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Bournonville en Travesti

"Swan Lake, Act II," "Patterns in Space," "Napoli Pas de Six," "The Dying Swan," "Raymonda's Wedding"
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 13, 2016

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2016 by Leigh Witchel

The Trocks returned for their biennial New York season with their version of the pas de six from Bournonville’s “Napoli.” They’re still getting acquainted with the work’s style; give them a year and it will be funny as well.

The pas de six is one of the most beautifully stitched of 19th century divertissements, streamlined in this version to be done without a crowd and with only six dancers. True to their brand, the Trocks showed their love for the surface details: their costumes were the traditional designs, even down to the colors. But parody, even more than comedy, requires the time to get under the skin of what you’re skewering, and they don’t yet know the ballet well enough to joke about it. That takes repetition. The dancers have started the process: a trio did little waltz steps towards and away from one another, and suddenly with insane cheerfulness they verbalized, “Hello! Hello!” You can almost imagine how that happened spontaneously in rehearsal.

Maria Paranova (Carlos Renedo) in “The Dying Swan.” Photo © Yi-Chun Wu

Shine a Beam into Darkness

"future friend/ships"
Circo Zero
CounterPulse
San Francisco, CA
December 17, 2016

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano, 2016

These are dark days, and not only because the sun insists on going down ever earlier. We seem to live in a world out of kilter. So a hopeful wishful fantasy  was the last thing one expected from one of the most politically engaged performing artists, Keith Hennessy, who created "future friend/ships" in collaboration with the Palestinian/French musician Jassem Hindi. The seventy-five minute work had its share of whimsy and absurdity, pain and despair. One has to admire a theatrical endeavor that takes a broad perspective about the human imagination and our capacity to connect with each other even more. And it does so without overt political rhetoric. Instead it charms even as it wrings the heart.

Jassem HIndi and Keith Hennessey in "future friend/ships". Photo by Anja Beutler

 

Dance in Blood, Like Flowers

Natalia Osipova & Artists
A Sadler’s Wells London Production
“Run Mary Run,” “Qutb,” “Silent Echo”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 15, 2016

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2016 by Marianne Adams

“Don’t try to judge me, Don’t try to touch me” said the voiceover recording in the first few minutes of Natalia Osipova’s program, as she slowly moved across the stage in heels, a short green dress and red beehive wig. The moment was from one of the three US premieres of the night, this one of Arthur Pita’s “Run Mary Run” – a dance to a compilation of songs by the 1960s girl group The Shangri-Las, all mostly about “break-ups and death, told from the viewpoint of broken-hearted teenage girls” according to the bill – and it resonated throughout the program, its ballets, their darkness, creativity and range of emotional and physical transcendence. Osipova’s evening may have been first and foremost about dance, but what it really presented was rich, complex and beautiful theater.

Photo of Natalia Osipova, Jason Kittelberger and James O'Hara in "Qutb."  Photo © by Bill Cooper

Unmentionables

DoublePlus: A split bill curated by Luciana Achugar
Oren Barnoy, Naomi Elena Ramirez
Gibney Dance Center
New York, NY
December 8, 2016

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2016 by Martha Sherman

Choreographer luciana achugar is out there; she holds nothing back in her choreography. Her work is dense and complex, often disturbing. Not surprisingly, in the split bill evening she curated for Gibney Dance Center, she chose two young artists who were also powerful and demanding, both insisting that their viewers never relax. Surprisingly, though, neither work offered achugar’s complexity; each was like a single note, played on a single string.

Paul Hamilton and Greg Zuccolo. Photo © Scott Shaw.

Every Year--and Still Welcome

"Nutcracker"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
December 10, 2016

by Rita Felciano
copyright Rita Felciano © 2016

 

"The Nutcracker" still entrances -- toddlers, dating couples or first time viewers who will be hooked on ballet for the rest of their lives. Yet this is an art that goes back to an aristocratic refinement that most of us have never experienced. So what gives? Pulling us in is also a sense of family that may no longer, and sadly, may not ever have existed except in our wishful thinking. But the family that we witness on stage is a family, the family of a ballet company that off stage has all the tensions, complications, joys and heartaches that we have to deal with. But the ballet family also tells us how varied the talents, possibilities and limitations of real life families are. There is no ballet that has so many spots, both large and small, for so many dancers to show what they can do and where they may go and where they have been. So thank you Mr. Tchaikovsky who dared to defy the conventions of the time that "serious" composers did not write for ballet and took on a task that was less than appealing. So also thank you Mr. Petipa who here thought out of the box. And, of course, thank you Helgi Tomasson, who in this cool and refined version, avoided sentimentality and cuteness in favor of elegance, charm and a touch of history. 

Photo: Lauren Parrot and Rubén Martín Cintas in Helgi Tomasson's "Nutcracker. Photo Credit: Erik Tomasson

So Much, So Rich, So Swiftly

Vail Dance Festival: ReMix NYC
Program 3: “Switch Phase,” “Anywhere On This Road,” “Suite From Mazurkas,” “First Fall,” “Liquid Velvet,” “This Bitter Earth,” “Universe,” “Tabla-ture,” “IFE/My Heart,” “Divertissement Pas De Deux,” “Canvas”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 7, 2016

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2016 by Marianne Adams

The third program of the Vail Dance Festival:ReMix NYC was a vast and rich panoply of different styles of dance and dancers. The evening moved from modern dance to classical ballet, touching on everything in between, and but for the efficiency of programming, it may all have seemed to be too much and too layered. Instead, ReMix NYC presented great dancing and a deep bench of talent both on the choreography and dancing side, all without tiring its audience out.

Photo of Isabella Boylston and Calvin Royal III in "This Bitter Earth." Photo © by Erin Baiano.

Really Rep

 

“RainForest”, “Trio A with Flags”, “Locomotor”

Stephen Petronio Company

Solange MacArthur Theater

American Dance Institute 

Rockville, Maryland

December 9, 2016

 

by George Jackson

© 2016 by George Jackson

 

Bringing back what really happened in dance at New York’s Judson Church during the early 1960s is elusive. People who were part of it have tried (the late Robert Dunn, the late James Waring, David Gordon et al.) and so have forerunners (Paul Taylor, Ann{a} Halprin) and even admirers (Mikhail Baryshnikov). The best Judson revival in my experience – a version of Yvonne Rainer’s “Trio A” – is the midpiece on the Petronio Company’s current triple bill. The program opened with an authentically dry rendition of “RainForest” by Judson predecessor Merce Cunningham. Worthwhile too, although a little bit long, is Petronio’s own, sleek “Locomotor”. The company’s dancers are technically admirable and sensually sensitive.

 

Photo at right: Yvonne Rainer’s “Trio A with Flags” 

 

Too Little, Too Late

"Onegin"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
Nov. 23, 2016
by Denise Sum

Copyright © by Denise Sum 2016

This season marks principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu's 20th year in the National Ballet of Canada. A compelling dance actress, Yu was cast as Tatiana opposite Rex Harrington's Onegin early on in her career, when she was just 22 years old, in 2000. She made a powerful impression then, and has continued to grow and mature in the work with each run. How fitting, then, for her to reprise her signature role during this milestone season. Despite the title, John Cranko's "Onegin" is very much centered around the inner world of its heroine, and this performance truly belonged to Yu.  

Photo: Xiao Nan Yu in "Onegin". Photo by Aleksandar Antonijevic.

Accent on Youth

" First", "The Saloneers", "thunder rolling along afterward", "Walk Me Through"
New Dances: Edition 2016
The Juilliard School
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
Lincoln Center
New York, NY
December 7, 2016

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2016 by Mary Cargill

Juilliard Dance presented new works choreographed for each of their four classes.  Since the choreographers (John Heginbotham for the 2020 class, Katarzyna Skarpetowska for the 2019 class, Pam Tanowitz for the 2018 class, and Matthew Neenan for the 2017 class) needed to use all of the dancers, the works tended to resemble each other, as they all had large casts moving in unison.  They were also similar in that the dancers moved clearly, with articulate upper bodies and clean, juicy dancing.

Heginbotham set "First" to the first movement of Schubert's string quintet, played live by Juilliard students. This isn't music that cries out for choreography, though certainly some choreographers have been able to use musical masterpieces effectively. One is Paul Taylor and Heginbotham used many Taylorisms; his work was full of low, crouching runs, unexpected lifts, and straight-armed jumps. But the busy, active piece didn't connect with the music, especially the elegiac melody, and the choreography often looked jerky and unfocused. The costumes (designed by Fritz Masten) were lovely, with the girls in autumnal-colored dresses, but the choreography was about movement, not mood.

Lúa Mayenco Cardenal and Javon Jones in "First" Photo © Rosalie O'Connor.

Happy Families

"The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
December 6, 2016

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2016 by Mary Cargill

Tolstoi's remark about happy families, it seems, could have been written about the Stahlbaums, and he might have added that happy ballets are all alike, too, a celebration of innocence, wonder, and stability flanked by majestic, musical choreography. In the New York City Ballet's "Nutcracker" Tuesday night, Zachary Catazaro and Gretchen Smith were the warm, generous couple overseeing the cosy hustle-bustle of the first act, firm but loving towards Ben Griffin's delightfully natural scamp of a Fritz.  Maria Kashvili was a lovely Marie, combining tenderness with a backbone.

Corps in "The Nutcracker". Photo © Paul Kolnik.