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The Beat Goes On

"Acis and Galatea"
Mark Morris Dance Company
Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley
April 25, 2014

by Rita Felciano
Rita Felciano © copyright 2014

Mark Morris Dance Group in "Acis and Galatea" photo: Ken Friedman

In his latest world premiere and, as a colleague pointed out, co-incidentally his company's 200th performance at Cal Performances, the Mark Morris Dance Group's official second home for the last twelve years, the prodigious choreographer -- in every sense of that term -- returned to one of the many loves in his life, Baroque music. In this case it is Georg Frideric Handel, the German-born, English acculturated composer with an Italianate ear for melody. In its luminous transparence, "Acis and Galatea" was a miracle to behold. It had everything you expect by now from Morris: the wit, the humor, the pop woven into a deeply woven formality and a profound sense of what is best in the human spirit, the ennobling power of love -- in whatever manifestation he can find it. 

Gods Dancing

"Sthayee", "Aahne nila shaila", "Shivashtaka", "Bhavayami Raghuramam", "Sakhi he", "Omkarakarini"
Rahul Acharya and Vidhya Subramanian
The World Music Institute's "Dancing the Gods"
Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
New York University
New York, New York
April 26, 2014

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2014 by Mary Cargill

Rahul Acharya
Photo by Vineet Chander

The World Music Institute, an organization presenting music and dance from a range of countries to New York audiences, sponsored a weekend of classical Indian dance, called "Dancing the Gods".  The Saturday night performance might have been called "Dancing Gods", as the two performers, Rahul Acharya and Vidhya Subramanian, gave their exhausting solo performances (each lasting almost an hour) a rare and profound beauty.  Acharya, an Odissi dancer, performed three solos.  The first, "Sthayee", was, according to the notes, a pure dance highlighting the postures and poses of Odissi; he looked like a bas relief come to life, with stylized, precise, and rhythmic moves.   Every part of the body was engaged, as the head bobbled slightly while the torso undulated and the legs stomped.  Even the eyes danced with a subtle playfulness. 

Wheeldon's "The Winter's Tale"

The Winter's Tale
Choreography Christopher Wheeldon
Music Joby Talbot
Designs Bob Crowley
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
April 15 - May 8

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2014 by Judith Cruickshank
 

 

Edward Watson, Lauren Cuthbertson and Federico Bonelli in "The Winter's Tale," photo © ROH / Johan Persson 2014.

Working with the team which collaborated with him on “Alice”, Christopher Wheeldon has succeeded very well in telling the story of Shakespeare's “The Winter's Tale”. This was presumably not the view of the gentleman to my left who spent much of the first two acts reading the synopsis, but I found that Wheeldon's staging made the simplified plot easy to follow.
 
A brief prologue sets up the relationship between the two boy kings Leontes and Polixenes. Most of the action then takes place in the lengthy first act which is set in Leontes' court in Sicilia. Act II moves to Bohemia where we are introduced to the young lovers, Perdita and Florizel, and the 24-minute last section provides us with the denouement when Perdita is recognised as the daughter of Leontes and Hermione and the statue of the seemingly dead Hermione comes to life and is reunited with Leontes.

Present

Yvonne Rainer et al.
“Assisted Living: Good Sports 2”,
“Assisted Living: Do You Have Any Money?”
American Dance Institute
Rockville, Maryland
April 25, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 
Quite recognizable after half a century, Yvonne Rainer stands tall and upright, surrounded by dance space. Holding a microphone, her dark hair cut close, Rainer now looks not playfully daring but purposefully direct as she emcees her Capital Area comeback. She doesn’t dance, that’s the job of others. As she watches them, though, or looks away, Rainer senses their movement, seeming at moments to lean into it or be resisting its pull. Despite activity by five dancers, a couple of prop men plus one wanderer, the stage becomes Rainer’s ever so readily as she walks about (slightly stiffly), sits or stands to speak. What admirable ingredients she picked for her two pieces!
 

Programming Practices

The Washington Ballet
8 “Pas” plus “Theme and Variations”
Eisenhower Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
April 23, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 

Maki Onuki and members of the Washington Ballet in Balanchine's "Theme and Variations." Photo by Paul Wegner.

Because the Washington Ballet’s current season has much family fare and pop programming, and quite a bit of it is familiar, I’ve been staying away. Right now, though, the company has mounted a bill intriguingly titled “Tour-de Force: Balanchine”. It lured me to the theater. Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations” concludes this program but I’d not expected its first half: 8 separate “pas” by other choreographers. The bookends for the divertissements were two well known display pieces: Vasili Vainonen’s “Flames of Paris” pas de deux and the “Diana and Actaeon” duo which was credited to Marius Petipa (usually it is ascribed to Agrippina Vaganova, or to Vaganova after Petipa). The six other short dances or excerpts were by Choo San Goh, Edwaard Liang, Septime Webre, Elaine Kudo and Tamas Krizsa. Closest to Balanchine, particularly to a certain Balanchine, was Vainonen’s “Flames”.

Happily Ever After

"Coppélia"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
February 15 (afternoon and evening), and February 23, 2014

By Michael Popkin
Copyright 2014 © by Michael Popkin



Photo © Paul Kolnik
Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette in "Coppélia"

Each ballerina found her own way to make Swanilda’s complex blend of charm and  strength believable and even loveable as New York City Ballet danced “Coppélia” at the end of its winter season.   With Tiler Peck, Megan Fairchild and Sterling Hyltin sharing the iconic leading role, the ballet provided its perennial magic.

Encounters

Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
“Confluence”
Kogod Courtyard
National Portrait Gallery & Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, DC
April 19, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 

Dancers in "Confluence." Photo by Jeff Malet.

Mood plays always matter in Burgess’s dances. This time, though, a single piece of music factored in major ways. “Suite Hebraic” for violin and piano - by the 20th Century, Swiss/American composer Ernest Bloch -- functions as propulsive force, as formal mold for shaping phrases as well as larger sections, and as emotional terrain. Another source, according to the choreographer, is an image of American modern dance matriarch Doris Humphrey. She is shown as a sort of sibyl, a figure crouching in darkness but peering pale faced into time future, in a 1938 photograph by Barbara Morgan that is part of the Portrait Gallery’s current “Dancing the Dream” exhibit. With these inspirations, Burgess has made a rich, rather somber, remarkably unified piece of choreography about the opposite impulses of attraction and withdrawal.

Good Fun, Great Dancing

American Ballet Theatre
“Don Quixote”
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
April 17, 2014

by Ashley McKean
copyright ©2014 by Ashley McKean

Gillian Murphy in "Don Quixote". Photo © Gene Schiavone

American Ballet Theatre’s “Don Quixote” is like a good summer blockbuster film—high in drama, low in complexity, but entertaining right from the start. Just minutes after the scrim goes up in Act I, Kitri bursts onto the stage, a ball of energy clad in bright orange ruffles reminiscent of flamenco tresses. Based loosely on two distinct episodes from Cervantes’ famous novel, “Don Quixote de la Mancha”, ABT’s production, staged after choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, emphasizes dancing and personality more than narrative or storytellling. Act I, set in a Spanish village, serves as a vehicle to introduce the characters, each of whom emerges from the wings as if to say “here I am, see me dance!” At times it seems like a competition amongst friends to see who can impress the most with multiple turns and high-flying jumps. But when the dancers engaged in the lively romp include Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes (as the innkeeper’s daughter, Kitri, and her forbidden suitor, Basilio), and Sascha Radetsky and Stella Abrera (as their friends, Espada and Mercedes), one is easily swept away by the brilliance of the dance. Minkus’s melodic and danceable score, even if played a bit sloppily on Thursday, adds to the appeal.

Energized-Moves

E-Moves 15, Program B
HarlemStage
New York, NY
April 5, 2014
 
by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2014 by Martha Sherman

The “E” in E-Moves stands for emerging and evolving choreography. But the energy and eclecticism of the festival, now in its 15^th season, also deserve nods. It crams as much in as possible: two alternating programs (A and B), each included three dance excerpts by emerging choreographers who have benefited from coaching by more experienced artists; two hip-hop performers; and a full work to close. With so many different forms, and so many artists included, part of the message here is: Pay Attention. It’s a heartening one. The festival spotlights African-American dance artists, and there are many to choose from, both those who are coming up, and those who are here to teach, coach, and support.

Identity

American Ballet Theatre
“Les Sylphides”, “Aftereffect”, “The Dream”
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
April 15, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 

Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes in "The Dream". Photo: MIRA

On opening night of American Ballet Theatre’s annual season here, the women of the corps de ballet knew precisely who they were supposed to be. As sylphs in Michel Fokine’s reverie, they seemed as calm and collected as dandelion seeds sailing in a gentle breeze. As the fairy beings in Frederick  Ashton’s turbulent Shakespearian dream, it was with agitation and keen awareness that they responded to some very human situations. Not so the men’s group in Marcelo Gomes’s silly “Aftereffect”. Were those guys supposed to be funny or sympathetic?