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Two Sides of a Coin

“Hapless Bizarre,” “Mo(or)town/Redux”
doug elkins choreography, etc.
Doris Duke Theater, Jacob’s Pillow
Becket, MA
August 13, 2014

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2014 by Martha Sherman

photo ©Jamie Kraus
Donnell Oakley and Kyle Marshall in “Mo(or)town/Redux”

Doug Elkins offered the alpha and omega of his dance alphabet in the pairing at Jacob’s Pillow of “Hapless Bizarre” and “Mo(or)town Redux.” In each, Elkins’ varied influences – classical, contemporary, social and street dance  -- were woven together dynamically with a strong focus on the relationships among the characters. But the dances couldn’t have been more different.

When Beauty’s the Prize

“Acis and Galatea”
Mark Morris
Mostly Mozart Festival
David Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
New York, NY
August 7, 2014

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2014 by Martha Sherman

Photo © 2014 Richard Termine
Yulia Van Doren, Thomas Cooley and Mark Morris Dance Group in “Acis and Galatea”

Mark Morris’s dancers may really be nymphs. In Morris’s version of Handel’s pastoral opera, “Acis and Galatea,” they looked like the wood spirits of our imagining from myth. Just as the statue of Galatea came to life, the dancers were gorgeous sculptures that swirled into animation, flowing like air currents to the airs of Handel’s delicious score. The opera was staged with the simplicity of an ancient tale, but what offered the performance’s richness was what surrounded the story -- the beautiful choruses of music and dance.

Lakeside Fantasies

“Swan Lake”
Bolshoi Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
July 18, 2014

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2014 by Marianne Adams

photo © Stephanie Berger
Olga Smirnova as Odette and Semyon Chudin as Prince Siegfried

Just what kind of woman does Prince Siegfried fantasize about?  The question is at the core of Yuri Grigorovich’s version of “Swan Lake,” and the answer will vary with every cast.

By shifting the focus of the story away from the romantic fairy tale narrative, Grigorovich invites a philosophical inquiry centered on Siegfried’s psyche: What is his ideal woman like?  How does the Prince wrestle with the demons of his darker side (embodied in the Evil Genius character) that keep testing his choices?  Is any of it even real? With the right cast, this production has an infinite number of interpretive possibilities.

Underweight

"Spartacus"
Bolshoi Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
July 26, 2014

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2014 by Carol Pardo

Yuri Grigorvitch’s version of "Spartacus," that supremely Soviet ballet, recounting a doomed slave uprising based (loosely) on historical fact, is awash in Roman legions, Thracian rebels, shepherds inflamed by the cause of liberty and a corps of comely courtesans. But, for all those bodies, the ballet stands or falls on the performances of the four leads: the hero and leader Spartacus, his sweetheart (as the program calls her) Phrygia, his vengeful nemesis Crassus, and Aegina, Crassus’ paramour and a Romano-Soviet incarnation of Lady Macbeth (with, for Aegina, a happier ending). They were danced, at this performance, by Denis Rodkin, Maria Vinogradova, Vladislav Lantratov and Ekaterina Krysanova respectively. All were utterly committed to what they are doing and attractive, with long, beautiful line that came to them as naturally as breathing.

Soviet Swans

“Swan Lake”
Bolshoi Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
July 19, 2014

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2014 by Leigh Witchel

David Hallberg in "Swan Lake." Photo © Stephanie Berger.

The Bolshoi’s visit brought us a retro and largely cold buffet of Soviet dramballets by perhaps the company’s most powerfully divisive choreographer: Yuri Grigorovich. Russians revere him; the most polite way to put his critical reception in New York is that we don’t get him. For eyes developed here, it’s hard to see him as an inventive dancemaker or a skilled storyteller.

Yet the visit also brought David Hallberg for an opportunity to compare and contrast.  As bizarrely wonderful as it would have been to experience Hallberg as Spartacus (heads might have exploded for at least a twenty-block radius) we saw him only in “Swan Lake,” and in his usual employ as a danseur noble and prince. In last-minute barely-announced Trockadero-fodder casting switcheroo Ekaterina Shipulina did not dance, Ekaterina Krysanova was his partner instead. It made one nostalgic for the bad old days before détente when the Russian companies didn’t even bother with a slip in the program.

A Face!

Indira Kadambi and Sheejith Krishna
Bharata Natyam Recital
England Studio
The Washington Ballet
Washington, DC
July 31, 2014
 
by George Jackson
copyright 2014 by George Jackson
 
The woman’s face was like a canvas on which she could conjure any emotion, any expression, any state humanly possible. It wasn’t beautiful or poignant but a plain, average, mortal face when at rest. In an instant, though, the woman could transform it to encompass heaven or hell. She also was able to take her time and let feeling ripen slowly. Sometimes her thoughts woke gradually, allowing doubts to dissolve imperceptibly into the calmest of  dreams. This face I’ll not forget is a face that dances. It belongs to Indira Kadambi, who is in town with her male colleague Sheejith Krishna to teach aspects of India dance for Daniel Phoenix Singh’s Dakshina organization. Singh decided, spur of the moment, that Washington had to see the two instructors perform and he sponsored this free recital.