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A Year Ago Today

"We Give Ourselves Away at Every Moment: An EVENT for Merce"
Jon Kinzel, Susan Marshall, Lucinda Childs, Faye Driscoll, Bill T. Jones
River to River Festival
Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City
New York, NY
July 26, 2010

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2010 by Martha Sherman

 He must have been smiling up there. On a perfect summer evening, after a month of painful heat, five distinguished and compelling choreographers created works to celebrate Merce Cunningham on the first anniversary after his death. An appreciative audience watched, lounging in Rockefeller Park around a large white stage ringed by the New York skyline and a perfect Hudson River dusk.

Chui Chai

Chui Chai
Pichet Klunchun Dance Company
Gerald W. Lynch Theater
at John Jay College
New York
July 24, 2010

by Kathleen O’Connell
copyright © 2010 by Kathleen O’Connell

 One of the smartest things that Thai dancer and choreographer Pichet Klunchun did before he stepped on stage in “Chui Chai” was take his shirt off. No, not because the work needed a bare torso to grab the audience’s attention. The exotic sheen of its traditional materials would have been enough for that. And Klunchun could have held the stage wrapped in burlap with a bag over his head; he’s saturated with charisma. But by stripping off his top and he laid bare the architectural beauty of the movement itself.

Out and About (ABT) 6/19-7/10/2010

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2010 by Leigh Witchel

“The Sleeping Beauty” American Ballet Theatre (Cojocaru/Carreño)
“The Sleeping Beauty” American Ballet Theatre (Osipova/Hallberg)
“Romeo and Juliet” American Ballet Theatre (Osipova/Hallberg)

Group Dynamics

"Lanterna Magica," "Pseudopodia," "Contradance," "Gnomen," "Megawatt"
Pilobolus
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
July 19, 2010

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2010 by Carol Pardo

Collaboration is central to Pilobolus, both as creed and as method. So it’s no surprise that the dynamic of the group and its opposite, the odd man out, appears twice on this program alone. It is the theme of "Contradance." New this year, choreographed by Renée Jaworski, the company’s current rehearsal director/artistic associate, and Matt Kent, a former dancer etc., "Contradance" is the first work in the repertory in which none of the company’s directors has taken part.

Ballet in the Wine Country

"Stars of American and Russian Ballet"
Festival del Sole
Lincoln Theater Napa Valley
Yountville, CA
July 23, 2010

by Rita Felciano

copyright © 2010 by Rita Felciano

This year, dancers from American Ballet Theater, Bolshoi Ballet, New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet joined the five year-old Festival del Sole's line up of classical music, fine dining and - given the location - Napa Valley wines. A balanced program - former Cal Performances Director was Festival Advisor - offered a good mix of quality choreography and some fine performances. Perhaps, most satisfying was the variety of male/female partnering seen at one time. The audience in the recently renovated 1,200 seast Lincoln Theater had a grand time watching nine so very different pas de deux's. 

Poster Children

“One,” “Déjà vu,” “Rhapsody Fantaisie,” “L'effleuré,” “Both,” “Change Me” 
Jacoby & Pronk 
Doris Duke Theater 
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2010 
Becket, MA. July 22, 2010 

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2010 by Martha Sherman

 This season’s Jacob’s Pillow poster image is a good proxy for the Drew & Jacoby program at the Doris Duke Theater. That picture shows Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk in a dramatic, muscular pose, crisply linked and looking directly at the viewer. They don’t smile, and they don’t waver.

The Mihailovsky Ballet in London

“Giselle”, “Mixed Bill”, “Laurencia”
The Mihailovsky Ballet
London Coliseum
15, 18, 20 July, 2010

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2010 by Judith Cruickshank
 

Of the five programmes the Mihailovsky Ballet brought to London for their second visit only two had been shown in the 2008 season; Nikita Dolgushin’s production of “Giselle” and Pyotr Gusev’s staging of the Petipa rarity, Le Halte du Cavalerie.  Both the revivals of the Gorsky version of “Swan Lake” and Vakhtang Chabukiani’s “Laurencia” were added to the repertory only this season.  Also new to London was the ‘ballet for children’, “Cipollino.”

Runway Blues

“roadkill”
The Johannes Wieland New York Company
Dance Theater Workshop
New York, NY
July 9th, 2010

by Christopher Atamian
copyright © 2010 by Christopher Atamian

“roadkill” encapsulates the humor and irony of this dynamic and brilliant new piece by Johannes Wieland.  Danced to perfection by the dashing Ryan Mason and the angular-featured Eva Mohn—a rising star if there ever was one—“roadkill” is one of those pleasant summer surprises that introduces audiences to a choreographer of talent, wit and understated intellectual elegance.

Out and About (NYCB) 6/17-23/2010

by Leigh Witchel

copyright © 2010 by Leigh Witchel

• “Donizetti Variations,” “Scotch Symphony” New York City Ballet
• “Mirage”  New York City Ballet

Prankster

"Brandenburgs", "Phantasmagoria", "Beloved Renegade"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Filene Center
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Vienna, Virginia
July 20, 2010

by George Jackson
copyright 2010 by George Jackson

Incredible to think of Paul Taylor turning 80! He was young and could pounce like a big cat when I first saw him - it was in George Balanchine's portion of "Episodes", the collaboration Lincoln Kirstein had arranged between his choreographer and Martha Graham. I don't remember the solo Taylor danced or to which Anton Webern music it took place, but following that joint performance by the Graham company and New York City Ballet, Taylor stepped out infront of City Center and proceeded to cartwheel down the sidewalk to where friends were waiting. There was strength but no strain in his body, his rebound from the concrete was cushioned and the amplitude of the circles he wrote on the air was astonishing. He ended upright at the side of his friends with a Lil' Abner grin on his face. Since that day in 1959, Taylor has sired lots of dances. He seems to love them all equally, the misbegotten and the masterpieces. There was no masterwork on the Taylor company's solitary Wolf Trap program this summer although "Brandeburgs" - a substitution for "Also Playing" - ranks just short of that. The new  "Phantasmagoria", co-commissioned by Wolf Trap, is a dud. "Renegade" is too reverential. Ah, but "Brandenburgs" boasts treasures, both Apollonian and prankish.