danceviewtimes

Enchantment Everywhere

"Coppélia"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
March  19, 2011
by Rita Felciano    

copyright © Rita Felciano, 2011

In 1939 San Francisco Ballet took its first "Coppélia" (choreographed by Willam Christensen, with sister-in-law wife Ruby Asquith as Swanilda) to Seattle. Now the city has returned the favor. The Pacific Northwest Ballet's co-production with SFB of the 1974 Balanchine/Danilova version opened in Seattle last year. It blew in to San Francisco on one of the stormiest nights of the season; yet inside the Opera House the son shone, a few dark clouds not withstanding.

Herself and Others

"Not Entirely Herself”
Vicky Shick
The Kitchen
New York, NY
March 17, 2011

By Martha Sherman

Copyright © 2010 by Martha Sherman

Just when you think you’ve got something, it slips from your grasp. But that’s  part of the energy of Vicky Shick’s elusive magic.  “Not Entirely Herself,” at The Kitchen, is a gently ironic title for a piece in which Shick is everywhere. Not only do the other four dancers join her inhabiting (not entirely) her self, but the lights, costume-festooned sets, and soundtrack seem to channel the choreographer’s imagination. We, too, float in Shick’s dreamscape, a place we remember from works past and long to come back to.

The Master and his Pupils

"Whereabouts Unknown" and "Silent Screen"
Jiri Kylian, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon
Nederlands Danse Theater
Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall
Berkeley, CA
March 18, 2011

by Rita Felciano   
copyright © Rita Felciano, 2011

Watching talented articulate dancers in great choreography is a rare privilege. The Nederlands Dans Theater's most recent visit -- the third in the past decade years after a twenty-one year hiatus -- was, at least, a partial gift along those lines. These vibrant dancers and athletic powerhouses brought Kylian and the team of Lightfoot/Leon's choreographies to life with commitment, certainty of purpose and the utmost clarity. They built relationships that spanned space and got tangled up in the intricacies of interlocking limbs. And they mesmerized. Yet, something was missing to make this a completely satisfying concert. In hindsight Kylian's "Whereabouts Unknown" seemed to keep us at arm's length because of its astringent severity; on the opposite side of the spectrum the hyper-drama of Lightfoot/Leon's "Silent Screen"  distracted instead of amplifying the choreography's intent.

New Mark Morris works

"The Muir", "Petrichor", "Festival Dance"
Mark Morris Dance Group"Mark Morris Dance Center
Brooklyn, New York
March 19, 2011

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2011 by Mary Cargill

The Mark Morris Dance Group is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, and brought three recent works to Brooklyn to celebrate.  As always, music, live music, was front and center, and each work responded to the different composers in unique ways.  The evening opened with "The Muir", set to Scottish and Irish folk songs arranged by Beethoven for violin, cello, and piano.  There were three singers, and at times, the words did overwhelm the choreography--for vocal music, Morris does sometimes set the words and not the music.  It worked best in the more exuberant parts, when the company performed folk-like movements.  The more powerful the music, though, the less the dances seemed to add.  Robert Burns' words and Beethoven's music were more than enough to portray the grief for the slaughter at Culloden, and watching a woman in a sylphide-inspired costume roll of the floor was unnecessary.

Love x 3 + Noguchi

"Embattled Garden", "Cave of the Heart", "Appalachian Spring"
Martha Graham Dance Company
Rose Theater
Lincoln Center
March 17, 2011

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2010 by Mary Cargill

The Martha Graham's brief season at Lincoln Center's elegant Rose Theater included an evening celebrating the collaboration of the choreographer and the designer Isamu Noguchi, as part of Carnegie Hall's Japan/NYC festival.  Its timing, of course, was apt, as the gracious and informative introduction by the artistic director, Janet Eilber, reminded us.  The three works examined, in powerful and often oblique ways, of the beauties, dangers, and irrational force of love.

Meant for One or Several?

"Chaturanga"
Sharmila Biswas's Odissi Vision and Movement Centre
Eisenhower Theater
The Kennedy Center's Maximum India Festival
Washington, DC
March 14, 2011

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

This festival has featured the Indian classical  dance of soloists more than that of groups. What soloists! Week 3, though, began with an Odissi company. Is the tradition as suited to corps dancing as to that of individuals?

Child’s Play

"Wind-Up Dances”
Emily Faulkner
Triskelion Arts Center
Brooklyn, NY
March 12, 2011

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2011 by Martha Sherman

There’s something to be said for sweetness, and Emily Faulkner says it well. In her tribute to innocence, “Wind-Up Dances,” at Triskelion Arts Center, Faulkner used angular limbs and soft-edged acrobatics wrapped around the props, music, and colors of childhood to bring us into her world. The piece was followed by a coda of actual playtime with the audience that was a distraction and tipped the sweetness into unnecessary saccharine; but with her mixed audience of adults and children, Faulkner almost got away even with that.

India: from Diverse Puppetry to Dancing which has a Dab of Paris

"Images of Truth"
The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust
Eisenhower Theater
The Kennedy Center's Maximum India Festival
March 12, 2011 at 6 PM

Shantala Shivalingappa's "Swayambhu"
Terrace Theater
The Kennedy Center's Maximum India Festival
March 12, 2011 at 7:30 PM

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

Puppets can mimic human behavior in astonishing ways, or make it seem trivial. Fine dancing can combine techniques, but how do India's fragrances and Paris's perfumes mix? Among the Maximum India festival's presentations Saturday were two dance performances - one of puppetry and the other  of Kuchipudi classicism.

"Don "Quixote"

“Don Quixote”
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
March 9, 2011

by Denise Sum
copyright 2011 by Denise Sum

  The last time Toronto audiences saw “Don Quixote” was four years ago, with the Canadian premiere of George Balanchine’s version. Now, in stark contrast, the company presented the well-known Petipa/Gorsky/Beriozoff version staged by Lindsay Fischer and Evelina Krasnova. It is a testament to the company’s versatility that they are able to pull off both productions. The classical version is a bonbon for balletomanes. The story takes a backseat to bravura dancing. Nonetheless, Miguel de Cervantes’ timeless tale provides a continuous thread that ties together the sunny divertissements and imbues them with a sense of the Spanish knight’s idealism.

Passionate Minimalist

Malavika Sarukkai's "Energies Auspicious & Fearsome"
Terrace Theater
The Kennedy Center's Maximum India Festival
Washington, DC
March 10, 2011

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

Malavika Sarukkai dares to use one arm rotating, one foot stamping or to stand perfectly still. The rotation is radical for Bharata Natyam styling but pure. Her foot's impact on the floor symbolizes dance's power. Her stance is a testament to classicism's endurance. Having reduced technique to minima, she'll splurge on a feast - full portions of footwork patter, arm assertions and torso postures that are fluted, folded or proudly straight. The thematic of Sarukkai's choreography is mainstream Indian - about creative divinities and their epic battles - yet its manifestations in space and time - square formations, circles, serene centers and infinitely many melodic rhythms - are universal and, yes, personal.