“Kreatur”
Sasha Waltz & Guests
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn, New York
November 2, 20 18
by Gay Morris
copyright© 2018 by Gay Morris
Contemporary German choreo- graphers are not known for light-hearted fare, but Sasha Waltz’s “Kreatur,” which opened Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, may set a record for dystopian gloom. Not that there is much optimism on either side of the Atlantic these days.
Dancers in the opening section of Sasha Waltz's "Kreatur." Photo: Stephanie Berger.
“Xenos”
Akram Khan
White Light Festival
Rose Theater, Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 31, 2018
by Gay Morris
copyright© 2018 by Gay Morris
Akram Khan has long been one of the UK’s most inventive dance artists. He is known for imaginatively combining classical Indian Kathak dance with contemporary western forms, and for his collaborative productions with important artists from varied genres. “Xenos,” presented as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, has to do with Indian soldiers who fought for Britain in World War I. As such, this hour-long solo may be one of Khan’s greatest challenges.
Akram Khan removing the strings of bells worn by Kathak dancers in his solo, "Xenos." Photo: Jean Louis Fernandez.
“Watermill”
BAM Fisher
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn, New York
October 24, 2018
by Gay Morris
copyright© 2018 by Gay Morris
Jerome Robbins created “Watermill” for New York City Ballet in 1972. It was staged for what was then known as the State Theater, now the David H. Koch Theater, a proscenium theater of opera house proportions. Choreographer Luca Veggetti has re-imagined the work for the intimate BAM Fisher, and the ballet benefits greatly from it.
Joaquin De Luz as the central character in Jerome Robbins' Watermill," surrounded by bobbing lights on flexible poles manipulated by other dancers. Photo: Rebecca Greenfield.
“Songs of Bukovina,” “Garden Blue,” “In the Upper Room”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 19, 2018
by Gay Morris
copyright© 2018 by Gay Morris
Under the rubric, “ABT Women’s Movement,” American Ballet Theatre is promoting women choreo- graphers during its current fall season at the Koch Theater. Two were represented in Friday’s program: Jessica Lang and Twyla Tharp. Tharp, of course, has been on the scene for decades, and “In the Upper Room” has been in ABT’s repertory since 1988. Lang has made one ballet for ABT (“Her Notes” in 2016); her second, “Garden Blue,” was premiered Friday. Not that Lang is a novice, she has had her own dance company since 2011, and has made dances for a number of different groups.
Scene from "Garden Blue". Photo: Rosalie O’Connor.
Continue reading ""Garden Blue" and other works at American Ballet Theatre" »
“Sutra”
White Lights Festival
Rose Theater, Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 16, 2018
by Gay Morris
© 2018 by Gay Morris
Belgian choreo- grapher Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Sutra” is a spectacle in the true sense of the word. Created in 2008, it features monks from the Shaolin Temple in China, as well as sculpture by the well-known British artist Antony Gormley and a score, played live, by Polish composer Szymon Brzóska. Cherkaoui also performs the central role, along with child monk, Xing Kaishuo.
The monks of Shaolin Temple fighting in "Sutra," choreographed and directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Photo: Richard Termine.
“Rhapsody” (excerpts), “Canto Ostinato,” Petrushka,” “Rennie Harris Funkedified’ (excerpt)
Fall for Dance, Program 4
New York City Center
New York, New York
October 11, 2018
by Gay Morris
copyright © 2018 by Gay Morris
Fall for Dance is known for the variety of its programs, but Number Four, seen on Thursday, felt like whiplash as it changed from one offering to the next. Yet when all was said and done, there were relationships to be found among the works, which started with classical ballet and ended with hip hop.
Frederick Ashton created “Rhapsody” in 1980 for Mikhail Baryshnikov. Excerpts from the ballet were danced by Herman Cornejo of American Ballet Theater and Alina Cojocaru of the English National Ballet. The work is set to Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” arranged by Kurt Crowley. Crowley was at the piano for the live music, accompanied by the Attacca String Quartet.
Alina Cojocaru and Herman Cornejo in Frederick Ashton's "Rhapsody." Photo: Stephanie Berger.
“Ballet,” “Pamplona Stones,” “Working Title”
Trisha Brown Dance Company
BAM Fisher
Brooklyn, New York
October 10-13, 2018
by Gay Morris
copyright© 2018 by Gay Morris
Carolyn Lucas and Diane Madden, who are the directors of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, seem to be making all the right decisions on how to proceed after the founder’s death eighteen months ago. Last year the company presented a splendid concert of late Brown works at Jacob’s Pillow, and at BAM Fisher this week the group showed earlier pieces with the same exactitude and sense of joy.
Brown’s presence was evoked throughout Wednesday’s performance, not only through her choreography, but also in film, and in program notes that documented the roles she had taken in each of the dances. Lucas and Madden listed the three works presented as “reconstructions,” which stresses the fact that the dances are not the originals, but those dances recreated with the aid of archival materials and through the lens of memory.
“Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done”
Museum of Modern Art
New York, New York
September 16, 2018 – February 3, 2019
by Gay Morris
copyright © 2018 by Gay Morris
The canonic status of the Judson Dance Theater was secured nearly forty years ago with Sally Banes’ two studies, “Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-modern Dance” and “Democracy’s Body: Judson Dance Theater, 1962-1964.” The handsome exhibition that the Museum of Modern Art has mounted does not question Judson’s place in the canon, although in certain details it expands on it. In other words, the show is in no way a re-evaluation or revision of the standard Judson narrative, but a celebration of it. As a whole, MoMA has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to the show (which, after all, concerns dance more than visual art) with an abundance of performances, symposia, and events surrounding the exhibition.
Photo: Installation view of Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done, with Andy Warhol's film of Jill Johnston and Fred Herko in the foreground. © 2018 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Peter Butler.
“Allegro Brillante,” “Easy,” “Carousel (A Dance),” “La Sylphide”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 29, 2018
by Gay Morris
copyright © 2018 by Gay Morris
To say that Saturday evening’s New York City Ballet program was varied would be an under- statement. It ranged from “La Sylphide,” a nineteenth century romantic tragedy, to Justin Peck’s “Easy,” a rambunctious contemporary dance party. As it turned out, the new tended to overshadow the old.
“Easy,” which was premiered last spring as part of the company’s Jerome Robbins centennial, is set to Leonard Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue and Riffs,” a bow to the composer, also celebrating his centennial year. The work features six dancers, in this performance Preston Chamblee, Sean Suozzi, Peter Walker, Claire Kretzschmar, Unity Phelan and Indiana Woodward. The set by Stephen Powers is a splash of bright colors and words, including the amusing question, “Who is the boss, the soloist or the conductor?” The costumes by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung are in cartoon colors, which together with the set, echo the light-hearted mood of the dance.
Unity Phelan and Preston Chamblee in Justin Peck's "Easy." Photo by Paul Kolnik.