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Odd Mix

New York City Ballet & Orchestra
All Balanchine/Tschaikovsky Bill
“Swan Lake” , “Allegro Brillante”, “Suite #3”
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
March 26, 2013
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2013 by George Jackson
 
The New York City Ballet’s 2013 opening night in Washington didn’t quite click, either as programming or as a set of performances. Balanchine, the company’s founding ballet master, used to be skeptical about gimmicky scheduling. Often he would dismiss a thematic bill as “all water and watermelon”. What he wanted was to serve customers a balanced menu. Tschaikovsky, one of his favorite composers, drew from him intriguing but not necessarily compatible results. Last night started and ended with Balanchine choreography to Tschaikovsky music that almost looked as if it had been made in the castle and kingdom manner. Behavior, not only dancing, is important for both “Swan Lake” and “Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3”. In the ballet that came in between, “Allegro Brillante” , Balanchine seemed to be surveying Tschaikovsky’s score for the compactness, the shortcuts, the economy and the sense of contemporary life that modernist music gave him chances to invent in his “black and white” works. Pose and dance alternate in “Swan Lake” and “Suite No. 3” but “Allegro Brillante” is more all-dance: dance-in-place alternating with dance-in-space.

A Master Spy at Work

"Scudorama," "Lost Found and Lost," "Brandenburgs"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 19, 2013

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2013 by Carol Pardo

Paul Taylor spies on his fellow man—also on bugs and other living things. And, like any attentive animal, he can sniff out the way the wind is blowing. The triple bill "Scudorama," "Lost Found and Lost," and "Brandenburgs" examined the human condition, human foibles, and the ether beyond all that. It also showed how a successful dance can reveal, or perpetuate, the moment in which it was made while also speaking to the present, perhaps transcending both to timelessness.

A man for all seasons

"The Four Seasons" and "Emergence"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
March 20, 2013

By Denise Sum
copyright by Denise Sum 2013

The National Ballet of Canada closed their winter season with a double bill of two plotless works created for the company by Canadian choreographers. Former artistic director James Kudelka's "Four Seasons" is more classical in style and music choice, while Vancouver-based Crystal Pite's "Emergence" is darker and more edgy.Together, the works highlight Canadian talent and a troup of fine dancers across the ranks.

Angst is still Cool

"Beethoven's 32 Variations," "OreloB," and "Your Passion is Pure Joy to Me"
GöteborgsOperans Danskompani
Nordic Cool Festival
J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
March 15, 2013

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2013 by Alexandra Tomalonis

The dance portion of the Kennedy Center's very interesting and comprehensive Nordic Cool Festival ended with two performances by Sweden's GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, formerly The Göteborg Ballet. The company changed its name in August 2012 to clarify that its repertory was contemporary dance rather than ballet. It's quite large for a contemporary dance company. There are 39 members, 16 of whom danced in Washington. The dancers are from all over the world -- Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Israel among others; only one of the dancers on view here was Swedish, and the company had a very international feel. In fact, in the last piece especially ("Your Passion is Pure Joy to Me,") pictured above, it looked rather American.

Ratmansky's "Romeo and Juliet"

"Romeo and Juliet"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
March 12, 2013

By Denise Sum
copyright by Denise Sum 2013

Alexei Ratmansky's "Romeo and Juliet" returned to the Toronto stage just over a year after its world premiere. "Romeo and Juliet" provides what local audiences want - a compelling, full-length, narrative ballet that does not deviate too radically from the classical mould. Ratmansky's rendering of Shakespeare's well-known tragedy is loyal to the original story and setting, but also takes a fresh, modern stylistic approach. On its second run, the production looked stronger and more cohesive. While many Toronto balletgoers will miss the John Cranko version which the company has performed since 1964, Ratmansky's "Romeo and Juliet" is a work that is worth embracing.

Cracking the Code

"she dreams in code"
Liz Gerring
Harkness Dance Festival at 92Y
New York, NY
March 9, 2013

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2013 by Martha Sherman

In a close to perfect pairing of format and work, Liz Gerring offered us the tools to reveal the mysteries of “she dreams in code,” her work at the Harkness Festival. This year’s “Stripped/Dressed” festival, curated by 92Y’s Artist-in-Residence Doug Varone, asks the creators to discuss their work before it is played. Gerring informally introduced the audience to the piece through descriptions of its most compelling aspects– athleticism, repetition, clarity, musical collaboration – as her skilled dancers offered examples. With the keys to the code offered, the compelling movement and patterns became accessible to a mesmerized audience.

This Modern Life

“Scheme of Things,” “Hunt”
Tero Saarinen Company
March 7, 2013
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2013 by Carol Pardo

Modern life is hell. That’s the take-away from the program presented by the Tero Saarinen Company, the first and the best-known—locally at any rate—of the three companies based in northernmost Europe and presented at the Joyce under the umbrella title “Ice Hot.” The presence of others is no comfort, as proven by the sextet “Scheme of Things” while Saarinen’s signature solo, to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” shows that there’s no refuge in solitude either. There’s no way around it: modern life leaves no one unscathed.

Balancing a Bill, Mixing Media and Birthing a Style

Finland’s Tero Saarinen Dance Company
“Westward Ho!”, “Wavelengths”, “Hunt”
Eisenhower Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
March 12, 2013
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2013 by George Jackson
 
Tero Saarinen - unlike some of his contemporary dance colleagues - still believes that a program should consist of separate and contrasting works that give customers a balanced menu. Served first as Finland’s contribution to Kennedy Center’s Nordic Cool Festival - was an appetizer. Sweet and sharp, sugar and spice, it was about three ornery sailors. The next course, meaty and doughy like heartwarming kidney pie, was a duo for a woman and a man. Capping the experience came something as flamboyant as baked Alaska (known in Europe as as Norwegian omelet flambé) – Saarinen’s solo version for himself of “The Rite of Spring”.
 

Miniatures

"Faure Fantasy", "Gershwin Preludes", "La Plage", "The Graceful Ghost", "Mad about the Boy"
TomGoldDance
Gerald Lynch Theater
John Jay College
New York, New York
March 12, 2013

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

Tom Gold, a former soloist with the New York City Ballet, noted for his forthright style and way with comedy, formed a company with a revolving cast of dancers selected from the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater.  This two-day run featured, among others, NYCB principals Abi Stafford, Sara Mearns, and Adrian Danchig-waring, and other fine dancers.  The five brief dances were set to a variety of composers, from Gabriel Faureto the avant-garde John Zorn, with stops in between for Gershwin, William Bolcom, and Noel Coward.  

Times Past

"Cascade", "Eventide", "Company B"
The Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
New York, New York
March 9, 2013

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill

For the second year, Paul Taylor has chosen the larger, more formal Koch Theater (State Theater to some of us), rather than the City Center.  The dancers have adjusted to the bigger canvas well, though what is the use of an orchestra pit without live music?  The recent Saturday matinee (complete with a fractious child) was a nostalgic glimpse of various past times; the first two works (music by Back and Ralph Vaughan Williams) would have been even stronger, I suspect, with live music, but the final work, "Company B", used the period recordings of the Andrews Sisters to set the scene, a fine and imaginative answer to the perennial problem of paying for live music.