danceviewtimes

Bouquet

“As I Remember It”
Carmen de Lavallade
Terrace Theatre
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
October 29, 2014
 
by George Jackson
© 2014 by George Jackson
 
Watching a beautiful woman is always a pleasure! Carmen de Lavallade walks with a pride that she sometimes winks at. She talks such sense about her art and life that it makes us – and her - laugh as well as pause to think. For this session about the past, De Lavallade presents herself in splendid color. Over a pants suit of subdued maroon, she has draped a long, woven, scarlet stole (costume designed by Esther  Arroyo). The two tints harmonize surprisingly, giving De Lavallade’s dark hair and café-au-lait skin tone the finest of highlights. Behind her, and on occasion seemingly all around her vivid form, appear images of bygone times, dance moments filmed in black-and-white or technicolor. No question but that the star dares to rival her younger selves! What does this show reveal about De Lavallade’s dancing?

The Rituals of Being Human

“Kontakthof”
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
Theater
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
New York, NY
October 24, 2014

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2014 by Martha Sherman

“Kontakthof” is laced with humor and humanity, but it is the dark side of human relationships that pack the more powerful punch in Pina Bausch’s classic dance hall masterwork. For the 30th anniversary of her troupe’s first appearance in New York City in 1984, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch came back to BAM, the only place the troupe performs in New York City. The Gilman Opera House stage was transformed into the social hall that is the setting for “Kontakhof,” the walls lined with straight-backed chairs around an unused and curtained stage. It was a familiar scene.

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch in “Kontakthof.” Photo © Julieta Cervantes.

Entrances and Exits

“Sinfonietta,” “With A Chance Of Rain,” “Thirteen Diversions”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 24, 2014

by Michael Popkin
copyright © 2014 by Michael Popkin

“All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players” has a corollary: that every theatrical work is a separate world upon the stage. You felt this to varying degrees during the third night of American Ballet Theatre’s brief fall season at Lincoln Center. Jirí Kylián’s “Sinfonietta” was a pastoral Eden, but at times tedious because it needed a wolf, or more precisely a serpent. Liam Scarlett’s new work made up for that default by having plenty of sin and was danced by an all new second cast who toned down the cruder elements and let the structure of the ballet come through. Christopher Wheeldon’s “Thirteen Diversions,” ending the evening, was a moody sojourn on the rock bound coast evoked by Benjamin Britten’s score.

Photo of Marcelo Gomes and Hee Seo in “With A Chance Of Rain” © Marty Sohl

Waltzing and Walking

"Impromptus"
Sasha Waltz & Guests
Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall
Berkeley, CA
October 24, 2014

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano, 2014

The German choreographer and her international cast are rare guests in the Bay Area. Sasha Waltz brought "Zweiland" some fifteen years ago; "Allee der Kosmonauten" in 2001; and, courtesy of the SF International Arts Festival, "Travelogue I--Twenty to eight" in 2009. Now, she returned, in her only US appearance -- what's the matter with our presenters? -- with the delightful 2004 "Impromptus." Those who expected another of Waltz's probing and socially grounded dance theater pieces, might have been disappointed. (At BAM, where I first encountered the work, some people walked out.) For the rest of us, "Impromptus" offered a rather extraordinary co-existence of music and dance. The piece revealed its translucent facets like a hard diamond under the light. And yet "Impromptus" was so evanescent that you didn't dare to breathe. 

Sasha Waltz & Guests in "Impromptus." Photo © Sebastian Bolesch

Princes and Sailors and Ordinary People

"Raymonda Divertissements", "Seven Sonatas", "Fancy Free"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 25, 2014, matinee

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2014 by Mary Cargill

Variety is one of the benefits of ABT's fall season--the collection of one-act works don't have to be programmed in blocks, so it is possible to see the ballets in various arrangements.  The Saturday matinee opened and closed, like the opening night performance, with "Raymoda Divertissements" and "Fancy Free", but the middle work was the modern, plotless "Seven Sonatas" instead of Wednesday's dramatic "Jardin aux Lilas". The casting, too, was new, with several debuts. Gillian Murphy and Alexandre Hammoudi were the new couple in "Raymonda Divertissements".  Murphy danced stylishly and confidently, seeming to let that luscious music pull the steps out of her.  She has always been a fearless technician but her dancing has developed a luxurious patina and a majestic, three-dimensional quality; there is a stateliness about her upper body that suits Petipa's glorious, ideal women. She did eschew the audible claps in the solo, unfortunately, barely bringing her fingers together. I know this is the current Russian style, but in an interview Freddie Franklin said that he had learned "Raymonda" from Alexandra Danilova, who knew the Petipa production, and that Raymonda's solo had an audible clap. For me, this gives the performance a unique and distinctive snap, though even without it, Murphy's solo ravishing combination of openness, as she bourréed towards the audience with her arms seeming to offer them joy, and mystery, as she seemed be pulled inwards by that intoxicating music.

Xiomara Rejes and Herman Cornejo in "Seven Sonatas" Photo © Rosalie O'Connor

A Season Opener Full of Promise

Petite Mort: Masterworks by Kylián/van Manen/Wheeldon
“5 Tangos”, “Polyphonia”, “Petite Mort”
The Washington Ballet
Sidney Harman Hall
Washington, D.C.
October 23, 2014
 
by Ashley McKean
copyright © by Ashley McKean

The Washington Ballet opened its 70^th anniversary season with a triple-bill that overflowed with ambition. The performance had a gala-like feel, with the dancers presenting three company premieres to a full house (even the Dutch Ambassador and his wife were in attendance), giving Washingtonians an opportunity to acquaint ourselves with three well-known European choreographers—Dutch choreographers Hans van Manen and Jiri Kylián, and British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon—through pieces that are not often performed in Washington. Artistic Director Septime Weber explained in his introductory remarks that the program sought to integrate classical and modern styles, furthering the evolution of dance fusion that began with “a war between ballet and modern” in the 1940s. Evidently no such hostility exists at the Washington Ballet, which has long embraced fusion of styles as a vision for its future. The dances performed differed in style, atmosphere and musicality, but all three underscored the commitment of the dancers that invigorates this company’s ensemble work.

Jonathan Jordan and Sona Kharatian in "5 Tangos." Photo © Theo Kossenas

Golden Oldies

"Raymonda Divertissements", "Jardin aux Lilas", "Fancy Free"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 23, 2014

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2014 by Mary Cargill

ABT opened its regular season with a fine triple bill, a set of ballets in contrasting styles. The so-called premiere was a collection of Petipa dances to the Galzunov music for "Raymonda" curated by the former Kirov ballerina Irina Kolpakova. There was nothing really new in the choreography--this is not a criticism, since the Petipa (or what we recognize as Petipa) suits the music so perfectly. The "Raymonda" score is one of the most melodic, danceable and luxurious collections of ballet music ever written. It originally was attached to a somewhat obscure and rather undramatic story, which companies, in their search for full-length blockbusters, keep trying to punch up.  ABT tried a version a few years ago, but basically "Raymonda" works best as a suite of dances and producers just need to reach into the Petipa/Glazunov trunk and pull out any assorted jewels to create a beautiful necklace.  ABT's newest version has pulled out many of the classical jewels from "Raymonda's" final act which celebrated the marriage of our heros with a Hungarian flavor. (One of the guests was the historical King Andrew II of Hungary, which was all the excuse Petipa needed to add some paprika.)  The folk dances stayed in the trunk, and so, unfortunately, did any kind of setting, so the dancers had to create their own castles.

Hee Seo and James Whiteside in "Raymonda Divertissements".  Photo © Rosalie O'Connor

Homogeneities

Wang Yuanyuan’s “Wild Grass”
Beijing Dance Theater
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
October 22, 2014
 
by George Jackson
© 2014 by George Jackson
 
Each of the three acts in “Wild Grass” might almost have been a separate, different dance. Within each act, however, the dynamic seemed uniform. Movement didn’t germinate, grow, culminate, resolve. Sections from just after each start to just before each curtain closure could have been switched without appearing to be out of sequence. This homogeneity of large swaths of action wasn’t due to choreographer/director Wang Yuanyuan’s step vocabulary, which seemed ample. Nor was the fault that of her dancers, who are a skilled and disciplined group. Might musicality have been the problem, lack of impetus between sound and movement? Was there too much reliance on a merely atmospheric correspondence between what the eye sees and the ear hears? Inspiration for this dance work was the 1927 poetry of Lu Xun (1881 – 1936), in which Yuanyuan found only what is “burnt and dead” and not “life’s giddy, excruciating bliss”.

Dancers of the Beijing Dance Company in "Wild Grass." Photo by Han Jiang.

Wrapped in an Enigma

“Rondo Capriccioso,” “With a Chance of Rain,” “Thirteen Diversions”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 22, 2014

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2014 by Leigh Witchel

Ratmansky, Scarlett, Wheeldon. Those names are more and more familiar to any New York ballet-goer. This season, each choreographer is well represented at both American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. The ballets by all three men at ABT’s opening night gala typified the strengths of their output: Alexei Ratmansky’s humor and humanity, Liam Scarlett’s restless inquiries into the art form, Christopher Wheeldon’s deft construction. And also – their weaknesses.

The students of American Ballet Theatre's JKO School in "Rondo Capriccioso" Photo © Marty Sohl.

The British are Here

"Far", "This was Written on Water", "Nritta", "Les Patineurs"
Wayne McGregor/Random Dance, Pontus Lidberg Dance, Aakash Odedra Company, Sarasota Ballet
Fall for Dance Program Five
New York City Center
New York, New York
October 19, 2014

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2014 by Mary Cargill

The final Fall for Dance program had three British imports, seasoned with one commissioned work by the Swedish Potus Lidberg.  Wayne McGregor, currenty the Royal Ballet's resident choreographer, was represented by his contemporary company, Random Dance, in an adaptation of his 2010 work "Far", which was inspired, according to the program notes, "by the controversial Age of Enlightenment".  I saw little enlightenment, other than dancers moving extremely unmusically to a recording of Cecilia Bartoli to an aria by the 18th century Italian composer Giacomelli. 

 

 Wayne McGregor/Random Dance in "Far". Photo © Ravi Deepres