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My Best of 2007 in Dance

It’s already the second day of 2008 (Happy New Year everyone!) and I’m just now getting my best of last year up; sorry so late! I was tagged by Jen & Jolene, so I’ll formulate my “best of” as a response to their survey:

 

1) Best Performance of the Year: I had many favorites, but I guess overall I’ll have to say Alessandra Ferri’s farewell performance with ABT in Romeo & Juliet at the Met. She was my favorite ballerina for many years and I’m still missing her. Plus, I was introduced to La Scala’s Roberto Bolle, who guest performed 😀

2) Best Male Performer of the Year: Definitely Clifton Brown of Alvin Ailey!

 

3) Best Female Performer of the Year: I thought a lot about this, and I know I’m mixing dance genres, but I’m going to say Yulia Zagoruychenko. She had a damn good year. She, with Max Kozhevnikov, made the Latin finals at Blackpool this year, being the only US couple to do so, then, later in the year, went on to displace the several-year-long U.S. National champs to win that title. At the end of the year, she survived a partner change and went on to win her first competition with him, Riccardo Cocchi. She is adored by many both nationally and internationally and she is very deserving of her hard-won success. Go Yulia and Riccardo!

 

4) Best New Discovery of the Year: This is too hard because there were so many dancers and choreographers whom I was introduced to this year who aren’t necessarily new to the scene, but just to me! List includes: choreographers Camille A. Brown, Luca Veggetti, Luciana Achugar, Kyle Abraham, and Robert Battle; composer Nico Muhly; dancers Kirven Boyd, Antonio Douthit and Yannick LeBrun (all of Alvin Ailey — the last I forgot to mention in my last post on AA; fortunately Susan reminded me in her comment!), and Roberto Bolle (who was new to me this year); Brazilian troupe Mimulus; Nora Chipaumire of Urban Bush Women (pictured above this number) at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival itself (it’s been around for aeons, but I had my first experience there this year). That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of bizillions of people I forgot later…

5) Best Regional / Local Performance of the Year: I think this is more of a theater question since there’s usually a big distinction between regional theater and a Broadway show, or a company who tours, but, since physically it was “local,” I’ll say NYCB’s spring season opening night. It was just too much fun watching all those celebrities walk down that red carpet and overhearing goofy crowd comments, and then writing about it all (although my mother was aghast at me for my using the word “whores” in my blog title!)

6) Best Performance in a Non-Traditional Venue: This is a toss-up between the wonderful “Accounting For Customs” performed on the steps of the US Customs House, and the super fun and impossible-to-tear-yourself-away-from Lincoln Center ‘drive-in,’ David Michalek’s “Slow Dancing” films.

 

7) Favorite Televised Theater Event: I didn’t really have a favorite in this category (since the only thing I saw fitting it was Mark Morris’s “Mozart Dances” on PBS which I didn’t care for), so I’ll just state my favorite dance TV show, which was SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Duh.

 

8) Biggest Dance Obsession: Alvin Ailey, Alvin Ailey, Alvin Ailey. Again, if you’ve read my blog over the past several weeks, Duh 😀

9) Most Likely To Be The Next Big Thing: Eee. Hard! So hard to predict. But I’m going to name a few: ABT’s Blaine Hoven and Vitali Krauchenka,


Kirven Boyd and Antonio Douthit at Alvin Ailey,

 

Craig Hall at NYCB,

 

choreographer Camille A. Brown…

 

Again, I’m sure I’m leaving people out…

10) Most Anticipated Performance Of 2008: Eee, another tough one. There are so many things I’m looking forward to this year. I guess the biggest is going to be Blackpool. Since the current decade-long Latin champs retired last year, there will be a new Latin winner, which is really exciting to me since it’s my favorite event there. I’m hoping for Slavik Kryklyvyy and Elena Khvorova,

 

I’m also looking forward to Twyla Tharp’s new ballet that ABT will premiere in the Spring at the Met,

 

And I’m looking forward to Nikolaj Hubbe’s farewell performance with NYCB (he is returning to Denmark). Not that I’m looking forward to bidding him farewell, but to the show NYCB will put on in his honor.

Okay my brain is tired now. If anyone else wants to add their “best ofs” in a comment here or on their own blog, please do so!

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Polls Open :)

 

I’ve now been nominated in both the “best design” and “best blog written by a PD that has nothing to do with the job” categories. It’s so sweet of them to recognize me — so flattering! Go here to vote! And happy New Year everyone!

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Alvin Ailey Season Wrap-Up

 

“One of the promises of my company is that its repertoire will include pieces that ordinary people can understand. I still dream that my folks down on the farm in Texas can come to an Ailey concert and know and appreciate what’s happening onstage. That’s my perception of what dance should be — a popular form, wrenched from the hands of the elite.” From REVELATIONS, The Autobiography of Alvin Ailey, pg. 101.

That must be why I love this company so. Everything they do is sublime, humanistic, evocative, easily relatable, and immensely meaningful; it speaks to your soul, and it speaks to everyone. It’s the antithesis of elitist. I was so upset their New York season is over (well, not competely; they still have a big shindig tomorrow night in celebration of New Year’s Eve), that I spent all weekend reading Ailey’s Autobiography, which I picked up at a rare bookstore I’m fond of in Durham, while visiting Mom. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, highlights for me of the past several weeks were:

1) “Revelations” (top picture, by Paul Kolnick, from AAADT website). But, I mean, duh, that it’s a season highlight. You’d be inhuman if you didn’t respond to this one 😀 I wrote about it previously, here.

Oh, another thing I discovered whilst confined to my apartment by my recent (ridiculously debilitating) sinus infection + migraine episode / end-of-AA-season depression: the Alvin Ailey organization has a bunch of videos posted on YouTube!!! The quality’s not tremendously high (hopefully they’ll improve on that soon :)), but for those unfortunate souls who have never experienced this brilliant company, I can link to just about everything so you can get a taste!

2) This season I fell in love with “Love Stories,” a dance in three parts and three styles, all of them set to Stevie Wonder music. I love how the three parts are so fundamentally different from each other while somehow still managing to sequeway well into one another: the first one is beautiful modern / balletic (above top pic, danced by Clifton Brown), composed of a solo followed by a group of duets that include some very acrobatic partnering; the second part is raucous mad fun hip hop that makes you want to get up and dance yourself; and the third is what I’d call African / modern blend. That third part has honestly never done much for me until this season when it somehow become my favorite. For one thing, in one of my viewings this season, Kirven Boyd, a favorite whom I blogged about before, danced the beginning of that section, and watching him made me all the more intrigued. Weird how that happens: you have a favorite dancer and you end up liking anything they’re in — they make something totally beguiling when you’d never really even noticed it before.

So, the crazy fast hip hop number of the previous section ends, a voice calls out, “I want to hold a mirror up to society so that everyone can see how beautiful they are.” And, at that point a man emerges from the right wing wearing this earthy-toned, roomy outfit resembling to me a kind of religious, Hare Krishna-ish garb. He’s bent over and he takes a few slow hesitant steps forward, then several runs back. He gains the courage to inch forward again, then more steps back. The movement is African. Eventually, an ensemble of dancers emerges and they all dance together, making various formations, resembling possibly a kind of chain gang, or perhaps a multitude overtaken by a kind of religious spirit. At one humorous point, they bounce around in a circle, stick their arms out awkwardly at their sides, and look up to the ceiling making huge ‘Stevie Wonder’ smiles. When I saw the piece at one point with Apollinaire, she said she thought the first man out looked like a prisoner. I guess he could have been, although, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Maybe he’s a man who’s imprisoned by blindness or some other kind of handicap … racial prejudice even… At the end, the group happily bounces together going toward the back of the stage, when the back curtain lifts to reveal a multitude of bright lights. It’s really a sight. I’m really not sure what to make of it, but I’m intrigued. Robert Battle choreographed this section, and I was so taken with a small enchanting piece of his the company premiered, “Unfold,” which I wrote about here. This season was my first experience with this choreographer and I’m very interested to see more.

3) Several of the male dancers, including Clifton Brown (really the star of the company, to the extent this company has such things), Kirven, and Antonio Douthit (pictured above as the Firebird in a photo by Eduardo Patino). Like ABT, this is a company strong in men. Antonio is a tall, slim man with long, sinewy ballet muscles and he makes these gorgeous leg extensions. At one point in “Flowers,” Ailey’s fun but ultimately heart-rending ballet in tribute to Janis Joplin, there are several men dressed as her ‘boy toys’ in these hilarious shiny booty shorts (just what went on in the 70s?!) carrying her all over the stage in worship. At one point, they’re all simultaneously doing these rotating arabesques (turning on one foot with one leg lifted up to the back), and I suddenly noticed Antonio’s foot was practically to the ceiling! It was stunning! He makes beautiful shapes, and he’s very expressive with both his face and body. If anything, he probably needs to work a little more on his jumps, as well as on that intangible something that makes one a real artist. I say this only because he took over the role Clifton had in “The Road of the Phoebe Snow” — that of the young, innocent dreamy boy who falls in love with the girl who is killed, and he just didn’t make me want to cry for him the way Clifton did. Plus, I remember these crazy scissor split leaps that just completely blew me away when Clifton did them. They were impressive when Antonio did as well, but not quite as much — which isn’t bad and it’s probably completely unfair to compare anyone to Clifton The Miraculous (by the way, I wrote more about Clifton here). Basically, I think Antonio is a Clifton in the making but he’s not there yet; he just needs to work on it a bit more — he’s young, so he has time! Here’s an excerpt from “Flowers.”

 

I also liked Glenn Allen Sims, a favorite of mine from other seasons as well. He was just beautiful in this small little five minute jazz ballet of Ailey’s that the company just revived, “Reflections in D.” And the night I saw him dance that piece, he followed it by dancing the similarly sweet balletic solo in the opening of “Love Stories.” I was in love 🙂 In contrast, he also perfectly performed the bad-ass scary band manager / boyfriend in “Flowers,” tormenting poor Janis and signaling her downfall, as well as the hardened lover in “Phoebe Snow.”

Of the women, I LOVED Linda Celeste Sims (above in “Flowers”). She absolutely shined in everything she did. She brought me completely into her world: I wanted to cry for her raped, beaten innocent girl in “Phoebe Snow,” I felt angry at the men who mistreated her in Ulysses Dove’s darkly sexual “Episodes” (pictured below), and her beautiful ethereal creature with that impossible-looking back arch in Battle’s “Unfold” took my breath away. She is like my Veronika Part!

 

I also liked Briana Reed, for giving everything she did such sass and conviction and major attitude!

 

Alicia Graf is another one with a very beautiful balletic body.

 

I know a lot of people love her for that reason — with her balletic form and training, they think she brings something new and special to Ailey. I agree, but only somewhat. I didn’t love her in everything I saw her in, and while I certainly don’t think she’s superior to anyone else because of that background, I do think she really excels in the more balletic parts. I thought she was beautiful in the “Fix Me Jesus” section of “Revelations” (pictured here, but with Linda dancing the female part). She has gorgeous pointed toes, reminiscient to me of (again) Veronika Part. I also loved her in the balletic parts of “The River,” which was originally a ballet on pointe created for ABT. I’m not sure why the company doesn’t put that on pointe; it’s not like Alicia (or the other women — “Flowers” is partly on pointe) couldn’t do it. It seems like it would be so much more magical… Anyway, it was other roles where I felt like she didn’t bring as much as some of the other dancers. For example, she danced the jilted lover in “Phoebe Snow” very differently from Briana; Alicia’s character seemed more fragile, more innocent and more hurt by her jerky boyfriend, making her, in my opinion, too similar to the other female character in that ballet, the fragile innocent who ends up killing herself. And, I was underwhelmed by her jazz divas in “Night Creature” and “Pas De Duke” (the latter created by Ailey for the legendary Judith Jamison)

But really, one thing I love about this company, and why it’s rather ‘star-less’ I think, is that I think every one of the dancers brings something unique. I only talked about some, but I really like them all. I’m only leaving out the others because I’m dead tired and I need to go to sleep! I’m one of those unfortunate souls who has to work tomorrow….

Oh but quickly, I also really liked Camille A. Brown’s Groove to Nobody’s Business. I thought it was cute and completely relatable and fun and I hope that she does more for the company in the future, but really takes it up a notch in terms of depth. I saw a smaller piece by her earlier this year at the Fall For Dance Festival called “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine.” It was a smart, witty solo, by turns funny, by turns more reflective, which she performed herself. I hope in the future she will create more, fuller-length work like that for a larger group, on a larger scale.

Anyway, happy New Year’s everyone! And please look at some of Ailey’s YouTube videos, especially if you’ve never seen this company before. And please do go see them live if they come to your neck of the woods! They combine everything — modern ballet, African, jazz, hip hop, Latin — everything! They are the future I do believe. I can practically promise that you won’t be disappointed 🙂

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Dance Times Square In-House Competition

A couple of weeks ago I went to Dance Times Square‘s in-house competition, an event the studio holds every once in a while to give their students who are thinking of entering an actual pro-am competition with their teachers a little taste of just what that would be like.

It’s judged by actual judges who arbitrate at the local and national competitions. Above are John Nyemchek and Edward Simon, a former American Smooth champion who now runs the New York Dance Festival and Empire State Dance Sport Championships.

Melanie LaPatin (studio co-owner) emceed.


(Sorry pics are blurry; I didn’t want to scare anyone with my flash!) I haven’t danced in so long, and it was exciting (albeit somewhat sobering) to see some of my old friends dancing so well at a much higher level than they were. Here’s long-time student Elaine (one of Pasha’s former students) dancing with her new teacher, Jacob Jason. She used to be at my level; now she’s far surpassed me! I MUST go back to dancing!

Anyway, here’s my full write-up of the event.

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"Rhythm of Love" Pics and Performance

Here are the photograph sets from the professional photographer who sat a few seats down from me at “Rhythm of Love.” (just hit ‘continue’ and you’ll be taken to the album). To be honest, I’m kind of disappointed with the quality of his photos — think I could’ve taken better ones myself. He won’t let me so much as copylink and post on my blog because he’s not a publicity photographer working for the event’s presenting organization, but only takes pictures so that he can sell them for his own profit, like many do at ballroom competition events. Catch up with the world of concert dance, ballroom people, and hire pro photographers for publicity purposes, not these greedy goofs! Andrew Eccles anyone?! Anyway, have a look and if you’re so inclined, you can order some of Pasha and Anya, or Pasha and the gang, or just Pasha, or anyone else!

The show itself was really cute. I’ll be writing a formal review for Explore Dance, which I’ll link to when it’s up. This was the first time I’ve ever seen a full-length story dance told through ballroom and Latin. The basic story was cute and original: it begins with a boy (played by Mambo King Benito Garcia) interested in a girl (Emilee Peterson, who I don’t know from ballroom but I could tell from the moment she walked out onstage that she had ballet background). The girl shows interest back, but they’re young high school-ish students and of course she doesn’t let him get very far very fast, to his predictable dismay. Eventually, they go out on some dates (there’s no talking by the way; all the non-dance acting is mimed) and he gives her some flowers, she gives him some … ballet tickets, over which he tries hard not to reveal his disgust. Off they go to the “ballet,” which, since this is a dance story told through ballroom, is really a lyrical waltz performed by the lovely American Smooth couple JT Thomas and Tomasz Mielnicki. The waltz moves the girl to tears, the guy to sleep. She shakes him out of his slumber just in time for him to witness another waltz of JT and Tomasz’s — this one combined with some Rhumba to give it a far more seductive tempo (and danced to Celine Dion’s gorgeously sultry “Seduces Me”), during which his attention now wanes not one bit. Now that he sees dance can be sexy, he is enthralled by it, wants to do it himself. The rest of the show is about him learning, the various ballroom and Latin dancers instructing. The ballroom ladies help Emilee lighten up, giving her dance fashion tips, rid her of her glasses and bun, and teach her how to let her inhibitions go in her dancing. The guys have their hands full doing the opposite for Benny — teaching him instead not to let too loose on the dance floor; one needs a sense of rhythm, timing, and body control after all so as not to make an ass of oneself! The two watch some more duets performed by the seasoned pros and eventually try the moves out themselves. At the end, Emilee is so happy Benny’s dancing with her, she puckers up for the kiss he’s earned, but he’s now too busy trying to get his steps right to notice. It ends on a happy note, of course!

Unfortunately, Pasha and Anya didn’t dance a whole lot. They were in two numbers: the first an opening group hip hoppy Samba to “Hip Hip, Chin Chin,” and later a Cha Cha / Latin combo to “Magic Carpet Ride.” Of course they danced spectacularly when they did, though! Anya looks so damn good in a simple black t-shirt and jeans. I recognized some of their hallmark moves in their second number: one where he lifts her horizontally over his shoulders and turns and turns and turns (a similar move is performed at the beginning of the excellent movie Strictly Ballroom — you must see it if you haven’t), and another where he holds her in a low dip, one of his arms free, and looking out at the audience, he kind of commands her lower torso up and down with the wave of his hand, without touching her. It’s very voo-doo-looking, and very cool.

My other favorite couple was Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz, current American Rhythm champs, who had several duets — a slow, seductive bolero, a whiplashingly fast Cha Cha / Mambo, and, my favorite dance in the whole thing — a cool, calm and collected, yet sexy, Swing / Mambo that was very West Side Story.

Jose (for DWTS fans, he is Cheryl Burke’s old partner) has charisma galore. This was my first time seeing him on a real stage (and not just the competition floor), but whoa, he really stood out to me and commanded my attention every time he was up there. JT is a natural performer too; I think she could be on Broadway if she wanted to.

Carolina and Felipe Telona (American Rhythm competitors) danced gorgeously too — they did a couple of Argentine Tangos and some sultry rhumbas and boleros. They danced the most of any couple I think. They did this sweet, sad piece, where he is leaving her or dying and she tries in vain to bring him back. They performed it at Nationals last year as well. It nearly brought me to tears both times.

There were also a few numbers by Garry and Rita Gekhman, American Smooth dancers and showdance champions. They reprised their showdance championship-winning number from last year’s Nationals, “Freak-A-Zoid,” which was really cool seeing in competition in Florida last year, but looked a bit out of place on the stage here. Some of the movements, such as releasing their Standard handhold and moving across the vast ballroom floor still perfectly in sync and maintaining frame (pictured below) are so impressive to ballroom judges and afficionados who can appreciate the degree of difficulty, but I think are lost on a more general audience. Plus, the number didn’t really seem to fit: it was sandwiched in between the boy and girl’s first meeting in class after a voice-over has noted how love can be “mathematical” and I guess the robotic nature of the showdance is meant to evoke that. But it seemed more that the story was altered to accommodate the dance rather than the other way around. Still, only a small thing in an overall exciting show.

(all pictures are mine, from previous competitions; visit that Park West website for some pictures of Pasha and Anya — there aren’t many, but there are some!)

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Happy (Late) Christmas, Everyone!

 

Sorry I’ve been so out of it! I can’t believe I couldn’t even wish everyone a Merry Christmas yesterday because I was so drugged up (on major decongestants, pain relievers, and Maxalt, because every little tiny cold of mine seems to lead to an all-out sinus infection, which in turn leads to a several-day-long “migraine episode” as my neurologist calls them…) Anyway, Merry late Christmas 🙂

I’m starting to feel better (though I still have hopefully the last of the “migraine clusters” lingering), and I promise to blog soon about all the wonderful Alvin Ailey I saw before I got so sick (and, well, some of it during my illness — if anyone sitting on the left side of the back orchestra at City Center on Saturday came down with anything, sorry; I love this company far far too much to miss a single performance just because I can’t hear or breathe or swallow!!), and of course Pasha’s “Rhythm of Love.”

In the meantime, here’s a write-up by someone who saw Danny Tidwell’s and Rasta Thomas’s ‘Nutz’ (thanks to Rebecca for the link), and here’s a little excerpt of Danny performing Le Corsaire on Selly’s blog. Hope everyone had a happy holiday!

 

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Pasha!

I don’t have much time to write because I need to head off to Alvin Ailey soon, but here are a few pictures I took last night of Pasha after the “Rhythm of Love” show. Very cute show, and review coming soon; if you’re anywhere near Stamford, Connecticut, it’s playing for one more night — tonight. Go here for tix.

Signing autographs for little fans. So cute! All these people were coming up to him afterward telling him how much they loved him and asking for autographs. Elaine (his former student, very sweet lady, in the blue sweater here) and I were teasing him about how we knew him way back when. He insists he’s not “famous” and nothing has changed a bit. And he definitely hasn’t changed — still same sweet guy who always has time for old friends…

Posing for picture with Elaine after the theater has pretty much cleared out. No pics of me because I have a nasty cold and know it can be devastating for dancers to get sick, so didn’t want to stand too close to him (not to mention, I look like absolute crap). It really sucked missing out on my hug though!

With Elaine again, in front of the theater. I always feel like crying whenever I say goodbye to him now…

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Nominated For Another "Rodney"!

 

Public Defender Stuff has nominated me for another “Rodney” blog award (you know, because we PD’s get no respect!) in the category “best PD blog that has nothing to do with the job.” I won in a similar category last year (best title of a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with the job). Last year, my main competition was a knitter; this year there are poets and novelists, and just a bunch of interesting types. I love how they do this; it’s very flattering to be thought of and included, especially since I’ve hardly ever blogged about anything to do with my job. See, PDs are nice lawyers! And arty! And what I do blog about of course gets left out of everything else… Speaking of which, Bloggies noms are coming up soon. Philip and I petitioned them last year to include a dance category this year, but I’m sure that suggestion went right down the toilet… Dance bloggers (and dance writers) get no respect either, man…

So, I thought Karina Smirnoff and Jonathan Roberts were cute tonight with their waltz / quickstep / samba / jive / swing on the ‘Holiday at the Ford’s Theater’ thing. Definitely the highlight of the show. Although, her costume was a bit skimpy — for that kind of special I mean, not for Karina; she is known as the bikini queen for her usual competition attire. I love how they ended with the Charleston. I haven’t had Lindy Hop in a really long time now and I miss that dance. What a dead crowd though! Every time they focused on a spectator he or she looked completely dumbfounded at what was going on onstage. Such the antithesis of an Ailey audience, where everyone’s bouncing up and down in their seats and cheering throughout. Matthew Rushing said when they were on tour in London, people were actually dancing in the aisles! Methinks the Alvin Ailey fans are taking over where the ballet audiences left off after Baryshnikov and the other greats left the stage a couple decades ago…

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There, Now You Look Like A Real Night Creature

I don’t have much time to write today, but look at these videos Doug found, of Ellen DeGeneres screwing around with the Ailey dancers. So fun! Don’t you wanna dance just like them?!

Very excited: tonight is a celebration for co-artistic director Masazumi Chaya, and Mr. Ailey’s dance, “Flowers,” a tribute to Janis Joplin, which I haven’t yet seen but have been dying to. And “Episodes,” and “Revelations!” But am also getting kind of sad because their NY season is more than half way over now…

Okay, off to my happy fun office holiday party in which a bunch of lawyers get together and try really really hard not to talk about law. We usually give up after about 20 minutes, often less. Wish me luck…

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Am I on Serious Drugs?

Can someone please tell me there is no way in the universe this dancer is turning counterclockwise? I can’t for the life of me see her rotating anything but clockwise, and perhaps ridiculously, I have spent the last half hour staring at her. Every right-brained / left-brained test I have ever taken has indicated I am either slightly left or else “whole” — like this one, where I received a score of 10 — right in the middle.

I got the “dancer test” from Miss Tango In Her Eyes, who saw the woman rotating the same way I did. By the way, Miss Tango’s blog is the story of a Canadian woman who fell so in love with Argentina’s national dance, she decided to pack her bags and head down to B.A. for a few months to partake fully of the tango lifestyle. Several months ago, on a hunch, she decided not to board her returning flight to Vancouver. Five days later she met someone and fell in love. Their baby was just born. Awwww!!! I wish I could do something that right-brained…

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Season Crush

On Kirven Boyd! I usually end up with a horrible mad crush on one dancer per season and this year it’s him.

Of late I’ve seen him dance with beautiful precision the third man in the quick-paced balletic “Solo” (top photo; I wrote about the piece here); the body-shaking “flag man” possessed by both spirit and rhythm in “Wade in the Water” from “Revelations;” the soft jazzy / modern solo at the opening of “Love Stories;” and the other night he was perfectly frightening while somehow managing to be charming as well, as the leader of the thugs in “The Road of the Phoebe Snow” (which I wrote about here). (Another thing I noticed, that I love about “Phoebe”: the ‘bad guys’ are wearing white and pink.)

“Love Stories” by the way is a dance in several parts with styles ranging from jazz / modern to hip hop, co-choreographed by AAADT director Judith Jamison, modern choreographer Robert Battle, and hip hop guru Rennie Harris. Music is by Stevie Wonder, and I think the title refers, basically to one’s love affair with dance. My favorite part is the beginning solo. Go here (scroll down to Love Stories) to see some excerpts. Clifton Brown is dancing the solo in this video. He’s been my crushee in years past, but I feel like now that he is so famous and every critic in the country and beyond is drooling all over him, it’s a little boring to have him as your favorite! That said, I thought Clifton was absolute magic a couple of years ago and I noticed this season he’s improved even further which I wouldn’t have thought possible. I do think he’s developed into one of the greatest dancers in the country now and it goes without saying you must see him dance if you ever have the chance!

On Thursday night, the company also premiered “Unfold” by Robert Battle, danced by Clifton with Linda Celeste Sims, this season’s royalty, as they seem to be dancing in just about every premiere. It was a very short pas de deux (only five minutes long), but beautiful. Danced to an aria brilliantly sung by Leontyne Price, it’s about, Battle says, the first meeting between a man and a woman. To me, it seemed to tell the story of a man’s discovering and becoming impassioned by this magical, ethereal creature. The curtain opens on Sims doing this breathtaking, and impossible-looking back arch, with no support, just on her own two feet. The position of her body and the way the fabric of her gown drapes in back, it had a spiritual, mystical feel. She looked otherworldly. Clifton sees her in the distance, becomes taken, approaches, pulls her to him, “unfolds” her, perhaps. They make various shapes together, her body alternating between convex and concave. At one point she’s on the floor, her torso and legs in the air, balancing only on the small of her back. He lunges over her and pulls her up; it’s beautiful. But too short! I do want to see more by this choreographer; his rep sounds very interesting. And Kirven danced with his company previously!

Perhaps another reason I like K: he participated in one of the company’s little Saturday post-show matinee talks I saw.

Sorry so dark; I didn’t want to use the flash. He’s in the white shirt. He was so cute talking about his training in Boston and with Ailey II (their studio company), giving little kids advice and signing autographs, etc. I think dancers should participate in more things like this so the public can get a chance to know them. That’s why Danny Tidwell, and Pasha, and Maks and all the DWTS dancers became so popular — of course they’re very skilled and charismatic dancers (people wouldn’t be so into them if they weren’t), but the public also got the chance to know them a bit outside of their dance lives by watching them chat about themselves and interact with others on TV shows. Not everyone can or will want to go on TV, but with the internet, everyone can blog a bit. I know, dancers hate blogging. There are still so few. The Ailey company has two blogs — written by dancer Matthew Rushing and choreographer Camille Brown, but they’re not proper blogs since there’s no comments section, so you can’t interact with them, and they’re very seldomly updated anyway. And you need to join Ailey’s e-club even to access them, which is very easy to do and free, but it prohibits bloggers like me from linking or anything.

Anyway, more on this later, I’m late for a ballroom competition!

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‘Plum and her Peeps Will Have Multiple Personalities Next Wednesday at NYCB

Next Wednesday, 12/19, marks the 2,000th performance of George Balanchine’s Nutcracker at NYCB. In celebration, they will have a multiple cast of principals dance the three main roles.

Dancing Sugarplum are: Wendy Whelan, Maria Kowroski, Darci Kistler, Abi Stafford, and Yvonne Bourree.

Dancing Cavalier: Jared Angle, Charles Askegard, Gonzalo Garcia, Stephen Hanna, Benjamin Millepied, Philip Neal, and Damian Woetzel.

Dancing Dewdrop: Ashley Bouder, Sterling Hyltin, and Sara Mearns.

Whoa — that’s a lot of dancers dividing up one small part apiece! Look at all those cavaliers! I’m not sure how exactly they’re going to do this, but I’m deeply intrigued. Not sure if I’ll be able to attend, but I’d definitely love to hear from those who do (Philip!)

 

Also, as Philip has posted, on January 7th the company is airing the new documentary about the life of beloved (now retired) NYCB principal, Jock Soto. This I definitely plan to attend, as the film will eventually air on PBS; something that everyone can access makes me very happy 🙂 Go here for more info on both events.