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Start and Stop

Joshua Beamish/Move: The Company
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 4, 2015

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2015 by Leigh Witchel

Joshua Beamish’s “Move: The Company” led off The Joyce’s two-week long Ballet Festival. Any new choreography venture is worth sup-porting, but here, the whole was less than the sum of the parts. Beam- ish, a Canadian choreo- grapher who founded his company a decade ago, has recently done work for Wendy Whelan on her “Rest-less Creature” project. Within this festival, he also created a work for Ashley Bouder’s group. For this concert, he hooked up with dancers at American Ballet Theatre.

Joshua Beamish. Photo © by David Cooper

Play On

"Wild Swans", "Don't Tread on Me or My String Quartet", "SI-8 and SI-9", "Exit Wounds...And Then They Come Home", "Arranged", "Allegro con Brio", "Sur"
Chamber Dance Project
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 6, 2015

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2015 by Mary Cargill

The Chamber Dance Project, directed by Diane Coburn Bruning, iw a small dance company with a strong musical component. "Chamber" refers to the music as well as the dancers, and the four musicians, two violins, a viola and a cello played on stage for each dance and had two musical interludes on their own, "Don't Tread on Me or My String Quartet" by Russell Peck and "Allegro Con Brio", a violin duet by Prokofiev.  This emphasis on live music gave the Joyce audience a rare chance to savor dance without tape, but the music, bound by the four stringed instruments playing rather spiky music, lacked variety.

Luz San Miguel and Davit Hovhannisyan in "Wild Swans". Photo © Eduardo Patino.

Ashley and Friends

"Unsaid", "In Passing", "Rouge et Noir"
The Ashley Bouder Project
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 8, 2015

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2015 by Mary Cargill

The Ashley Bouder Project is a collaboration between the ballerina, several dancers from the New York City Ballet, musicians and choreographers.  The company also stresses production values and the lighting and designs were imaginative and colorful--a refreshing change from the seemingly ubiquitous grey and black of most modern ballet.  The opening work, "Unsaid" (choreographed by the Miami City Ballet dancer Adriana Pierce) though did stick with grey and black, but the slightly formal chiffon coats (designed by Reid and Harriet) were eye-catching and the smokey opening, as the clouds caught the light (designed by Jimmy Lawlor) was impressive.  The dancing too, was forceful and committed as Bouder and NYCB corps member Preston Chamblee were elegant and passionate.  Unfortunately the choreography was of the "I hate you so much I'm going to stand in my own spotlight and glare--well maybe I love you, let's go off together" school and while strongly danced, didn't add up to much.

Ashley Bouder in rehearsal.  Photo © Phil Chan

Fond Farewell

Sylvie Guillem –Life in progress
Sylvie Guillem, Brigel Gjoka, Riley Watts, Emanuela Montanari
Sadler's Wells 25 – 31 May
London Coliseum 28 July – 2 August

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2015 by Judith Cruickshank 

So, Sylvie Guillem, the most influential ballerina of the last four decades, has said goodbye to the London stage. During her years as a permanent guest at the Royal Ballet audiences were fortunate enough to see some of her most glorious performances. And although her interpretations may at times have given rise to passionate debate among spectators, no one could deny the brilliance of her technique or the intelligence with which she approached her roles. 

Sadly, her popular legacy lies largely with her high extensions and the nickname “Mademoiselle Non”. But that is to overlook the fact that almost uniquely she carefully adapted her style to the work she was dancing and when she did indulge in her notorious “six o'clock” her extraordinary physique allowed her do do so without forcing and without distortion of her line.

Your Stylist This Evening Will be Sisyphus

“Arena”
Walter Dundervill
JACK
Brooklyn, NY
July 31, 2015

by Leigh Witchel 
© 2015 by Leigh Witchel

For Walter Dundervill, getting there is all the fun. A Bessie winner, Dundervill has been a fixture in contem-porary New York dance for more than a decade. Also an artist and designer, Dundervill is fascinated with tasks and preparation. He’s dealt with this before: “Aesthetic Destiny 1: Candy Mountain,” done at Dance Theater Workshop in 2011, involved an endless setup of cardboard cutouts, only to have them all removed the moment the actual performance began. In “Arena,” an encore installation from last year, that became the show. (Click this link to read Martha Sherman’s report of last year’s performances).

“Arena” (photo of the 2014 production © Maria Baranova)