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Love, Lust and Power

“Spartacus”
Bolshoi Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
July 25, 2014

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2014 by Marianne Adams

photo © Stephanie Berger
Alexander Volchkov as Crassus and the company in "Spartacus"

As a powerful, masculine and very adult ballet, Yuri Grigorovich’s Soviet-era choreographic chef d’oeuvre, “Spartacus,” is not what you are used to. From the moment the Bolshoi dancers first appeared as the charging Roman soldiers accompanied by Aram Khachaturyan’s commanding score, you were transported into a colorful presentation of a historical tale and a world dominated by a fervent fight for freedom and power. 

Shakespeare and Surprises

“The Dream,” “The Tempest”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
July 2, 2014 matinee

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2014 by Leigh Witchel

Gillian Murphy in "The Dream." Photo © Gene Schiavone.

An unexpected casting change provided some of the most interesting dancing in American Ballet Theatre’s Shakespeare double bill. Cory Stearns went on as Oberon after David Hallberg withdrew because of a minor foot injury. Stearns honed in on the fairy king’s entitlement and demands to create a character sketch that was at once unlikable and fascinating.

Happy Endings

"Coppélia"
English National Ballet
London Coliseum
London, UK
24 – 27 July 20014

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2014 by Judithi Cruickshank

English National Ballet rounded off its summer season with a revival of Ronald Hynd's loving production of “Coppélia”. In a programme note Hynd tells us that Coppélia was his first experience of ballet on stage and it was this that led him to a distinguished career as a principal with the Royal ballet and later work as both director and choreographer. It's easy to agree with his view that the ballet is “a perfectly constructed work” and Delibes' score is one of the loveliest ever written for a ballet. No less a composer than Tchaikovsky took it as a model for a full-evening ballet score.

Fiesta Ware

"Don Quixote"
Bolshoi Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
July 22, 2014

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2014 by Mary Cargill

Maria Alexandrova as Kitri in "Don Quixote"
Photo © Stephanie Berger

The Bolshoi's "Don Quixote" has a venerable history; Petipa choreographed it for the company in 1869, and, with various revisions, most notably by Alexander Gorsky in 1900, the Bolshoi has been dancing it steadily.  this current version, from 1999, is a restoration of the Petipa/Gorsky version, with some enhancements.  The costumes, too, are based on older ones, the 1903 designs by Vasily Diyachkov, though I suspect that Espada has helped himself to some extra sequins.  And the classical variations in Act 1 (Kitri, two friends, and a street dancer) are now danced with bare legs and scruffy beige point shoes, which don't look at all 1903ish.  Perhaps this is meant to give Kitri and friends a realistic barefoot peasant air, but point work is completely artificial and combining it with wobbly bare flesh is a bit off-putting, especially since the corps were quite spiffy in bright white tights and shiny black shoes.

Endurance

"Fase Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich"
Rosas
Gerald W. Lynch Theater
New York, NY
July 8, 2014

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2014 by Carol Pardo

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s "Fase Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich" is a duet in four sections for two women, a seventy-minute-long study of unison and pattern, repeated, altered and varied. At its initial performances in 1982 (the choreographer was all of twenty-two), people walked out. Thirty-two years later, she’s still performing the work, now with Tale Dolven, and the show ended with a standing ovation.

Idealists

Miccolis and Benedikt’s Evening for Humanity
“Rights”, “Growth”
Millennium Stage North
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
July 22, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 

A moment in "Rights." Photo ©Anne-Marie Hainer.

Mimmo Miccolis from Italy and Gloria Benedikt from Austria met in a Washington, DC ballet class last fall and started talking, especially about their beliefs. For this program they spoke to the audience about engaged art and presented two examples. A winning, Children of Paradise innocence emenated from the two speakers. From the examples one could tell that they had done much work as producers. Five local dancers had been engaged in addition to themselves. Commissioned music, some of it live, was involved. Video supplemented the stage action during the second piece. Technically, the production clicked except for the video projection of video. How convincing, though, were Miccolis and Benedikt as choreographers?  

Prospero on the Isle of JACK

“Arena”
Walter Dundervill
JACK
Brooklyn, NY
July 17, 2014

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2014 by Martha Sherman

Photo ©Ian Douglas
Walter Dundervill in “Arena”

If you’re going to drop in on anyone, make it Walter Dundervill. He brings a brilliant and bizarre sensibility to everything he touches, as a set designer, costumer, performer, choreographer, and director. “Arena,” his latest performance work, was shown at JACK, the new performance venue in Clinton Hill. “Arena,” is a visual and movement exploration offered in three-hour increments with a changing roster of top-notch contemporary dancers (sometimes including himself.) Audience members were invited to come and go at will. Many, including me, arrived later than the performance start time; no one left early.

A Suitcase Full of Ballets

“the second detail,” “Resonance,” “Cacti”
Boston Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
June 29, 2014

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2014 by Leigh Witchel

Boston Ballet in "the second detail"

For Boston Ballet’s second mixed rep program, during its first visit to Lincoln Center in celebration of the company’s first half-century, it brought short works with a more European viewpoint – to mixed results.

Funny ballets are all too rare (it’s a shame Jiří Kylián’s “Symphony in D,” which would be a natural fit for the company, seems to have disappeared). Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman has made them his stock-in-trade. But his satirical humor had a nasty edge; he didn’t seem to know how to be funny except at someone else’s expense.

Difficult Pairings

Dakshina / Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company
Anna Sokolow’s “Frida”, “September Sonnet”, “Magritte Magritte”
Dance Place
July 19, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 

Dancers of the Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company.

The consolation, the culmination that two people can find when they come together is often the topic of dance works. Anna Sokolow’s individuals, though, never have it easy. They always seem unsatisfied and appear to be seeking something more than one another. Whether the dance is serious portraiture as in “Frida” (1997), rumination as in “September Sonnet” (1995) or ironic humor as in “Magritte Magritte” (1970)”, there is no final resolution of tensions, urges, quests for the expressive Sokolow (1910 – 2000). Thanks to Lorry May’s staging and the Dakshina company’s astute casting,   the imprints of Sokolow’s diverse figures continued to linger long after Dance Place’s new doors had closed for the night.  

Musical Chairs

“Elena’s Aria”
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Gerald W. Lynch Theater
New York, NY
July 13, 2014

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2014 by Martha Sherman

“Elena’s Aria” is a dance made of women and chairs. At first glance, it seems that simple. The Lincoln Center Festival highlighted three of Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker’s early works: her breakout, “Fase,” (1982) and “Rosas danst Rosas” (1987) as well as “Elena’s Aria” from 1984. It was  described as a transitional piece in which the choreographer was evaluating her work, playing with language (spoken texts) and film. Thirty years later, it was still compelling, but many of those elements seemed dated.