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Movmnt Magazine Dance Blogger Party

 

Sorry I’m so late in getting this up! Last Monday evening, David Benaym, Editor-In-Chief and co-founder (with Danny Tidwell) of Movmnt Magazine hosted a dance blogger party at his office’s downtown NY headquarters. From left to right in picture above: Tony Schultz from The Winger, Doug Fox from Great Dance, Dea Soares Berrios, a friend of mine and The Winger’s, from Brazil who writes the personal blog Dea Nos Eua about her experiences moving to the U.S., her husband Al Berrios behind her, Taylor Gordon from The Winger and Off Center, me, Evan from Dancing Perfectly Free, David Benaym, and Brian Gibbs from The Winger.

It was a great time! David (pronounced Du-VEED) is extremely animated, and being from France, has a serious accent. People were having all kinds of funny mis-understandings 😀 We had some good discussions about dance and the internet, which companies are the best at using it (NYCBallet and Alvin Ailey, both of whom have YouTube channels), which are the worst (unfortunately my favorite American Ballet Theater was the sad winner in that category), which issues people are afraid to discuss in the blogosphere (dancer eating disorders being a big one), how most bloggers’ personas are so different from the writer’s actual personality (as well as pictures; we all agreed Schultz’s Winger headshot looks nothing like him!), and how we keep in touch with each other on a daily basis through our blogs though we’ve rarely met in person: at one point, David remarked how worried he was about Jolene. We asked why and he said, “Did you see? She said she would not come because she was very very sick and would soon go to hospital.” “Nooooo,” we all — and I mean all — sang out in unison, “that’s Ariel!” (who’s better now, by the way). Then he said, “Ohhh, well then who is Jolene?” Again, we all said in unison, “she’s the one who lives in San Francisco…” — I find it sweet that we all keep up with each other so well via our blogs; we really are a tight community. And finally, we talked about whether bloggers (particularly the snarky ones 🙂 ) should be anonymous (we’re all dying, for example, to know who Danciti is, though some thought anonymity was fine). I know I’m forgetting tons of stuff; we decided through Al’s suggestion, that the next time, we would take minutes or record.

 

At the end, David gave us little gift bags containing issues of the latest magazine as well as a few back copies, a pair of Movmnt socks (hehe, like they give you on VirginAtlantic for overseas flights), and a copy of his and Danny’s book, “Moving Still.” Since I helped to organize the event, I received a special copy, containing all of the featured dancers’ — including Tidwell’s — autographs 🙂 Even though I don’t agree with David about everything (for example, he thought about 10 posts a week on The Winger was good, otherwise it’s too overwhelming; I think, seriously, the more posts per day the better — my ideal number would be a Gawker-sized 30+ per weekday, although I realize this is never going to happen without a salaried, full-time blogger staff; there needs to be a Nick Denton of dance…) but I have a great deal of admiration for someone who has such an entrepreneurial spirit, who’s such a risk-taker and doesn’t think twice about creating his own path. He not only started his own magazine and wrote two books — his own novel (only available in French) as well as “Moving Still,” but he founded his own publishing companies to produce all of these things.

If you’re near a Barnes & Noble that carries it (one thing I learned from David is that you have to pay a bookstore shitloads of money just to carry your mag, even though they get a big profit from sales anyway?..), the latest issue is available. It includes an article by Taylor about dancer injuries, and two profiles from dancer Matt Murphy on composer Nico Muhly and “Center Stage 2” star Kenny Wormald, amongst other good things of course! Or you can visit their website.

Also, if you’re a dance blogger and near NYC and you want to be included on our email list, send me an email (found on my contact page). I don’t always organize these things but I seem to be the current “maintainer of email addresses.”

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Diana Vishneva's "Beauty in Motion" at City Center

I’m writing a review of this for Explore Dance, so will make this short; I wanted to post something quickly since it’s only showing tonight and tomorrow (Sunday) matinee.

It’s funny to me that dance-makers and fans always complain that critics are destroying dance with their negative reviews. I think they often do the opposite, creating loads of hype, sometimes deserved, sometimes not. And you don’t know which it is until you’ve seen the program. In this case, I’d say the program is worth seeing, but not for the reasons the critics say. The highlight to me was the brilliant brilliant Desmond Richardson of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, in the third ballet of the night, “Three Point Turn,” Dwight Rhoden’s exciting piece about the turbulence of male / female relationships. Richardson had two breathtaking solos that brought the crowd, rightly, to its feet. For a ballet-trained dancer he excels at the sharp, angular, staccato movements that are the hallmark of modern. He’s really a marvel.

I also enjoyed in that last piece Kirov danseur Mikhail Lobukhin. He’s a muscular man with a longish blonde mane and highly arched feet that, when he points, enable him to make beautiful lines. He has kind of an androgynous appeal, which works well for this piece in which masculine violent passion and feminine romantic love are often evoked simultaneously.

In the first ballet of the evening, Alexei Ratmansky’s “Pierrot Lunaire,” which aims to put to dance a set of Fifteenth-Century European poems about a clown’s descent into madness and back again, and in which the clown is depicted alternately by four dancers (all from the Kirov), Alexander Sergeev was my favorite. He interpreted his clown’s changing happiness, sadness, sexual fervor, and madness with the most pathos, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

The show is meant to celebrate Diana Vishneva, the Russian ballerina who is currently a principal with American Ballet Theater as well as the Kirov Ballet, or Mariinsky Theater, in St. Petersburg. The middle piece, by Moses Pendleton, the modern, not ballet, choreographer who founded theatrical dance companies, Pilobolus and MOMIX, is the one that most celebrates Vishneva, because it allows her to have the stage entirely to herself. I don’t think she works tremendously well with others (which I’ve noted before), and I have yet to see what all the critics are so orgasmic about with her, but Pendleton gave her some brilliant props to work with — particularly a large mirror upon which she lay in various positions, she and her reflection together evoking a series of imaginative shapes, and a beaded headdress which she wore and spun around repeatedly in, making interesting forms with the material — and the result seemed to be the crowd-pleaser of the night (other than Richardson).

At the end of the last piece, the curtain went down, then rose again. All dancers besides Vishneva were onstage. The dancers linked hands and came forward for a group bow. Then, each came forward one at a time — five in all — then another group bow. The dancers began looking at each other, a bit concerned. The conductor — shaggy-haired and good-looking I might add! — came onstage and took a bow. The dancers took another group bow. The singer came onstage and took a bow. The audience applauded on and on, for a good ten minutes. The dancers looked at each other, more worried. Audience members began to shrug their shoulders. “Is she coming out?” someone whispered. A few began to leave. One dancer, I think it was innocent-faced Sergeev, gave a nod and the dancers walked forward, arms linked, for yet another bow. Vishneva has refused to take bows before: at ABT’s opening night Met gala last year, she wouldn’t come out for her Sleeping Beauty curtain call. Ballet Talk talkers surmised she was upset about her performance. I didn’t see anything lacking in her performance and wondered whether it was just that she had to share the stage with two other dancers who played Sleeping Beauty (at the gala, they had three women dance the part for variety). I turned around to peek at Kevin McKenzie (ABT’s artistic director, who happened to be sitting behind me); he didn’t seem to have a clue as to what might be up either. I turned around and put on my coat. Some other orchestra members came out for some bows. Then another dancer group bow. The lady beside me excused herself and walked past me. I was just about to grab my bag and go when, finally, in what must have been a good fifteen minutes after the end of the last ballet, she emerged from the wings, bedecked in a velvety black, floor length gown with a several-foot-long train. But she didn’t just walk out onstage to the middle of the lined-up dancers; she walked around clear to the back of the stage, proceeded all the way around the row of dancers, went nearly into the opposite wings, and came around in front, prancing to the front of the stage and taking several very long, drawn-out bows. I think by that time all of our standing ovations and applause had long been spent on Richardson, and I heard several harrumphs of annoyance. I know it may be a Russian thing for the prima ballerinas to act like drama queens in taking their bows, and some may see it as a point of amusement for American audiences, but I think people were more confused and annoyed than entertained.

Anyway, the show’s worth seeing for the interesting choreography, the excellent guest dancers from the Kirov, and for Richardson. Go here for tix. Here are a couple of other write-ups from my fellow bloggers, Jolene and Art in California, who have different points of view regarding Vishneva, from me.

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Vaidotas and Jurga Take Second With Splendidly Evocative 70s Style Showdance :)

 

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this Ballroom Challenge post up!!!

I loved Vaidotas Skimelis and Jurga Pupelyte’s retro hustle-y disco-y Cha Cha / Samba! He moved so well; I’ve never seen his hips move like that! The routine had a great sense of humor and charm. I loved his bouncing around on one leg, the other extended out, their excellent lift sequence, the 70s-style costumes, and that great, very disco-y death spiral they ended with. All so Studio 54; all such fun!

 

Funny because Anna Trebunskaya and Pavlo Barsuk did a retro routine as well; theirs more jive-y and from the 50s-60s, although I felt theirs didn’t have as much spark and fun period flavor as Vaidotas and Jurga’s. At Blackpool last year there was a very popular lecture on the history of Latin dance, where the speaker used several currently competing dancers to demonstrate the looks and moves of the past, tracing them to the present. It was so interesting to see how the dances have changed over the years, becoming faster, the footwork more intricate and the movement much sharper. And with each decade you could see outside popular cultural influences; the 70s period replete with hilarious Saturday Night Fever moves. Of course we laugh now, but back then it was brilliant the way contemporary dance meshed with classical ballroom. It made me wonder what period we’re in right now? Hip hop? The movements are so sharp, so staccato, I wonder if Hip Hop (the club dance of our day) and break dancing have had something to do with it?? Hmm. Anyway, I just thought I’d include a couple of my pictures from that lecture here:

 

Here is the 50s style. How adorable is that dress! The couples danced so slowly compared to today, they danced much farther apart from each other (it being the 50s and all) and everything was very “cutesy,” meaning, the hips were less connected to the lats (back muscles), so it looked like the butt was kind of shaking cutely on its own instead of the hips being compelled to move by the shoulder blade forcing the lats down and compressing the lower back into the hip socket. (Remember the perfect Rhumba walks exhibited by Yulia Zagoruychenko in the opening exhibition? The hips are more connected to the rest of the body now; whereas back then it was more like the dancers were walking toward their toes, lightly, and, with their hips uncontrolled by the upper body, it made for a rather dainty booty-swaying action).

Here’s the cute 60s style Cha Cha, the couples still barely touching each other to maintain “a safe distance.” See how her entire body sways to one side though?

Here’ the 70s couple with their hilarious costumes and John Travolta arms.

 

And this couple — my love Sergey Surkov and his Melia 🙂 — demonstrated the contemporary Rhumba. See how, in contrast to the 60s couple above, her body is straight, only the hip slightly beginning to settle to one side? Now, the active parts of the body move one at a time, first the foot takes a step, then the shoulder pushes down on the lat muscle, pushing down on the lower back, which compels the hip to settle. It’s much more stylized, more controlled, and more subtle than the hip-swaying / entire-body-swaying movement of yore. And much harder!

Anyway, back to America’s Ballroom Challenge.

 

I loved Delyan Terziev and Boriana Deltcheva’s “Money Money Money” routine from Cabaret. And I love that they used the newer, Alan Cumming version of the song! I loved the way Delyan moved his back, the way he curved his shoulders up and over so he was hunching intentionally awkwardly at times. He kind of inhabited the decadence of Weimar, the corruption of money, in his body, the way Cumming’s Emcee did in the play. And her dress and bob were cute and she did the seductive Sally Bowles well too. I thought this was one of their better routines and I was sorry the judges didn’t rank them higher.

 

I also noticed, both in group and solo routines Andre Paramonov and Natalie like I never have before. Maybe they come across better on camera than in person since they’re a bit smaller than the others?… I don’t know, but he dances with a lot of character and charm, shows a lot of expression on his face, and she has beautiful extensions and ballet-based technique. Some of those lunges and the dip she’s doing in the picture above were breathtaking.

 

And I just want to say something about Ilya Ifraimov and Nadia Golina, who did this robotic thing that reminded me a bit of Gary and Rita Gekhman’s techno Standard showdance from a couple of years ago. It wasn’t my thing as I’m thinking it wasn’t for a lot of people, but the judges placed them first because in the showdances they seem to value creativity and uniqueness over all else. This, I think is where Jonathan Roberts was coming from with that rather odd-looking routine he created for Marie Osmond on Dancing With the Stars last season that he received so much public scrunity over. These competition judges go wild for these kind of odd-looking routines, sometimes the more out of the ordinary the better.

 

And finally, the winners, Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kryuchkova. I find their showdances to be rather bland, actually. Andrei used to teach at my old studio, so he’d perform in the showcases first with his students in the student section, then with Elena in the pro portion. Pasha and Anya though were always the main draw, their showdances having loads more flavor, cool tricks, and just overall pizzazz, though they were never ranked as high as Andrei and Elena in the comps. I think Andrei and Elena have excellent Latin technique and a quiet, subtle charm, but, while understated works in group dances, it doesn’t for showdances. I do think they deserved to win the overall.

 

It’s very weird, but I feel that Andrei on his own is one of the most amazing dancers I’ve ever seen. And on his own he seems to have a decent amount of charisma. But together they’re lacking in that department, and that’s extremely nonsensical given how in love they are and how much attention he showers on her, both during dance and outside the ballroom (I’ve seen them together a lot and they’re always all over each other!) Ballroom dance is all about partnership, though, so they have to learn how to have appeal as a couple. How do you teach that: how to have charisma when dancing together? All I know is, they need to take it up several notches if they ever want to achieve real popularity with the crowd. If that’s what they want.

Going over my notes, as far as the group numbers: I love that the camera guy focused so on Vaidotas and Jurga. Thanks camera guy! I guess others find them charismatic as well… I liked Anna and Pavlo’s close, cheek-to-cheek Argentine tango handhold at the beginning of their Cha Cha. It was different. Anna also had some great moves, some beautiful ronde de jambes en l’air (one leg circling the air), particularly coming out of a deep lunge. I liked Natalie’s beautiful Rhumba splits, which she did several times, making good use of her long legs and flexibility. I loved Delyan and Boriana’s costumes, the cherry red making them stand out brightly. They’ve moved up a notch, by the way, regularly surpassing Ilya and Nadia in the standings now, very unusual in Latin.

That’s another thing: Ron Montez kept saying he had high expectations for Anna and Pavlo, thinking they’d be at the top and possibly even winners, since they’re a new couple who’s shot up the charts recently. He should know though, unless something has changed since his day as a champ, that precisely because they’re a couple new to the finals, they would place at the bottom. Those are the ironclad rules of ballroom dancing that make these competitions so frustrating. Pavlo and Anna placed in the finals because Max and Yulia didn’t compete (Yulia, by the way, is not retired, as Montez said; only Max Kozhevnikov, her old partner with whom she danced in the exhibition, retired. She is now dancing with Italian dancer Riccardo Cocchi, but wasn’t yet ready to compete with him when this competition was filmed); last year Pasha Kovalev and Anya Garnis’s departure from competition allowed Vaidotas and Jurga into the finals. It was a given therefore that Vaidotas and Jurga would place fifth, Pavlo and Anna sixth, being the second-newest and newest respectively. That’s just the way things work. I could have told you the finalist positions before the comp happened, as could anyone who regularly attends these things.

One last thing. For anyone who tuned in a bit early and saw the end of the McNeil Lehrer Newshour where Mr. Lehrer was talking about the New York Times article arguing PBS was no longer necessary, here is that article. Regarding this show in particular, the writer, Charles McGrath, argues that PBS is now, in an attempt to get audiences, copying the networks by putting on a dance competition of their own. Mr. McGrath obviously didn’t know that this was a real competition, not a reality show of the kind seen on the networks. He also wasn’t aware that these PBS ballroom competitions have been around now for well over a decade. It’s true that they went off the air for a couple of years due to lack of funding. But they have long been a mainstay of public television. Dancing With the Stars has been around for, what, two years now? I don’t think America’s Ballroom Challenge is doing any “copying.”

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Status Quo Nails Upside Down Soulja Boy!

Woo hoo — I love this group! Did you guys watch it? (MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” of course!) They were given as their song the extremely popular YouTube hit, Soulja Boy, which began an internet dance craze, but their particular challenge was to do some of the steps upside down, which they nailed (or murdered, as Shane Sparks would say) with those insane handstands and upside-down lifts. And did you see the guy with the injured ankle doing those continuous flips over the guy they basically made into a human jump rope? And that ending crazy jump flip thing where he ended up in the crowd pretending to be all pissed, like he didn’t mean it? This group reminds me of those kids you see in the Times Square subway, or more often, at the Central Park fountain wowing the crowd. They’re so real and their dancing has such a story to it with thrilling but humorous theatrics and such a street feel and I just love them. Maybe also because they hail from Kirven’s hometown 🙂 Anyway, can America please stop putting them in the bottom??? I’m sick of this shit! They rock dammit! Stoppit!

Anyway, sorry I’m so late with my Ballroom Challenge post! This week has been insanely busy and I have tons to blog about — Movmnt magazine blogger party Monday night (which Taylor and Evan have already excellently covered), continuing legal ed seminar Tuesday (which, don’t worry, I won’t be blogging about, though it was one of the more interesting CLEs being on sex offense legislation), book party for a friend last night (which Ariel has already excellently covered, but I will blog about as well! — along with Movmnt party), and tonight an Op Ed writing seminar, for which I chose to try my hand at a gun control piece, and consequently have lovely homicide stats coming out of my nose… Anyway, I promise to write about ABC tomorrow!!! Thanks for all the comments on the last post, you guys 🙂

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Tonight is Latin!

Yes, my favorite! Tonight’s American Ballroom Challenge competition is the Latin event, the most popular in the U.S. (Standard is more popular in England). Look for:

Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kryuchkova, several times U.S. national champs. Andrei is tall and thin and he just flies across the floor. He’s one of my favorite Latin men.

A new favorite man of mine, Vaidotas Skimelis, whose large size both slows him down a bit in terms of sheer speed, but also gives him a kind of Maks Chmerkovskiy / Marcelo Gomes virile appeal. This is the couple for whom Pasha and Anya’s departure from competition last year kind of allowed in the door for finals — so one not completely horrible aspect of P & A’s absconding for Hollywood 🙂 Last year he and partner Jurga Pupelyte did a gorgeous showdance that had everyone talking.

A couple I’ve admired for a while, Delyan Terziev and Boriana Deltcheva. I’m not always in love with the themes they choose for their exhibition showdances, but on the floor, during the group numbers, I think they have really beautiful, unique artistry.

If you’re a “Dancing With the Stars” fan, watch for Anna Trebunskaya and her newish partner Pavlo Barsuk. About a year or two ago she and Jonathan Roberts broke up (as dance partners) and she’s been doing very well with Pavlo.

 

And finally, they’re not competing, as he’s now retired and she has a very new partner, but watch in exhibitions for current U.S. national champs and longtime beloved couple, Max Kozhevnikov and Yulia Zagoruychenko. Above is a picture of them from Blackpool last year, where they always give a lecture demo.

That’s tonight 8p.m. on PBS!

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Decent New Dancing With Stars Cast

Ugh, I’m such an idiot. When they said they were going to announce the new “Dancing With the Stars” cast on “Dance War” tonight, I thought they meant they were announcing the real stars! They only announced the celebrities! I’ve heard through the grapevine — from Sharon 🙂 — that Louis Van Amstel is dancing again, which I’m thrilled about since I regard him as the greatest ballroom dancer in the world right now. I heard Julianne Hough is dancing again as well. And besides that don’t know… I guess the show regards them as less important than the contestants, sadly… I do love how the announcement was made though — LOVE that Dance Center / Sports Center comedy sketch thingy — Kenny Mayne’s sense of humor has stolen my heart… and he with Jerry Rice and Lisa Rinna were hilarious with their goofy back and forth jabs at each other.

So the celebrity contestants:

First announced is Marlee Matlin, the actress whom I loved in “Children of a Lesser God,” but haven’t seen her in much of what she’s been in lately — TV shows, right? Well, I’m excited about her. I guess she’ll kind of be the Heather Mills of this season if you want to see it that way. Not being able to hear the music will obviously be a handicap, but, equally obviously, she’s someone who doesn’t let her hearing hinder her.

Second woman is Priscilla Presley, actress probably best known as Elvis’s wife. At 62, she’ll perhaps be the “Jane Seymour” of this season.

Next is Shannon Elizabeth, an actress I’m not really familiar with but apparently was in “American Pie,” and “hot,” as Jerry continuously pronounced her.

Fourth is Monica Seles, the tennis player who always used to grunt loudly when swinging that racket. The three commentators had fun ribbing on what kinds of noises she might make and whether they’d sound better in Latin or Standard.

Fifth is Kristi Yamaguchi — yay!!! I loved watching her skate. I used to take figure skating lessons and she was my role model; I so wanted to be her. I can’t believe she’s 36! As a skater, obviously she’ll have a big advantage here, but you never know what that’s going to mean…

Final woman is Marissa Jaret Winokur, Broadway actress from “Hairspray,” which, embarrassingly, I never saw. Commentators had some fun joking that her hair might be a big problem, as she may trip over it or it may get all tangled up in her partner.

Men are:

NFL player Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins. At first I couldn’t figure out what was up with that beefcake photo they put up of him, with Lisa’s pointing out the various “highlights” in his physique. Then I realized the other two commentators were NFL players so she was joking that he was by far the best looking footballer the show had ever had.

Second is Christian de la Fuente, good-looking Latin telenovella star, whom I’m not familiar with.

Then there’s Mario, the R&B singer and hip hop dancer, who will have the obvious dance-experience advantage.

Next is Steve Guttenberg — yay!!! I remember him from oooh so many movies, not the least of which, honestly, I’m so embarrassed to admit but the Village People movie. I honestly saw it when I was really really young and I fell head over heels in love with his cutely endearing dorkiness. Of course he’s best known for his role in “Three Men and a Baby,” which, yeah, he was good in that too 🙂 He’s got a great personality and I know I’m gonna eat him right up!

Then there’s Penn Jillette, the magician with Penn and Taylor. The thing about this guy is that he’s enormous — he’s 6’6 tall and has a shoe size that’s off the charts. It’ll be interesting to see who he’s partnered with.

And last is Adam Carolla, a comedian whom I’ve never heard of with a syndicated radio show. Does anyone else know of him?

Hmmm. Overall I’m more excited about the women, since I’m familiar with many more of them. But I do so love Mr. Guttenberg…

Okay, it’s been a long day. (I actually just got home — it’s midnight — and sped through what I’d taped to see the DWTS announcement parts; I’ll have to watch the rest of the show tomorrow.) More later…

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American Song & Dance and Russian Treasures

I had a most excellent ballet weekend. Friday night at NYCBallet was one of the best nights I’ve had at a ballet of mixed bills. The program was titled “American Songs and Dances,” and included three ballets — two by my favorite American choreographer Jerome Robbins and one by NYCB artistic director Peter Martins. The first “Thou Swell,” by Martins was one of the best things I’ve seen by him. It was a ballroomy ballet heavy on pas de deux (my favorite) in which four couples dance the night away to American classics like “Getting to Know You”, “Isn’t it Romantic”, “Blue Moon”, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”, and “The Lady is a Tramp” etc. etc. etc. The style is jazzy, Art Deco-y 1930s and a large, interestingly-shaped mirror hangs down over the back of the stage. I thought the mirror ever so cool both in its cut and how it allowed you to see the dancing from several different angles, but the guys next to me complained that it created distracting shadows.

 

 

Well, all I can say is there is no one sexier than a male ballet dancer in ballroom attire 😀 Perhaps that is to say there is nothing sexier than dance that looks like ballroom and IS a form of ballroom, but takes on a different cast and is all the more brilliant when combined with the poetry of ballet.

 

After Nikolaj’s farewell, I now can’t take my eyes off of Yvonne Borree. (all headshots by Paul Kolnick). She’s so sweet and so lovely. She danced here with Nilas Martins, my “Nikolaj replacement” and he did a fantastic mad sexy job both partnering her and with his own brilliant expressiveness. Whoever told me he was like Nikolaj in that department, that that ability to express and evoke and emote, bringing you to the edge of your seat, is a Danish thing, was so right! They were charming together and they are the new couple.

 

My other favorite couple was Amar Ramasar (duh!), dancing with Sara Mearns. He was so gorgeously dapper and, tall, dark and handsome, he stands far out from the crowd whether in a pas de deux or ensemble. And there is something so polished about his dancing. With his long legs, his kicks attain greater height than everyone else’s, and, overall he’s just always so suave.

Second on was “Ives, Songs” by Robbins, danced to the music of Charles Ives, the lyrics of which were, nicely, reprinted in the Playbill. A man, here the legendary (now retired) Robert LaFosse wanders around the stage watching dancers of various ages, perhaps his family, act out various dramas. It has a kind of “Norman Rockwell” evocation and makes you a bit sad as he relives scenes from his family life. Here Kathryn Morgan stood out to me — she kind of reminds me Margot Fonteyn. She just steals the scene without trying. I’m starting to notice Justin Peck a lot too. At one point his character goes off to war and he crashes to the ground with the perfect degree of pathos, a fallen soldier. But the person who really blew me away here was the singer, Philip Cutlip. His voice was a miracle and he enunciated every word so smoothly and with such emotion. Yet he didn’t take over; he was a perfect accompaniment to the dancers.

 

And third was Robbins’s magnificient, thrilling “West Side Story Suite.” Andrew Veyette completely blew me away. He danced the part Nikolaj did in his farewell — the leader of the Jets, with the singing role during “Cool It.” He belted out those lyrics far better than Nikolaj — I couldn’t believe a dancer could sing like that! Wow! And he and Amar, as leader of the Sharks, did the fight scene brilliantly. I don’t know how people don’t hurt themselves. Georgina Pazcoquin — oh my, that one can do anything! Anything! She played Amar’s girlfriend, Anita. She sang and danced “In America” like I’ve never seen it done before. She easily got a standing ovation. She must be seen more! This season she has easily become one of my favorite women. Robert Fairchild reprised his Romeo role, playing Tony here with all the youthful angst of the teenager he, unbelievably, still is! I think I stood behind his mother in the press ticket line — I’m not sure because she seemed very young (but then I have to keep reminding myself how young he is) when she happily announced her last name to the ticket guy.

 

Sorry for going a bit headshot-happy here. I just noticed Robert has a new one up, and I thought it was really good. 🙂

 

 

The only thing here: Amar. Surprisingly, he wasn’t all that hard-assed as an intimidating gang leader. He is just more the dapper ballroom gent, I guess. But I think it was partly his costume. I was sitting in the fifth row and I could have sworn they had him in corduroy pants, while everyone else was in jeans. The cords, with their flaring, preppy, schoolboy front pockets made his black tennis shoes look like top-siders. He just looked like a young college professor. Maybe it’s just that I’d just read a Jhumpa Lahiri short story in the New Yorker and the way he was dressed I kept thinking of the male model they had in the accompanying picture, but I just didn’t see him as a Tybalt-esque thug here.

Saturday night was Russian night 🙂 Entitled “Russian Treasures,” it celebrated Balanchine’s creations — some of his greatest — to Tschaikovsky’s music. First on was “Serenade”, one of my favorites, which I’ve written about here and here. Again, Yvonne Borree stood out here in her sweetness and charm. Second was “Mozartiana” — my first time seeing this one, as well as the one that followed, “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2” also titled “Ballet Imperial.” Since hearing Terry Teachout rave on about that latter one, I have been dying to see it and it was definitely my favorite of the two. “Mozartiana” (an early Balanchine) had a lot of the very typical back and forth of classical Petipa: pas de deux, male solo with bravura leaps galore, female solo with bravura fouettes galore, male solo ditto, female solo ditto, back to pas de deux again ending in faux happy togetherness. I’m not so into that; it bores me. I did like Daniel Ulbricht in this though — he was the perfect young Mozart as he jumped about youthfully illustrating his solid technique and perfect lines. He didn’t overdo it this time with sky-high leaps, and I liked him for that.

 

Balanchine created “Ballet Imperial” in 1941 for a traveling American Ballet Caravan, which, under the sponsorship of the Roosevelt administration, toured South America. He wanted to create a ballet that celebrated classical dance, while remaining uniquely his own. And that he did: it reminded me a lot of the “Diamonds” portion of “Jewels”, the last third of that ballet in which Balanchine pays loving homage to his native land with majestic ensemble dancing to a familiar, much- cherished Tschiakovksy score. (I wrote about that ballet here.) Originally, the program notes state, it was performed with a scenic backdrop illustrating the Neva River running through St. Petersberg, and Peter and Paul Fortress and gorgeous Winter Palace upon it. But, typical for Balanchine, he took out the background in 1973, feeling the ballet and music could stand on their own, which they can, but I still would have loved to have seen that backdrop! Jonathan Stafford stood out to me here, for the first time. He was magnificient in some high-flying assembles and with his height, he’s the perfect nobleman. Oh, and I just have to say, the pianist, Susan Walters, was breathtaking here! This company sure knows how to find the most excellent musical artists.

So sad though — this is the last week of NYCBallet’s Winter season…

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Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!

 

Thursday night I got together with several friends and we went out to a great restaurant in Soho / Nolita, FR.OG (standing for “French Origine”; starting from left of table is: Allison, Marion, me, Kathy, and Alyssa). Dishes combine the flavors and spices of North Africa with French culinary style and technique. Though it was a bit pricey, and not something I’d do but for a special occasion, I found the food excellent.

 

I had the duck leg pastilla, delicious diced duck meat combined with what tasted to me like Moroccan spices in a light pastry shell coated with honey and almonds, along with lightly-dressed baby arugula side salad. Only thing was, no way could I eat even half of it, and it didn’t heat up so well the next day — the pastry crust was soggy by then and I could no longer taste the delicious honey-ed bottom. Why do restaurants serve such blasted big portions!!! Marion, from Ireland, said this was the first thing she noticed when she arrived here — American food portions are off the scale… I tasted her cigare of chicken, by the way, though I’m not usually a fan of chicken. But it was really unexpectedly juicy and the skin was crunchy and flavorful — the best chicken I think I’ve had.

And they had an excellent cocktail list. Frozen hot chocolate martini, mmmmm.

 

Maybe too excellent a cocktail list… Of course we HAD to try everything! And the drinks were so delicious you couldn’t really tell they contained any alcohol, until you stood up…

 

By the end of the evening we were a bit tipsy… and we suddenly somehow found ourselves downstairs near the kitchen trying to meet the chef. This was partly because we’d so enjoyed the food and were interested in knowing how it was prepared and where the chef came from (Queens, as it turned out), but also because, admittedly, a few members of our party were drawn to the restaurant because of the chef’s very attractive profile on the website 🙂 Poor man was more than a bit weirded out by all these women pawing at him and asking him questions galore. And I learned that a couple of my friends are apparently more cynical and untrusting even than I: because he seemed so stunned at all the attention, they suspected perhaps a line cook had been sent out to entertain us in lieu of the real chef. But I don’t think so — the guy in the middle above looks like chef Jarret Brody, right?… (If you aren’t taken to his pic on the link, click on “a place to eat”)

Anyway, fun night out with the ladies 🙂 If you’re ever in SoHo / Nolita, there’s lovely food to be found here. And you can request to meet the chef and see if you get the same guy…

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Bravo's STEP IT UP & DANCE Cast Revealed

Go here to see the cast of Bravo TV’s new dance show, “Step It Up & Dance.” This show, which is set to premiere April 3rd, is similar to “So You Think You Can Dance” in that dancers compete in several different dance styles, here for a cash prize of $100,000. I like this cast: there’s a diversity of training and dance style — from Tae Kwan Do to Ballet, with many trained in several styles — and a good age range.

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Hooray For Katusha and Arunas

The only thing I didn’t like about their showdance was that ending pose. Kind of a fish dive but not a real one or her arm wouldn’t be wrapped around his neck like that, and her bottom foot should be touching her top knee and it’s nowhere near it. Lifts actually always look a little weird in Standard because the shoes aren’t flexible and you can’t point your toes, so the line is off. Anyway, aside from the ending pose, I loved them — both their showdance and their group dancing. In particular I love him — better than her old partner Jonathan Wilkins even. He’s faster, swifter, and sharper — especially his Tango. That really blew me away. I’m happy for her that she ended up with someone like him. I had thought Jonathan retired from competition and that’s why they broke up, but I was wrong; he’s just moved back to his native England and is now competing for the UK with Hazel Newberry, a former British champion. It’ll be very interesting to see how they place respective to Katusha and Arunas in the world championships this year!

 

And I liked Urs Geisenhainer and Agnes Kazmierczak for almost the opposite reason.

 

They performed only to one song, but put several dance styles to it, including some Latin, and at the end even some breaking isolations. At points, such as the beginning, they uniquely combined Tango, a Standard dance with Cha Cha, a Latin. I’ve seen Latin dances combined with each other and Latin and Ballroom in one routine but with transitions between them. But I haven’t often seen Standard and Latin steps actually combined into one like that — it was like a Tango promenade / cha cha chas. Very cooly unique. And all of the dances looked equally good on them. Talk about versatility!

For exhibitions, as I said earlier, I love Austin Joson and Elizabeth Lakovitsky.

 

He keeps growing and growing; he’s starting to look like a little man. And only two years ago Elizabeth was a little girl. I know they’ve worked hard on their Paso Doble and it shows. They have a really cute jive and a sweet rumba too, but I think Paso is their favorite. That routine, with that kind of foreboding music, was rather mature, as cohost Ron Montez said! They have some polishing to do (and he has some more growing to do so he’ll catch up with her 🙂 ) but I think they’re going to be really great someday.

I liked this couple too, Anton Belyayev and Karolina Paliwoda, who recently turned pro.

Sometimes the best dancers are just coming from the amateur ranks. I thought her form was fantastic, and I love the simplicity both of their routine and costumes. As Montez pointed out, she had no rhinestones on that dress and I love that somone has the courage to do something different. There’s too much glitter in some of these ballroom comps and sometimes it’s meant to compensate for lack of quality in the dancing. And they performed basic steps with such clarity, Montez was even able to use them as a model for pointing out to the audience the elements of a proper rumba. Montez is a good host: he notices small details and he’s interested in imparting the mysteries of technique to the audience.

The only thing, Standard in general is just kind of boring on TV; it doesn’t come across the same as in a live comp — somehow part of the magic is lost, kind of like with some of the filmed ballet (particularly ensemble work). I don’t know why that is exactly. I guess it’s the weightlessness factor: dances that are more grounded, like Latin and Tap have more weight and don’t lose much resonance when reduced to two dimensions. More light, feathery, weightless dances like ballet and Standard Ballroom just lose impact when not three-dimensional. That’s Paul Parish’s theory anyway. Hmmmm.

Also, extremely annoyingly, the ABC website no longer contains an email address where you can email questions, and ABC isn’t a part of the Great Performances series, so I don’t know how to get a hold of them. A couple of people asked me about songs they used in the group dances. I’ll try to find out how to contact them, but often, the event organizers don’t even remember which songs they used. They usually have a bunch of songs suitable for each dance style already downloaded into the computer, so that someone just hits “Cha Cha” for a cha cha heat, or “Rumba” for that dance. I was so disappointed when I’d hear a song I loved and would ask around and no one had a clue what I was talking about. If you ever go to competitions, though, visit the shopping pavilion (where they have all the costumes). There’s usually a music vendor there and they have TONS of ballroom CDs for both Latin and Standard. They have tables and tables of headphones and walkmans and you can sit there for hours and listen. If you’re in NY, Worldtone has a decent selection. If you’re neither in NY nor have any comps near you, you can visit DanceVision website. A lot of the songs are repeated on numerous tapes, but even if you don’t find the particular song you heard that way, you’ll definitely find a million others. I’ll let you know, though, if can find ABC people! Annoying that they took the email address down!

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A Reason to Watch DANCE WAR Next Week, and Other Dance Show Stuff…

In case you didn’t hear yet, on next week’s “Dance War,” the new season of “Dancing With the Stars” contestants will officially be announced. Also, next week will be that show’s finale?! It seemed to go so fast; I was kind of shocked when they announced that last night.

Anyway, this week was “Latin Week,” which I felt pretty eh about — nothing new for me with this show. At least dance-wise I felt eh. Tango hooks in the opening number were sloppy — Kelsey had to re-adjust her position with her partner to get her foot wrapped around his leg. If she was as close to him as she should have been that wouldn’t have happened. But who am I to criticize someone for not maintaining the proper Argentine Tango frame — I was NEVER able to feel comfortable that close to the guy 🙂 — at least not random guys in class I didn’t know…

And is Bruno the king of hysteria-drenched, goofy similes or what? “I’ve taken more punches than Rocky!!!” he wailed with wild gesticulations, over losing twice in a row. I hate to admit it, but at some points, his nuttiness actually kind of grows on me… I’m glad he finally praised Carrie Ann’s team. He needed to do that to show he was a sport. It just really bothers me how he practically equates dance with sex. Those guys’ open-shirts in his second number — oh please! Same thing with the way he had Kelsey last week vamping it up Jessica Simpson-like in “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” Dance can be sexy, but when it’s so overt like that it just becomes silly and crass.

I did feel like the singing was a bit better this time — particulary from Zack on the Bruno team and Chris on the Carrie Ann team. When Chris “sang for his life” I have to say I was actually quite blown away. He’s had so many microphone malfunctions, I don’t think I’ve really heard him sing, but he has a pretty nice voice.

I think what annoys me most about this show is its general air of unreality. It was sweet when Phillip’s mom showed up to watch her son, but do the show’s producers really expect us to believe she couldn’t afford to travel from Virginina to California but lo and behold thanks to her church she was finally able to see her son fulfill his dream? Thanks to the show’s producers is more like it, if the whole thing wasn’t phony to begin with. And it was nice that team Bruno did some outreach at the Community Center for people with Downs Syndrome, but if they really were invited because Zack’s brother has Downs, it would’ve been nice if they showed some footage of the two of them together. And even team Bruno’s ultimately winning this time around … if they didn’t win would anyone really tune in next week; what fun is a shoe-in finale? And when Carrie Ann started crying when she lost — and the tears were really there; her face was all wet– I wondered which acting method she studied. There was so much fakery, when that Orville Redenbocher commercial came on — the one about the guy and his wife whose marriage was in serious trouble because she liked natural snacks and he didn’t, and he collapsed on the kitchen floor and started throwing food about madly — did you guys see it? I seriously thought it was a trailer for a new reality show.

Which brings me to MTV’s new show, “America’s Best Dance Crew.” I wrote about it for Huffington and will link as soon as it’s posted, but for now I just want to say, I really kinda like it. It has more authenticity: the competitors seem like real people; they’re kids you like and want to root for, and the judges take them seriously, and seem more interested in imparting constructive criticism than hogging the spotlight and playing “characters” themselves. It’s pretty good. MTV Thursday nights at 10 p.m.

Finally, don’t forget to watch PBS tomorrow night, Wednesday, for “America’s Ballroom Challenge.” It’s Standard, where lovely ladies in beautiful, flowing, bejeweled ballgowns are swept around the floor by their dapper tux ‘n tailed gents. I initially fell in love with ballroom through this dance style, although I’m afraid it looks very different on TV than live and some of the magic is taken away. Anyway, I will be very excited to see US National champ and second in the world, Katusha Demidova, with her new partner, Arunas Bizokas. Also, in the exhibitions, watch for the pro/am couple Max Kozhevnikov and his student Yuk Chun (for people who follow ballroom, Max is the former partner of popular Latin dancer, Yulia Zagorouychenko), and in the junior division Austin Joson and Elizabeth Lakovitsky. These kids train at my old studio and I’ve written about them previously here and here. Austin in particular is a little cutie, and he ROCKS! Okay PBS at 8 pm EST!