“Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises” The Washington Ballet Eisenhower Theater The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC May 9, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
The problem starts with the literary source, Ernest Hemingway’s novel. Unlike F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, which choreographer Septime Webre and composer Billy Novick made into a promising ballet a couple of seasons ago, there is no clear classical plot line, no organically developed course of action, no beginning-middle-end in “The Sun Also Rises” by much the same creative team. Hemingway keeps reiterating a single dilemma over and over again – his hero Jake’s inability to consummate with the beautiful Brett, the love of his life. It really makes no difference whether it happens in Paris, France or in Pamplona, Spain. The characters do not grow. Hemingway could have turned this into an Abelard and Heloise tragedy of sublimation but didn’t. Jake and Brett’s situation remains a bad joke, something static. On stage, little of the novel’s situation is transformed into action, personality or atmosphere. It persists as text, words, formula projected as supertitles the audience is expected to read. Much of what we experience in this long, 2-act work are attempts to distract our attention from the failure to fashion a story that can be told thru movement.
Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes, 1909 – 1929: When Art Danced with Music East Wing, National Gallery of Art Washington, DC May 7, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
This morning the National Gallery gave a preview of its upcoming “Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes”. I used the opportunity to form a first impression of the exhibits’ scope and impact while leaving the detailed examination of some items and the reading of many labels in their entirety to future visits. The display is huge. Yet it isn’t in the slightest heavy as shows of theatrical trappings (sets, costumes) can often be. Even the two largest pieces – Natalia Goncharova’s 1926 “Firebird” backdrop (51.5 x 53.5 ft) and Pablo Picasso’s 1924 “The Blue Train” backdrop (38.5 x 34 ft) seem to lift up into the flies. Costumes are displayed so that they can be seen as in the theater – from far away cheap seats and from the front row. Diaghilev’s designers were remarkable in providing minute details without sacrificing simplicity of form. As bold as was the use of color during the Ballet Russe’s early years, equally impressive are examples of color restraint during the company’s latter years. Certainly this show amply illustrates such design innovations. Diaghilev’s great contribution, though, was his concept of what a ballet should be. Not just novel design, dance, music and idea but a singular synthesis of these things into a sensual, intellectual entity that mirrors and disputes life. Could any exhibit fully present Diaghilev’s synthetic, reflective and adversarial skills?
“Le Corsaire” American Ballet Theatre Opera House The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC April 12 & 14, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
Kennedy Center during its four decades has now shown five different productions of “Corsaire” - not counting excerpts. All derive from Marius Petipa's late 19th century versions in Russia of what was originally a French ballet. The first version, brought by the Kirov/Maryinsky company, became more than an adventure spectacle about pirates and pashas when danced by the right cast. On such occasions it turned into a commentary on the difference between entertainment and art. The Bolshoi's staging was sophisticated in a different way, invoking the refinement of French styling in both its dancing and miming. The three other versions - ABT's initial production, the one it just premiered and Washington Ballet's minimax edition - seemed made to amuse and astound, managing that directly, simply, straightforwardly. All three appear to be variations on that theme and all were assembled by Anna Marie Holmes. On this visit, ABT danced Holmes's newest "Corsaire" five times with substantial cast changes in the ballet's 11 leading roles.
New York City Ballet & Orchestra All Balanchine/Tschaikovsky Bill “Swan Lake” , “Allegro Brillante”, “Suite #3” Opera House The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC March 26, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
The New York City Ballet’s 2013 opening night in Washington didn’t quite click, either as programming or as a set of performances. Balanchine, the company’s founding ballet master, used to be skeptical about gimmicky scheduling. Often he would dismiss a thematic bill as “all water and watermelon”. What he wanted was to serve customers a balanced menu. Tschaikovsky, one of his favorite composers, drew from him intriguing but not necessarily compatible results. Last night started and ended with Balanchine choreography to Tschaikovsky music that almost looked as if it had been made in the castle and kingdom manner. Behavior, not only dancing, is important for both “Swan Lake” and “Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3”. In the ballet that came in between, “Allegro Brillante” , Balanchine seemed to be surveying Tschaikovsky’s score for the compactness, the shortcuts, the economy and the sense of contemporary life that modernist music gave him chances to invent in his “black and white” works. Pose and dance alternate in “Swan Lake” and “Suite No. 3” but “Allegro Brillante” is more all-dance: dance-in-place alternating with dance-in-space.
Finland’s Tero Saarinen Dance Company “Westward Ho!”, “Wavelengths”, “Hunt” Eisenhower Theater The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC March 12, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
Tero Saarinen - unlike some of his contemporary dance colleagues - still believes that a program should consist of separate and contrasting works that give customers a balanced menu. Served first as Finland’s contribution to Kennedy Center’s Nordic Cool Festival - was an appetizer. Sweet and sharp, sugar and spice, it was about three ornery sailors. The next course, meaty and doughy like heartwarming kidney pie, was a duo for a woman and a man. Capping the experience came something as flamboyant as baked Alaska (known in Europe as as Norwegian omelet flambé) – Saarinen’s solo version for himself of “The Rite of Spring”.
Norway’s Carte Blanche Dance Company “Corps de Walk” Terrace Theater, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC March 6, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
Why take a dozen dancers, dress them and light them so that their bodies appear to be the most valued of treasures, but then morph them into looking like veritable monsters? Those responsible – the choreographer-and-costumer pair Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar – do hint at answers during the hour long course of “Corps de Walk”, Norway’s contribution to the dance portion of Kennedy Center’s Nordic Cool Festival. The costuming is this piece’s triumph. It consists of overall tights that are layered and spanned to show anatomy functioning more clearly than would real nudity. One sees how legs carry and are joined to the torso, that arms aren’t just suspended from the shoulders but bud from the plane of the back, and how the buttocks and breast bone buffer the urge to stretch. For maximum visibility the tights have a light skin color even though not all who wear them are pale faced. Makeup and, especially, illumination also contribute to lend the six women and six men an albino cast.
Danish Dance Theatre “Love Songs” Terrace Theater, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts March 1, 2013 Washington, DC
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
Some in the audience remembered 30 plus years ago when dance companies were feeling the need to go pop. The curtain would be open already when you sat down. The cast could be seen on stage limbering up or lolling about. Came the time to perform, dancers not yet involved would stand in the wings, sit on stools in back or squat out of the way to watch. Often the stage was unadorned or lit like an impromptu, after hours den. The music, most likely, was canned. Between numbers there wasn’t an actual break but a casually choreographed intermission. One director even had the company change costumes, undressing in full view. Last night, Tim Rushton – choreographer of “Love Songs” and in artistic charge of the second of the five dance companies that are part of Kennedy Center’s Nordic Cool 2013 Festival – brought back that time for us oldsters. Youngsters among the public might have found the Danish Dance Theatre’s offering fresh. In fact, members of all age groups responded with lots of applause at the end. I, though, from the start couldn’t help having expectations.
Iceland Dance Company “TIL”, “The Swan”, “Grossstadtsafari” Terrace Theater The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC February 27, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
The first dance event of Kennedy Center’s Nordic Cool Festival was emphatically small scale: two duets and a piece for a group of eight. Did the Iceland Dance Company’s director, Lara Stefansdottir, have “less is more” in mind? The duets were well paired. “TIL” tells of a realistic relationship, “The Swan” of one that is surreal. In both the dancers are given imaginative space to show their individuality, to display themselves as persons of distinct and nuanced temperament. Technical abilities aren’t as thoroughly explored.
Mark Morris Dance Group “The Office”, “Festival Dance”, “Socrates” Center for the Arts, George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia February 8, 2013
by George Jackson copyright 2013 by George Jackson
Just like Socrates, Mark Morris is difficult to debate. He makes you persuade yourself that his is the right perspective: that Dvorak’s buoyant bagatelles call for a bizarrely eerie story, that Hummel’s efflorescent piano trio has roots in folkways plus tendrils reaching skyward, and – not least – that Plato’s dialogues can be danced. For the Dvorak work, “The Office”, Morris envisions a waiting room. Half a dozen people are there, one standing on the right while the others sit in a row on chairs. Costuming (by June Omura) and lighting (by Michael Chybowski) establish the atmosphere. It is drab. Postures and expressions, too, contribute with everyone finely tuned to a different degree of expectation or resignation. As activity arises among those waiting, it is of a follow-the-leader sort that soon becomes varied. Briefly there are dance pairings. Suddenly a different sort of figure appears: a woman meticulously groomed and severely yet fashionably dressed. She carries a clipboard, looks down at what must be noted there, summons one of the individuals waiting and takes the person away. Among those remaining, a camaraderie arises. They join in line formations, dance little steps and dare bigger ones. They are still waiting to be called and, indeed, the clipboard lady appears repeatedly. One by one those in the waiting room walk off with her. No one returns. Those left dance. Like the music, some of the dancing has folk flavor but Morris has given the movement a frantic edge that isn’t in Dvorak’s score. Finally just one person, a woman, remains on stage to be summoned. She has no one with whom to dance so she sits down on a chair to wait. Not a sound can be heard. Mark Morris has convinced me that Dvorak actually composed that final silence.
"A Storybook Sleeping Beauty'' Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington, DC The Lincoln Theater Washington, DC December 13 & 14, 20012
by George Jackson copyright 2012 by George Jackson
The words "Once upon a time ..." materialize before one's eyes as the curtain rises on this school production of the most classical of ballets. A file of figures, most of them clad in court finery, stands focused on a babe in arms. They hold themselves intent and, with care and dignity, begin to circulate among themselves when, suddenly, dancers - females in short tutus and in toe shoes - infiltrate the scene like shimmering beams of light. Two realms - one human and temporal and the other magical and elusive, meet in harmony. How lightly and precisely limbs articulate for the dancing! Postures are pliant. The phrasing of stretch and flex, of reach and fold, of straighten and bend is musically clear. Spun across the stage space are patterns as fine as those in a spider's web.
