danceviewtimes

Youth Has Its Day

"Harlequinade", "N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 17, 2015, matinee

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2015 by Mary Cargill

New York City Ballet's Saturday matinee celebrated youth with works by two venerable choreo- graphers: Balanchine with his 1965 "Harlequinade", a reworking of Petipa's 1900 ballet, and Jerome Robbins' 1958 "N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz".  "Harlequinade" retells the old story of young love outwitting the grownups using several Commedia dell'arte characters.  Columbine's doddering old father is trying to marry her off to a rich, ridiculous suitor.  I suppose there is some sociological explanation for all those rich, foolish failures of nineteenth century comedy who are always bested by poor young heroes, though perhaps it is proof of Oscar Wilde's observation that "The good end happily. That is what Fiction means."

The corps in "Harlequinade" Photo © Paul Kolnik.

Of Volume and Variety

Velocity Dance Festival

Harman Hall

Washington, DC

October 15 & evening October 17, 2015

 

by George Jackson

© 2015 by George Jackson

 

The amazing amount of dance in and around Washington during October is attracting audiences. Velocity, which aims to show characteristic cross sections of the area’s movement landscape, held 10 events in a 3-day period. Sidewalk, lobby and Forum-space performances at the Harman were free. Those on the Harman stage were reasonably priced. Some of the public commuted from Velocity’s competition at the Kennedy Center to the Harman. These people saw the Suzanne Farrell Ballet’s free program on the KC’s Millennium Stage at 6 PM on Thursday (Oct. 15) and then Velocity’s very mixed 8 PM bill on the Harman’s stage. Vice versa for those going from Velocity’s Saturday (Oct. 17) matinee to still other competition: Washington Ballet at the KC Eisenhower Theater that evening.

 

Photo: Kasi Aysola.

 

Revisiting the Formula

“Shivastakam,” “Solo,” “Locomotor,” “Myelination”
Nrityagram, San Francisco Ballet, Stephen Petronio Company, Dorrance Dance
Fall for Dance, Program 4
City Center
New York, NY
October 8, 2015

by Leigh Witchel 
© 2015 by Leigh Witchel

Fall for Dance is a study in contradictions. It's populist and low-priced, but hell to get a ticket. It's eclectic, but all the programs can seem alike. It’s got a formula that works, but you’ll get sick of it. Even at the budget ticket price, it's best not to gorge but to view strategically – and Program 4 was a wise choice.

Surupa Sen (kneeling) and Bijayini Satpathy in “Shivastakam.” Photo © Julieta Cervantes.

The Last of Her Class

Jennie Somogyi Farewell
“Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3,” “Liebeslieder Walzer”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 11, 2015

by Leigh Witchel
© 2015 by Leigh Witchel

Jennie Somogyi began her career as a prodigy and ended it as a fighter. Plagued with three career-ending injuries, she came back to the stage from each.

 

New York City Ballet applauding Jennie Somogyi Photo © Paul Kolnik.

Dance Notes

Washington, DC 

October 6 –11, 2015

 

by George Jackson

copyright © 2015 by George Jackson 

 

Dance on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stages makes me keenly aware of the conditions and mechanics of watching. Both of these stages (there’s a North stage and a South one) offer the viewer live as well as virtual scenes. Right above the actual stage is a giant screen that shows what is happening on stage in real time. Recently added have been two smaller screens, one on each side of the physical stage. Now, when a ballerina dances a solo on stage, we can see her four times simultaneously. Focusing on the real woman isn’t easy. The screen images, even if I keep them peripheral, may be more intensely lit, sharper, more colorful and more close-up. Especially the big screen overhead often provides more detail. The temptation is to avoid reality – theatrical reality though it surely is. These days it is still sports arenas that usually are equipped with such imaging devices, but it may be just a matter of time before all venues have them. Then, will there be a reason to indulge in the ritual of attending the theater? People might as well stay away and watch on their sets at home or on their mobiles. My feeling that stepping up to and in to a theater is akin to approaching a sacred place undoubtedly seems old fashioned. I like to do it even when there’s no performance going on.

 

Welcoming the Santa Claus of Randomness

“Match-Play”
Rude Mechs & Deborah Hay
New York Live Arts
New York, NY
October 8, 2015

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2015 by Martha Sherman

“Match-Play” isn’t dance theater, despite its co-credit to Deborah Hay. It is dance-inflected theater. When the Austin-based experimental theater group Rude Mechs created the piece a decade ago, Hay offered them her 2004 choreographic score for “Match.” It was a dance frame around four players, two men and two women, and a mysterious choreographic score that challenged the performers with a mélange of notable and hidden metaphors for “The Match.” Hay worked with the original cast to share her dance practice, a meditative focus on consciousness, as they described: “by challenging the performers to use every cell in their bodies to perceive the uniqueness and originality of time and space.” How that translated to “Match-Play” was both inscrutable and very entertaining.

Barney O'Hanlon in "Match-Play" Photo ©Ian Douglas

Fall for Formula (One)

“Allegro Brillante,” “Hapless Bizarre,” “Murder Ballades,” “Che Malambo”
Miami City Ballet, Doug Elkins Choreography, etc., L.A. Dance Project, Che Malambo
Fall for Dance, Program 1
City Center
New York, NY
October 6, 2015

by Leigh Witchel 
© 2015 by Leigh Witchel

You can tell from the reports on City Center’s Fall for Dance that no matter the variety of acts, the structure is altogether the same: Something classical, something funny, something modern, something pop. The opening program of the festival hewed to the formula.

Renan Cerdeiro and Patricia Delgado in “Allegro Brillante.” Photo © Daniel Azoulay.

Pot Luck

"Eu danço—8 Solos no Geral", "Pheromones", "Maninyas", "Brandenburgs"
Companhia Urbana de Dança, Fang-Yi Sheu and Herman Cornejo, Houston Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company
Fall for Dance, Program 3
City Center
New York, NY
October 6, 2015

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2015 by Mary Cargill

The annual Fall for Dance at City Center offers a brief taste of different types of dancing on each program, almost guaranteeing that the audience with enjoy at least one piece. The audience is adventurous and appreciative and the dancers respond, even if the material isn't first rate.  Tuesday's program opened with the Brazilian hip hop group Companhia Urbana de Dança. The nine dancers (eight men and one woman) performed in grey grunge (costumes credited to Rio Urban Out Fit) to electronic music against a background of grey industrial chic. The dancers, loose-limbed and daring, were vigorous and appealing but the piece was far too long for its limited vocabulary and emotionally hollow atmosphere. The dancers meandered through the same snaky moves without any sense of competition or conflict; each seemed to dance in his own little energetic bubble.  The ending, with the dancers running in circles, becoming pairs, then trios and finally a unified group was quite effective, but the group hug feeling didn't seem related to anything happening before.

Companhia Urbana de Dança in "Eu Danço-8 Solos no Geral. Photo © Renato Mangolin.

Indiadance

UTSAV – A Celebration of India’s Maestros of Music and Dance
Dance Seminar -  Georgetown Room, Key Bridge Marriott Hotel; Arlington, Virginia; 10 AM on October 3, 2015
“Don Quixote” – Terrace Theater, The Kennedy Center; Washington, DC; 2 PM on October 3, 2015
Madhavi Mudgal & Group – Terrace Theater, The Kennedy Center; Washington, DC; 7 PM on October 4, 2015.

by George Jackson 
© 2015 by George Jackson

Like a comet she stands out among the more expected astral bodies even as she glides seamlessly to join their constellations. Her face emits a different light depending on whether she is dancing or miming. Her name is Madhavi Mudgal and she is an extraordinary performer, a skilled choreographer and a fine teacher.  It could well be that her visit has been the apex of the entire dance season. She and her company gave the final presentation at this year’s UTSAV Festival but Mudgal also participated in the dance seminar, the topic of which was “Tradition vs. Innovation”. Another panelist was Sheejith Krishna, the choreographer and dramaturg of “Don Quixote” and, too, the dance actor who took the title role in this India version of Cervantes’s Spanish tale. Audiences for the 2015 or third annual iteration of UTSAV seemed to include more people than previously whose ancestry wasn’t from India.  

Spatial Spacy Space

"Poetics of Space"
Joe Goode Performance Project
Joe Goode Annex
San Francisco, CA
October 3, 2015

by Rita Felciano
© copyright 2015 Rita Felciano

Wandering through Joe Goode's labyrinthine "Poetics of Space" felt like looking through a kaleidoscope where with every turn your perspective on some unseen object changes. While it was somewhat disconcerting to be herded around--even though theoretically the audience was free to chose its travel path through a multitude of differently sized spaces-- this latest of Goode's musings on who we are, struck with a resonance that only can come from a talented experienced artist who has done his homework.

Felipe Barrueto-Cabello and Marit Brook-Kothlow
Photo: RJ Muna