Tag: Jessica Lang

Jessica Lang Dance @ The Joyce

Above: from Jessica Lang’s The Calling, photo by Takao Kamaru

Thursday February 20, 2014 – Jessica Lang Dance are at The Joyce this week, presenting an exciting programme of danceworks in varied musical styles, all of it choreographed with Lang’s innate sense of sophistication and grace. And it’s all beautifully danced as well.

Lines Cubed is a Lang work new to me and I loved every moment of it. Set to a score by composers John Metcalfe and Thomas Metcalf, the ballet takes on the aspects of a danced symphony: there’s a prelude, an andante, a scherzo, an adagio, and a finale – and each movement is colour-coded for the costuming and set decor. Throbbing mechanical rhythms and passages of lyricism allow the choreographer to explore various movement motifs: much of the ballet has a stylized, ritualistic quality with questing port de bras. The lighting (Nicole Pearce) and the use of accordian-like set pieces which the dancers open and close in passing create a shifting visual framework.

Following a ritualistic opening movement, Black, the space glows in ruby-rich light for Red with an evocative solo danced by Kana Kimura backed by four men. Bright sun and infectious joy are expressed by a trio of women – Julie Fiorenza, Sarah Haarmann and Laura Mead – in Yellow. This gives way to a rather sombre Blue adagio, danced by Claudia MacPherson and Milan Misko. The colours are mixed and matched for the full-cast finale. Such was the cumulative effect of the setting, music and dancing that I could have immediately watched this ballet again.

For Mendelssohn/Incomplete, Jessica Lang has turned to my favorite chamber work – the Mendelssohn piano trio #1 – and created an ensemble work of longing and gentle melancholy in a dusk-like setting. The women in purple dresses and the men in soft shades of grey cross the stage in a clustered formation, a community seeking something in the impending darkness. They pause to dance: here the choreographer shows us tenderness and consolation in choreography that quietly illuminates the music. In the end, the group seem to be moving on – one woman lingers in the space, but she is not left behind. This poignant ballet, so touching in its sincerity and humanity, made a fine impression and was superbly danced by Mlles. Fiorenza, MacPherson and Haarman with Clifton Brown, Milan Misko and Kirk Henning.

In Aria, a quartet set to Zenobia’s restless-fury aria “Son contenta di morire” from Handel’s RADAMISTO, three boys (Todd Burnsed, Kirk Henning and Milan Misko) in grey tights and bright red shirts sail thru strongly musical combinations while Laura Mead – in a flame-red frock and dancing on pointe – comes and goes in a breathlessly-paced virtuoso performance. Mr. Burnsed is her primary partner; there are lifts, escapes, and swirling entrances and exits in this portrait of a woman on the brink.

The Calling, a mind-bendingly gorgeous solo, is culled from a Lang signature work Splendid Isolation II. It was performed tonight by the radiant Kana Kimura. The dancer – in a long white gown – basically remains stationary, using port de bras and gentle shiftings of the upper body, neck and head to enthrall the viewer while music by Trio Mediaeval lends a timeless sense of rapture. This work, and Ms. Kimura’s sheer expressive elegance, enthralled the packed house tonight.

White, a dance-on-film made in 2011 and having its New York premiere at these performances, shows six white-clad dancers against a jet-black background. The perspective makes them appear large or small as they dance across the screen, sometimes with witty inflection. Their comings and goings have a silent-movie flair, and the music of Edward Grieg makes White an especially pleasing interlude.

i.n.k. is a Jessica Lang work that I have experienced from its earliest formative stages. Visually engrossing, the ballet features black-clad dancers moving before a snow-white back-panel, sometimes dancing with their shadows. Meanwhile drops or waves of dark ink splash across the screen. The other-worldly score by Jakub Ciupinski, the costuming of Elena Comendador, Nicole Pearce’s lighting, and the intriguing film elements (KUSHO by Shinichi Maruyama) all combine to draw the viewer into this dream-like world.

Clifton Brown – truly one of the great dancers of our time – and the celestial Kana Kimura have a remarkable adagio in i.n.k. which ends with a mesmerizing slow backbend from Kana, supported on high in Clifton’s arms. This passage is so compelling and I felt this evening that i.n.k. should actually end here; and my companion felt the same way.

On my dance wish-list is Jessica Lang’s production of Pergolesi’s STABAT MATER which premiered at Glimmerglass in the Summer of 2013; I’m hoping it could be brought to New York City.

February 20, 2014
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
Fall for Dance 2011 Program II

Above: Clifton Brown and Yuan Yuan Tan in Kokyat’s image from a rehearsal of Jessica Lang’s AMONG THE STARS. More photos from this rehearsal will be found here.

Sunday October 30, 2011 – The Fall for Dance 2011 festival continues with:

PROGRAM II
Vertigo Dance Company, Mana (adapted for Fall for Dance); Noa Wertheim, choreographer
Drew Jacoby, Bloom; Andrea Miller (Artistic Director of Gallim Dance), choreographer
Jessica Lang Dance, Among the Stars; Jessica Lang, choreographer
Richard Alston Dance Company, Roughcut; Richard Alston, choreographer

In Noa Wertheim’s MANA (photo above by Gadi Dagon), Vertigo Dance Company from Israel featured eight dancers in dark-toned long tunics, skirts and wide-legged trousers dancing before a beautifully lit silhouette/facade thru the door of which they come and go. With folk-like motifs of circular patterns and casually organized duets, the movement feels both spontaneous and ritualistic. Ran Bagno’s mid-East fusion score is rhythmically varied with some quirkly instrumentation; it is pleasantly innocuous and eventually unmemorable. The dancing was excellent and the dancers deserved the enthusiastic response of the audience, but the work would make a more persuasive statement if it were pared down a bit. It gives the impression of someone who goes on talking after his point has already been made.

The imperial contemporary ballerina Drew Jacoby (this year’s calendar girl for Fall for Dance, in a Lois Greenfield photo above) then danced a new solo created on her by Gallim Dance‘s Andrea Miller. Entitled BLOOM, set to music of Radiohead, the solo finds the dancer on a blue-lit stage in a gossamer cerise frock; dancing bare-footed rather than in toe-shoes gives the ballerina a vulnerable look. Swirling thru windswept patterns that propel her around the space, Drew is restless and relentless. Elements of classic ballet technique are subtly spun into the choreography – big jete, attitude turns – and are executed at high velocity. In moments of relative calm the dancer seems aware of the audience but is then propelled on her way again, at times almost against her will. The curtain falls but Drew continues to dance at the lip of the stage and eventually sails back into the re-opened space. The solo personifies the dancer as a force of nature and is a wonderful Drew Jacoby portrait; we get to see Drew again at the Festival in Pontus Lidberg’s Faune (November 1st & 2nd).

Yuan Yuan Tan, principal ballerina of San Francisco Ballet, and Clifton Brown, beloved Alvin Ailey star since 1999 and now a guest artist with that Company, created quite a stir as they danced Jessica Lang’s mystically luminous duet for star-crossed lovers, AMONG THE STARS. Above, the two dancers at a recent studio rehearsal, photographed by Kokyat.

The duet draws upon the legend (found in many cultures) of Altair, a lowly herdsman who dared to love Vega, daughter of a goddess. They are punished by being transformed into stars separated by the vast river of the Milky Way, But it is said that the Goddess of Heaven, out of pity, decided to let them unite once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month as she was touched by their devotion.

Poetic images of tenderness and longing fill this pas de deux, which Ms. Lang has set to music of Ryuichi Sakamoto. Yuan Yuan Tan and Clifton Brown danced with poignant lyricism, the ballerina’s compelling technical mastery wedded to her delicately nuanced gesture and expression while Mr. Brown was the epitome of masculine grace. The audience, spellbound by the piece and by these two magnificent artists, erupted in a frenzied ovation as the dancers stepped forward to bow.

ROUGHCUT, performed by the Richard Alston Dance Company, closed the evening. It was perhaps impossible to imagine something that could follow the sublime dancing of the Lang duet; in the event the Alston piece gave the right counter-balance of mood but stretched out beyond its viability as the choreographer worked to fill the two long Steve Reich pieces with dance. In the end it seemed too much of a good thing.

Clarinetist Roger Heaton and guitarist James Woodrow played the demanding Reich scores live, standing at either side of the proscenium. The nine Alston dancers gave unstinting energy and flair to the choreographer’s spirited, driven combinations, soaring about the stage in spacious leaps and turns. There were passages of near-respite in some solo and duet segments but the onrush of movement never abated. As the dancers were rightly hailed at the end, I was thinking how much ROUGHCUT reminded me of some of David Parsons’ fast-paced works. But David would have known when to get out the scissors.

October 30, 2011
AMONG THE STARS/Rehearsal Gallery

These are some of Kokyat’s images from a rehearsal of Jessica Lang’s pas de deux AMONG THE STARS. The work was being prepared for two performances at New York City Center as part of the 2011 Fall for Dance Festival. Yuan Yuan Tan, principal ballerina from San Francisco Ballet, and Clifton Brown, who danced with the Alvin Ailey Company for over a decade and now appears with them as a guest artist, premiered the duet together in 2010. The music is by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

These images are from a studio rehearsal on October 28, 2011. Details of the Fall for Dance performance of AMONG THE STARS, which drew ecstatic applause from the packed house, will appear here shortly.

All photos by Kokyat.

October 29, 2011
Jessica Lang @ Joyce SoHo

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.

July 22, 2011