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Lush Life

"Bleed"
Tere O’Connor
BAM Fisher
Brooklyn, NY
December 11, 2013

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2013 by Martha Sherman

Wrapped in each other’s idiosyncratic dance, the eleven performers in Tere O’Connor’s “Bleed” each shone with individuality – but remained pure-blooded.  A rich mix of movement and intermingled personality and style interwove to give “Bleed” its voice, just as the piece’s identity was built on a co-mingling of O’Connor’s three recent works, “Secret Mary,” “poem,” and “Sister.” Yet there was nothing muddy about this “bleed.”

Not a Nutcracker in Sight

An Evening with Dancing Rogues
Choreography by Sara Herrera-Kopetchny,
      Sylvana Christopher, Hayley Cutler
Epic Yoga Studios
Washington, DC
December 14, 2013
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2013 by George Jackson
 
An icy rain not withstanding, the streets surrounding Dupont Circle were crammed on Saturday night. It seemed to be a holiday crowd bent on partying, people mostly in their 20s with quite a few wearing Santa Claus caps. Upstairs at 1323 Connecticut Avenue NW, in the yoga studios, a young group too was gathering. It was for a dance performance – one definitely not “The Nutcracker”.  Three of the city’s newer choreographers had joined forces to show their work – three brief pieces each. The audience was asked to seat itself (mostly on the floor) in a different Epic Yoga room for each set. Temperamentally distinct, the choreographers shared certain formal and technical habits.

An Evergreen is Growing

"Nutcracker"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial House
San Francisco, CA
December 11, 2013"
by Rita Felciano

Copyright © Rita Felciano, 2013

In its tenth year, Helgi Tomasson's "Nutcracker" has acquired a burnt gold sheen which warms a production that initially looked overly cool. The parts have melded into a convincing whole that made watching this particular return just about pure pleasure. All of it happened without relinquishing the reserve and elegance that characterize Tomasson's approach to this story about family, love and growing up. Even the scenery -- Edwardian and solid in the first act, luminous and spare in the second -- appeared to dance. After intermission James Ingalls' luminous and transparent lighting brought the spare prop-like sets to life. The stage looked as if kissed by the fog.  Major credit also belongs to Martin West's calm, unhurried, yet never sluggish interpretation, particularly in which he teased out Tchaikovsky's brilliant orchestration. No wonder that in the opening scene, Rubén Martin Cintas, in his first Drosselmeyer, responded so strongly to the music's sweep.

Footwear, Headwear and Mentality

“Jardi Tancat”, “Sortijas”, “Sombrerisimo”, “Danzon”
Ballet Hispanico
Eisenhower Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
December 6, 2013
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2013 by George Jackson
 
 
Flexibility. Control. The former echoed, the latter resonated throughout these dancers’ bodies. That the arching of a foot’s instep was reflected in the torso’s repeatedly curving lines or that the neck’s high tilt carried the head as if it had on a crown – such touches gave pleasure throughout the program, no matter what piece was being performed. Ballet Hispanico is a finely tuned group of individuals as directed by Eduardo Vilaro. He took over from the New York based company’s founder, Tina Ramirez, in 2009 but it was only just now that I saw the results - harmonious dancing and the evocation of a Hispanic heritage freshly and with finesse. Rhythms were subtle, elongations suggested melodies that unspooled somewhat moodily. A  rather different matter was repertory. Not that any of the evening’s four choreographies was disastrous. One piece, especially, was very worth while. Yet a “contemporary dance” mentality seems to limit possibilities. What harm could there be if instead of soft slippers the dancers sometimes – when apt - wore heels or toe shoes?
 

Case Studies

Shakespeare Theatre Company / Baryshnikov Productions / Big Dance Theater
“Man in a Case”
Lansburgh Theater
Washington, DC
December 5, 2013
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2013 by George Jackson
 
Not at a bad idea at all! Anton Chekhov’s two rather different stories, “The Man in a Case” and “About Love”, give an already legendary performer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, the chance to exercise two skills - characterization and projecting mood. The task is easier said than done. The first story’s protagonist, a school teacher, is rigid. This man’s every act devolves into a ritual of minute details. He has so many fussy traits it seems miraculous that anything practical results from his efforts. Yet he can suffer. The other story’s focus is a man in a state of unrequited love. He’s hard working and sociable but not noticeably an odd character. One might describe him as having soul. How the team that adapted, directed and choreographed Chekhov’s tales – Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar - and the production’s star apportioned external characteristics and internal state to the two antiheros determined this “multimedia” play’s shape, substance and success.

Joffrey Ballet Chicago's Christmas Treat

“The Nutcracker”


Joffrey Ballet Chicago


Opera House


The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts


Washington, DC


November 27, 2013
 


by Alexandra Tomalonis

copyright 2013 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Robert Joffrey’s production of “The Nutcracker,” which Joffrey Ballet Chicago (Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director) brought to the Kennedy Center Thanksgiving week, is one of the most solid traditional “Nutcrackers” around. It was originally staged and directed in 1987by Joffrey, who was inspired by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo’s 1940 production. Joffrey’s version is specifically, believably 19^th century American, lively enough to be absorbing to children and entertaining to their elders. It’s not as imaginative as Alexei Ratmanksy’s production for American Ballet Theatre to which the Kennedy Center treated us two seasons ago, but it’s a happy “Nutcracker,” and the nearly sold-out audience opening night seemed quite pleased.