Branford Marsalis, Jazz Musician with
The Suzanne Farrell Ballet / Ronald K. Brown's Evidence / Tap: John & Leo Manzari
An American Playlist - Evening 2
Eisenhower Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
July 19, 2010
by George Jackson
copyright 2010 by George Jackson
More than light, delightful entertainment for early evening on a hot summer day, this program of dance and jazz music was instructive. Two duos by Balanchine showed differences of attack using ballet technique and syncopation; four excerpts from Brown's choreography raised questions about gender roles and genre fusion; two teenage tap dancers prompted admiration and wonder what some classical schooling might do for them.
First, though, a few thoughts and feelings about Branford Marsalis with his lip instruments gleaming gold and conversing in so sonorous a way with his virtuoso pianist, Joey Calderazzo. This one of the Marsalis clan is a mellow composer and player, but richly so. Leaving show off to Calderazzo, he yet knows how to answer its challenges. As the evening's host, Marsalis was saddled with an awkward text but won the public with unscripted quips. He changed the order of the printed program, bringing on the tap brothers for the initial set of dances.
Both of the Manzari lads posses prodigious foot and leg action. John, at age 17, has plenty of polish and carry-through whereas Leo, 15, is explosive. Their clarity even at maximum velocity is amazing. Leo's torso often sags. This seems to be partly teenage slouch, a matter of identity, but it can have consequences for his technique as he matures. Would a bit of ballet training be in order? The brothers did duos and solos to Bobby McFerrin and After the Storm music, and their sharp displays had been co-choreographed with Anthony Morigerato.
Elisabeth Holowchuk was listed as ballerina for both the "Contrapuntal Blues" duo from George Balanchine's "Clarinade" and the Balanchine/Farrell "Ragtime" duo. Hollowchuck looked and behaved utterly different in the two roles. The "Clarinade" excerpt, to Morton Gould's music, is introspective. There's much teasing out of movement, gravity is present and so is counterpoint between the partners, each of whom relishes Weltschmerz. I wished that Hollowchuk hadn't submitted so totally to the mood and shown a core of resistance. However, Momchil Mladenov as her man hasn't had a better Balanchine role. He knew how to use plastique without masking Balanchine's vivisection of the anatomy.
"Ragtime", a separate duo (almost a pas de deux) to Stravinsky's extrovert foray into the field of jazz music, showed Hollowchuck capering with nary a care. More than submitting to her role, she took command of it and varied the fun she was having with Michael Cook as her date. Cook, in Holly Hynes' summertime wear, looked a tad fuller than last month during Ballet Across America. The approaches Balanchine used for the two jazz duos differ not just in temperament. Movement is more on the music in "Ragtime", more oblique in the "Clarinade" duo. The vectors of motion in "Ragtime" point out from the bodies. Yet in both dances Balanchine's handwriting can be discerned.
Not a fan of Ronald K. Brown's choreography on previous occasions, I saw more in it this time. Brown used five dancers - Lilli Anne Tai, Otis Donovan Herring, Clarice Young, Arcell Cabuag and himself - as singles, duos, trios or more for four songs - "Like Someone in Love", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "I Concentrate on You" and "Poinciana". Movement for the men is heavily imbued with the street ethnicity of Black America. The women have some of that too, but they also display balletomodern technique. This division may state a truth about a big part of American society, yet it limits Brown's artistic scope.
Evening #2 of An American Playlist was the only one of the three programs which starred dance. Evening #1 featured music and verse; Evening #3 focuses on classical music and popular song. These were all free presentations by Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage although not performed on one of the two actual Millennium stages.
