danceviewtimes

Joffrey's Christmas Legacy

“The Nutcracker”
Joffrey Ballet Chicago
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
November 25, 2015
 
by Ashley McKean
copyright © by Ashley McKean

Joffrey Ballet Chicago’s endearing “Nutcracker” ushered in the holiday season on Thanksgiving Eve at the Kennedy Center, giving D.C. audiences one last chance to see Robert Joffrey’s original production before it takes its final bow (next season Christopher Wheeldon will create a new “Nutcracker” for the company). The production had its premiere in 1987, a few months before Joffrey’s death, and was the last ballet he envisioned for his company. It’s an old world “Nutcracker” with modern touches: elegant, classical choreography inspired by the 1940 “Nutcracker” of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, mixed with bits of flash and flair in the central waltzes for the snowflakes and flowers, typical of Gerald Arpino’s choreography. (Arpino, who choreographed the waltzes, is one of several choreographers who contributed to Joffrey’s production.) Although danced somewhat unevenly on opening night, there was much to relish. Joffrey’s heightened attention to detail infuses the ballet with magic and believability, emphasizing the relationships between the characters that create a cohesive, distinctly human version of the well-known story.

Joffrey Ballet Chicago in "The Nutcracker." Photo © Cheryl Mann

Girls' Night Out

"Gravity", "The Other Woman", "Voicelessness", "Friction", "Mozart Trio"
New Chamber Ballet
City Center, Studio 5
New York, NY
November 20, 2015

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2015 by Mary Cargill

Miro Magloire's New Chamber Ballet, a group of six female dancers and two musicians, performed five works (two premieres) in City Center's intimate Studio 5.  The space is untheatrical--no curtain, no wings and no lighting, with the audience sharing the space sitting on folding chairs. But this just goes to show that any performance space can draw an audience in, and the evening had a casual elegance, as if the audience members were guests at a private party. The dancers, all ballet trained, though Magloire rarely uses classical steps, move with a combination of fluidity and strength; the choreographer uses complex partnering, which, without men, creates an equal push and pull dynamic.

Elizabeth Brown and Cassidy Hall in "Gravity".  Photo © Amber Neff.

 

A Bit of Everything

“Preludes and Fugues,” “Yowzie”
Twyla Tharp
Joyce Theater presents at David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
November 19, 2015

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2015 by Martha Sherman

For her golden jubilee of making dance, Twyla Tharp, at 74, chose to make yet more. In this 50th anniversary tour, Tharp created two pieces, and claimed that the first, “Preludes and Fugues” reflected “the world as it ought to be,” and the second, “Yowzie,” – “the world as it is.” The event didn’t end up offering that alpha and omega, but both works, and the fanfares that introduced them, were all dependably fluid, athletic, and exciting.

Cast in “Second Fanfare.” Photo © Sharon Bradford – The Dancing Image.

PanAsia

“Sita, Gentle Warrior”

Devi Dance Theater,

Somapa Thai Dance Company, and

Santi Budaya Indonesian Performers

Dance Place

Washington, DC 

November 21, 2015

 

by George Jackson

© 2015 by George Jackson

 

Fun could be had watching “Sita” and trying to sort out the sources of its diverse dances. Sorties of foot stamping were followed by displays of finger splaying. Sword play contrasted with skirt swaying and with the wafting of veils. Poses that seemed to plant the dancers’ weight firmly into the ground were followed by leaps as if into a saddle that lifted bodies off the floor. Once upon a time the classic dance traditions of Southeast Asia may have shared an origin,  but they became distinct. This performance by dancers based in America but trained in the movement techniques of India, Thailand or Indonesia was a singular collaboration to highlight similarities and differences within one choreographic work. At the piece’s center is Sita, heroine of India’s saga, “The Ramayana”. She is the daughter of Mother Earth and the abducted wife of a king. This production’s devisers see Sita as “the ideal woman – adored yet misunderstood”. They have her provoking dialogue between custom and change concerning feminist issues. How far did they advance 

towards their ambitious goals – artistic and philosophic? 

 

Two For Three

"Cariño" "Selección Natural"
Mayra Bonard
Joe Goode Annex
San Francisco, CA
November 20, 2015

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano 2015

If you live in the Bay Area and want to see contemporary dance from Argentina, you better go there. The best we can hope for around here is one more version of oversexed Tango. So the mere presence of choreographer Mayra Bonard and her trio of performers, Federico Fontán, Damian Malvacio and Rocio Mercado, should be a reason to thank Joe Goode who arranged their engagement. The fact that the two works they performed, "Cariño" (2011) and "Selección Natural" (2014), were emotionally complex, witty and celebrating sensuality helped. That they comfortably moved within dance, music, theater and comedy, and yet looked as if coming out of one mold made you wonder what else is there south of the border that we are missing.

Federico Fontán in "Selección Natural". Photo © Alexandro Guyot

Joke

 

“Custodians of Beauty”

Pavel Zustiak’s Palissimo Company

Solange MacArthur Studio Theater

American Dance Institute

Rockville, Maryland

November 20, 2015

 

by George Jackson
© 2015 by George Jackson

 

This prank started late. The audience sat for some time staring at an ugly cardboard scrim and listening to what might have been a lovely song or aria, but the music was faint. When the volume increased, there was electronic noise accompanied by light projections that vulgarized the décor idea of an earlier ADI presentation, “Stripetease”. However, Pavel Zustiak’s deconstructions had already begun in the printed program that serves as ticket at ADI and in the info fed to Melanie George, ADI’s imperturbable pre-perf lecturer. Phrases such as “communist Czechoslovakia” and “artistic liberty”, “human and humane”, “abstract”, “nonlinear”, “multidisciplinary” and “multi-sensory” littered the introductory texts. At least, Zustiak seems honest confessing that his “Custodians of Beauty” title was cribbed from a pope. 

 

Fourth Wall? What Fourth Wall?

“Blue Name”
Silas Riener
The Chocolate Factory
Queens, NY
October 15, 2015

by Leigh Witchel
© 2015 by Leigh Witchel

If you were looking for a curtain, you were at the wrong show. In the industrial white space of The Chocolate Factory – intimate yet raw – we found Silas Riener just at the end of his warmup. He didn’t stop as we assem-bled; we waited patiently until he took off his sweats, gathered up his mats and balls, put some sort of plugs into his ears, and said “Let’s do it!”

Silas Reiner in “Blue Name.” Photo © Madeline Best.

Decoding the Marks of Two Worlds

“Inked,” “Murmur”
Aakash Odedra
Baryshnikov Arts Center
New York, NY
October 22, 2015

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2015 by Leigh Witchel

Every garden needs cross-pollination. In New York, the push from the Indian dance community to help the form take root here has meant an accent on traditional styles and values, with few hybrids.

Aakash Odedra is a hybrid. He grew up in Birmingham, England, studied kathak and bharatanatyam, then branched into contemporary dance under the mentorship of Akram Khan.

Aakash Odedra in “Inked.” Photo © Sean Goldthorpe.

I am the Beat

“They Rose at Dawn”
Aparna Ramaswamy
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
October 6, 2015

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2015 by Leigh Witchel

In Aparna Ramaswamy’s concert you couldn’t tell where the music ended and the dance began. “They Rose at Dawn” was a concen-trated solo performance and bharata-natyam recital. There was no intermission; a few short musical interludes served as a place for Ramaswamy to catch her breath.

Aparna Ramaswamy, photo © Amanulla 

Talent Show

Damian Woetzel’s “Demo: Time”
Terrace Theater
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts  
Washington, DC  
November 15, 2015

by George Jackson
© 2015 by George Jackson

Three movie theaters dominated the social scene in an urban neighborhood of America’s Midwest where I spent part of my childhood during World War 2. There was the big, expensive, palatial house that belonged to a chain and showed recent releases made by major studios. It happened to be the one farthest away from downtown. There was a small, cheap and dilapidated house, closest to downtown, that showed new movies made by the marginal studios (Republic, Monogram), all sorts of old movies and, especially, adult fare. In that neglected place, belonging to no one known, I got to see “Ecstasy”, Gustav Machaty’s marvelous camera exploration of Hedy Lamarr’s moods and body - although censored for American audiences not by cuts in the original Czech footage but by the addition of a church wedding scene for the principal lovers. The middle theater (geographically, in ticket price and social standing) was the locally owned Logan. On Saturday evenings, after the kids’ matinee and before the evening’s double feature, the Logan had a live talent show. It featured singers and dancers, comedians and musicians who played odd instruments such as the saw. Mostly the talent was amateur or unknown professionals, yet the  show became popular not only in the neighborhood but beyond.