danceviewtimes

It's A Wonderful. . .

"Nutcracker"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
December 16, 2015

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano 2015

This year Helgi Tomasson's 2004 "Nutcracker" smoothly slid into its slot. It's not just that the ballet has nicely settled into the company with barely a misstep all evening. The performance exuded a spirited freshness as if the dancers actually  looked forward to what will be a long run. Also, Tomasson has set the ballet during the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and the City is celebrating its centenary with all kinds of celebrations -- including a large and impressive exhibit of American art which had its own pavilion in 1915. So Michael Yeargan's set-- a flowery greeting card with a slide show of scenes from the time, and illuminated-from-within stately Victorian homes -- struck with a particular resonance.

Frances Chung and Davit Karapetyan in Tomasson's "Nutcracker"
Photo © Erik Tomasson

“The Hard Nut”

Mark Morris Dance Group 

Howard Gilman Opera House 

Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York  

December 16, 2015

 

by Tom Phillips 

copyright 2015 by Tom Phillips 

 

Americans take their “Nutcrackers” way too seriously, Mark Morris seems to tell us in his campy Christmas spectacular, "The Hard Nut.” In many contemporary productions, the story is dark sexual symbolism in a world of repression and romance. Played for laughs, it’s a casual coming-of-age, in a world where sex is just part of growing up. That world is American suburbia in the 70’s, and for all its vulgarity, it’s much more familiar and friendly than the gentrified, stiff-necked Germany where the original is set.

 

A scene from "The Hard Nut": John Heginbotham as Mrs. Stahlbaum. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

 

 

A Gathering of the Tribe

"Erasing Time"
Sara Shelton Mann with David Szlasa
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
December 4, 2015

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano 2015

In the over thirty years of working in San Francisco, Sara Shelton Mann has become the high priestess of Bay Area dance. When in the 1980's she exploded onto the local scene with her raucous, irreverent and high-voltage Contraband company, its interactions between dance, music, theater, visual design and athletic prowess confused more than one arts editor. Who was supposed to cover these shows, dance or theater? Dance Theater was yet to get its name (at least locally). Shelton Mann closed Contraband in 1996. But she has not stopped questioning, pushing and inspiring a whole new generation of dancers. For this past weekend a call had gone out to the tribe. And they came. At one point, probably, close to a hundred performers joined a full house of those who remembered the 1980's and those who were barely born. "Erasing Time" was raucous, irreverent and high-voltage. Only Sara, with the help of some friends, could have pulled it off.

Hidden in Plain Sound

Lincoln Center White Lights Festival
Thomas Adès: Concentric Paths – Movements in Music
“Outliers,” “Life Story,” “The Grit in the Oyster,” “Polaris”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 20, 2015

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2015 by Marianne Adams

The Thomas Adès program of the Lincoln Center White Lights Festival, offering four works by as many choreo-graphers to Adès’s music performed live with Adès himself behind the podium or piano for each, culminated in a riveting presentation of Crystal Pite’s 2014 ballet “Polaris,” but not in a build-up sort of a way. Instead, the first three ballets managed to conceal their substance behind their respective scores, tasking the viewer with the need to discern meanings that could have been more obvious through design or execution and required less viewer work. The ending piece was a worthy reward for such labors, but that’s also not to say that the journey to it through this Sadler’s Wells production was unenjoyable.

 Photo of a scene from "Polaris." Photo © by Kevin Yatarola

Love is a Many-Splendored Beast

“WHALE”
Gallim Dance
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 3, 2015

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2015 by Martha Sherman

Andrea Miller, the founder and artistic director of Gallim Dance, says she has always been interested in pieces about love and happiness.  She’s identified her home’s love with “WHALE,” a word that her young son cryptically says as he goes to bed and wakes up every day. The scale of the word, the largest mammal on the planet, seems just about right for titling what Miller attempts in her wildly energized, demanding choreography – love and happiness are huge here. So are their opposites, of course.

Daniel Staaf, Austin Tyson, Paul Vickers in "WHALE." Photo © Yi-Chun Wu.

Attractive But Bland

"Mainframe"
Katharine Hawthorne
ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
December 3, 2015

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano 2015

How splendid it would be if a pregnant idea and excellent collaborators would make for great dance. Unfortunately, you need choreography that examines a concept and translates it into something we didn't know before. In the hour-long "Mainframe," Katharine Hawthorne explored the advent of computers and the role they are playing in our lives. Have they, and if so, how have they changed our perception of ourselves and the way we interact with each other? What could be more topical to think about and give shape to it through dance? Hawthorne, a superb dancer who brings a background of physics and dance to her dance making, seems eminently qualified to tackle the subject. As a choreographer, she is young but works that looked at the body as a machine ("Analog") and in relation to time ("Clockwork") have shown an intriguing mind at work. Last year's solo ("Cave") -- yes, Plato's -- was superb. Yet "Mainframe" did not stand up to its promise.

Gary Champi in "Mainframe." Photo © Benjamin Hersh

Love's Heavy Burden

"Romeo and Juliet"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 25, 2015

by Denise Sum
copyright © by Denise Sum 2015

Following a run of Christopher Wheeldon's "The Winter's Tale", the National Ballet of Canada is continuing with the Shakespearean theme by presenting Alexei Ratmansky's "Romeo and Juliet". This production premiered in 2011 and has been brought back to the Four Seasons Centre stage almost annually since. In addition, the company has toured with this "Romeo and Juliet" to England and the US. The ballet is looking stronger and more cohesive with each viewing. It is a complex work with many choreographic layers, which perhaps take time to reveal themselves to viewers. The dancers seem to be really delving into the roles as well, making for even more powerful, nuanced interpretations as they have time to explore different approaches. There were a number of standout performances on opening night, making this timeless tale really come to life.

Guillaume Côté and Elena Lobsanova in "Romeo and Juliet". Photo © Bruce Zinger.

 

A Shakespearean Tragicomedy

"The Winter's Tale"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 14, 2015

by Denise Sum
copyright © 2015 by Denise Sum

The National Ballet of Canada opened its 2015-2016 season with the North American premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's "The Winter's Tale", a co-production with The Royal Ballet. The company is certainly looking to hone its dramatic skills with five full-length narrative works and only one mixed program this season. Coming off of the runaway success of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Wheeldon has once again collaborated with composer Joby Talbot, costume and set designer Bob Crowley, and lighting designer Natasha Katz. There was much anticipation on opening night and the talented creative team behind "The Winter's Tale" and NBoC artists delivered something new and noteworthy. With one of Shakespeare's "problem plays" as the primary source, this is no small feat. Wheeldon wisely chose a clear angle from which to focus the narrative, and did away with secondary stories or details that might confuse or clutter, reducing the play's five acts to three. The ballet centers on the experience of King Leontes of Sicilia, from his intense suspicions of the Queen's infidelity to his harsh mistreatment of her and ultimate remorse. This production addresses themes of doubt, grief, redemption and forgiveness while straddling the delicate line between tragedy and comedy.

Hannah Fischer and Piotr Stanczyk in "The Winter's Tale". Photo © Karolina Kuras.