Hell’s Kitchen Dance
Howard Gilman Performance Space
Baryshnikov Arts Center
New York, NY
June 23, 2007 (matinee)
by Susan Reiter
copyright © 2007 by Susan Reiter
It seemed poignant and oddly appropriate that, while the two major
ballet companies with which he performed so spectacularly during an
earlier period were holding forth on grand Lincoln Center stages with
velvet curtains for several thousand people, Mikhail Baryshnikov was
revealing his exquisite mature artistry in an unadorned, intimate
black-box space 25 blocks to the south for about 200 fortunate
spectators. The setting, the repertory, the project itself — an
unpretentious ensemble, most of them still in or just past their
undergraduate years, that he has assembled for its second summer of
touring — suggest how unconcerned Baryshnikov is with the grander
trappings of celebrity or stature, and how much he currently revels in
the process of creation and in a direct, forthright approach to
performance. Yes, the four-performance run was preceded by a major New
York Times feature and a (by network TV standards) generous profile on
the “Today Show,” so one could hardly say his performances took place
completely under the radar. But the matter-of-fact tone of the
presentation — from the no-frills printed program to the de facto
star’s lack of star curtain calls — was as far removed as possible from
“uptown” glamour and hype.