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Back in Business

"Agon", "Black Swan Pas de Deux", "Far But Close", "Return"
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center
New York, New York
April 11, 2013

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

The Dance Theatre of Harlem hare returned to New York, after a nearly nine-year hiatus due to budget problems.  Virginia Johnson, one of the original dancers, now leads the company and she has assembled an engaging group of 18 dancers.  The larger works that the old company could perform (I especially remember their "Giselle" and Nijinska's magestic "Les Noces") are out of bounds now, but the New York repertoire was an ecclectic mix of old and new.  The program opened with Balanchine's "Agon", an especially apt choice because DTH's founder, Arthur Mitchell, was in the original cast.

Paradise Re-Envisaged

Bill T. Jones Arnie Zane Dance Company
“Ravel: Landscape or Portrait?,”  “Story/”
The Joyce Theater
April 2, 2013

By Michael Popkin
Copyright 2013 © by Michael Popkin

The second program of Bill T. Jones’ two week run at the Joyce, consisting of two new works, immediately pulled you into a poetic space and held you there.  Jones’ extraordinary scenic and dance sense were combined with superb live chamber music by the Orion String Quartet. Simple, yet powerful designs and lighting of Bjorn Amelan and Robert Wierzel (respectively) filled in the landscape.

Music for a While

"The Office", "A Wooden Tree", "Jenn and Spencer", "Crosswalk"
Mark Morris Dance Group
James and martha Duffy Performance Space
Mark Morris Dancer Center
Brooklyn, New York
April 10, 2013

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

Mark Morris presented four works in his spring season, two premieres, one older work, and one newish piece with Mikhail Baryshnikov.  This is still a name to reckon with, the last of the glamorous Soviet defectors.  There was nothing glamorous, though, about Baryshnikov in Morris's 2012 "A Wooden Tree", set to recordings by the Scottish musician Ivor Cutler.  Baryshnikov was an equal member of a group of dancers, playing around with the lyrics of the folk-influenced songs, though he could not help dominating every scene he was in.  With his haunted and haunting face, coiled energy, and explosive movement, he had an uncanny resemblance to James Cagney.

Discoveries in the Familiar

Program VI
"Raymonda Act III," "Ibsen's House," "Symphonic Dances,"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
April 9, 2013
by Rita Felciano

Copyright Rita Felciano © 2013

Taking a second or third look at previously seen work may not offer the excitement of figuring out what this or that choreographer had in mind in his or her latest creation. But rarely, if ever, are there no new discoveries to be made. During the reprise of Rudolf Nureyev's 1966 "Raymonda Act III," I kept wondering whether a company can do justice to this refined, so highly specific style without it being part of the dancers' daily bread. Dramaturgically Val Caniparoli's "Ibsen's House", commissioned by SFB for the 2008 New Work's Festival, remains problematic but his choreography movingly delves into the soul of Ibsen's anguished characters. I had high hopes for Edward Liang's 2012 commission, "Symphonic Dances", his first one for SFB. Unfortunately, they were not fulfilled.

Ups and Downs

New York City Ballet & Orchestra
"Carousel (A Dance)," "Glass Pieces," "Vienna Waltzes"
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
March 30, 2013
 
by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2013 by Alexandra Tomalonis

There aren’t many ballets that keep their opening night freshness for 20 years, but Robbins’ “Glass Pieces” (1983), which was the centerpiece of the New York City Ballet’s second program here, had first season clarity. If anything, it’s a stronger work today, as the dancers are now comfortable with both choreography and score.

"Laurencia" in London

"Laurencia"
Choreography Vakhtang Chabukiani revised by Mikhail Messerer
Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, soloists and dancers of the Mihailovsky Ballet
London Coliseum
2 and 3 April 2013

By Judith Cruikshank
copyright 2013 by Judith Cruikshank

The Mihailovsky Ballet is becoming a regular visitor to London, the current season being its third appearance in five years. The company has the advantage of a repertory which includes some interesting rarities. I remember a charming production of Petipa’s ‘Cavalry Halt’, extracts from ‘The fisherman and the Naiad’ on an earlier when the company was still known as the Maly, and a revival of Vakhtang Chabukiani’s ‘Laurencia’ staged by Mikhail Messerer was a highlight of the 2010 season and drew enthusiastic applause on this latest visit.

Deliberate Lightning

"SANBASO, Divine Dance"
Mansai Nomura + Hiroshi Sugimoto
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, NY
March 29, 2103

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2013 by Martha Sherman

Traditional Japanese theater, set in space and silence, hints at hidden treasures. For “Sanbaso,” the classic noh and kyogen work offered by collaborators Mansai Nomura and Hiroshi Sugimoto, the Guggenheim Museum’s spiral atrium offered an evocative modern twist. The work, based on ancient Shinto rituals and performed in a tradition over 600 years old, filled the dramatic setting with haunting dance and music that seemed both ancient and contemporary.

Odd Mix

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.

A Master Spy at Work

"Scudorama," "Lost Found and Lost," "Brandenburgs"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 19, 2013

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2013 by Carol Pardo

Paul Taylor spies on his fellow man—also on bugs and other living things. And, like any attentive animal, he can sniff out the way the wind is blowing. The triple bill "Scudorama," "Lost Found and Lost," and "Brandenburgs" examined the human condition, human foibles, and the ether beyond all that. It also showed how a successful dance can reveal, or perpetuate, the moment in which it was made while also speaking to the present, perhaps transcending both to timelessness.

A man for all seasons

"The Four Seasons" and "Emergence"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
March 20, 2013

By Denise Sum
copyright by Denise Sum 2013

The National Ballet of Canada closed their winter season with a double bill of two plotless works created for the company by Canadian choreographers. Former artistic director James Kudelka's "Four Seasons" is more classical in style and music choice, while Vancouver-based Crystal Pite's "Emergence" is darker and more edgy.Together, the works highlight Canadian talent and a troup of fine dancers across the ranks.