A gallery of Kokyat’s images from the BalaSole Dance Company‘s dress rehearsal at Dance Theater Workshop on July 27, 2011. Read about the performance here. Above: Rockshana Desances.
Yuki Ishiguro
William Tomaskovic
Martha Patricia Hernandez
Alan Khoutakoun
Jessica Smith
Liz Fleche
Francesco Pireddu
Roberto Villanueva
Rockshana Desances
Final ensemble, set to de Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance.
All photography by Kokyat.
Thursday July 28, 2011 – BalaSole Dance Company opening their season tonight at Dance Theater Workshop. Founded by Roberto Villanueva, BalaSole offers young dancers/choreographers a stage for performing their work and for introducing themselves to a wider public. In this, the second season of Balasole offerings, thirteen dancers (including Mr. Villanueva) were presented in self-created solo works. Click on the above photo to enlarge.
This evening’s participants:
To open and close the evening, Roberto Villanueva and his fellow performers devised a sunny, beachy ensemble number (top photo) set to Manuel de Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance.
A full evening of solos might have become an exercise in tedious repetition but the individuality of each dancer assured that the programme maintained freshness from start to finish. The performance was well-paced with nary a lull, and the excellent lighting and stage management of Miriam Crowe were a big plus in this kind of presentation.
We had attended the dress rehearsal (where Kokyat took all these photos) which was really good but it seemed for the performance that all the dancers really raised their communicative and technical level.
Needless to say, some of the dancers and works presented were more appealing or impressive than others; it’s interesting that no one chose music that could be considered ‘classical’ (aside from the de Falla for the ensemble) but each dancer’s music worked well for his/her individual style.
The evening started beautifully with Marie-Christine Giordano in silhouette (above) as she began her solo entitled In and Out, a work-in-progress. Ms. Giordano is perhaps the best-established and most familiar name among the participants; her artistry and stage experience shone throughout this expressive solo.
Thereafter it was the men who seemed to offer both the widest variety of dance-styling, personal appeal and technical polish. The women were all attractive and had lovely things to say but in a more generalized sense.
Here’s a detailing of the dancing boys:
Odman Felix (above) from Brazil gave a supple physicality to his solo. Masculine and posessed of raw power, his solo Forces had a contained sexuality that was somehow also spiritual.
Alan Khoutakoun’s solo (above) benefited not only from his subtle and intense delivery and his sleek physique but also from the most distinctive lighting of the evening.
William Tomaskovic (above) used the space with real command, his physical elasticity and brilliant dramatic focus making a particularly fine impression. His choice of Laurie Anderson to dance to was also inspired: quirky, yet oddly touching: “Come as you are, pay as you go…”
Yuki Ishiguro (above) from Japan called upon a fusion-style that incorporated elements of break-dance, hip-hop and ballet. In his solo Another World, Yuki seemed encased in glass and used his hands with subtle texturing to express his captivity. Sometimes collapsing like a broken marionette, his solo was perhaps the most personal of the evening. Having escaped his glass prison, he seems at the end to be pondering whether he had been safer inside.
Francesco Pireddu (from Sardinia) pictured above in his aptly-named solo Silence? There was nary a sound as this intriguing dancer evoked images of Marcel Marceau with his fluent mimetic gestures.
Roberto Villanueva: a boy and his bear. Roberto, a virtuoso by nature, tonight presented a playful solo called The Child Inside. I was left wondering which is cuddlier: Roberto or his teddy?
The sub-title of this evening’s programme by BalaSole was True Colors and the multi-cultural background of the participants gave the evening a fine sense of diversity and a perspective on dance that is broader than we usually see in a single evening’s presentation.
There is an additional gallery of Kokyat’s images from this presentation here.
Roberto Villanueva’s inspired concept of providing a stage for dancer-types that are under-represented in larger companies and his valuable mentoring of the participants make BalaSole as a unique venture in the contemporary New York dance scene. I’ll look forward now to keeping Roberto and BalaSole on my A-list.
All photos by Kokyat, with my ever-lasting gratitude.
Wednesday July 27, 2011 – As the culmination of a unique Summer Intensive, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet are presenting an installation entitled Cedar Lake 360°at their home theater (547 West 26th Street). The work premiered on July 27th and there are additional performances on the 28th and 29th, with two showings each evening (7:30 PM and 9:00 PM). Ticket information here.
Cedar Lake artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer’s newly created installation is performed by the dancers of the Cedar Lake Company along with students from the Summer Intensive program. In all, nearly fifty students are participating, split into two casts.
Since I was unable to attend any of the performances, I was invited to watch the back-to-back dress rehearsals on the afternooon of the premiere. It it always exciting to be in the Cedar Lake performing space, and the Cedar Lake dancers – among my top favorites on the Gotham scene – appear in the installation to inspire both the viewer and the students with their peerless energy and their utterly unique personalities.
The installation, which occupies the entire wide open theatre-space of the Cedar Lake venue, features a dynamic composed-and-compiled score by Mikael Karlsson and superb lighting by Amith Chandrashaker. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Cedar Lake dancers Harumi Terayama And Manuel Vignoulle were involved in the choreographic design.
Among the many highlights of this installation is a dramatic solo performed by Cedar Lake’s inimitable Jon Bond behind a gold-lighted panel of fabric thru which the dancer’s shadow and the images of his face and body pressing againt the shroud produce a nightmarish effect from which he eventually breaks free.
Installation-viewing presents a challenge in that there is so much going on simultaneously – you always feel while watching one segment you are missing something else in another part of the space. Even seeing the piece in twice, I felt there was a lot more to be discovered.
I enjoyed seeing again three dancers among the student participants who I’ve seen before: Greg Lau (above), Angelica Stiskin and Austin Diaz. Among the double student cast there were a large number of very impressive and exciting individuals; I’m sure I’ll be encountering several of them again in the coming months.
The afternoon also served to show my total inadequacy as a dance photographer. I simply don’t have the knack for it yet, but I will keep trying.
This blog’s ongoing fascination with works of Theyre Lee Ellliott continues as readers contact me with their stories about the artist and images of his works from their collections. The latest revelations (above and below) are on offer by the owner. Anyone interested may e-mail me at [email protected] and I will put you in touch.
Theyre Lee Elliott first came to my attention when a reader sent me a photo of a lovely painting of dancers by the artist. The painting had been purchased for a song at an odds-and-ends sale. Further works came to light here, where you will also find more information about the artist.
Another work by this artist here.
Friday July 22, 2011 – Last week we watched a rehearsal of works being created by choreographer Jessica Lang during her Joyce Residency. Tonight we went back to Joyce SoHo where Jessica presented the new creations for an invited audience. The evening also served as the official debut of her own Company: Jessica Lang Dance. The choreographer’s eye for exciting dance personalities matches her creative spirit as a dancemaker. The result was an auspicious event which brought an already-impressive choreographic ‘voice’ into her next stage of artistic development. Above: Jessica and her dancers take a bow; photo by Kokyat.
The evening opened with a perfect union of music and movement with an Untitled work-in-progress set to the andante of Mendelssohn’s piano trio in D-minor. Having already commended Jessica at the studio rehearsal for using this beloved score, I was particularly looking forward to seeing the piece lit and costumed. The dancers, who had all looked fine at the rehearsal, positively bloomed in performance mode: their personalities began to make strong individual impressions. Long-haired Thomas Garrett, tallest of the men, showed a combination of powerful dancing and a spirituality of expression that was quite unique. Technically polished Kirk Henning has a clear vitality of style, while Clifton Brown’s experience as an Alvin Ailey dancer shines thru in his handsome presence, total ease onstage and his accomplished partnering skills. From Korea and Japan respectively, Julie Fiorenza and Kana Kimura each have that mixture of delicacy and strength makes them so appealing to watch. Claudia MacPherson, who has a long list of Mark Morris credits, is technically secure and has the gift of drawing the viewer to her in ensemble passages.
These dancers moved seamlessly thru Jessica’s choreographic passages all of which stemmed naturally and gracefully from the flow of this poignantly expressive music. Jessica stated again that she hopes to develop another movement from the Mendelssohn trio in future; tonight’s free-standing andante certainly served as a very impressive calling card.
This was followed by a film, WHITE made in collaboration with Shinichi Maruyama. To music by Edward Grieg, dancers were filmed both in slow motion and in real time and then the clips were juxtaposed, creating unusual ghostly images that ebb and flow thru the dance. Flashes of humour (as when certain passages are sped up giving a ‘silent movie’ feeling) alternate with more resonant images where the dancers appear to be moving thru a dreamscape. Jessica stated that the films were still in a work-in-progress state but to me they seemed quite intriguing just as they are.
Artist Shinichi Maruyama’s KUSHO series (photo above) was a source of inspiration for the final work on this evening’s programme: i.n.k. Danced before a backdrop of slow-motion projections of Maruyama’s colliding splashes or falling drops of paint and water, each section of i.n.k. had a strong individual flavour despite the unifying element of the projected images. Composer Jakub Ciupinski offers a variety of tempi and sonic colours to set the dancers in motion, creating a Diaghilevian union of music, art and dance.
Central to i.n.k. is a radiant adagio danced by Kana Kimura and Clifton Brown (Kokyat’s rehearsal image above); this duet was originally performed under the title DROPLET by NYC Ballet’s Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall. This evening, Kana and Clifton etched the slow movement with quiet intensity, matching both the liquid beauty of Mr. Ciupinski’s score and the climactic burst of the Maruyama film where Kana executes a luxuriant backbend while poised in a lift.
For i.n.k. the dancers were joined by Company apprentice Jesse Dunham. Throughout the performance, the excellent lighting by Nicole Pearce and the attractive and unfussy costuming by Elena Comendador made the dancers look their best.
In sum, this was an impressive evening with an excellent range of musical choices, the use of film to enhance but never overwhelm the choreography, and imaginatively structured works danced with clarity and personal expression. Jessica Lang Dance are off to a beautiful start.
Thursday June 23, 2011 – Since I wasn’t able to attend their Joyce SoHo performances, Henning Rubsam of SENSEDANCE invited photographer Matt Murphy and me to watch a rehearsal this evening. My friend Paul Monaghan is dancing with SENSEDANCE, and so is Max van der Sterre (Paul & Max above, in Matt Murphy’s photo).
The SENSEDANCE performances, which took place on the following two evenings, played to full houses. I was glad to have a chance to see Henning’s work which melds classic ballet technique with a contemporary accent. The dancers are strong and appealing as individual personalities.
“Amarathine Road” Music by Beata Moon/dancersTemple Kemezis & Max van der Sterre (above)
“Göttingen” Music by Barbara (recording by Daniel Isengart)/dancer Paul Monaghan (above)
Wednesday June 29, 2011 – I went over to Peridance today where Lydia Johnson is having late-morning rep classes (11:30 AM start time) all this week. It was a smallish class which in a way was extra-beneficial to those who were there because they got individual attention in detailing and the opportunity to perform passages of dance as a solo experience. Instilled by the music of Beethoven (his quartet #16, opus 132) the atmosphere in the studio became almost churchlike in it solemnity; some of the gestures evoked images of prayer, or of piety.
The work from which the phrases came is called CODA and was created by Lydia Johnson in 2006. It’s a work of hers I’ve never seen (though I hope I’ll get a chance someday). Three of Lydia’s Company dancers – Lisa Iannacito McBride, Laura DiOrio and Jessica Sand – took turns coaching the dancers as they learned the passage.
The dancers worked as a group, then in trios and eventually they were dancing the phrase individually. At one point Lydia called on them to dance the passage as a canon, each dancer starting at a different time. This worked out quite beautifully.
I admired dancer Bryan Longchamp’s seriousness of intent; a hip-hop dancer, Bryan came to Lydia’s class with a desire to experience new modes of movement. It’s a bit like learning a foreign language. As the class progressed, the new style began to work its way into Bryan’s muscles and his dancing looked increasingly persuasive.
Normally photography is not allowed at Peridance but Lydia obtained special permission and the dancers all agreed to my taking some pictures with my Lumix. I wish they were sharper, but they do catch the nice studio atmosphere and something of the individual expressive qualities of the dancers. Here’s a sampling:
Lisa Iannacito McBride leads things off.
Laura DiOrio keeps a watchful eye.
Lauren Jaegar, Ella Bandes
Kana Sano, Lauren Jaeger
Kana
Angela Guthmiller and Jessica Sand
Lauren Jaeger
Ella Bandes
There are additional photos from this class session in a Facebook album here.
Dancer, choreographer and film-maker Gabrielle Lamb (above with choreographer Luca Veggetti, photo by Kokyat) will be offering donation-based classes at the Gibney Dance Studios on July 8, 9, 11 and 12 at 10:30 AM. Gabrielle has a space grant from Gibney and she has already used part of her time there creating a fascinating duet entitled TwoFold which I was lucky enough to be able to see during its creative process. You can view this work, danced by Gabrielle and Giorgia Bovo, here. Gabrielle’s also been creating a film for Ballet X.
Gabrielle writes on the Gibney blog: “I am especially excited about the final component of my grant: my community project. Thanks to the generosity of the Gibney Dance Center, in July I will be teaching a series of classes which will be available to dancers on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis. All proceeds will go to City Harvest. In preparation for a choreographic residency at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago last year, I began constructing the framework for a contemporary dance class that includes elements of conditioning and strengthening, while encouraging freer use of the head and greater fluidity of the spine in three dimensions. Starting out, I had the help of a Laban Movement Analyst and Pilates instructor, and among my other important influences have been my yoga practice of many years and my novice explorations of hip-hop and capoeira.
The warm-up starts on the floor and builds up slowly through sitting and medium levels. It demands whole-body coordination, with a particular emphasis on arm and core strength, in order to help the dancer move fluently to and from the floor. I alternate choreographed exercises and etudes with improvisations structured to introduce unfamiliar movement concepts and to allow dancers to explore their own creativity as movers. I have since expanded and developed the work in classes I have taught at the Joffrey Ballet School and at BalletX in Philadelphia. And I am very happy to be teaching at the Gibney Dance Center on July 8,9,11,and 12, from 10:30-noon. This is a valuable opportunity for me to meet new dancers and incorporate fresh influences into my work, while making a contribution to a very worthy organization.”
Of the studios at Gibney, Gabrielle writes: “I have felt so lucky to have had access to these grand, sunny spaces at the Gibney Dance Center. These are not just big spaces; they are big spaces that inspire, with their high ceilings and their big windows looking out on the elegant neighboring buildings. I have felt on the one hand that I had the time for play and experimentation, and on other hand that I wanted to make the most of every hour.”
I first saw Gabrielle at Christopher Wheeldon’s studio when MORPHOSES were preparing for their 2009 peformance with Martha Wainwright in Central Park. I picked up immediately on Gabrielle’s unique energy, a ballerina steeped in the classic style yet vividly contemporary in movement and persona. She appeared with MORPHOSES again in 2010, dancing in Pontus Lidberg’s VESPERTINE at The Guggenheim. Her MORPHOSES connection continues in 2011 when she will dance in Luca Veggetti’s BACCHAE at The Joyce, premiering on October 25th. Also this Autumn, Gabrielle will appear in Emery LeCrone’s new ballet to music of Elliott Carter for The Guggenheim’s Works & Process series.
Here at Oberon’s Grove, we’ll be following the development of both the Morphoses BACCHAE and the LeCrone/Works & Process piece. Meanwhile I’m planning to check out Gabrielle’s class at Gibney (I’ll be watching, not participating) and would love to see lots of New York’s dancers from all genres there.
Above: Rachel Rutherford and Jared Angle, photo by Jaqi Medlock.
On Saturday June 25th at City Center Studio, invited guests saw a preview of works by Tom Gold which will be performed during an upcoming tour to France and Israel, winding up at Bilbao where Balanchine’s AGON pas de trois will be specially added to the repertoire (danced by Amanda Hankes, Russell Janzen and Stephen Hanna) at the Guggenheim Bilbao for a performance in conjunction with the Museum’s Picasso exhibit, saluting the connection between Balanchine, Picasso and the Ballets Russes.
“Remain calm!”, I said to myself as I walked into the studio ante-room to find several of my idols all in one place, stretching and chatting. Tom Gold has gathered together an impressive group of his friends from New York City Ballet for this tour: Abi Stafford, Sara Mearns, Rachel Rutherford, Gretchen Smith, Likolani Brown, Amanda Hankes, Jared Angle and Russell Janzen. Tom is also dancing himself (looking great, by the way) and Stephen Hanna will also be dancing though he wasn’t there today. I asked photographer Jaqi Medlock to meet me there so I’d have some photos to share.
Today in the studio we saw Tom’s works Mozart Variations, Gershwin Preludes and Elemental. On the tour, his Astor Piazzolla ballet Tango Fantasie will also be revived. The repertoire will further include Balanchine’s WHO CARES?, Robbins’ IN THE NIGHT, and three classic pas de deux: SWAN LAKE (White Swan), NUTCRACKER and SLEEPING BEAUTY.
Tom said: “I have created a new pas de deux for Rachel Rutherford and Jared Angle (above) to the Gershwin Preludes. Rachel has been with my group since almost the beginning and I wanted to create something very special for her as she is retiring this year and as a thank you to her for always being a wonderful participant in my creative process.”
Rachel looks to be on peak form…
…and she and Jared have such a nice rapport.
Here are some more of Jaqi Medlock’s images from the rehearsal:
Abi Stafford
Jared & Abi
Sara Mearns
Russell Janzen
Likolani Brown
Likolani & Russell
Willy Burmann and former NYCB ballerina Stacy Caddell discussing fine points with Sara Mearns and Jared Angle.
The mood in the studio was light-hearted (Sara and Jared, above); the dancers head up to Saratoga for NYCB’s July 5th opening, playing at SPAC for two weeks before Tom’s tour begins.
Tom Gold Dance plan to perform here in New York City in the coming months. Needless to say, it will be a red-letter occasion.
Saturday June 25, 2011 – Coming down to the wire after my busiest few weeks ever, I spent the afternoon watching some of my favorite NYCB dancers at Tom Gold’s studio (more about that later), then headed downtown to experience a new company: Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre. I hardly ever get a chance to try something different because my calendar is so full, but the publicist who invited me to Selwyn cunningly attached photos by Paula Lobo (above) and Christopher Duggan to her invitation. Both the dancers and the stage images caught my fancy. I’m glad I went: FIVE MINUTES was 100% enjoyable.
As my friend Tom and I found our seats at Dance Theater Workshop, the projection of a large digital clock onstage was ticking down the seconds til the performance began. It started on the dot and ran in a series of finely-paced scenes for exactly 55 minutes.
Working with a compilation score, each movement of which lasts five minutes, Selwyn presents her six dancers in ten seemingly un-related short works each with different costumes, lighting, projections and moods. The underlying theme is the passage of time and how we spend it; some of these vignettes flew by, others took a more leisurely pace. Working in various combinations (solo, duo, trio, ensemble) Selwyn’s very attractive dancers each have ample opportunity for both technical and personal expression. The dancing was excellent, the ever-changing musical and visual settings giving each dancer the possibility to explore many moods.
As the evening unfolded, there were some particulary luminous moments such a the sustained, lyrical duet for Robert Vail and Joori Jung (above, Christopher Duggan photo). Later, two strikingly beautiful men, Francisco Silvino and Louie Marin, dance conjoined solos in pools of light, the musculature of their torsos set aglow.
Throughout the evening the lighting and projections created dreamlike settings (Paula Lobo image, above) which wrapped the dancers in colour or created chiaroscuro effects. Each five-minute segment held the imagination. There were moments of wit but they never descended to cuteness; the dancers did speak briefly: “You have five minutes…”
Paula Lobo image, above. In less than an hour, Amanda Selwyn and her troupe had given us dance that was entertaining and lovely to watch along with a reminder that time is fleeting: use yours wisely.
We came out into the Chelsea evening where the streets had a special energy: on the eve of Gay Pride Day 2011, the New York City gay community and their suppportive friends had much to celebrate.
Dancers: Jenny Gillan, Ashleigh Gurtler, Joori Jung, Louie Marin, Francisco Silvino, Robert J. Vail
Sound Design for Five Minutes by Joel Wilhelmi. Costume Design is by Anna-Alisa Belous. Lighting Design is by Dan Ozminkowski. Projection Design is by C. Andrew Bauer. Scenic Design is by Tom Gleeson. Stage Manger: Tiffany Tabatchnick.
Oberon's Glade 