Oberon's Glade

Category: Dance

  • Emery LeCrone for Works & Process

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    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.

  • Installation: Cedar Lake

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    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.

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    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.

  • Amanda Selwyn’s Green Afternoon

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    On June 13th, 2013 Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre offered a summer evening of dance at a private function in East Hampton. Photographer Nir Arieli produced these images of Amanda’s dancers from this outdoor event.

    Click on each photo to enlarge.

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    Jenny Gillan

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    Emily Pacilio

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    Torrey McAnena

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    Randall Anthony Smith

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    Emily Pacilio

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    Sarah Buscaino

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    Jenny Gillan

    Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre recently performed IT’S A GAME at Manhattan’s New York Live Arts; an article about the performance may be found here.

  • Lydia Johnson Dance @ Newport


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    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.

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    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.

  • DIY Dancer Interviews Craig Salstein

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    Craig Salstein, soloist at ABT, talks about his new enterprise Intermezzo Dance Company in an interview at DIY Dancer here.

    Photo: A Capella Pictures

  • Amanda Selwyn’s IT’S A GAME

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    Photo by Brian Krontz; click on the image to enlarge.

    Friday June 28th, 2013 – Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre presenting IT’S A GAME at New York Live Arts down in Chelsea on Pride Weekend 2013. The atmosphere in the neighborhood was palpable as the gay and lesbian community celebrate the good news handed down from the Supreme Court earlier this week. Amanda’s 50-minute work, inspired by the designs of Alexander McQueen and the magic of Harry Potter, was a decorative diversion on this start-of-summer evening.

    In April, photographer Matt Murphy and I had stopped in at Amanda’s studio while IT’S A GAME was being created. Now the dancework has been dressed (Ana-Alisa Belous designed the fanciful costumes) and superbly lit (Dan Ozminkowski). Music from no fewer than 14 artists comprises the score for the dancing which takes place in three brief ‘acts’, each with several sub-sections.

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    IT’S A GAME begins with a ritualistic entree of the six dancers, each holding a glowing orb. Emily Pacilio has a beautifully expressive solo danced in a stream of light, set to a soulful Russian-sounding theme. The ensemble weave about the solo dancer, enticing her into the community.

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    Then the games begin: large chess pieces are moved across squares of light; later dice and playing cards will be introduced. These props are used as fantasy elements, drawing the dancers into fleeting duets (with some very clever partnering motifs) and playful ensembles. The choreographer’s feel for visual polyphony keeps the focus of the work shifting from dancer to dancer: solo opportunities weave into the mix, and the sense of physicality between the dancers is maintained as the lighting steers our attention from one movement pattern to the next. A rectangular pathway of light surrounds the playing field, the dancers trace their steps around it in one of the evening’s most striking moments.

    The dice are thrown, the cards are dealt…checkmate. The dancers have returned – now in striped beachwear – with their hand-lights, now glowing red. One expects an elaborate, playful finale but instead the work ends on a question-mark, and a sudden plunge into darkness.

    The only slight flaw in the evening was the raising of the house lights
    between the work’s thee sections. This tended to break the spell
    somewhat, with the audience becoming restless and whispery. Better to
    keep things in the dark.

    The dancers showed high commitment to the movement and music: four well-contrasted personalities among the women, and two long-limbed boys with flourishing extensions. Here are some of Brian Krontz’s images from the dress rehearsal:

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    Emily Pacilio

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    Victor Larue, Torrey McAnena

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    Randall Anthony Smith

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    Jenny Gillan

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    Sarah Buscaino

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    Victor Larue

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    Emily Pacilio

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    Randall Anthony Smith

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    Victor Larue

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    All photography by Brian Krontz. 

  • BalletCollective Studio Showing

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    Above: BalletCollective dancer Taylor Stanley photographed by Christopher Starbody

    Thursday June 27th, 2013 – Today Troy Schumacher invited me to a special showing of his new work for BalletCollective, in preparation for the Company’s upcoming New York City performances.

    At the Ailey Citigroup Theater, friends and supporters of the Collective watched Troy working out some phrases with his exciting ensemble of dancers, all of whom are current or recent members of New York City Ballet. The work is accompanied by live music composed and conducted by Ellis Ludwig-Leone and played by ACME. During this preliminary tinkering session, lighting designer Brandon Baker tried out various effects. We were then shown a run-thru of the work-in-progress.

    The ballet, The Impulse Wants Company, takes wing on a poem by Cynthia Zarin, who was present for the showing. The music is both perfectly contemporary and beautifully melodic, with some interesting rhythmic figures; the musicians are expert.

    Ms. Zarin’s poem reflects on childhood visits to a beach, on nature, weather, on people and conversations recalled from the past. I didn’t read thru the poem until I’d seen the ballet, but the line “I was a water nymph” might have inspired the opening solo for Kaitlyn Gilliland, the tall ballerina who – with her poetic arabesque and arching back-bend – seems to conjure visions of Odette. David Prottas, a prince of a dancer, joins her. There is a trio of young women – Lauren King, Ashley Laracey and Meagan Mann – who remind me of Rhinemaidens or the nymphs on the lonely shore of Ariadne’s Naxos.

    Harrison Coll, a dynamic young dancer, joins Taylor Stanley in an off-kilter waltz, Taylor’s solo begins with him swaying like a tree in the breeze; later he travels up a diagonal in some skitteringly fast footwork before circling the space in a questing motif. 

    Troy Schumacher told us the that this ballet was created in ten days of studio time; in terms of both movement and imagination, it shows his distinctive choreographic style which uses the classic vocabulary of steps and port de bras with fresh, contemporary nuances. And he has the grest good fortune to be working with some of the best dancers in the world. 

    It was nice to see so many familiar faces from among New York City’s serious dance aficianados here supporting Troy today, and to greet the lovely former New York City Ballet ballerina Maya Collins, who now dances with Miami City Ballet.. 

    BalletCollective will be performing The Impulse Wants Company along with a re-working of their 2012 ballet Epistasis at The Joyce on August 14th and 15th. Information and tickets here.

    You can follow BalletCollective on Ashley Laracey’s blog: The Insider.

  • Heidi Latsky Dance @ Baruch

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    Above: Jillian Hollis of Heidi Latsky Dance, rehearsal photo

    Tuesday June 25, 2013 – Heidi Latsky Dance in performance at Baruch Performing Arts Center. I met Heidi and her dancers just a few days ago at a rehearsal and I pushed things around on my schedule so I could attend her performance tonight. She presented the two works I’d seen in rehearsal: SOLO COUNTERSOLO and SOMEWHERE.

    SOLO COUNTERSOLO opens with six dancers clad in simple black outfits standing in a row in “dark light”. The music by Chris Brierley seems jittery and anxious but the dancers hardly move until the pace slows to a deep adagio; this evolves into a soulful turbulence and later into music that is best described as ‘starlit’. To this sound tapestry, the dancers move in and out around Heidi, who seems to dance in her own world. Tempos vary but the movement isn’t always rigidly aligned to the beat: at one point everyone moves faster and faster, and later there is a simple, stylized procession. A mystical trio for women, a dynamic male duet, a meditative quartet, Heidi dancing with the two boys: all of this flows naturally. Heidi continues to express her own  private passions in fluid combinations as the dancers swirl around her is restless pirouettes. A gorgeous wing-like motif for the arms seems to be a signature element (it’s also used in SOMEWHERE) and gives an expansive, ecstatic quality. As the piece draws to a close, step-dancing takes on a new look, to a bouncy beat; but the work in fact ends with a silent coda.

    Aided and abetted by her generous, tireless dancers (Meredith Fages, Saki Masuda, Jillian Hollis, Brynt Beitman and Gregory Youdan), Heidi has crafted a “dance about dancing” that is physically demanding and very rewarding to watch.   

     

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    Heidi Latsky: winged victory

    After only the briefest of breaks, the dancers were right back onstage for SOMEWHERE. Much as the song “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” is both melodically and lyrically resonant, the idea of hearing ten versions of it in a row might seem too much of a good thing. But the settings – everything from boys’ choir to disco to barbershop quartet – showed such a variety of pace and feeling that it made for an engrossing soundtrack. I took a special liking for Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s charming version with ukelele in which the vocalist plays with the words to delicious effect. And of course there was Judy Garland’s classic version of the song.

    In this work Heidi’s company of dancers were joined by performers with physical disablities; steering clear of anything maudlin or overly sentimental, Heidi gave them beautiful and expressive movement which added to the emotional power of the piece. Thus Robert Simpson opened SOMEWHERE seated with his back to the audience, the “wing” motif used with simple clarity. In the far corner, Greg Youdan’s solo echoes Robert’s phrasing. Meredith Fages and Brynt Beitman have distinctive solo passages, as does Jerron Herman who dances with electric animation. Greg and Jerron have a smooth, linear duet and Saki Masuda and Jillian Hollis dance vividly in-sync. Sign language expressed at high velocity marks the duet for Alexandria Wailes and John McGinty, followed by Ms. Wailes’ remarkably lovely signing solo as she kneels before the seated Mr. Mc Ginty. Heidi’s adagio solo flows seamlessly into a strikingly intimate duet for Jillian and Jerron in which they stand stock still, only their faces meeting as they express a dreamlike connection. They embrace tenderly as the light fades.

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    Jillian Hollis and Jerron Herman

    A reprise of ‘…Over The Rainbow‘ accompanied the curtain calls and then Brynt Beitman suddenly burst into an impromptu solo. Perfect way to end the evening. 

    Heidi had a full house for this first of three shows (repeats are this Thursday and Friday) and it was great running into Cherylyn Lavagnino, Jill Echo and Take Ueyama.

  • Monte/Muller Move! @ NYLA

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    Above: Seiko Fujita and Chellamar Bernard rehearsing for Jennifer Muller/The Works. Photo by Brian Krontz.

    Friday June 20, 2013 – Two companies shared the stage at New York Live Arts tonight: Elisa Monte Dance and Jennifer Muller/The Works. With two intermissions the evening stretched long, but the diversity of music and the appeal of both Companies’ dancers proved rewarding.

    Grass, Jennifer Muller’s newest creation, opened the evening. I had recently seen a studio run-thru of this work, loosely inspired by Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass,
    and I feel it’s one of Ms. Muller’s finest. Actually danced on a rectangle of living grass, and enhanced by subtle lighting (Jeff Crotier), Grass profits beautifully by being performed to live music: composer/cellist Julia Kent, seated stage left, wove some melancholy ‘Russian’ nuances into her poignant score which has a slightly folkish feel blended with Glassian lyricism. 

    Gen Hashimoto, one of Gotham’s most fluent movers, opens the ballet as he wanders pensively onto the patch of lawn. The other dancers come on one by one; the dance flows on Ms. Kent’s rhythmic shifts. In this collective which is not yet a community, many emotional textures are revealed as the dancers seek to form relationships. Olivia Jordan, her silky long hair giving her a vulnerability that was most appealing, seems to be the outsider; only near the end does the group view her with compassion. Having banded together at last, the dancers move off into the late afternoon, leaving Gen to stretch out on the ground in a solitary daydream.

    Grass is at once simple and complex; it is a work which will reward repeated viewings since both in terms of choreography and psychological undercurrents it is too rich to absorb in a single performance. The dancers of Ms. Muller’s company – in addition to Gen and Olivia – are Rosie Lani Fiedelman, Seiko Fujita, Caroline Kehoe, Katherine Hozier, Duane Gosa, Chellamar Bernard, and Michael Tomlinson. Both as individuals and as an ensemble, they are beyond beautiful to behold.

    Excellence of dancers is one thing the Muller and Monte troupes have in common. The power and authority of the Monte men – Prentice Whitlow, Riccardo Battaglia and Justin Lynch – became immediately evident in their first work of the evening: Unstable Ground. This brooding and unsettlling work is set to a Lois Vierk score that vibrates with dark foreboding. The men are handsomely costumed by Keiko Voltaire. It is a floor-oriented piece in which the dancers seem to strive against the impending collapse of their known world.

    Things brighten somewhat in terms of both setting and music with Monte’s Shattered in which Michael Gordon’s score impels the dancers to broader and swifter movement. Maria Ambrose and Riccardo Battaglia have a striking duet, and the red-haired Lisa Peluso dances a spacious, dramatic solo which evolves into another duet with Riccardo. Mindy Lai and Lisa Borres move with fleet-footed assurance among the shifting patterns of the ensemble.

    Volkmann Suite, a Monte classic, uses a gorgeoulsy ‘classical’ Michael Nyman score in this tribute to photographer Roy Volkmann. Three dancers – Clymene Baugher (topless), Prentice Whitlow and Riccardo Battaglia (both men in black briefs) – deliver sensual, sculptural partnering in a pas de trois laced with erotic imagery. The atmosphere suggests a photoshoot that turns into an intimate exploration of the models’ bodies and souls. The dancers were magnificent in their physicality and allure.

    Speeds, danced by the Muller company, brought the evening to a bright conclusion. In this clever – but not cute – ensemble piece the dancers call out for changes of tempo as they move to Burt Alcantara’s panoramic synthesizer soundscape. All in white and brilliantly lit, the dancers seize on the eclecticism of the musical settings in a series of vignettes ranging from vari-paced walking to utter stillness (Katherine Hozier posing in a white picture-hat to silence).  Ms. Hozier and Duane Gosa are a fabulous duo in a long pas de deux that is not long enough, while Rosie Lani Fiedelman and Michael Tomlinson have a sporting time in their jazzy duet. Seiko Fujita periodically interrupts the flow of dance to strike poses while enticing the audience with her quizzical expressions. This vastly entertaining white ballet capped the evening to fine effect.

  • At Jennifer Muller’s Studio

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    Above: Chellamar Bernard and Seiko Fujita of Jennifer Muller/The Works. Photo by Brian Krontz.

    Wednesday May 28th, 2013 – An invited audience of friends of Jennifer Muller/The Works enjoyed a sneak preview of Jennifer’s newest creation GRASS, as well as highlights from the Company’s repertoire at a private studio showing this evening.

    Jennifer Muller/The Works will be performing at New York Live Arts June 20th thru 22nd, 2013, sharing the programme with Elisa Monte Dance. Ticket information here.

    This evening’s studio showing opened with a quartet from EDGE danced by Seiko Fujita, Caroline Kehoe, Gen Hashimoto and Michael Tomlinson. This was followed by a richly emotional duet from HYMN FOR HER danced by Rosie Lani Fiedelman and Duane Gosa. A quintet from FLOWERS showed off a seductive sway, performed by Seiko, Rosie, Caroline, Duane and Gen.

    In prefacing the excerpts from the new work GRASS, Ms. Muller spoke of drawing inspiration from Walt Whitman’s poetry, and told us about the impending arrival of the actual turf on which the work will be danced. For the NYLA performances, the score will be played live by composer/cellist Julia Kent. Jennifer then introduced the individual dancers, leading off with Olivia Jordan, in solo phrases. The ensuing excerpts were danced first in silence as Jennifer described the motifs of movement, and then danced again to parts of a recording of the score. Contrasting the solitude of the individual with the underlying seach for common bonds, GRASS should look incredibly beautiful onstage.

    The evening concluded with a celebratory performance of the final movement of MOMENTUM, led with vivid energy by Duane Gosa. At the finish, the audience saluted all of the dancers and Ms. Muller with sustained applause.