Photo taken from the Prix de Lausanne website.

Last weekend I went to another fabulous Guggenheim Works & Process event, this one in celebration of Frederic Franklin, the 95-year-old formerly of Ballets Russes who’s worked with American Ballet Theater for many years now performing non-dance character roles and setting ballets on the company and its studio company, ABT II. I’ve written about him here.

ABT, ABT II, and some of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School students performed some ballets Franklin has staged for them. My favorite was the Hungarian Czardas section from Petipa’s Raymonda, performed by ABT II, with Irlan Silva and Meaghan Hinkis as the lead couple. So much fun — and really made me want to see the whole ballet. I’ve since gotten my hands on a couple videos — more on them later.  But for now I just want to say how wonderful I thought Silva was — how much he stands out, how much strength and discipline and precision he has, along with that ever elusive star necessity, Presence. Even doing basic heel toe steps, he just brings it to another level.

Here are a couple of videos of him at the 2008 Prix de Lausanne, where he danced for his native Brazil and placed very well. The first is of his contemporary solo, a little-seen work by Nijinsky, and the second is his classical variation, from Le Corsaire.

And here is a video I found of that Czardas, danced by others.

Also performed, by others, were the classical Raymonda variations and the Sleeping Beauty Bluebird Pas de Deux. And, ABT dancers were David Hallberg and Xiomara Reyes dancing the Giselle Act II Pas de Deux. Which was far too short! But of course one must never miss the opportunity to see David Hallberg dance up close Among other things, he knows how to make the most of a pose, to take the lines — particularly the leg lines — to their fullest and most sublime.

Photo of Hallberg dancing with Gillian Murphy, taken from here.

Sorry I am so late with this post, now that it’s been two weeks since MDC. Once again, ballet season kind of took over…

One of the biggest highlights for me this year was Emmanuel Pierre Antoine dancing with his new partner, Lianna, in the Pro Rhythm championships (pictured above). I like the way the pictures came out in sepia better than color, but if you want to see dress colors, etc. you can see all the color photos here. Emmanuel is a longtime favorite of mine and I always enjoy watching him. He has such character and his routines are always quite original. He and Lianna placed second in all dances, behind the champions for several years now, Joanna Zacharewicz and Jose DeCamps, but I actually thought they outdanced Jose and Joanna in a couple of dances, particularly with their expressive, jump-heavy Mambo and their Bolero, which was really beautiful with some nice spins. Dance Beat felt the same. But, as I’ve said many times before and I’ll say again, it’s definitely not unusual for the judges to give the top award (with wins in all five dances no less) to the same couple year after year, until that couple retires.

Other highlights, as always for me were the Pro Latin and Pro Standard events, which Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko won rather easily in the former,

and Katusha Demidova and Arunas Bizokas even more easily in the latter.

Both couples who normally place second in these events didn’t compete: Anna Mikhed and Victor Fung in Standard didn’t attend, and Eugene Katsevman and Maria Manusova (photo below of their heated Paso) showed but had to withdraw after the first round because of an injury (hers I’m told).

A shame since I always love watching Eugene and Maria.

Arunas and Katusha danced really really beautifully, as always, and according to Dance Beat, received perfect scores. Such an elegant couple, their dancing so radiant and rich and luxurious and full, you just can’t take your eyes off of them no matter what they’re doing, even when simply getting ready to take off.

And Riccardo and Yulia are so much fun. His Jive is to die for, as are her Rumba walks.

I kind of like this picture even though the light is obscuring Riccardo’s face because to me it shows the excitement of a competition, with the couples making full use of the floor, kind of darting across and seemingly coming right at you as such, no matter where you’re sitting. I think they’re doing Samba promenade runs here. Riccardo is a bit of a flirt, I noticed, flashing his cute smile, with raised eyebrows, at women sitting in the front seats. I think it’s an Italian thing, though. Maurizio Vescovo does the same thing (he dances for Hungary and so doesn’t come to these U.S. comps but I’ve seen him at Blackpool) and our fancy new ABT ballerino Roberto Bolle winks at audience members during curtain calls.

Speaking of Samba, interesting but Riccardo and Yulia actually messed up during the finals. He pushed her a little too far out at one point and she tripped. She didn’t fall but she was noticeably taken off balance. She recovered easily though and the judges apparently didn’t take any deductions, or else they did and it didn’t matter.

Second place couple was one of my favorites, a tall, thin pair from Bulgaria, Delyan Terziev and Boriana Deltcheva. Delyan is a really charming dancer and very personable too — he often wins awards for best teacher. And Boriana has such long limbs, she makes these really gorgeous, spidery lines. And, in my mind, she always wins the award for best costume

Even though it’s not centered, I like this picture. They’re married, they’re cute

Other highlights were JT Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki, always snazzy, winning Pro Smooth, with the very popular Mazen Hamza and Lisa Vogel placing right behind them (wow, did they get lots of applause).

(JT and Tomas above; Mazen and Lisa below)

And of course the Amateur Latin was as always a blast. Valentin Chmerkovskiy and his new partner Daria Chesnokova took first, and I loved them. I’d liked his old partner Valeriya Kozharinova, but I always thought he was significantly better than she and that it looked like she wasn’t as emotionally involved in the dance as he (as if she was just going through the steps). But Daria is not at all like that — she is more his equal. I think they’re going to go far.

And placing second were a couple I’ve long liked, Oleksandr Althukhov and Oksana Dmytrenko, who I’ve watched coached at my old studio, Dance Times Square. At first I didn’t recognize their names, since I’ve always heard him called Sasha Russian nicknames!

Other highlights: Event founder (and former U.S. National ten-dance champion) Gary McDonald, dancing with two other guys, did a fun tribute to Michael Jackson complete with moon walks and floor spins. They also played Michael Jackson music in between the heats and during awards ceremonies, which was nice.

Photo from DanceBeat.

Judges and scorers and just people in attendance included Tony Dovolani, Mayo Alanen and Anna Demidova from Dancing With the Stars, which made me think of my friend Sharon Balik, who passed away several weeks ago and who I still think a lot about. She loved that show, especially loved Dovolani, and she so would have enjoyed this competition. Also partial to Maks Chmerkovskiy and so always very interested in hearing how his little brother placed, she would have loved to know how well he and his new partner are faring. I’m still so sad about her.

Tony giving Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz their trophy, photo taken from DanceBeat.

I missed watching Pavlo Barsuk — whose intensity is always mesmerizing to me — now that he has broken up with Anna Trebunskaya, but I saw him in the ballroom watching. I’ll look forward to seeing him and his new partner compete, when they are ready. I also saw Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruschkova in the ballroom watching. They’re former US National Latin champs, now retired, and I miss watching them. And another favorite Latin couple of mine — Vaidotas Skimelis and Jurga Puplyte — he reminds me of my favorite ballet dancer, Marcelo Gomes — this is the second year they haven’t shown up for this competition. I know they’re based in California and traveling is expensive, but c’mon man, when am I going to get to see them again? I guess I really do have to go to Blackpool next year.

I wish they would have discussed this picture

Did you guys see it? If you missed it, basically, it was short but sweet. IMO they had Daniel Radcliffe on for far too long and her not enough, but … Anyway, he introduced her, called American Ballet Theater one of the most prestigious ballet companies, and remarked that they’d never had a ballet dancer on the show … except for Richard Simmons… — which garnered lots of laughs.

She came out in this gorgeous blue strapless satin-y-looking tea-length dress. She seemed a bit nervous, but who wouldn’t be?! David Letterman was sweet though and I think his silly questions and funny demeanor kind of calmed her, made her laugh. He asked her where she was from in Russia and she said yes, I am from St. Petersburg, in Russia. She has a beautiful thick Russian accent and her understanding of English is probably not perfect but so what — I think she was endearing to his audience because of her Russianness. I think it’s very hard to learn English if you’re Russian and vice versa for us.

He asked her what their schools were like in Russia, she said they were good. He asked if she always knew she wanted to be a ballerina and she said someone had told her family that she had pretty, long legs and so must become a ballet dancer. But then she kind of laughed at herself, shook her head and said no one in her family knows anything about ballet. “Well, except you,” he said, and everyone laughed.

Then he put some pictures of her up to the camera and had her explain what they were. The first was of her doing an arabesque in — I’m not sure which ballet it was. She named the step, and he asked her if it hurt! She laughed (as did the audience). The other picture was of her as Odette at the end of Swan Lake, preparing to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff and into the lake. She called it “the final pose” of the ballet and explained that she jumps onto a mat under the stage. He asked if it hurt and she laughed again and said no. My question of course is — but does David Hallberg’s flamboyant swan dive hurt? He’s got to land on his belly. That mat must be thick!

Photo by Rosalie O’Connor, taken from The Winger.

And that was all of the pictures unfortunately. I really wish they would have shown one like the one up top, of the no hands fish dive. (photo by Gene Schiavone, by the way). She could have explained how hard it is (and, in Dave’s lingo, how much it hurts ) and of course she could have talked all about her wonderful partner, that Marcelo Gomes

Or this picture too

Anything with a fancy lift, basically. Photo also by Gene Schiavone.

Then he whipped out some toe shoes and gave them to her. They must have discussed beforehand what she’d do with them because she seemed to grab them and begin putting them on right away. The camera homed in on her feet, so we all watched her tie the ribbons. Then she got up and he led her out to the non-carpeted area and she went on pointe. She took him by the hands and lifted her leg up in back of her, in arabesque, and kind of motioned for him to walk her around like in a promenade. But he didn’t really get it and instead emulated her, lifting his leg up in back too, in a very funky-looking attitude. It was all very cute.

And then it was over, too soon.

Anyway, I was out at ABT tonight being completely floored by Hee Seo’s absolutely stunning, tear-jerking portrayal of Juliet (best I’ve seen since Alessandra Ferri, honestly), and then having a little after-performance bite to eat at Ollie’s with a couple of fun new ballet / writer / publishing friends (the best kind!), who I met in the blogosphere (the best place to meet!) Write-up soon of Seo and Cory Stearns (who was very good too, albeit a bit nervous — but excellent chemistry those two!) But, because I still live in the dark ages home entertainment-system-wise and still use a VCR to record, I could only record one show — and had to choose Veronika over SYTYCD results. If anyone could fill me in on the latter, would be much appreciated!

Part arriving at Letterman earlier today. Image taken from here.

My photo album is now up. Above are a few pictures. Top, Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Daria Chesnokova who won the Amateur Latin comp; middle two, a couple of Standard competitors; and bottom, Joanna Zacharewicz and Jose DeCamps who won Professional American Rhythm.

See how orange everyone looks! Must be combo of the skin bronzer, the  orangey-red floorlights, and my camera’s crappy flash whenever I use the full zoom.

Anyway, write-up coming soon! Here is the full album.

I’ve gotten no sleep for about the past 72 hours and have a big day ahead, so I’ll definitely write more about this weekend’s ballroom competition soon. But for now, here are a couple of photos I took and tried to doctor today. The ballroom’s ceiling lights are always turned down so low and the floorlights were mainly red, so everyone looks like they’ve got orange-peel-colored skin, when I can lighten the pics well enough that skin tone can even be seen. Someday, I’ll get a professional camera… Here are Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko (Latin winners), and Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova (Standard champs).

What do you think of the sepia anyway? Does it work? It kinds of makes them look historical, or timeless, no?

(Design by Janie Taylor, NYCBallet)

I love these Dancers’ Choice programs at NYCBallet! Established to raise money for the Dancers’ Emergency Fund, it’s the one night of the year where the dancers plan everything — the ballets to be performed, which excerpts, and who dances them. One dancer plays artistic director for the night (tonight’s was  principal ballerina Jenifer Ringer), another designs the program graphic (tonight, Janie Taylor, above), and another choreographs a ballet to be premiered (tonight, Ashley Bouder, with costumes by Janie Taylor) Dancers who are visual artists donate their artwork for a silent auction during intermission. And that’s my one and only complaint with the evening — the intermissions are always too flipping short. There’s no way people have time to browse through the special items for sale and make their purchases in 15 minutes. Why don’t they double or even triple the intermission? People can buy sparkling wine and browse and buy, not to mention people-watch (practically everyone shows up for these things — all the dancers past and present at NYCB and even ABTers from across the plaza). And it wouldn’t be more expensive to do that, right — if you’re selling alcohol and art, what’s the added expense? What do people need to get home for by 10:00 anyway

Okay, that’s my little rant.

The program was excellent. They chose the best parts of some great ballets, and some ballets I’ve never seen before — and ended up loving — and of course Bouder’s new ballet!

I’m not going to go in order, but just write what comes to mind first, which is the new Bouder,

Continue reading ‘“BRAVO, MR. B.”: DANCERS’ CHOICE PROGRAM, NEW YORK CITY BALLET’

(photo by Lauren Duque)

I was out of town and unable to attend the recent Dance Times Square showcase, Ballroom Unleashed (my first time having to miss it since I stopped dancing there), but writer D.J. McDonald was kind enough to cover it for me. Because it’s easier (too many problems pasting from Word to Wordpress), I am just going to link to his own blog, where he covered it as well. It’s here.

So, predictably, last night Mirko Gozzoli and Alessia Betti from Italy took the final Blackpool championship, the Standard (above photo from BlackpoolDanceFestival.net). Our Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova came in second, Britain’s Jonathan Wilkins and Hazel Newberry took third, the US’s Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed fourth (good placement for them; they’re moving up every year!), fifth were Italy’s Roberto Villa and Morena Colagreco, sixth Domenico Soale and Gioia Cerasole also from Italy, and seventh Britain’s Warren and Kristi Boyce.

Eleanor says:

“Yesterday was fantastic — went to the Chrisanne party which was packed as usual — then the main highlight was the comp. Last year I was so tired I don’t remember much but this time I really enjoyed it. Top three was pretty predictable but I think I prefer Domenico to Roberto and would loved to have seen Paolo (Bosco) and Silvia (Pitton, from Italy) in the final — instead they made only the Semi in a few dances. Also managed to come away with a massive poster of Katusha! Can’t believe I’m on my way home now. ”

I don’t follow Standard as closely as Latin and only really know the top four couples, all of which I like very much. Still disappointed Arunas and Katusha didn’t at least get a win in one dance. Those Chrisanne parties are always packed — and sometimes dangerous

See more results here.

Joanna Leunis and Michael Malitowski won the Latin Pro Championship tonight at Blackpool (for the second year in a row now). Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko came in second, Franco Formica and Oxana Lebedew in third, Sergey Surkov and Melia fourth, Maurizio Vescovo and Melinda Torokgyorgy fifth, Markus Homm and Ksenia Kasper sixth.

Am fairly pleased with the results I guess… though unsurprising of course. At least Michael and Joanna didn’t win across the board; Riccardo and Yulia placed first in Jive. I like Joanna and Michael and think they’re an excellent pair; I just don’t want the judges to make all others wait until they retire to advance.

photo of Leunis and Malitowski taken from here.

Expecting a bit of commentary from Eleanor and Becca soon!

Update: Eleanor says:

“Last night was the best comp I have ever been to! Although the result is never gonna be what I want it to, there is something that made me very happy! Riccardo and Yulia placed 1st in the Jive! If I were to have my way then Maurizio wouldn’t be there but what can you do? The only other bad thing about the whole thing was that Riccardo and Yulia were in the same heat as Sergey and Melia so I usually had to choose between the two! Otherwise it was absolutely the best comp I have ever seen. Now I have to drag myself out of bed and hope I still have a voice. Xx Eleanor.”

[I personally like Maurizio though he can be a real ham Not my favorite, but I am always very entertained by him. I haven't seen him and Melinda dance in a while. And I don't think I've ever seen Markus Homm and Ksenia Kasper?... Also, I wonder what happened to Peter and Kristina Stokkebroe? I guess that's how Homm and Kasper got a place on the winners podium. Will be very interesting to see what happens next year when Slavik and Anna join the fracas!]

Blackpool update: Anna Melnikova and Stefano DiFillipo from Italy (above photo by Andrew Miller from Dance Beat World) won the highly coveted Amateur Latin, placing first in all five dances, then announced their breakup. “I hate it when couples split just when they’ve won something major,” says Eleanor. “It’s like Max and Yulia all over again!”

I can’t find anything on Dance Beat confirming this but another friend told me it’s now been announced that Slavik and Anna will compete together — which would be a good reason for her breaking up with Stefano (and would make me very happy … for Slavik I mean).

Dance Beat reports that Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Daria Chesnokova (US champs in Amateur Latin), disappointingly, didn’t even place in the semi-finals.

(photo from Dance Beat)

Also, Hanna Karttunen (now broken up with Slavik) has announced that she will return to competing with her former partner, Victor DaSilva (who was on that TV show Superstars of Dance) in the exhibition category. Yes! I was so hoping that would happen!

Latin pro comp is tonight!

(photo of Daniil Simkin by John Ross, from ballet.co)

In the ballet world (or my ballet world, rather), the incredible Daniil Simkin debuted last night in ABT’s Le Corsaire (his Met stage debut anyway), dancing the role of Lankendem, the harem owner. (Herman Cornejo was supposed to dance and Daniil’s debut was supposed to be tomorrow night, but Herman is out with an injury, which I’m told isn’t expected to last long, thankfully). I think Daniil did more continuous barrel turns than I’ve ever seen before, traveling around the stage about one and a half times, doing his signature thing by making the very last one high off the ground, super fast, and straight-legged. (I don’t know the ballet term). He also goes up really high on releve (balls of the feet) when lifting his ballerina, which gives her a great deal of height. He danced beautifully with Yuriko Kajiya last night. She looked really weightless in his arms. During curtain calls, he got almost as much applause as Angel Corella’s Ali the slave!

I’ll write more after seeing the next two Corsaire casts, but last night’s opening-night cast for that ballet was excellent: tall, blonde god David Hallberg was perfect as the hero Conrad, by turns romantically tormented over thwarted attempts to get — and keep –  his love, then fearsome and commanding as head pirate (more fearsome and commanding than I think I’ve ever seen David!) Carlos Lopez as Birbanto, Conrad’s friend-turned traitor, and Paloma Herrera as Conrad’s love interest, Medora, were both excellent. I’ve sometimes seen Lopez have some trouble landing jumps solidly, but he seems to have overcome that. He was perfect last night.

Or Garden, I should say…

A brief note from Eleanor regarding today’s final series of Congress lectures:

“Best lecture today by far was by Riccardo and Yulia. They did Paso, which I’m usually not a big fan of, but it was incredible. Also enjoyed Jukka and Sirpa — they actually spoke about stuff that was appropriate to my level of dancing! Just saw Karina Smirnoff eating dinner and was quite starstruck, which is quite unusual for me! Xx Eleanor”

I can imagine Riccardo and Yulia were great — they’re both very personable and they give quite entertaining lectures as well as, obviously, great demos. Jukka Haapalainen and Sirpa Suutari are former world Latin champions from Finland. They give good lectures as well. They are trying to take ballroom to the proscenium stage and have choreographed and performed a Latin version of Bodas de Sangre, based on the Federico Garcia Lorca play, which I desperately want to see someday (to my knowledge it’s only shown in Finland).

And interesting that Karina is there! I didn’t see her the past two years. Now that she and Maks are engaged, she may be there to support his little brother Valentin, assuming he is competing this year.

Anyway, Amateur Rising Star Latin was today; the next few days will consist of the Under 21s, the over 35s, and Rising Star pros. Wednesday is the next big day — the pro Latin. By the way, if you’re so inclined, you can check continuously updated comp results and follow Tweets here.

(photo from DanceBeat, taken by Andrew Miller)

Team USA won the team competition last night, as Eleanor and I had expected. Italy took second, Germany third and the UK fourth. We were beaten by Italy in Waltz and Germany in Jive, but other than that, we placed first in all dances. And — Eugene Katsevman and Maria Manusova were our second Latin couple! Go them! I was waiting to see who it’d be since Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruyshkova retired and Anna Trebunskaya and Pavlo Barsuk seem, very upsettingly to me, to have broken up. I loved them, but oh well. Apparently with our introductory number, the Latin couples came out and did a Tango and Quickstep, then the ballroom couples did Jive and Cha Cha. According to my dispatch from Eleanor, and DanceBeat, it wowed the crowd! (Our second ballroom couple, as usual, was Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed). Eleanor also says Yulia and Riccardo are very good at Standard.

Visit DanceBeat and DanceBeatWorld for full reports.

Also, there seems to be no mention of this on DanceBeat, but Eleanor reports that Franco Formica (from team Germany) looked “mmmm” in tights and no top   Sounds very ballet!

Update: Aha, am reading up on DanceBeatWorld and seeing it WAS ballet! Formica impersonated Nureyev during their little opening introductory number! Fun! (The German team’s intro consisted of impersonations of Hollywood stars, but DBW calls Formica’s the greatest hit!; do read DBW for the rest: apparently in Italy’s opening number, the men acted as dogs and the ladies their handlers, champ Mirko Gozzoli being the unruliest dog of all, all over the stage and balcony! And England’s theme was the Circus, replete with acrobats and unicyclists, some of the senior champs of yesteryear — think Len Goodman-esque — dressed as animals. I love it.)

In another dispatch from the first day of Congress lectures, Becca reports of Sergey and Melia’s:

“Oh my GOD. Their lecture was the best I’ve ever seen in my life! They are so perfect, and they just got married too!”

Aw, I didn’t know that. Congratulations to them!

Eleanor writes:

“Just a little something about today for you. Best lectures [see post below for definition] were given by Max [Kozhevnikov] and Beata, and Sergey and Melia. Max spoke about how he gets his ideas for showdances and they performed their Charlie Chaplin number.

Sergey and Melia spoke about Rumba and did some gorgeous demos to different pieces of music showing the different interpretations. Then there was the Chrisanne one, which I featured in … am just thankful that 99.9% of the dance world don’t know who I am because I have a feeling the DVD is going to be embarrassing.

Also the World Exhibition champions, Greg and Natalie, gave a fab final lecture.

Just waiting for the team match to start now, Germany instead of Japan. US will win by miles in my opinion!

Eleanor x”

Thanks Eleanor!

So, I haven’t seen Max Kozhevnikov and Beata’s Charlie Chaplin dance, but looked it up on YouTube here. Look at that fancy footwork for Max! I seriously love Max in this! I didn’t know they were dancing together (and I think it’s only for showdances not for competition) but I like them together!

So sorry I missed Sergey and Melia’s lecture. I love Rumba, and I love theirs and would have savored seeing their different interpretations. I think I will try to buy the DVD this year if it’s not too expensive — also to see the Chrisanne show (which I’m sure won’t be embarrassing to anyone )!

And so tonight is the team comp (see prior post for more info on that too). I guess the four teams are the UK, the US, Germany and Italy. The way the team match works is that each country’s two best couples in each dance style – -Standard and Latin (so four couples total) take turns dancing two rounds of each individual dance (Rumba, Cha Cha, etc., and same for Standard). The scores are then added together and the country with the highest scores win that dance. Then, the scores for all nine dances are added together and the country with the highest score overall wins. I agree that the US will probably win, since we have two of the top couples in the world in each dance style — Riccardo & Yulia in Latin and Katusha & Arunas in Standard, whereas none of the other countries have top dancers in both (just one or the other). Last year was the first year the US ever won, by the way. We’ll see.

(Mikhail Baryshnikov, Merce Cunningham, and photographer Mark Seliger at a celebration last year for Baryshnikov’s series of photographs, Merce My Way, photo taken from here)

So, this weekend marked choreographer Merce Cunningham’s 90th birthday, with celebrations and performances of his latest work — Nearly Ninety– at BAM. Unfortunately I was unable to go — and Apollinaire reminds me just how much I missed — but I decided to compile a list of some reviews since this was such a momentous occasion (many consider Cunningham to be the greatest living choreographer, or the greatest living American choreographer; some consider him to be the last left of the greats):

Macaulay goes even farther and calls Cunningham “the greatest living artist since the death of Samuel Beckett”;

Tobi Tobias hails the choreographer, but critiques Nearly Ninety as well as the decision to let famed dancer Holley Farmer go;

Leigh Witchel describes Nearly Ninety as “dreamlike” in the NY Post;

Blogger Evan Namerow of Dancing Perfectly Free talks about the role of chance operations in NN;

Aynsley Vandenbrouke says NN is Merce’s “ode to his dancers”;

Jordan Hruska calls NN “Bionic Theater” in the Times Magazine’s blog;

New York Magazine’s Daily Intel blog blurbs mainly on the wheelchair-bound curtain call, etc.;

WWDLifestyle has a short list of some celebs who attended the post-performance party on Thursday night;

and here’s a YouTube performance clip from ArtRavels;

And, here are a couple of pre-performance overviews, from NYTimes and NY Magazine.

Apparently, NN will now travel to Madrid.

UPDATE: Also, here is Apollinaire Scherr’s review in the Financial Times. (I’m very happy to see, by the way, that she is now the dance critic for FT!) And here are more of her thoughts on the program and the Cunningham dancers on her Foot in Mouth blog.

And Eva Yaa Asantewaa in Dance Magazine.

Please let me know if I missed anyone.

Sorry, I think I’m a little off on the weeks! Probably because of the double elimination week.

I’m late with my post tonight because I went to an event at Barnes & Noble. Francis Patrelle is a SWEETHEART! I can’t wait to see his company later this week now; such an endearing personality. Seriously, one of the most personable choreographers I’ve heard speak!

(I wasn’t able to take any pictures because my camera battery went dead, but Scott Schlexer, Marcelo’s representative, who was also there, kindly sent me some of his!)

Marcelo was there, Maria Riccetto, Cynthia Gregory — looking very regal! — I love how she holds herself — and several Dances Patrelle dancers and people involved in the upcoming production at Danny Kaye Playhouse. Writers of books dances are based on, composers, and even the songwriter of the Judy Garland song that Come Rain / Come Shine is danced to. He even played piano and sang, and he was very good!

(Marcelo and Maria in Come Rain / Come Shine, photo by Jade Young.

Marcelo didn’t talk much, but when he did I could hardly focus on what he was saying because … who told me he had no accent! Haha, he TOTALLY has an accent! And his voice is a bit higher-pitched than I expected. He actually kind of sounds like Pasha, except with a Latin, not Russian accent. Not an American accent! Anyway, I remember him saying he liked dancing with Maria — that she’s very light. Oh gawd, Francis Patrelle introduced Marcelo by saying he dances with all these huge ABT women! At first I thought he meant in stature, and then he made it clear he meant in size! I was dying, though no one else seemed to be. Patrelle is a total joker anyway — he says he loves to joke around in rehearsal, and it’s clear. So, he said, Marcelo’s used to dancing with all these large women, so I gave him tiny Maria, and he really throws her around that stage with ease — something to that effect. So then Marcelo nicely said something about how wonderful Maria was to dance with. Aw.

(from right to left: Marcelo, Maria, Cynthia, and Francis Patrelle)

Marcelo also said his favorite ballet is Giselle. I know he really meant to say Romeo and Juliet though, and Swan Lake. Not Giselle! No, again Patrelle set him up for it by introducing him as just having guest danced in St. Petersburg with the Kirov, dancing Giselle with Diana Vishneva

Maria seemed rather soft-spoken. But very sweet. And definitely tinier than Veronika Part and Stella Abrera and Michele Wiles and most of the other larger-than-life ABT ballerinas. Funny she doesn’t look that tiny onstage though.

And Cynthia Gregory (retired ABT prima ballerina, who staged the piece Marcelo and Maria are performing with DP this weekend), sat in the middle of the group, exhibiting excellent ballerina posture and stately demeanor I want to be Cynthia Gregory.

(Marcelo saying something very important )

(Marcelo and Maria “waiting in the wings” while children dance and others have the stage. Thanks again to Scott for the photos!)

Okay, on to Dancing With the Stars. Anyway, this will be a bit out of order because I started watching during Derek and Lil Kim’s Jive. So:

Derek and Lil Kim Jive: Hmm. That song: Elvis’s Jailhouse Rock; when I first heard it, I thought, that’s the hardest song to Jive to — it’s way the hell fast for an amateur; is he nuts? But now I see why it worked: Len’s right — they didn’t dance a lot of Jive! A lot of posing and posturing, a lot of too grounded step kicks with no proper snap and jump — they hardly came off the floor! But that opening set of pivot spins was gorgeous. Those are hard and she deserves major kudos for doing those perfectly!

Continue reading ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS, WEEK WHATEVER: JIVE AND RUMBA — Update With Marcelo Photos’

(photo of Ethan Stiefel by Richard Calmes, from NYTimes)

Last night the Guggenheim Museum’s Works and Process event centered on Ethan Stiefel’s new dean-ship of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (which is both a high school and now a university as well). Stiefel is of course a famous ABT principal, star of both Center Stage movies, and ran the summer program Stiefel and Students / Stiefel and Stars, out on Martha’s Vineyard, which my friend Alyssa and I went to a couple of years ago. It was hosted by blogger / dance writer and photographer (and former ABT dancer and NC School of the Arts alum) Matt Murphy, and also included choreographer Larry Keigwin (artistic director of Keigwin + Company), who was the recipient of the school’s first residency under Stiefel.

It was a fun evening. Discussion centered around Ethan’s decision to take on the position, in light of the fact that he’s still dancing (he’d had several surgeries on both knees, knew he wanted to do something like this at some point but stressed about when was proper time to do it), his new schedule (now waking at 6:30 — as opposed to 11 am when he use to wake as a dancer — to take class, then teach a couple of classes, then do all manner of administrative / financial / directorial things – -not easy tasks in light of current economic crisis, and still try to find time for his own rehearsals), and just generally his teaching and directorial aesthetics (he’d come up with eight “initiatives” to instill a culture and sense of identity in the school, the last of which Matt read — which was to encourage students to be inspired by both art and life.) Gia Kourlas has a good article in the Times that summarizes all of this as well.

Keigwin joined Matt and Ethan for the last quarter or so of the panel, and he spoke about his residency, how he’d choreographed a new work both on the students and his own company simultaneously, what it was like to work with students, and what it was like to be out of NY. I’d never heard him speak before and he’s very personable, fun, and chatty with a good sense of humor (which doesn’t surprise me — his work is largely humorous and accessible as well). He talked about the company being beyond thrilled with the washing machines and the cooking space (if you don’t get out of New York much, this kind of surprise happens!) and so enjoyed performing a lot of domestic activities. He was cute! And Ethan was his usual self — his completely understated, deadpan style of talking oozing with sexiness and manly charm. Before introducing one of his students’ performances — of the Four Cygnets in Swan Lake – he explained the girls wouldn’t have the swans’ usual hairpieces: “We got a lot going on and … we just didn’t get that done in time,” he said with a smile and a shrug. Somehow the way he said it just gave everyone the giggles, which, honestly, often happens when the man speaks.

Anyway, we saw Tangled Tango, a modern piece by Dianne Markham, a contemporary choreographer at the school, the pas de deux and coda from Le Corsaire, which Ethan staged, the Four Cygnets from Swan Lake staged by Nina Danilova, and August Bournonville’s The Jockey Dance, also staged by Ethan.

Finally, we ended with Keigwin’s Natural Selection (a modern piece), which totally blew me away. The Keigwin was based on Darwin, survival of the fittest and all that, and was so stunning, filled with very difficult partnering, lifts, students crawling around on the floor, clawing at the ground and each other, lashing out, really having at each other. (So, not quite his usual humorous piece) A guy crawled around with a girl wrapped around him, underneath him. At one point, it slowed, several dancers huddled around each other in a group, each kind of resting, momentarily, putting his / her ear to the back in front of them, perhaps comforting the other, perhaps trying to determine whether his / her heart was still beating, lungs still rising, to determine whether they’d “won”. Then a girl came rushing at them, climbed right over the huddle and jumped right onto the wall in back of them. Someone crawled after her and pushed her back to the ground. Keigwin’s signature move then ensued: a group of male dancers lifted her and she bent sideways, and ran alongside the back wall. The audience was wowed. But more importantly, I think, it was such a wonderful piece for students. I mean, what better way to teach them partnering, how to work with each other, how to be dramatic, how to make the meaning of a work come alive. I loved it!

(other dancers performing that move, photographer unknown, image taken from MySpace, here)

My other favorites were: the Four Cygnets — whoa, that was PERFECTLY done! Those girls — Tessa Blackman, Maya Joslow, Amy Saunder, and Lauren Sherwood — should be so proud of themselves; and Le Corsaire — but of course I’m a sucker for that kind of bravura dancing. I was really afraid, holding my breath the whole time with that one — I mean that stage is soooo small for all that leaping and those insanely high lifts. The two dancers — Claire Kretzschmar and Kristopher Nobles (who looked like a young Gillian Murphy and Jose Carreno respectively!) did splendidly on their own. I couldn’t help but giggle during Nobles’s huge, stage-encompassing leaps and Kretzschmar’s beautiful continuous fouettes and the gorgeously high lifts — all wonderfully executed — except because of said miniscule stage, her hand almost took a light out on one such spectacular lift. There was a tiny bit of fumbling on some of the partnering — the assisted pirouettes and the promenade, but I was actually glad for the audience to understand how insanely hard those things are. People think that’s the easy stuff — and the lifts are the hard parts — but the assisted pirouettes and promenades, when the girl is totally off her center of gravity and the guy has to help keep her centered, are some of the hardest aspects of partnering. Now maybe Met orchestra peeps will not be so confused when the young dance students in family circle go wild for Marcelo the great’s ten bizillion one-handed turns with Julie Kent

Here’s a video of the Four Cygnets, here’s some classic Corsaire (they didn’t do all of this insanity, but you get the idea), and here is The Jockey Dance (it was performed last night by two boys, Devin Sweet and Shane Urton).

The Jockey Dance was fun too — one of those dances that looks deceptively easy, but you can tell is really hard, with all the bouncing jumps, playful competitiveness– using a whip no less, and fast footwork.

Gillian Murphy (ABT prima ballerina, Ethan’s girlfriend, and NC School of the Arts alum) was there too. Poor thing had to sit in the critics’ section! Luckily Sir Alastair was not there… The program repeats tonight, but is sold out.

(photo of Commedia by Erin Baiano)

(photo by John Ross, of Commedia)

Last weekend’s Works and Process event at the Guggenheim focused on Christopher Wheeldon’s recent ballet, Commedia, and the costume and set designers, Isabel Toledo and Ruben Toledo, respectively.

Isabel Toledo is of course best known for this dress:

(photographer unknown, image taken from Huffington Post) — Michelle Obama’s inauguration dress. Interestingly, we learned at the event that she found out Obama was wearing the dress just as Wheeldon’s Morphoses was premiering the ballet at the Sydney Dance Festival in Australia. (she was with the company there; we saw some footage of that, shot by Wheeldon on his point and shoot).

Commedia, which I’ve wrote about briefly here, is a sweet ballet in the style of Italian Commedia dell’arte and involves a set of traveling performers. Wheeldon made it in honor of the centenary this year of Ballets Russes (you may have seen the excellent documentary on that company that showed here a couple of years ago and is now on DVD); Commedia will be performed again when Morphoses returns this fall to Sadler’s Wells in London and then NY City Center. Commedia is set to a score by Stravinsky, which Michel Fokine had used for his ballet, Pulcinella, which Ballets Russes performed.

The Toledos designed the costumes and stage sets, and it was really interesting hearing the three talk about their collaboration. Isabel was very personable, very chatty, and though she’s Cuban-born, her accent sounded perfectly American. She talked about how much more difficult it was than she expected to design costumes for a dance

Continue reading ‘ISABEL TOLEDO AND CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON AT GUGGENHEIM’

I spent most of my day yesterday at the Walter Reade theater at Lincoln Center watching films about Alvin Ailey: rare footage of interviews and rehearsals with the legendary choreographer, and of him as a young dancer in the 50s and early 60s dancing with the equally legendary Carmen de Lavallade, along with later coverage of Judith Jamison and others dancing, newer PBS specials on the company, and even a couple of panel discussions with filmmakers, collaborative artists, and dancers who worked with Ailey. What a treat! The all-day event was co-produced by the company (AAADT) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center in honor both of the company’s 50th anniversary and the start of Black History Month.

First off, there was a collection of vintage posters in the art gallery right across the hall from the theater. (top two pics above, taken by me.) There was also a little reception with complimentary wine. Complimentary strong wine (which, I hadn’t eaten much and, well, probably got carried away excitedly tweeting over seeing some of the dancers there — namely

Yannick Lebrun, photo by Eduardo Patino

Yannick Lebrun — wearing gold earrings in both ears and dressed very stylishly in one of those skinny scrunchy bubble-jackets, baggy jeans and bright red-soled sneakers — it’s always fun to see your favorite dancers outside of the theater, just dressed like ‘normal people’. Also there were  Renee Robinson, Matthew Rushing, Vernard Gilmore, and Hope Boykin, and choreographer Robert Battle. Renee and Yannick both showed up to the church event they had last year and I love that both the newest company member and the dancer who’s been there the longest show up to these kinds of things).

Anyway, the first set of films consisted of a movie directed by Orlando Bagwell made for PBS called “A Hymn for Ailey.” I’d never seen it before, but it was a filmed version of Judith Jamison’s dance / theater piece for the stage, Hymn, which she choreographed for the stage not long after Alvin Ailey died (of AIDS, in 1989). I’d never seen that either and I wish the company would stage it again. It was filmed mainly in the church where Ailey’s funeral was held, the magnificient Saint John the Divine. Dancers danced to a series of spoken word pieces recited by playwright / actor Anna Deavere Smith, who was, of course, a very powerful presence in the film. At times she’d stand next to the dancer — at one point Renee Robinson — and speak about body image, as Renee danced her words, and interacted with her at the same time, at one point seeming about to lash out on a negative thought, as if she were a mirror. At another, she spoke about Ailey’s artistry as an excellent male dancer who’s name I didn’t know belted out the movement with great passion. Or, one of the parts that stayed with me for a while — Smith took on the voice of an African woman talking about how much easier it is to be “real,” to be oneself, back in Africa; how here everyone has to wear a mask to survive. It kind of reminded me of Invisible Man. Both the performance and the words were very moving.

(there was a panel discussion after the Bagwell film, including from right to left, company rehearsal director Ronni Favors, filmmaker Bagwell, Jamison, and Deavere Smith). Judith Jamison is so charismatic, I’m sure it goes without saying. No matter what she’s talking about, you just want to hang on to her every word.

But the biggest highlight of that program — of the day for me — was footage of Alvin Ailey rehearsing a female dancer, Donna Wood Sanders, for her role in Masekela Langage (depicting denizens of a bar, set simultaneously in 1960s race-torn Chicago and apartheid-era South Africa, or anywhere oppression exists). I can’t tell you how much I got from this and I really really wish companies would do this more — would show audiences rehearsals and give us a glimpse into the artistic process. He was telling her, you’re an older woman, you’re stuck, trapped in this bar, in this place, you can’t escape and your life is dreary but that doesn’t mean you’re giving up. And, as she’d do certain things in the choreography, like push her arms out and step backward, he’d say to her, “let me see you in a prison, trying desperately to escape, but you can’t.” And she’d do the movement in such a way that that’s exactly what you saw. It was brilliant. And so powerful. I sometimes wonder how much is lost when a choreographer like that dies, if the entirety of his rehearsal and notes on direction are not kept. Dancers should of course add their own interpretations, but not without reviewing the master’s directions again for guidance. Now I want to see this ballet again.

(photo by Steve Vaccariello, of Renee Robinson and Clifton Brown in Masekela Langage)

Also included in the programs I saw were an interview Harry Belafonte conducted with Alvin Ailey, vintage footage of dancers Carmen de Lavallade, James Truitte, and Ailey performing classic works by Ailey’s mentor, Lester Horton. I particularly enjoyed The Beloved, depicting a relationship fraught with tension but compassion that kind of reminded me of some of Ulysses Dove’s work.  (A program later in the day included films of some of his dances, but unfortunately I couldn’t stay).

A final highlight of the day for me was watching vintage footage of Alvin dancing Porgy and Bess with Carmen de Lavallade. Learn about that story (originally an opera) and its history here. Ailey danced the part of the the man who threatens the crippled Porgy and seduces but mistreats Porgy’s beloved Bess. I’d never actually seen much of Alvin Ailey dancing and this was such a treat. As someone said in one of the films — I think it was Jamison but am not sure — “He WASN”T skinny!,” which made me laugh, but she’s right.

(image of Alvin Ailey by Jack Mitchell, taken from here)

He was a meaty man. And he had hefty strength and ferocity to his dancing, a virility that was simultaneously sexy and threatening and that I totally didn’t expect since, by the way he speaks and from what I’ve read about him, he seems to have been such a soft, gentle man, and given that most of the male characters he created in his ballets seem like soft, gentle men as well, full of vulnerability and sympathy. Plus, with the possible exception of Glenn Allen Sims, no one  in the current company really dances like that. Not that that’s a bad thing – -just a different aesthetic.

I wish I could have stayed for the full day, but I went to ABT’s female choreographers program at the Guggenheim, which I’ll write about soon. This company always makes me so happy and inspired.