Tag: Battery Dance

Lydia Johnson Dance ~ Retrospective

Above: the studio at Battery Dance where Lydia Johnson Dance rehearsed during the first years of our association; photo by Kokyat

It was on a March evening in 2009 that I first encountered the choreography of Lydia Johnson; a press invitation sent to me by publicist Audrey Ross had piqued my curiosity enough to prompt me to go – with my fellow blogger Evan Namerow – to a studio showing by Lydia Johnson Dance.

What I discovered that night was choreography that successfully melded elements of classical ballet and contemporary dance, that had a keen connection to the music, and that – rarest of all – had an emotional resonance that I had found in only a handful of works by current choreographers of the day.

Above: Tucker Ty Davis and Jessica Sand; photo by Julie Lemberger. Tucker and Jessica were among the dancers who appeared in that first-encounter studio event

I can’t remember now the sequence of correspondence between Lydia and myself that led to my being invited, along with my photographer/friend Kokyat, to a rehearsal of Lydia’s company down at the Battery Dance studios. At that time, Kokyat was a dance photographer in the making; he became a master over time. In the ensuing months, he and I spent many hours in that studio – so steeped in the very essence of dance – and we became friends with all the dancers…and with Lydia herself.

Here are some of Kokyat’s photos from those happy days at Battery Dance:

Eric Vlach, Jessica Sand

Lisa Iannacito and Jesse Marks

Jessica Sand

Robert Robinson, Jessica Sand

Jessica Sand

Lisa Iannacito

Laura Di Orio

Kerry Shea

Sean Patrick Mahoney, a guest artist from the Paul Taylor Dance Company, with Jessica Sand

Sarah Pon and Blake Hennessy-York, a young married couple who joined Lydia Johnson Dance and made it their artistic home

Guest artist Sean Patrick Mahoney

Guest artist Max van der Sterre with Kerry Shea

An early rehearsal of SUMMER HOUSE

Laura Di Orio, Kaitlin Accetta

Blake Hennessy-York and the ensemble

A rehearsal of CROSSINGS BY RIVER

Guest artist Max van der Sterre

Celebrating dancer Robert Robinson’s birthday

Lydia Johnson

Now for some of Kokyat’s onstage images of the Lydia Johnson Dance in works we saw in the first two or three seasons of our affiliation:

UNTITLED BACH (Shannon Maynor, Eric Vlach)

SUMMER HOUSE (Laura Di Orio, Robert Robinson)

Dancer Justin Lynch

DREAM SEQUENCE (Jesse Marks, center)

DUSK

END OF THE MOVIE (Erica Schweer, Laura Di Orio)

DUSK (Eric Vlach, Jessica Sand)

UNTITLED BACH (James Hernandez, Laura Di Orio)

IN CONVERSATION (Jessica Sand)

UNTITLED BACH (Robert Robinson, Jesse Marks)

LAMENT

DREAM SEQUENCE (Eric Vlach, Jessica Sand, James Hernandez, Laura Barbee).

IN CONVERSATION (John-Mark Owen, Kerry Shea)

And some studio shots from Oberon:

Robert Robinson, Jessica Sand

SUMMER HOUSE rehearsal: Lisa and Jessica

SUMMER HOUSE rehearsal: Robert, Laura

Lauren Perry

Laura Di Orio

By now, the dancers were used to having Kokyat and I breathing down their necks, so to speak…so much so, that Kokyat was permitted to photograph the Company’s 2011 performance in New York City from backstage.

This first installment covers roughly 2009-2011, with a couple of 2012 images thrown in. I’ll continue this retrospective in a few days – picking up where I left off – when I have had time to gather photos for a second gallery.

~ Oberon

December 29, 2018
Lydia Johnson’s Bach-In-Progress

Sunday August 22, 2012 – Kokyat and I stopped in at Lydia Johnson’s rehearsal at Battery Dance on this dreary, rainy day where guest artist Attila Joey Csiki (above) of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company was rehearsing with Lydia’s company for the first time.

For her latest creation, a work for large ensemble, Lydia turns to the music of J. S. Bach. The piece is already well-developed choreographically and despite the fact that this was Attila’s first day working with Lydia, he’s already thoroughly at ease with the style; in fact his signature musicality and the silken flow of his dancing are a natural compliment to Lydia’s beautifully expressive motifs of movement.

A central passage in this new dancework is a duet for Attila and Blake Hennessy-York (above). The boys have already mastered the structure of this duet and they ran thru it a few times, working out details of placement and trying various elements of partnering to achieve the desired smoothness.

Attila and Blake, above.

In a second duet, Attila dances with Lisa Innacito McBride (above).

This duet culminates with Attila falling into a beautiful swoon…

…and then re-awakening.

Kokyat was silently moving around the studio to capture the many different elements of this ballet; above, Laura DOrio and Lisa Iannacito McBride. Since we were seeing it for the first time there was a lot to take in, often with multiple things happening – apropos of Bach – at the same time. In addition to Laura and Lisa, the dancers include:

Kaitlin Accetta

Blake Hennessy-York and Sarah Pon

Lauren Jaeger

Min-Seon Kim…

…and Katie Martin.

It’s always exciting to see the evolution of a new dancework and as always we felt very grateful to Lydia and the dancers for sharing their creative endeavor with us.

Lydia Johnson Dance will perform at Peridance on June 23rd and 24th, 2012 in a programme which will feature the premiere of the new Bach piece as well as ballets sent to music of Philip Glass and Osvaldo Golijov. In addition to the dancers pictured above, Jessica Sand and Kerry Shea will be dancing. Reed Luplau appears as a guest along with his Lubovitch colleague Attila Joey Csiki. Max van der Steere will also be guesting with Lydia’s company. Ticket information here.

All photographes by Kokyat, with more images here.

April 24, 2012
Rehearsal: Lydia Johnson’s FALLING OUT

Friday January 27, 2012 – Today at the Battery Dance studio, Lydia Johnson’s dancers were rehearsing her 2006 dancework FALLING OUT. Set to music of Philip Glass (his 3rd Symphony) FALLING OUT will be performed at a special matinee at Peridance on Sunday February 26th. In Kokyat’s image at the top, Max van der Sterre and Kerry Shea.

The work is essentially plotless but the theme of a romantic triangle is clearly established: the relationship between Kerry and Max is a tempestuous one in which moments of harmony (above) alternate with fiery outbursts. The ‘other’ woman, danced by Jessica Sand (seated at right in the photo above) remains an enigmatic figure in the piece. Jessica and Max never dance together; we can never be sure if Jessica is real or an idealized vision in Max’s mind that lures his attentions away from Kerry.

Meanwhile a female chorus, at first indifferent to the central conflict but later drawn into it, dance in stylized a commentary on the action. The dancers are Lisa Iannacito McBride, Kaitlin Accetta, Sarah Pon and Laura Di Orio.

It was an overcast day, but from time to time the sun broke thru the clouds and the studio was illuminated. Above: Laura and Kaitlin.

Dramatic structure: the elements of FALLING OUT are brilliantly sorted in Lydia’s choreography which seems like a play without words. She uses the Glass score with deft imagination, balancing speed and stillness, contemplation and action.

Max and Kerry have developed an impressive partnership in which Max’s strength and skill allows Kerry complete freedom to simply be her beautiful self. They have all the moves down pat and spent the rehearsal mainly working on exploring nuances of gesture and expression. Lydia’s style of encouraging her dancers to paticipate in the process of refining the movement makes her rehearsals unusually satisfying to watch.

Star power: Max’s t-shirt says it all. Great presence, and a real force in the studio.

Max and Kerry

Mood swings: the couple go from tender…

…to turbulent in a flash.

Mysterious force: Jessica Sand keeps us wondering exactly who this woman is, interloper or silent muse? The questions that FALLING OUT raises about the idea of devotion vs desire give us pause to contemplate the realties and illusions of romantic relationships.

Sleeping beauties

FALLING OUT, along with Lydia’s as-yet-untitled new Golijov piece, will be shown at Peridance on Sunday February 26th at 2:30 PM. $10.00 donation-based admission.

All photos by Kokyat. His Leica images from this rehearsal are here.

January 29, 2012