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Tchaikovsky Variations

"Divertimento from 'Le Baiser de la Fée'", "Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux", "Bal de Couture", "Diamonds"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 27, 2013

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

All Tchaikovsky all the time (with Stravinsky channeling Tchaikovsky) is a gimmick, yes, but the Tschaikovsky (as NYCB spells it) Celebration does include some wonderful music and powerful dancing, so as gimmicks go, there are certainly worse ideas to warm up a bitter winter.  The "Divertimento from 'Le Baiser de la Fée'" is not a warm ballet, and it is a slightly downbeat opener.  But Tiler Peck, with Robert Fairchild (who made his debut earlier in the week) found the soul of this oddly disturbing work, using her incisive musicality to dance inside the music, almost to disappear at times, so that Fairchild gave the impression of dancing with a cloud or a memory, as he reached for her in vain.  Their pas de deux had a hushed privacy that was hauntingly beautiful, and Peck's timing, as she reached for him and fell back was simply shattering.  Fairchild, one of NYCB's most imaginative dancers, gave his twisting, turning solo a fierce urgency, and the final group of turns and bends, as he scooped his hand from the ground to the sky managed, in a few seconds, to convey so many unrealized dreams.

Drums and Bells and Hoops

Thunderbird American Indian Dancers
Theater for The New City
New York, New York
January 26, 2013, matinee

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

Folk dance is by definition participatory, so presenting it on a stage raises several issues--should it be performed as theater, or presented as is, and if the decision is "just do it", how can the audience be engaged.  The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, founded in 1963 by New York-based Native Americans from several tribes, took the "just do it" approach for their annual fund-raising concert (the admission fees go to scholarships).  The various dancers were introduced by the founder Louis Mofsie, who gave a description of the original purpose of the dances, and then members gave tantalizingly brief demonstrations, wearing colorful and distinctive costumes.  This wasn't an anthropological exploration, of course, but I would have liked more information about these costumes.  The sequins on some of the women's looked a bit anachronistic, and the dancers wore the same clothing no matter what tribe's dances they were performing.  But the dancing was the focus, and it was wonderful.

Marianela Nunez's impressive debut in "Onegin"

"Onegin"
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Marianela Nuñez, Thiago Soares, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Valentino Zucchetti
Artists of the Royal Ballet
26 January, 2013

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2013 by Judith Cruickshank
 
Twelve thirty on a cold January morning is not perhaps the ideal time to plunge into two and a half hours of high romantic passion and despair, but that is what the exigencies of  scheduling at Covent Garden decreed for Marianela Nuñez’s debut as the heroine of John Cranko’s ‘Onegin’.  And it is a tribute to Nunez and her Onegin, Thiago Soares, (in real life, her husband) that at the final curtain several members of the audience sprang spontaneously to their feet to applaud the couple.

Makes Us Wanna Stay

"Wolfgang,""Black Flowers,""Dawn to Dusk,""Caught,""In the End"
Parsons Dance
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
January 20, 2013

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2013 by Martha Sherman

David Parsons’ crowd-pleasing style hasn’t developed much since the 1980s, but he and his dancers still deliver a show rooted in joy and athletic energy. Their five-work program at the Joyce traced those qualities from Parsons’ 1982 signature solo “Caught,” to the present. The centerpiece was the New York premiere of “Dawn to Dusk,” Parsons’ inventive film and dance travelogue. An excerpt of his 2012 homage to the Everglades and South Florida, most of the piece was a visually compelling (if somewhat confusing) wander through gorgeous marshland, but disappointed when it closed as a thinly disguised commercial for Miami nightlife.

An Imaginative “Alice”

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
National Ballet of Canada
Kennedy Center
Washington, D.C.
January 18, 2013

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2013 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Christopher Wheeldon has said in several interviews, including one with this writer more than a decade ago, that he is very much interested not only in design, but in returning to an aesthetic in which design and music are equal partners with choreography. That aesthetic is very much evident in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Wheeldon’s very first three-act ballet, danced here this week by the National Ballet of Canada. The sets and costumes, by Bob Crowley, are not only stunning, but ingenious; they are crucial in helping tell the story and they manage to be the most memorable thing about this “Alice” without overwhelming it.

Eighty and Still Going Strong

"Moving the Compass" Gala
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
January 24, 2013

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano, 2013

If women's fashions are any kind of economic indicator, we are well on the mend. It's been a while since so many elaborate ball gowns have been seen at a San Francisco Ballet Gala, always a glamorous, elaborately choreographed event. At times this year you had watch where you stepped in order not to trip over some rouched train or floor-dragging skirt. But whatever their efforts to make an impression, these patrons had nothing on the elegance, eye-catching presence and sheer physical beauty that were pouring from the stage all evening.

Celebrating Tchaikovsky, NYCB Opens Its Winter Season

“Serenade,” “Mozartiana,” “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 15, 16, 2013

By Michael Popkin
Copyright © 2013 by Michael Popkin

Each ballet got a better performance than the one before as New York City Ballet opened its winter dancing the first program of its “Tschaikovsky Celebration” twice.  Kicking things off, “Serenade” was tentative on Tuesday, yet Wednesday’s rendition was a powerhouse, with Sara Mearns returning to the stage after an eight month absence.  Mozartiana,” the middle work, was strong on Tuesday (with Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle) but remarkable Wednesday with Sterling Hyltin and Chase Finlay making debuts. The initial “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2,” with Ashley Bouder as the principal ballerina, concluded opening night on a rousing note.  But Wednesday evening the ballet elevated to a virtual blaze of light in a performance for the ages by Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle that lit up every corner of the theater. Over two successive nights, every time the curtain rose, so did the level of dance.

Limón Plus One

Limón Dance Company
"Mazurkas", "The Moor's Pavane", "Come With Me"
Baruch Performing Arts Center
Baruch College
New York, New York
January 15, 2013

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

The Limón Dance Company had a brief (just two-day) season at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, with a revival of Limón's 1958 "Mazurkas", which has not been performed by the company for some twenty years, though recently the invaluable New York Theatre Ballet has danced a suite of dances from the work.  It was clear from that revival that "Mazurkas", with its on stage pianist, its Chopin music, and its windswept dances with mazurka accents (including a male soloist who reverently touches the ground), informs Jerome Robbins' "Dances at a Gathering"; and it was also clear that it is a very fine work regardless of all the piano ballets which followed it.

Underworld

“NOX”
Rashaun Mitchell
Danspace Project
New York, NY
January 11, 2013

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2013 by Leigh Witchel

Braving the underworld is older than Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and Rashaun Mitchell added a new page to the myth with his stately, cryptic “NOX.” A riveting performer from the final generation of Merce Cunninghams's company, “NOX” premiered last May at Danspace, and was given a reprise performance for the APAP  conference.

Hip-Hop and Ashes: Contemporary Dance from Asia

15th Contemporary Dance Showcase: Japan + East Asia
Japan Society, New York
January 12, 2013

by Tom Phillips

After a one-year hiatus, Japan Society’s Contemporary Dance Showcase has returned, with a new look and a new theme. When I first saw this showcase in 2005, dancers and choreographers were wrestling with issues like sexism, conformity, and office politics in Japan’s sclerotic traditional culture. That seems like small potatoes now. In the 2013 edition, we see artists surrounded by overwhelming forces, both natural and technological. The 21st century has heaved into full view, and life as we know it is under siege.