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Tennis, Anyone?

"Uneven", "Stomping Ground", "Red Sweet"
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
February 24, 2011

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2010 by Mary Cargill

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is celebrating its 15th season, quite an achievement in this era of budget cutting.  The 10-member company danced three pieces at their recent Joyce appearance--at least there were three different titles, but the works (by Cayetano Soto, Jiri Kylian, and Jorma Elo) were so similar that it seemed like one long dance punctuated with some changes in sound.  The choreography was as mannered and predictable as any drawing-room comedy, with the staccato, sway-backed, butt-sprung jerky movements danced in harsh lighting so familiar to audiences nowadays.  Instead of a gilded youth bouncing on stage with "Anyone for tennis?", all of the ballets had black leotard clad automotons emerging from the back of the stage apparently saying "Twitching, anyone?" since all three works involved a whole lot of shaking.  The pieces all involved a great deal of anonymous ferocity, and were without structure, form or craft, and the dancing was impressive without being interesting.

Collage, Counterpoint, Conscience

"Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray"
Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company
Eisenhower Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
February 24, 2011

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

Jones is a choreographer of contrasting works - big, messy, emotional dramas and compact movement studies. In his Abraham Lincoln opus of 2009, "Fondly...Fervently", he combines a sprawling epic about a crucial American presidency with terse, expressive dance measures. Operating, guiding the artistry of Jones' technique of collage and contrast seems to be a very personal conscience.

Promise Realized--Or Not

"Divertimento No. 15," "Polyphonia," "For the Love of Duke: Blossom Got Kissed, Frankie and Johnny … and Rose"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
February 3, 2011

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2011 by Carol Pardo

 
In "Divertimento No. 15" (to Mozart), Balanchine, ever the craftsman, is a watchmaker assembling the finest of modern movements in a rococo case. Five women and three men, gracious, elegant, mannerly, gather together for the fête champêtre of our dreams. But what happens when one of the women, and all of the men are new to their roles? What happens when half of the gears in this finely calibrated pocket watch are replaced?

“Romeo and Juliet” evacuated by Peter Breuer from Verona to Salzburg

"Romeo and Juliet"
Salzburg Ballet
Salzburg Municipal Theatre
Salzburg, Austria
February 17,  2011
 
by Horst Koegler
copyright 2011 by Horst Koegler
 
 
Dancewise, Salzburg is a difficult town. On the one hand, it belongs, with Bayreuth and Edinburgh, to the premier league of international festivals, but this refers only to its opera and concert programmes, with ballet and dance functioning occasionally as an adjunct, so that – some eternity ago – the appearance of Béjart´s  then historical Ballet of the 20th century (with Boulez conducting Stravinsky´s “Les Noces and “Sacre du printemps”) and Hamburg Ballet with Neumeier´s “Matthew Passion” and the Mozart-“Requiem” are remembered as highlights.

Tempi fugit

"Giselle"
Mariinsky Ballet
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
February 12, 2011 (evening)

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2011 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Uliana Lopatkina danced Giselle Saturday night in the Mariinsky Ballet's week-long run of the 19th century Romantic classic. it was a full house, and an expectant one; Lopatkina is the company's senior ballerina and, many feel, its finest. In many ways, Lopatkina did not disappoint. Her dancing was exquisite: poetic, technically flawless and beautifully phrased and mimed. And yet it was so carefully thought through, it was as though Lopatkina were giving a private performance for herself.

Rear Mirror

Rock & Roll: "High Lonesome", "Fluctuating Hemlines", "Rooster"
The Washington Ballet
Harman Hall
Washington, DC
February 17, 2011

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

Looking back to post-World-War-2 pop sensibility were three temperamentally different choreographers - Trey McIntyre, Septime Webre and Christopher Bruce. I'm not trying to psychoanalyze these artists, but their dances strike me as stemming from distinct moods. McIntyre, even when joking, elicits melancholy chords. Webre is quicksilver, action being both his impulse and response. Bruce, whose work I've seen least, seems sanguine and thoughtful. Certainly this program's variety of feelings was welcome. In sum, though, these views of what we passed through a few decades ago appeared more remote than ballets that are over a century old. Yesterday can seem longer ago than last year. 

Bugaku at the Beach

Miami City Ballet
"Fanfare," "Bugaku," "Theme and Variations."
Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts
Naples, Florida
February 15 and 16, 2011

by Tom Phillips
copyright 2011 by Tom Phillips

“Flower and plant have no conscious will,” wrote Samuel Beckett of Proust’s representation of sexuality. “They are shameless, exposing their genitals.” I thought of this while mesmerized by Haiyan Wu and Isanusi Garcia–Rodriguez performing Balanchine’s “Bugaku.” Like stamen and pistil, they were drawn inexorably to each other, then crushed together by a force beyond them. Wu indeed was shameless, splaying her crotch at the climactic moment, yet at the same time impersonal and demure as a daffodil. You don’t have to be Asian to dance “Bugaku,” but it probably helps. The Chinese-born Wu brought a delicacy and calm to this ceremony that I have never seen from a western dancer. And she brought out the brilliant hybrid nature of this 1963 creation – bold classic ballet steps wedded with the turned-in, half-hidden gestures of eastern dance.

Morceaux

"Soiree Musicale,” Judgment of Paris,” “Othello,” “Septet,” and “Game Two”
New York Theatre Ballet
Florence Gould Hall
New York
February 11, 2011

by Kathleen O’Connell
copyright © 2011 by Kathleen O’Connell

New York Theatre Ballet makes a specialty out of revivals of 20th century rarities—works that are either seldom performed or unusual in the choreographer’s oeuvre. Merce Cunningham’s early “Septet,” a suite for six dancers set to Erik Satie’s “Trois morceaux en forme de poire,” is the latest addition to the company’s repertory. It’s a departure in style and technique from the Ashton and Tudor ballets that have been prominent among the company’s recent offerings, but it’s a worthy aspiration. Barely fifteen minutes long, the work is small-scaled but brimming with insights about movement and theatricality. It retains something of the frisson—and glamour—of mid-century avant-garde, but is readily accessible nonetheless.

From Russia with Mixed Love

"Sleeping Beauty"
Russian National Ballet Theatre
Marin Center
San Rafael, CA
February 11, 2011
by Rita Felciano

Copyright © Rita Felciano, 2011

Jim Farley, who directs the Marin Center's cultural and performing arts series, explains that Russian ballet finds a big audience in his theater. Indeed, the 2,000 seat theater was just about sold out for the one night appearance of the Russian National Ballet Theatre's production of "Sleeping Beauty" for which no choreographic or directorial credit was given beyond Petipa. "Russian" and "story ballet" clearly have lost little of their popular appeal and not just among the Bay Area's large Russian community. What the enthusiastic audience received was a generally well danced, truncated and stripped down version of a beloved classic. Still several times my theater companion, who danced with the Marquis de Cuevas company and who was surely familiar with the exigencies of traveling and performing in constricted circumstances, couldn't help but shudder.

Idea Man

"The Envelope," "Sleep Study," "Hand Dance," "Run To You," "Caught"
Parsons Dance
The Joyce Theater
January 29, 2011

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2011 by Carol Pardo

Four gimmicks and a novelty. That was the tally at the end of this plentiful program of works by David Parsons. It would be tempting attribute the choreographer’s reliance on gimmickry to youth ("The Envelope," "Sleep Study," and "Caught" date from 1984, 1987 and 1982 respectively; the company came into being in 1987). But "Hand Dance" is a product of the 21st century, premiered in 2003. In the three early works, Parsons sets up a punch line, visible from miles away, but at least he delivers the punch. By 2003 even that arc has been flattened. "Run To You," a world premiere during this run, is larger in scale and ambition, but it too delivers undersized returns.