Monday January 21, 2013 – Tom Gold is creating a new ballet to be premiered at the upcoming Dance From The Heart gala performances. This annual dance event, which benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, will take place this year at the Cedar Lake Theater on January 28th and 29th. Details and ticket info here. Tom’s ballet will be performed on the 29th at both the 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM shows.
The new ballet is entitled SOME KIND OF ROMANCE and will feature five dancers: Abigail Mentzer, Alexander Peters and Amir Yogev from Pennsylvania Ballet, and Zoe Zien and Ezra Hurwitz from Miami City Ballet. Earlier in the week, Tom invited me and photographer Brian Krontz to a studio rehearsal at DANY where the three Pennsylvania-based dancers were working on the piece.
We arrived near the end of the rehearsal period and watched the dancers run the ballet twice: it is fast-paced, witty and physically demanding, and I was constantly wondering how it will look with the two additional dancers.
Above: Willy Burmann with Amir Yogev.
Willy Burmann is Tom’s ballet master, and at the rehearsal he was giving a virtual master-class in technical refinement. His suggestions and his hands-on shaping of the dancers at various points in the rehearsal are a revelation to observe and a key element in preparing the ballet for the stage. Willy’s spot-on analysis of the steps and combinations and his wry sense of humour create a tension-free work environment; he treats the dancers like colleagues and his advice invariably turns something that already looks really good into something that looks great. There were plenty of laughs but also a sense of diligence as the dancers took Willy’s suggestions to heart. As the rehearsal progressed the ballet took on a very nice polish. It’ll be interesting to see it onstage next week, and Tom spoke of his plan to expand on it in the future.
Abigail Mentzer
Amir Yogev
Alexander Peters
Abigail
Stretch: Amir
Abigail
Tom Gold in a Bad Boy of the Ballet moment.
One of the best things about going to Tom Gold’s rehearsals is watching him demonstrate!
All photos by Brian Krontz. Click on each image to enlarge.
Tom Gold Dance will have their second New York season March 12th and 13th, 2013 at the Gerald Lynch Theater at John Jay College. Details will be announced soon.
Oberon's Glade 