"Arden Court," “Middle Duet,'” “Varnam,'” "Deuce Coupe"
Paul Taylor Dance Company/Kirov Ballet/Shantala Shivalingappa/Juilliard School
City Center
New York, NY
September 27, 2007
by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2007 by Leigh Witchel
City Center kicked off its Fall for Dance festival with a fine program, and one hell of a value for the $10 ticket. The Paul Taylor Dance Company opened with a tight performance of “Arden Court.” It’s a great curtain raiser – baroque music, great choreography, shirtless Taylor men, what’s not to like? The majority of the cast is old hands by now but one of the newest members, Francisco Graciano, turned in a performance sharp with promise. Orion Duckstein and Amy Young danced the central roles originated by Elie Chaib and Carolyn Adams. Young, a tall dancer where Adams was not, pitched her neck forward seemingly to shorten herself into the role.
The Kirov Ballet of the Mariinsky Theater sent Islom Baimuradov and Ekaterina Kondaurova to perform Alexei Ratmansky’s “Middle Duet” in a stripped-down production. New York City Ballet performed the piece last season; their version used extra dancers as bit players. Here we only saw the duet itself with a slightly truncated ending to adapt. The Russians danced with a softer attack than at NYCB – Maria Kowroski and Albert Evans heard the beat and wittily tick-tocked their way through the piece. Baimuradov and Kondaurova showed more wistful sadness amidst the rigor.
Shantala Shivalingappa was born in India and raised in Paris. She
dances classical Indian dance in the Kuchipudi style; “Varnam,”
excerpted from a longer piece, was dedicated to the primal sound “Om.”
It was more aerial than many Indian solos; Shivalingappa used a gentle
pas de chat to get from place to place. At the climax of the work she
delicately put her feet on a wide bowl and glided backwards on it. The
work was traditional but contemporary; she’s not dancing a hybrid form,
but everywhere there were touches she had brought to the form to
personalize it. Shivalingappa is a magical dancer; she’s performed in
western works as well and was here with Pina Bausch’s company on its
last visit. She’s
able to hold a stage with the blissful flirtation of Indian dancers,
with their stares that are at once piercing and unfocused. Who are
they flirting with? Is it the audience or the gods?
From the Juilliard’s School’s description of their dance division:
The vision guiding the training of a Juilliard student is one of creating a “fusion dancer,” one who is trained equally in both the centuries-old techniques of the classical ballet and in techniques of the modern dance of our time. Using this preparation of the best from the past and the present, the dancer’s eye and mind are consciously opened to exploring the new possibilities that lie ahead on the choreographic horizon.
I don’t think the Juilliard’s training necessarily makes a better dancer – “fusion dancers” often don’t have the purity and line for full-on ballet, nor the gravity for full-on modern dance. Rather it typifies a completely new breed of dancers that are gradually gaining a repertory to suit them. There were sporadic attempts at crossover before the Joffrey Ballet commissioned “Deuce Coupe” from Twyla Tharp to the music of The Beach Boys in 1973, but the collaboration between her company and the Joffrey opened the floodgates.
Tharp made several versions of “Deuce Coupe.” A second version from
1975 was set only on the Joffrey dancers so it could be toured. This
was reworked in 1980; that’s the version set by William Whitener and
drilled by Alexandra Wells. The dancers don’t have the weight or the
insinuating shimmying style of the 70’s; they’re sharper and technical reflecting the current style of dancing and the music they listen
to. It would be hard for Tharp to object to the loss; she has as much
responsibility as anyone for demanding and creating this hybrid.
Mary Ellen Beaudreau was the ballerina who performs classroom steps at the center of the melee, and did them with warmth and love. All the dancers had a keen sense of the dreamy variations in tempos, from molasses slow to insanely fast. More than that was the burning commitment they gave to the work; it may be the best argument for going to a top conservatory rather than straight into the profession. Never again will any of them have the luxury of that much rehearsal. I’ve seen performances where “Deuce Coupe” seemed no more than an interesting novelty. But here, one could see the structure, and it glistened from their sharpness. The dancers insist in their performance that “Deuce Coupe” is a masterpiece. Even though it’s been changed by their technique, in their hands, from the slow crescent they lope and stroll out in, to the finale that they show as a Pop Apotheosis, it is.
copyright © 2007 by Leigh Witchel
Photos:
Top: Shantala Shivanlingappa. Photo: Rodrigo Cesar
Bottom: Juilliard Dance in "Deuce Coupe." Photo: Rosalie O'Connor