danceviewtimes

Speak, Memory

Trying Times 1982 (remembered)
David Gordon Pick Up Performance Co(S.)
Dance Theater Workshop
New York, NY
December 17, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

I’m a trained you-know-what and he makes me talk, talk, talk!

David Gordon’s “Trying Times,” had a great deal of talk, talk, talk in it, much of it very witty. At its best, his wordplay has more fun in it than Gertrude Stein’s and more impressive for a choreographer, is so integral to what he’s doing that the whole thing makes perfect, white-hot sense both as spoken word and as a dance.

Gay Deceivers

“Giselle Act II,” “Le Corsaire Pas de Deux,” “Go for Barocco,” “The Dying Swan,” “Paquita”
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 20, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

We’re all balletomanes here. We love ballet and find it moving.  We also understand that you have to see it to understand it; on paper it’s ridiculous.  The zone between that exquisite experience and the unintelligible-except-to-the-initiated conventions that go with it is the territory the Trocks inhabit with such skill.  Their production of Act II of “Giselle” nails the absurdity and the affection exactly.

The Artistic Tourist

Bamboo Blues
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn, NY
December 11, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

There’s usually some glorious, wildly expensive bit of excess in a Pina Bausch piece; carnations, dirt, or a pool of water in the middle of the stage as in “Nefés,” her last go-round at BAM two years ago.  If the title gave any clue, you’d expect “Bamboo Blues” to have a stage overflowing with bamboo, but there’s none.  The work feels almost austere. There’s just fabric; huge swags of sheer white fabric draped on a large framework at the back.

In Miniature

Sensedance
Ailey Citigroup Theater
New York, NY
November 11, 2008

dance on a shoestring
New York Theatre Ballet
City Center
New York, NY
November 15, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Small ballet companies in New York City are an uncommon lot, laboring in the shadow of the major institutions.  Two of them, Sensedance and New York Theatre Ballet, performed last week.  New York Theatre Ballet’s “Dance on a Shoestring” series are in-studio performances that are a cross between a full-dress affair and an informal studio showing (ask the little kids wandering up and down the risers) and they’re a great value at ten bucks.  This one contained a little treasure, the beginning of a reconstruction of Antony Tudor’s “Trio Con Brio.”

Philadelphia Story

Ballo della Regina,” “Kazimir’s Colors,” “Push Comes to Shove”
Pennsylvania Ballet
Academy of Music
Philadelphia, PA
November 1, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Surely it’s a coincidence, but Pennsylvania Ballet was stalking American Ballet Theatre last weekend. Both companies danced “Ballo della Regina” and Pennsylvania paired it with Tharp’s breakthrough work for ABT, “Push Comes to Shove.”

Pennsylvania’s version of “Ballo” has a few advantages.  The stage at the Academy of Music is big enough to really move.  Beyond a better space, Pennsylvania’s version is better in premise; the dancers are more conversant in the Balanchine style.  Their dancing is accented, they’re lighter on their feet, they jump and most importantly they move.  The soloists and principals aren’t at the same level as at ABT, granted.  The four demi-soloist variations were well-rehearsed if a bit staid. Amy Aldridge had fast feet but a tight neck and frozen smile; Zachary Hench had the jump, but not the cleanliness.

Fragment

“Ballo della Regina,” “Romeo’s Farewell to Juliet,” “Jardin Aux Lilas,” “Company B”
American Ballet Theatre
City Center
New York, NY
October 30, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

It is an absolute sin that Tudor’s “Romeo and Juliet” has fallen out of repertory. Made in 1943 for American Ballet Theatre on Alicia Markova and Hugh Laing, this one act version uses music by Delius instead of the more familiar and bombastic Prokofiev.  At this point, there’s some question, hotly and loudly debated, whether the Tudor can be fully recovered.  ABT presented a short duet of Romeo’s farewell to Juliet.  It wasn’t built to be a self-contained excerpt, but still, if the duet was any indication of the whole ballet’s quality, it’s exquisite.  Eugene Berman’s celebrated costumes were not used; Juliet and Romeo were costumed simply and appropriately by Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan.  The staging is credited to Kevin McKenzie, though he joined ABT a few years after the full ballet was last danced.  It looked sensitively handled. As in most of his choreography, Tudor figured out ways to make ballet vocabulary conversational; we didn’t just see two people dancing together, but an intimate discussion.  Tudor also rethought pointe work to his own need for expression, emphasizing motions where the toe is stabbed onto the floor almost as much as rises up onto pointe. 

Star Supply

“Ballo della Regina,” “Flames of Paris,” “Overgrown Path,” “Brief Fling”
American Ballet Theatre
City Center
New York, NY
October 28, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

American Ballet Theater has never made any bones about being where the stars come to shine.  It’s what its audience wants.  ABT needs a steady supply of stars, and they’re easier to attract than create. Twenty one year old soloist Daniil Simkin is the newest wunderkind to join ABT, and he introduced himself to us with the “Flames of Paris” pas de deux choreographed by Vainonen for the Kirov in the thirties.  It’s familiar territory for Simkin, there are videos of him dancing this all over the Internet, and he does it very well.  Simkin’s not tall, but he has long proportions and elegant lines; also a baby face – he still looks like a precocious teenager.  He can deliver the goods; a cyclone of turns and soaring calm jumps including a “540” rivoltade.  The audience roared in approval and he caused a sensation. That’s what ABT’s audience pays its money to see, and they got their money’s worth.  Now that we’ve seen him in what he does best, it will be interesting to see his range.

Repertory Begins

“Baker’s Dozen,” “Citizen,” “The Leaves are Fading,” “Theme and Variations”
American Ballet Theatre
City Center
New York, NY
October 22, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Even if one quibbled with an individual performance or ballet, American Ballet Theatre opened its first night of repertory with a promising and solid evening.  The company commissioned a new work, “Citizen” by Lauri Stallings.  “Citizen” has a contemporary, theatrical flavor with some familiar looking elements (bare stage stripped of all leggings, hyperactive choreography) but a bit more heart than the usual aerobics fest.  German-born Max Richter composed the two pieces used;  both were heavy on strings and reminiscent of the pensive work of Henryk Górecki or Arvo Pärt.

San Francisco Ballet at City Center – Program B

“The Fifth Season,” “Concerto Grosso,” “Joyride,” “The Four Temperaments”
San Francisco Ballet
City Center
New York, NY
October 16, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Program B of San Francisco Ballet’s engagement at City Center may have contained only one work from the company’s blockbuster New Works Festival last spring, but it was by a heavy hitter.  Mark Morris’ “Joyride,” set to John Adams’ “Son of Chamber Symphony” was cheeky with a whiff of kitsch. Its eight dancers wore Isaac Mizrahi’s metallic unitards with old fashioned LEDs that flash random numbers pasted to their stomachs. (I bet they hate them.) Chance operation was also referenced in some Homage-to-Cunningham arms.  The dance started with two dancers supine on the stage, the others joined them and posed, hands on hips, foot beveled and ready for their close up.  Three musical movements and several dance permutations later, “Joyride” ended with Vanessa Zahorian striking the same pose and staring down the audience.  The dance was a salad of influences from fashion modeling to kick boxing, but with music that didn’t provide a structure and a finale that consisted of everyone coming in and doing their choice bit, it never reached critical mass. 

Morphoses in New York

“Polyphonia,” “Monotones II,” “Six Fold Illuminate,” “Commedia”
Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company
City Center
New York, NY
October 1, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Morphoses, Christopher Wheeldon’s company, opened its sophomore season at City Center on Wednesday night with a revival of “Polyphonia,” his breakout work for New York City Ballet from 2001.  One of Wheeldon’s strengths is his savvy in casting his ballets, both for new works and revivals.  Several of the original cast members danced including Jason Fowler (co-credited with the staging), Craig Hall and importantly Wendy Whelan.  Though Edwaard Liang is dancing with Morphoses, Gonzalo Garcia danced his role instead.  When replacing, Wheeldon knows to put in dancers who have a similar effect onstage; Tiler Peck’s athleticism is an analogue for Jennie Somogyi’s. Teresa Reichlen is a different dancer than Jennifer Tinsley-Williams, but with similar lines. 

Tyler Angle got the challenge of replacing Whelan’s long-time partner Jock Soto.  The part stretches Angle’s range beyond that of Jeune Premier.  Flips and partnering feats that looked like magic tricks when Soto did them looked more quotidian with Angle, but also more human. Seven years have softened Whelan’s edges in the first duet and made it more unearthly than harsh.