Category: Previews

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PAUL TAYLOR: DREAMS AND FUNNIES

 

So, Paul Taylor season is currently underway at New York City Center. I’ll be going several times next week and will be writing more then, but last week I saw three dances: Funny Papers, De Suenos (Of Dreams), and De Suenos Que Se Repiten (Of Dreams That Keep Recurring) — the third a continuation of the second. The first is a humorous piece from 1994 based on newspaper comics, with sections entitled I’m Popeye the Sailor Man and I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones. The two Dreams pieces, from 2007, like real dreams, ranged from funny to nonsensical to ominous, then back to funny again and were populated by characters like a faun (above), a “golden girl” / angelic character tiptoeing around with a golden crown / halo atop her head, righting all the wrongs created by a devil, peasant women selling flowers and the women or men who buy them, and some underworld urchins who go to battle. I didn’t find any of these pieces tremendously profound, but they were funny and entertaining and often contained surprises both in movement and character-type — not at all cliched.

Paul Taylor is of course one of the masters of American modern dance, loved by most critics and dance fans. My experience with his work thus far has been limited mainly to American Ballet Theater’s production last season of his Company B, which I loved. So I greatly look forward to seeing more next week. The company performs through March 15th. Go here for more info and tickets.

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New Cafe at Alice Tully Hall

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Yesterday, Ariel invited me to a rehearsal at New York City Ballet. I love watching rehearsals! Especially with performers you really like; you kind of get to know their personalities a bit more. I don’t think we’re supposed to talk about anything in detail, but can I just say, methinks Tyler Angle must be every girl’s Dream partner 😀

 

Anyway, afterward, Ariel told me about the new cafe at Alice Tully Hall, the northernmost building of Lincoln Center, that houses mainly music concerts. She’d heard the restaurant portion (apparently the mac ‘n cheese) got some negative reviews, but I thought their coffee was rich and the American cheesecake we had, which was creamy and topped with little swirls of white chocolate, was delic. The spacious cafe is on the bottom floor and, encased in glass, it lets a lot of sunlight in and gives you an excellent view of the surrounding area.

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(this is facing east).

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(and this south, toward the rest of Lincoln Center. Ariel picking delicately at her cheesecake in foreground 🙂 )

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(the renovated Juilliard School aka Irene Diamond Building atop Alice Tully Hall).

Lincoln Center’s been under construction forever, so it’s nice to finally see some of the building facades begin to crawl out from under their shells.

Also, last night I went to a very intriguing performance at Dance Theater Workshop, called Kisaeng becomes you by experimental dance-makers Dean Moss and Yoon Jin Kim. It’s on for one night more — tonight — and I highly recommend it if you’re in New York. I went to see it as part of Claudia La Rocco’s WNYC performance club. I found it to be powerful but subtle, and at least in part about the commodification of Asian women in contemporary society, although club members, who discussed the performance a bit afterward at a nearby French restaurant, saw different things. Review coming soon! In the meantime, here’s Gia Kourlas’s NYTimes write-up.

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Marie Antoinette Ballet About to Premiere in Houston

 

Apparently the artistic director of the Houston Ballet, Stanton Welch, whose work — that I’ve seen anyway– I’ve really liked, has made a new ballet based on the life of Marie Antoinette, which is just about to premiere. See a video of the company’s rehearsal footage here, and some photos of the making of face casts to be used during the execution scene here. And follow progress on the ballet on the company’s blog.

I’d so love to see this, though I can’t really go to Houston right now. I hope they take it on tour. If anyone is local (DA perhaps?), please do report!

 

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Alvin Ailey Day at Film Society This Sunday

This Sunday, February 1, in honor of the start of Black History Month, the Film Society at Lincoln Center will be showing a full afternoon and evening of films about Alvin Ailey and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the Walter Reade Theater. Onstage guests will include playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith, dancer Donna Wood Sanders, filmmakers Orlando Bagwell and Patricia Birch who will present their films and answer questions afterward, and of course Judith Jamison. There’s also a poster exhibit in the Walter Reade lobby.

Sounds like a wonderful day! I can’t make all of the films but hope to see some. Go here for a full list of screenings.

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Two Big Ballet Companies Begin Their Winter Seasons

Last night marked the start of Miami City Ballet‘s New York City Center season, which is very exciting because, not only is this that company’s Manhattan debut, but it marks the return of the company’s director, the famous Edward Villella, to the stage on which he began his career as a ballet dancer, in 1957, with Balanchine’s company — New York City Ballet. NYCB’s current home, the State Theater (now known, after recent renovations, as the David H. Koch Theater) wasn’t yet built then so City Center was the company’s main stage. I’ll be going to a couple of their performances later in the week and can’t wait. I especially can’t wait for Tharp’s In the Upper Room, one of my favorites. So psyched they’re doing it!

Last night was also San Francisco Ballet’s opening night gala. The co-founder of Twitter was there and he mobile tweeted that the event was like an unofficial Twitter headquarters. Most cool! Hopefully, we’ll be getting a full report of the evening from Jolene.

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Champions of the Dance

 

I am really excited about this! It’s for one night only, Friday, January 23 at 8 pm, at Town Hall in midtown, and it’s starring a couple of my favorite pairs: Delyan Terziev and Boriana Deltcheva (in the above pic, far left) and Iveta Lukosiute and Gherman Mustuc (far right). Delyan & Boriana are a tall, thin, dramatic Latin couple I really like (she has these really gorgeous spidery limbs); they usually place in the finals in national competitions (and used to be competitive for top awards with Pasha and Anya when they were still competing). Iveta and Gherman are ten-dance champs (meaning, they compete in all ten dances, both Latin and Standard). They also do wonderful ballroom showcases.

Also performing are some dancers who were featured on the PBS show America’s Ballroom Challenge (which should be airing again soon, in early February): Evgeny Dyanchenko and Inna Ivanenko (above pic, in the middle), Tony Scheppler and Erin Bomboy, and Mayo Alanen and Lisa Vogel.

Tix are $45-$50. If you’re in New York, go here for more info. There isn’t a lot of Latin / Ballroom concert dance in New York so I’m very happy about this!