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More Than Opera

"Einstein on the Beach"
Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances
Berkeley, CA
October 26, 2012

by Rita Felciano
Copyright © Rita Felciano 2012

Watching a legendary work for the first time means committing to a perilous journey, with possible wrong turns, confusion about directions, fears about missing essential landmarks or, in this case, anxiety about submitting oneself to a marathon experience. Four and-a-half hours without a break? Not even Wagner asked that of his audiences. And I like Philip Glass about as much as I appreciate Wagner: digestible in small doses, very small doses. So did joining some 2,500 patrons, many of whom appeared to be on a pilgrimage, mean having to having to join the faithful?  I would not have moved from my seat if I had been paid to do so.

Natalia Osipova and Carlos Acosta in "Swan Lake" (London)

"Swan Lake"
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
25 October 28, 2012

by Judith Cruikshank
copyright 2012 by Judith Cruikshank

It was widely reported at the time that one of Natalia Osipova’s reasons for leaving the Bolshoi Ballet was that those responsible for the Tchaikovsky classics considered her unsuited to roles such as Odette/Odile or Aurora, roles she was anxious to dance.  So when the Mihailovsky theatre offered her a contract which would give her access to their productions of the classics, plus plenty of opportunity to undertake guest performances it was a no-brainer, regardless of any other inducements.

Gangnam Style and Gwangju Biennale: Subversive Art in South Korea

Gwangju Biennale
Gwangju, South Korea
September 7 - November 11, 2012

By Tom Phillips Copyright 2012 by Tom Phillips

Art and protest are inseparable at the Gwangju Biennale, a unique and celebrated arts festival in South Korea. It commemorates the Gwangju Democratic Uprising of 1981, when students here led a revolt against a military coup. The uprising ended with a military crackdown and the massacre of hundreds of civilians. But it did not end the protest movement, which culminated in 1997 with the election of the once-imprisoned opposition leader, Kim Dae-Jung.

The Ninth Biennale now underway in Gwangju is a playful,audience-friendly show that sprawls through five huge galleries and spills out into the courtyard, where passersby are invited to play on 14 ping-pong tables with polished mirror-like surfaces. The exhibition has many themes, but running through all of them is the subversion of power. The function of art here is to undermine all forms of oppression: personal, economic, cultural and political. And it does this best through the subtle, irresistible force of entertainment.

Opposites Attract?

Opposites Attract
"Take Five," "Lyric Pieces," "Grosse Fuge"
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Sadler’s Wells Theatre
London
23 – 27 October, 2012

by Judith Cruikshank
copyright 2012 by Judith Cruikshank

Perhaps I’m slow but I can’t see why Birmingham Royal Ballet should have christened this programme Opposites Attract.  It’s now accepted that marketing departments require everything to be packaged, but although I can understand say, All Ashton or All Tchaikovsky, I can’t see any kind of link, or even strong contrast, among the three pieces which made up the first of the two triple bills that Birmingham Royal Ballet showed in its week-long season at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

India Comes to Copenhagen

Works & Process
"The Royal Danish Ballet La Bayadère"
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, New York
October 21, 2012

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2012 by Mary Cargill

Nikolaj Hübbe, the revered former New York City Ballet principal dancer and current director of the equally revered Royal Danish Ballet, made a brief visit to New York with a small group of dancers to discuss the upcoming production of La Bayadère.  The Royal Danish Ballet has never danced this, though they do have other Petipa classics, and Hübbe said he wanted to give the corps a chance to perform the Shades scene, which he he described as embodying the clarity, simplicity and aesthetic values of classical ballet. 

Two by Two

"Pas de Deux"
Baryshnikov Art Center
New York, NY
October 10, 2012

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2012 by Carol Pardo

The title tells the story. Together Raimund Hoghe and Takashi Ueno spent two hours--no intermission--investigating the nature of duality whether of people, fingers, or swathes of cloth, both formally and emotionally. Hoghe, once a dramaturge for Pina Bausch, revealed his methods early on. As the lights came up on the black box theater, Ueno, dressed in black, materialized out of the darkness at the front of the stage. He walked slowly (slow was big all night with more than a hint of Butoh in the air) around the perimeter, leaving behind a trail of water, like raindrops on a sidewalk. Hoghe materialized from the opposite side of the stage (slowly) carrying a parasol. They intersected at a corner of the stage, sharing the protection of the umbrella. Eventually, the parasol seemed to float alone in mid-air, magically upending the laws of physics. Combining props and resonance, here complicity and tenderness, Hoghe showed the human animal at its best.

A Fine Night for Dancing

"Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes", pas de deux from "The Leaves are Fading" and "Stars and Stripes",
"Symphony # 9"
American Ballet Theatre
City Center
New York, NY
October 19, 2012

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2012 by Mary Cargill

ABT's very brief City Center season featured a rarely seen company work in Mark Morris' "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" and a new Ratmansky whichshowed off the company's strength.  These sandwiched a couple of audience-pleasing pas de deux which made for a rather skimpy middle section, but the opening and closing works were glorious.  The Morris work, from 1988, is his oblique take on a white ballet, with a group of dancers cavorting to piano music by Virgil Thomson.  The floppy costumes and the occasionally goofy steps are an affectionate parody of ballet, as the purest of arabesques melt into slightly awkward curves.  But the atmosphere of gracious, generous camaraderie never deviates into satire.  The dancers are all slightly anonymous, moving like notes in the air, with a magical precision.  The corps moved with a controlled abandon, dancing with their entire bodies; the urgency of their upper bodies and the energy emanating from their torsos was exhilarating.  Simone Messmer, with her ability to eat up space and Hee Seo's ecstatic lyricism stood out, as did Isabella Boylston in her bouncy, juicy solo which seemed to exist inside the music.  But the heart of the work belonged to Herman Cornejo in the part originated by Baryshnikov.  The throw-away virtuosity (those wonderful turns with the leg outstretched, halting on a dime), the open-chested majesty, and the purity of his upper-body were breathtaking.  The final movement was an elegiac, slightly melancholy pause, as if these young gods and goddesses were saying farewell to something, as Cornejo turned his back to the audience, not to ignore them, but to concentrate his thoughts.

From Russia Without Love

“The Leaves are Fading,” “Symphony # 9,” “Rodeo”
American Ballet Theatre
New York City Center
New York, New York
October 18, 2012

By Michael Popkin
Copyright © 2012 by Michael Popkin

Alexei Ratmansky’s latest work for American Ballet Theatre (“Symphony #9”) is jammed with dance excitement but keeps its distance emotionally.  Full of surface motion, like much of Ratmansky’s work it’s strongly inflected with his favorite genre of character dance.  Yet the ballet’s dramatis personae evade personal contact by engaging in bluff gestures of humor whenever the viewer gets close to them.  The Antony Tudor and Agnes de Mille works that opened and closed the evening demonstrated the human feelings missing from Ratmansky’s work.

Real Gems in a Rhinestone Town

“Jewels”
Ballet West, Nevada Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet
The Smith Center
Las Vegas, NV 
October 13-14, 2012

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2012 by Leigh Witchel

To the joy of Las Vegas’ residents, The Smith Center, a $470 million dollar cultural complex, opened last March. Because of the plethora of casinos with auditoriums, the city was one of the last its size not to have a municipal center. The new, art-deco theater is imposing – its detailing was based on design elements of the Hoover Dam – and fills a function The Strip doesn’t. The gathering of three Western companies to perform George Balanchine’s “Jewels” is a prime example.

Unsubtle Politics

"Political Mother"
Hofesh Shechter
BAM Howard Gilman Theater
Brooklyn, NY
October 11, 2012

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2012 by Martha Sherman

The audience got its first clue about “Political Mother” when the usher handed out earplugs along with the programs. It was not only loud, but filled with huge gestures and universally recognized political clichés bathed in spotlight after spotlight. Despite the cacophony, the movement filling the stage was unfailingly engaging. The evening was an experience in contradictions – how to block out the headaches, but not lose any of the power and grace.