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A Robbins Repertory

 

"Glass Pieces", "Fancy Free", "The Four Seasons"

New York City Ballet

Opera House

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

March 30, 2018

 

by George Jackson

© 2018 by George Jackson

 

 

Jerome Robbins' classic "Fancy Free" is a character ballet. The three women in it wear heels, not toe shoes. Do any of its men snap into 5th position other than for comic effect? Yet this early (1944) work by the choreographer snares the audience's attention and satisfies expectations from beginning to middle through to the end. The program’s opening work, "Glass Pieces" (1983), can astonish and its closer, "The Four Seasons" (1979), does much to entertain. Yet neither of these later, clever pieces by Robbins (1918-1998) leaves viewers with the feeling of perfection - that every step and stance is critical, even a character's most casual response or suppressed itch for show-off.

 

Jerome Robbins coaching Damian Woetzel in “Fancy Free”; archival photo by Costas.

 

By Committee

Mozart "Divertimento No.15", "Zakouski", Stravinsky "Pulcinella Variations",
"Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", Stravinsky "Symphony in 3 Movements"
New York City Ballet and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
March 26, 2018

by George Jackson
© 2018 by George Jackson

A formidable feast, a menu of five different ballets, was served by the New York company for the first of its two 2018 programs in Washington. All the works shared an aesthetic: to take music that had been shaped by human feelings and reflect it as crafted motion, as living architecture, as deliberate anatomic action.

The New York City Ballet in George Balanchine's "Symphony in Three Movements." Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Alone Together

"Menagerie", "Myriad", "The Outset"
The Washington Ballet
Harman Hall
Washington, DC
March 18, 2018 at 1:30 PM 

by George Jackson
© 2018 by George Jackson

The surprise of this ambitious bill of three brand new ballets was the similarity of the dramatic theme which tantalized the 3 different, rather new choreographers. Clifton Brown, Gemma Bond and Marcelo Gomes addressed the relationship of the individual to that person's group. I suspect the similarity wasn't due to collusion but astonished the dance makers and also Julie Kent, director of  The Washington Ballet, who had commissioned the premieres. Music for two of the ballets - Brown's and Gomes's - was, commendably, performed live. Brown's treatment of the group and its constituents was lighthearted and casual, Bond's seemed anxious  and earnest, and Gomes's minutely detailed. 

Photo: The Washington Ballet Menagerie: Venus Villa and Tamás Krizsa. Photo by media4artists Theo Kossenas.

 

Statements

Choreography by Michio Ito and Dana Burgess
Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
National Portrait Gallery
Washington, DC
March 17, 2018

by George Jackson
© 2018 by George Jackson

The site of the performance was an oblong salon on the Portrait Gallery's second floor. Prominently on display in addition to the dancing was a large portrait of a female dancer by Ferdinand Hodler (1853 -1918), the Swiss German painter. Hodler shows both motion and pause in his subject's pose, and areas of geometric flattening and of volumetric rounding in her body's contours. The painting's palette is modern, with a purposely limited selection of coloring book, semi-pastel shades. The first three dances on the program, Ito's, were simpler than Burgess's explorations of shifting or conflicting moods in the four other pieces. Most of the dances by both choreographers were solos or duos. Only one work by Burgess required a larger cast - six performers. It seemed, however, not a single entity but a confluence of sequential statements.

Members of the Dana Tai Soon Burgess dance company: (from left) Ryan Carlough, Ian Ceccarelli, Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo and Sarah Halzack.

Is There "Almost" in Art?

Damian Woetzel's DEMO: Now

Terrace Theater

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

March 7, 2018

 

by George Jackson

© 2018 by George Jackson

 

The focus of Damian Woetzel's latest talent show was dance. All but a couple of numbers featured dancers. Six of the works had originally been commis- sioned by Colorado’s outdoors Vail Dance Festival and one was a premiere sponsored by the Kennedy Center. Even so, this program didn’t add up to being a triumph for choreography. Too much of the movement in several pieces seemed almost cutesy – although there’s no such thing as "nearly" in the arts. If a work is almost wonderful or almost awful, it is the unqualified ultimate that lodges in the audience's perception. What saved this bill were some of the performers, especially the singular and well known Lil Buck (gym shoe artist Charles Riley) but also newcomers Jason Collins and Victor Lozano. The latter two joined Miami City ballerina emerita Patricia Delgado in the evening’s premiere piece, ”Blueprint” by Pam Tanowitz. Another ballerina, New York City’s Sara Mearns, showed herself in a taxing solo by Alexei Ratmansky. As usual, there was a finale, partly improvised, involving all the dancers and musicians.   

 

Photo:  Sara Mearns with members of Brooklyn Rider and Savannah Harris. Photo by Teresas Wood.  

 

City of Colors and Light

 

''An American in Paris"

Elephant Eye, Pittsburgh CLO, Theatre du Chatelet et al.

Opera House

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

December 14, 2017

 

by George Jackson

© 2017 by George Jackson

 

What is it about Paris that Americans who go there want to find? Some seek a sense of freedom, whereas others hope to discover their true home. This stage musical is supposed to be about the adventure of leading an expatriate life. The idea has a complicated history. It started as a 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin, and then became a 1951 movie choreographed by and starring tap dancer Gene Kelly.  The essence  of the screen script by Alan Jay Lerner is preserved for the current production's story by Craig Lucas. It had the Kelly character - Jerry Mulligan - as a World War 2, American veteran trying to become a successful painter in France's capital. Contrary to current revelations about abusive American men, Mulligan is an innocent. So are his two buddies, one French and the other American. The women they encounter are practical. The action is busy, and for this version often seems over directed and over choreographed for both people and props by British American trained Christopher Wheeldon. My main problem with the result is that the story's Americans were indistinguishable from its Parisians. What I enjoyed were Bob Crowley's strong palette for the sets and costumes plus Natasha Katz's illumination of the stage which made Paris really seem a city of colors and light. 

 

A Temporary Pair

"I Am Vertical"

Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company

Kogod Courtyard

The National Portrait Gallery

Washington, DC

December 10, 2017

 

by George Jackson 

© 2017 by George Jackson

 

The poet Sylvia Plath receives attention because she wrote about herself as a passionate woman, because she committed suicide and because she was in love with another writer - Ted Hughes, the man who led their time together. Now, more than half a century after her death at the age of only 30, Plath's poems are still in print, she is the subject of an exhibit at a major museum and of a 25-minute piece of choreography. Burgess's dance, titled "I Am Vertical" after a Plath poem, is for four women and three men. All the women embody Plath and all the men represent Hughes. By tilting four against three, I think Burgess's dramaturgy avoids showing the two writers' relationship as a contest of equals but also Hughes's guidance as something that might be considered abusive. That  this pair of lovers is portrayed cubistically, in diverse facets, gives the audience degrees of freedom in trying to understand what happened between the two writers and, ultimately to Plath.

 

Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo and Joan Ayap in "I Am Vertical." Photo by Laura McDonald.

 

For the Future?

 

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet

Opera House

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

December 7 & 8, 2017

 

by George Jackson

© 2017 by George Jackson

 

First things first! Last night, December 8, the company danced the greatest "Serenade" of the countless ones I've seen. It had utterly remarkable accelerations with the fastest allegros plus the richest retards. These things were independent of any particular dancers, and yet all were part of it. The phrasing changed my idea of "romantic" and "classical" in ballet. This was a new beast! Tonight, "Serenade" will be the final work on the Suzanne Farrell Ballet's final program. Everyone who cares about ballet should try to see it. 

 

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Balanchine's "Serenade." Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

 

 

Metabolisms: Persistent, Eroding, Human

Helanius Wilkins's "Triggered"

Terrace Theater

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

December 3, 2017

 

by George Jackson

© 2017 by George Jackson

 

Was it bold of Wilkins to start with three male solos in a row and continue with a male duet? A sign at the theater's entrance had alerted the audience to strong language and mature topics. Yet, what met the eye possessed a harmony that was totally unsensationalistic. Different bodies, so it seemed, moved as a matter of course - quite naturally. The first body ran a couple of circles, and then stopped to explore such actions as leaning, bending, twisting the torso and balancing. Dressed in a flowing white shirt over tight dark trousers, this figure declared that its life pulse was smooth despite some "Wasted Time ...On Luvin' U". Swaying, turning, a jump and a still stand, plus walking slowly away from us, were moves that underscored this individual's temperament. The second man looked somewhat different. Shirtless and wearing jeans, he too was steeped in expressive motion. He bent like the first man, but also did floor work, a somersault and a hand stand. Yet he staggered more and suffered a collapse. With his dance titled "Bitter", was he younger and less experienced than his predecessor? In the third solo - "To the One I ... With Love" - pliant arms dominated the body's action. The port de bras did not become pathetic but gave the figure a lonely, buoyant dignity. 

 

Photo: Wilkins in a rehearsal of "A Bon Coeur". Photo by Angelisa Gillyard. 

 

Holiday Comedy

"The Nutcracker"

Kansas City Ballet from Missouri

Opera House

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

November 22, 2017

 

by George Jackson

© 2017 by George Jackson

 

This time, DC's visiting version of "The Nutcracker" comes from Missouri's metropolis - Kansas City, located on the state's western border with Kansas. Like such guests in previous years, the company is wanted back home for Christmas so that its seven performances here are scheduled as a Thanksgiving  treat.  Credited as choreographer is Kansas City Ballet's current artistic director, Devon Carney, a familiar name since his days as a leading soloist at Boston Ballet. Carney's solution to the quandary of having a "Nuts" that's both traditional and like none other is his take on the well known story. Even though what happens is much as in many other versions of the ballet, few opportunities for farce are ignored.  Moreover, behavior is hyper and often highly so. 

 

Kansas City Ballet's The Nutcracker. Photo by Brett Pruitt and East Market Studios.