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De Keersmaeker's “Work/Travail/Arbeid”

“Work/Travail/Arbeid”
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Museum of Modern Art
New York, New York
March 29, 2017

by Gay Morris
copyright© 2017 by Gay Morris

In creating “Work/ Travail/Arbeid” Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker asked an important question: “Can choreography be performed in the form of an exhibition?” Her answer is on view through Sunday in the Museum of Modern Art’s Atrium. “Work/Travail/Arbeid” is derived from a one-hour piece called “Vortex Temporum” (score of the same title, composed by Gérard Grisey) that was created to be performed in a theater. De Keersmaeker has transformed it into a nine-hour cycle, with the choreography changing each hour over five days. The work is danced by De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas, in collaboration with the contemporary musical ensemble, Ictus. This is not the first time “Work/Travail/Arbeid” has been seen. It has also been performed in Brussels (where De Keersmaeker is based), at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and at the Tate Modern in London. In each venue De Keersmaeker adapted the piece to the particular space, which differed markedly in each instance. She has continued this process at MoMA.

Rosas company dancers in Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s "Work/Travail/Arbeid" at The Museum of Modern Art. Photograph © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

Shell Game

 

 

“The Little Mermaid”

Hamburg Ballet

Opera House

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

March 28, 2017

 

by George Jackson

© 2017 by George Jackson

 

What is the story of this ballet with choreography, staging, set, costumes and light design by John Neumeier? Supposedly the plot is based on a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen. It hasn’t, though, the clarity of Andersen’s writing but is closer to the shadowy surrealism and mythoscience of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tales and perhaps to La Motte Fouque’s novella “Undine”. Neumerier’s narrative continues to puzzle me but its principal characters are listed in the printed program. Foremost are a Poet and his creation, the Mermaid. Both pine for a handsome Prince who takes their passion lightly as he weds a Princess or plays golf. Also present is a force of nature, the Sea Witch. As  choreographer, Neumeier seems intent on spinning his yarn without the use of conventional pantomime. He uses direct action and appears to be concocting a novel dance language.  

 

Photo:  Silvia Azzoni as The Little Mermaid. Photo by Holger Badekow.

 

The Faun on Ice

Spring Show

Columbia Figure Skating Club & Guests 

Columbia Ice Rink, Maryland

March 25, 2017 at 6 PM  

 

by George Jackson 

copyright © 2017 by George Jackson

 

To see ice skaters as young as 3 years old had not been my reason for going to this “Sing into Spring” show. It hadn’t occurred  to me that such tots could even stand up straight in skates without their ankles buckling as soon as they began to move. The lure was a new “Faun”, to the familiar Debussy music but for professional balletic ice dancers of The Next Ice Age troupe. Yet the opening number, Pat Muth’s “Moana” (based on Walt Disney’s South Pacific islands movie) showed the small fry adept at doing a marching step, short glides forward and keeping in formation. There were some among the somewhat older student skaters who broached leaps and twirls, despite an occasional spill. What surprised me most was the predominance of female students. In the show’s cast of some 75 skaters, only a handful were male. As with ballet, tomorrow’s men for figure skating will be in short supply!

 

Both photos: Ian Lorello in the title role of Nathan Birch’s “Faun”. Photo by Kim Zaruba.

 

Musical Masters

"Le Sacre du Printemps (the Rehearsal)", "The Open Door", "Brandenburgs"
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
March 26, 2017, matinee

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2017 by Mary Cargill

The final performance of Paul Taylor's New York season featured three Taylor works set to great music (by Stravinsky, Elgar, and Bach), outstanding dancing, and one farewell, as Francisco Graciano make his last New York appearance with the company.  The afternoon opened with Taylor's oblique take on Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", a score that has overwhelmed many choreographers.  Taylor side-stepped the tidal wave by using Stravinsky's version for two pianos and by ignoring the pagan ritual at the dawn of time scenario.

Paul Taylor dancers in "Sacre du Printemps (the Rehearsal) Photo © Paul B. Goode.

Bodies in Motion

"Continuum", "Ports of Call", "Syzygy"
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
March 24, 2017

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2017 by Mary Cargill

In addition to the standard two new Taylor pieces, Paul Taylor's recent New York seasons have featured works by other choreo- graphers, with predictably mixed results.  Lila York, whose "Continuum" had its New York premiere this season, danced with Taylor in the 1970s and 1980s, and has choreographed many pieces since retiring from dancing.  The new work, set to Max Richter's  "Recomposed: The Four Seasons", a reworking of the familiar Vivaldi music, looks like a reworking of many familiar Taylor moves, and is at various times thrilling, exuberant, and nostalgic, but not original or moving.

Laura Halzack and Michael Trusnovec in "Continuum" Photo © Paul B. Goode.

Once More Over the Top!

“Swan Lake” (Act 2), “Le Corsaire” pas de deux, “Esmeralda” pas de six, “Dying Swan,” and “Don Quixote”
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Kennedy Center Opera House
Washington, DC
Tuesday, March 23, 2017 

by Alexandra Tomalonis
copyright 2017 by Alexandra Tomalonis

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – one of the best company names ever – has changed over the years. Way back in the mid-1970s, when the company danced in crumbling theaters (the Old Met in New York, where I first saw them), its humor was based partly on the clunky technique of the dancers (men dancing on pointe, deliberately, in some cases, not very well), and mostly from an absolutely incisive view of classical ballet: its beauty, and the opportunities it presents for over-the-top performances by star, and wannabe star, performers. It satirized style, and did it brilliantly.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo in "Swan Lake." Photo by Sascha Vaughan.

E=mc Squared Dance

“Incarnations”
Emily Coates
Danspace Project
New York, NY
March 16, 2017

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2017 by Martha Sherman

It’s just as mysterious to have a physicist label the physics principles at work in movement as it is to have a choreographer direct the physicist in movement. In Emily Coates’ “Incarnations,” a work based on her collaboration with particle physicist Sarah Demers, the two weave the mysteries of science and dance into a swirling mix of teaching and expression. Images of Apollo and the Higgs Boson (“the god particle”) were paired in the center, and a team of wildly different, deeply experienced dance artists made the audience feel the concepts with our bodies as much as absorbing them with our minds – we could feel the physics and grapple with the dance; it was neither book-learning nor entertainment, it felt like: life.

Iréne Hultman, Emily Coates, Sarah Demers, Yvonne Rainer in "Incarnations." Photo © Alexis Moh/courtesy of Danspace Project.

The Feet Have It

"Blues Project"
Dorrance Dance Project
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
March 16, 2017

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano 2017

What to do when a star has to cancel an opening night performance because of injury? Cancel your ticket and return when the headliner will be back? Or miss the show completely because of conflicting commitments? That was my conundrum when Michelle Dorrance had to forego the first of three local performances of the “Blues Project.” I finally figured that if the project was good, it needed to stand on its own two feet even without its major attraction. Best decision I have made in a long time. The “Blues Project,” an hour-long tap extravaganza eatures an art, dancers and musicians of superior quality and a love for what they are doing that is infectious. “Blues” was tightly structured, formally inventive and generous in the way ensemble sections offered opportunities for individual artists to step into the limelight. It’s too early to think of the ten best of the year but “Blues Project” will rank high.

Dorrance Dance Project in "Blues Project." Photo by Christopher Duggan

 

American Stories

"Danbury Mix", "Ports of Call", "Black Tuesday"
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
March 18, 2017, evening 

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2017 by Mary Cargill

Paul Taylor's takes on heroic and absurd America were on view Saturday night, as each work dealt with aspects of American life.  "Danbury Mix", choreographed in 1988 for the New York City Ballet's American Music Festival, combines (or mixes) three excerpts from pieces by Charles Ives (of Danbury, Connecticut, the program explains). The sardonic view of America, with an alternatively seductive and manic Miss Liberty, variously sheltering groups of black-clad dancers, enticing them to march mindlessly, and finally laughing at their efforts, may be a wry comment on Balanchine's bright, strutting "Stars and Stripes".  Taylor's piece even ends, like Balanchine's, with the American flag, though instead of a triumphant red, white, and blue dominating the stage, Taylor has a miniature group of black and white flags ranged in the background.

Laura Halzack in "Danbury Mix" Photo © Paul B. Goode.

Ratmansky's "The Fairy's Kiss" in Miami

“The Fairy’s Kiss”
Miami City Ballet
Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
March 11, 2017

by Gay Morris
copyright © 2017 by Gay Morris

“The Fairy’s Kiss,”(“Le Baiser de la Fée”) has had a checkered history in the ballet repertoire, despite a lushly melodic score by Igor Stravinsky. The work was commissioned by Ida Rubenstein and choreo- graphed by Bronislava Nijinska in 1928. Nijinska’s choreography disappeared after she last revived the ballet in 1936. George Balanchine created new choreography in 1937 for the short-lived American Ballet. He revived it in 1950 for New York City Ballet, and although it met with general critical approval, Balanchine himself was not satisfied. When he took it up again for the Stravinsky Festival in 1972, he dispensed with the narrative and used some of the music to make a plotless “Divertimento from ‘The Fairy’s Kiss.’” Alexei Ratmansky has now created a new, full-length version for Miami City Ballet. It is his third iteration of the work and, it is to be hoped, his final one, because this production is both beautiful and moving.

Photo: Simone Messmer and Miami City Ballet dancers in "The Fairy’s Kiss." Choreography by Alexei Ratmansky. Photo © Gene Schiavone.