with, the barbershop I used to go to, streets
where I’d bicycle to school, a sky where there were fireworks in the
summer, friends I played basketball with, and my grandma, whom I loved
but never expressed that to her. I’ve lived through everything and
everyone’s memory.   And they lived through mine.   I still have the
letters from the girl.”

But the choreographer is not a literalist; the piece is abstract and opens with a ritualistic passage in which we meet the dancers one by one. As with vivake, ABARUKAS is a Company loaded with talent. As individuals and as an ensemble, they danced with vivid commitment. Plenty of solo opportunities were afforded as the dancework unfolded. The choreography is gestural, scupltural, and – again – excellently lit by Mr. Opara.

Adan Jiminez Aguillar, a tall and stage-commanding presence, had a central role in the piece commencing with a passage in which he shoots – and then revives – his fellow dancers. He’s cast as a rather tyrannical type, though in the end he manages somehow to redeem himself. Guang-Lei Hui is a very fluid mover and a strong partner, and Shawn Rawls showed some remarkable break-dancing skills in his solo. Adan has a sustained, powerfully lyrical solo danced to the evening’s most poignant musical theme. The women – Caitlin Cantrell, Erin Dillon, Rebecca Quintrell, and Tsai-Hsi Hung – danced beautifully and allowed their individual personalities to emerge as the work surged forward.

The denouement of the piece comes as each dancer steps forward to slap Adan’s face – he endures this, and expects the same from Guang-Lei who instead gently lays his hand on Adan’s shoulder. A perfect final image as the light fades.

But no – there’s more to come. Another ensemble passages melds into a spacious duet for the striking Erin Dillon and Adan which ends with yet another ideal final tableau. But no – the work continues on. It’s all well-crafted and very finely executed, but after two false endings things seem to be stretching on a bit too long; a judicious paring down and some re-arranging of the various segments could produce a more cohesive and impressive overall effect. Nevertheless, the performances of the dancers overcame any slight misgivings about the structure of the piece.

August 18, 2013
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.

August 16, 2013
JANUSPHERE at the IATI Theater

Photo: Rachel Neville

Sunday July 28, 2013 – JANUSPHERE at the IATI Theater down on East 4th Street. I met my friend Roberto Villanueva (of BalaSole Dance Company) there on an overcast afternoon.

Aqura Lacey, Dora Kovac, Grace Song, Jason Jordan, Luke Manley and Matt Van appeared in KinderPlatz (Children’s
Place) which is set to a darkish, at times almost ominous score by Adyo and Deepbass. Despite its title, there’s nothing juvenile about this work. The dancers,
clad in soft creamy outfits, perform a series of trios and duets, often changing partners and configurations. They run and slide across the smooth floor, or stand still waving their arms in
unison windmill patterns; in these motifs the illusions of children’s
games are expresssed, but the mood remains distinctly ‘adult’.

A geodesic dome serves as a jungle gym, a cage, a bowl. At one point Ms Lacey climbs up onto the shoulders of the men, as if trying to escape thru the ceiling.

KinderPlatz is accompanied by original video projections created by visual artist Aleksandar
Cosic, featuring elements of architecture and shifting perspectives. What makes the work appealing though is the movement quality and the clarity of personal expression of the six indivdual dancers.

A Dancer’s Life opens with the diverse group of Janusphere
dancers appearing one-by-one in practice clothes, telling their stories of “why I became a dancer”. A solemn narrator calls the group to order and they start doing classroom pliés and
tendus, and working on partnering.

Then the competitive spirit takes over: to the ‘Lone Ranger’ theme from Rossini’s WILLIAM TELL overture, the dancers race about the space, bumping one another off in an effort to get ahead of the pack. In an audition scene, the dancers vie
fiercely for available work…and then comes the anguish of waiting for
a callback. When all but one dancer are called,
there’s relief and rejoicing, as well as a defensive narrative from the unchosen one. The work ends with the start of another day, another class.

In A Dancer’s Life, the cast of KinderPlatz are joined by Misei Daimaru, Stephanie van Doreen, and Ashley Whitson. In the theater’s intimate space, the personalities and individual attractiveness of the dancers gave the performance a sense of direct communication.

July 28, 2013
Emery LeCrone for Works & Process

Above: Emery LeCrone, photo by Kokyat

Thursday July 25th, 2013 – Choreographer Emery LeCrone has a new and unusual commission from the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series. In the past, Works & Process have invited two choreographers to create works to the same piece of music and present them on the same programme. Emery’s current commission gives this concept a new twist: she has been asked to create two ballets to the same piece of music, using different dancers in each. Today at the Guggenheim, friends of the choreographer were invited to watch a working rehearsal for this project.

The music is – blessedly – Bach, specifically the partita #2 in C minor. When we arrived, Emery was working out some partnering details with dancers Kaitlyn Gilliland and Alfredo Solivan. A second couple – Sarah Atkins and Richard Isaac – then rehearsed on a passage where they dance in unison, employing a fast-paced gestural language. As the hour drew to a close, the four dancers appeared together and ran thru the segment, dancing to the music which has now become visual.

Specific dates for the Works & Process perfomances of Emery’s Bach double-bill have not yet been set, but it will most likely be seen in March 2014. Further details will be forthcoming.

July 25, 2013
Installation: Cedar Lake

Wednesday July 24th, 2013 – Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet‘s interim artistic director Alexandra Damiani conceived and directed this evening’s expansive and stimulating installation which was presented at my favorite New York dance venue: Cedar Lake‘s home space on West 26th Street.

Thirty-two young dancers who had participated in this year’s Cedar Lake 360° summer intensive culminated their experience by joining Company members in a panoramic dance presentation featuring Clifton Taylor’s imaginative lighting, and sexy costuming by Cedar Lake‘s Matthew Rich. Company members Jason Kittelberger & Acacia Schachte, Jon Bond, Rachelle
Scott and Ebony Williams each had a hand in the choreography, their work blended into a seamless montage of movement along with repertory excerpts from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Andonis Foniadakis. All of this took place to the accompaniment of a sweepingly propulsive sound collage developed by (and including original music by) Jasper Gahunia.

Cedar Lake’s installations are both fascinating and frustrating: as an audience member you get to wander the space, sometimes actually coming into contact with the dancers. There are always three or four dance elements going on simultaneously in different areas of the space and that’s what leads to a bit of frustration: while watching one module of movement your eye is caught by something happening across the crowded room. After the first ten minutes I was thinking that even if I could attend all four showings of the installation I would still not be able to take it all in.

The student dancers were super; many intriguing dance personalities are developing here and I feel certain several of them will become familiar to us as their careers develop. Of course it was exciting to see the Company members, some of them dancing and others on the side-lines.

Photography is encouraged during Cedar Lake installations but I’m not skilled enough to take advantage of the situation, given the speed of the movement and the ever-shifting light. Only when a dancer is momentarily still (Company member Billy Bell, above) was my camera of any use to me. So for the most part I simply watched the event unfold, trusting that there will be images forthcoming from more seasoned photograhers.

July 24, 2013
Pergolesi’s STABAT MATER at Glimmerglass

Above photo by Jamie Kraus

Images from the Glimmerglass Festival production of Pergolesi’s STABAT MATER; part of a double bill (with David Lang’s little match girl passion), the Pergolesi was staged by choreographer Jessica Lang.

The following photos are by Karli Cadel:

Above: Sarah Parnicky and Danny Lindgren

Ensemble

Above: Andrea Beasom and Danny Lindgren

Click on each image to enlarge.

Glimmerglass Festival‘s Artistic & General Director Francesca
Zambello said: “Dance is a rich part of the operatic tradition, and I’m always
interested in finding new ways to incorporate contemporary dance into
our season at Glimmerglass. The way Jessica
has integrated dance into this piece expresses Pergolesi’s timeless
narrative in a truly modern vernacular. She has helped us provide a much
richer Festival experience by bringing this beautiful, emotive
choreography to our stage.”

Jessica Lang Dance will be at The Joyce August 16th and 17th, 2013. Information here.

July 23, 2013
Lydia Johnson Dance @ Newport

Rehearsal photo: dancers Kerry Shea and Eric Williams

Lydia Johnson Dance have been appearing at the Great Friends Dance Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. The Company presented Lydia’s intimate 2005 work, IN CONVERSATION. This piece, set to Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto, was the first work of Lydia’s that I ever encountered…and from there my admiration for her choreography, musical choices and wonderful dancers has grown exponentially over the ensuing years.

Above: dancers Laura DiOrio and Anthony Bocconi in the studio

The Festival performances of Lydia’s IN CONVERSATION drew a very positive review:

“Another visiting dance company – Lydia Johnson Dance from New
York and New Jersey – provided a lovely romantic and classical mood as
two couples danced contemporary pas de deux to Philip Glass’s
Violin Concerto. Further defining the classicism of the dance was the
attire – the two men in long black pants and tops, the females in white
and wearing halter tops. The couples displayed, seemingly without effort, slow motion pirouettes that lifted lightly over heads and backs, and
graceful, precise coordinated movements that extended even to the the
fingers and wrists.

The artistry of
this group was truly breathtaking and must be seen to be appreciated.
The lifts, swirls, leaps, turns, falls, risings and meldings were performed
with such athleticism and grace that watching the changing
geometry of limbs it seemed as though Da Vinci anatomy sketches had come
alive to dance.”
~ Sandra Matuschka
The Newport Daily News

Lydia Johnson Dance will return to the Great Friends Dance Festival to perform NIGHT OF THE FLYING HORSES on July 25th, 26th and 27th. Ticket information here.

July 19, 2013