My review of the Kirov’s Forsythe program is up on Explore Dance. Since I’m new to Forsythe’s ballets, I mainly focused on his choreography, rather than the Kirov’s specific interpretation of it. I’m interested to know if people have different thoughts.
Akram Khan’s "Bahok"
Last night Ariel and I went to see “Bahok” choreographed by Akram Khan and performed by his company along with the National Ballet of China, at City Center. I’d never seen any of Khan’s work before and was intrigued by Apollinaire’s post reviewing his other program “Zero Degrees,” which I think might have been more to my liking. I felt “Bahok,” his newer piece was conceptually contrived, but the movement was stunning. Ariel liked it, but I kind of wished he’d have told the whole story through movement, leaving out all the rather cliched spoken word.
“Bahok,” the program notes state, is a Bengali word for “carrier,” and the dance is meant to “explore the ways in which the body carries national identity and a sense of ‘belonging.'” All from different cultures and dance traditions, the eight dancers spend the hour and fifteen minute dance interacting with, misunderstanding, and trying, at times desperately, to connect with one another.
The characters are all caught in what appears to be a train station, their trains all delayed indefinitely. Throughout, various words flash over the arrivals / departures screen, including “earth,” “air,” “fire,” “water,” “phone home,” “rescheduled,” “delayed,” etc. Oftentimes the letter and number combinations are just gibberish (at least to me). At the beginning a Chinese woman sweetly tries to befriend her neighbor, a white woman, who soon scares her away by telling a story, her voice escalating in desperation, about how she awoke from a rainstorm unable to figure out where in the world she was. She spends much of the rest of the dance crying out that she doesn’t know where home is for her, her desperate shrieks alienating just about everyone.
At another point a woman and man appear to be having a conversation with a customs agent who seems to want to confiscate one or both of their bags — it’s not clear whose, nor is the reason why.
At another point a woman falls asleep onto the man sitting next to her. He can’t seem to wake her up and shake her off, so he gets up carries her around the stage, she like a rag doll hanging onto him, not letting him go. It’s funny — and a physically amazing feat — but grows silly after a while… until they start to dance. He stands with his back to the audience. Her legs are wrapped around his head, only her feet visible to us. Suddenly, they both begin making movements with their arms, holding them out, waving them, palms flat and upward, then palms down. The way she is attached to him, her arms are down by his ankles, making him look like a many-tentacled creature.
I found the movement far more brilliant than the speaking. The dancer playing the woman desperate to find her home, the brilliant Eulalia Ayguade Farro, expresses her inner turmoil through movement more compellingly than I think I’ve ever seen such emotion expressed. She took my breath away as she threw herself to the floor, propped herself up into a handstand, spun on her head, jumped, crouched, ran, all the time contorting her body in various novel ways to express her pain.
Another favorite part is shown in the picture above, when a Chinese woman, Meng Ning-Ning, decides to entertain herself and her companions while they await their never-ending delays, by ballet dancing. She dances beautifully and her newfound friends recognize this, as, tourist-like, they snap pictures of her. Another girl tries to join her, emulating her, following her patterns. Soon, an Indian man, Saju Hari, passes by and Meng throws herself into his arms, taking him on as a partner. He has no idea what he’s doing but he gamely tries to do as she wishes, catching her, spinning her, walking her around in a ballerina promenade. It’s hilarious watching this exquisite ballerina be partnered by a seemingly regular guy. Suddenly he wants to show her what he’s got, his dance style. The music changes, he stands in front of her and makes a shape, legs spread, in a deep lunge, very martial-arts-looking but with an Indian flair. In its sharp contrast with her delicate, feathery movement style, it’s jarringly beautiful, which to me is ultimately the point.
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s "Glassy Essence"
Last night Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet invited dance bloggers to a preview of their new installation, which means you, the patron, walk around the area watching the dancers. Cedar Lake’s large garage space in Chelsea is ideal for this kind of dance, which takes place in various parts of the around and choose what to focus on, although, for the most part, there’s only one dance taking place at once so the choreographer has already kind of led you to home in on a particular aspect of the performance. This is a contrast to the company’s last installation piece, in which there was a great deal going on at once, and you had to choose what to watch. The dancers make good, full use the space and will interact a bit with the patrons, weaving in and around you during the performance. It’s nice because you can get pretty close to the dancers, so, unlike sitting in the balcony or a high ring at a huge opera house, you have a more close, personal connection to the dance. Plus, the music is very percussive and rhythmic and makes you want to dance yourself! It’s a very interesting experience, and unlike typical concert dance.
Tickets are $10 and the 45-minute performance runs April 24-26 and May 1-3 with performances at 8 and 9 each night. Go here for more information, as well as some cool videos of the piece.
It’s nice of Cedar Lake to do this — host these little parties for bloggers. I wish other companies would do the same, or at least have a little social after the performance where you can stand around with a glass of wine chatting with your friends about what you just saw. A few of us went out afterward and we were talking about how dance is inherently social; the way most performances are structured, you have very little time to chat with your companions. Intermissions are short — just long enough to go to the bathroom — and then everything shuts down right after the last curtain call. But it prolongs and enriches your dance experience to be able to talk about the performance. Anyway, thank you to Cedar Lake for a nice show and a good time 🙂
By the way, here’s Tony Schultz from the Winger, sporting a great new hairstyle! I’m always ribbing him about how different he looks from his Winger headshot. Hehehe, people don’t even recognize him in public!
For more detailed write-ups of the evening, see Philip‘s and Evan‘s blogs.
Dostoevsky Ballet, Interview With Pasha, Akram Khan, and Dance Schools for Autistic Kids?
Just a few random things:
Here’s an interview with Pasha Kovalev (thanks to Sharon for the link);
There’s a ballet just opening in London that is inspired by Dostoevsky’s many changing drafts of “The Idiot”, and stars Carlos Acosta, which sounds really interesting (via Maud);
And this looks fascinating!
Also, a friend of mine teaches autistic children and wants to know if there’s a dance school, preferably in Manhattan or Brooklyn that caters to special needs children. Does anyone know of one?
The Kirov’s Dramatic Balanchine
Russians are such great dramatists; they make everything they can out of everything they do, and the effect is so moving, so exciting. Yesterday marked the end of the Kirov Ballet‘s 3-week stay in New York. They left on a huge bang, performing three of George Balanchine’s most revered works: the beautiful “Serenade,” the first ballet Balanchine made after his emigration from Russia to the U.S.; “Rubies”, Balanchine’s tribute to American-style ballet; and “Ballet Imperial,” his homage to the grand ballet traditions of Imperial Russia.
Probably because of the trial, stupidly, I got a bit teary-eyed after “Serenade” (the only time I’ve ever cried during a dance performance was seeing Alvin Ailey’s Revelations not long after 9/11; I’m not a crier … I do wonder what Serenade would look like on Ailey. Hmmm. I don’t think that company has enough women though…).
I’ve written about this ballet before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it so dramatic, so acted. Balanchine famously created it as practice for his students, and as it took shape it evolved into this beautifully poetic work. Costumed in sky blue, diaphonous, floor-length gowns, the “students” become angelic creatures as they proceed from parallel-footed to turned-out position, and practice leg work, then port de bras. Though one of Balanchine’s many story-less ballets, you still sense a narrative there, and these dancers locate it and tell it to its fullest. When a student arrived to class late, Balanchine worked that into his choreography. But this student, Victoria Tereshkina, doesn’t just run into the midst of things and take her position; she’s late for a reason. She’s very distressed, very emotionally shorn. Perhaps she’s just been in a horrible fight with someone, a lover? She tries to work through her pain during practice, but it’s no use, until a male dancer, Yevgeny Ivanchenko, arrives and takes her out of her pain for a time as they waltz around the floor.
She gets so caught up in him that after he leaves, upon exiting the stage behind the other students, she faints, falling to the ground in a dramatic heap. Interestingly, here is where, when the New York City Ballet performs this ballet, the ballerina lets her hair down, her long (usually blonde) flowing hair now lying in a pool around her. When other ballerinas enter stage, they now have their hair down as well. To me, this signfies the “ballet class” portion of the ballet is over and the real drama has begun. But here, all of the ballerinas kept their hair in taut buns.
The “dark angel” enters, her hands firmly clasped over the eyes of the male dancer in front of her — the character who I’ve always called “blind justice” but who here is called “Elegia,” who makes his way to the fallen girl, to rescue her soul, which, by the end, he does. Ekaterina Kondaurova was breathtakingly beautiful, and full of mystery, as the dark angel, and Alexander Sergeev (who performed in just about every piece I saw both by the Kirov and in Diana Vishneva’s “Beauty in Motion” program) danced with great sensitivity and understated pathos.
Next on was “Rubies” (pictured at the top of the post), Balanchine’s homage to what he viewed as the America dance tradition, with all of its jazziness and sass and show-girl-esque charm. I’ve written about that ballet in detail here. I LOVED Olesia Novikova, who danced the female lead of the main pas de deux, not so much with flirtatious sexiness — that was left to Ekaterina Kondaurova as the main vixen-esque ballerina — but more with cute, charming playfulness. She and her beau, Vladimir Shklyarov, equally playful, acted off of each other, regarding each other quizzically, mischievously, tapping each other on the shoulder, before launching into their competing solos. Kondaurova also played off of the actions of her ‘men-servants’ as one of four danseurs surrounding her lifted her leg into a lovely arabesque from behind, causing her to bend down, her chin nearly falling into the palm of another man, facing her and down on one knee ready to receive her blessing. But the way she looked at him, her eyes harsh and squinting, you didn’t want to be that man! And yet it was cute, it made everyone laugh.
I just love how these dancers gave everything they did a reason; though these are all story-less ballets, the intentions behind the dancers’ eyes, their focused gazes, drew you in to their world and brought that ballet to life.
Last on was “Ballet Imperial,” which I’ve written about here. I realize this is one of Balanchine’s masterpieces, but for some reason, it’s never done a whole lot for me. As a tribute to the grand balletic traditions of his homeland, I much prefer the “Diamonds” part of “Jewels.” Ballet Imperial is very pretty though. It was supposed to be danced here by prima ballerina Diana Vishneva, but for reasons not explained to us, was danced instead by Uliana Lopatkina (correction: it was Alina Somova — thanks Susan!), whom I thought turned out to be just radiant. I didn’t mind not seeing Vishneva, since she’s also a principal with American Ballet Theater, so I can see her all summer long (plus, I had errands to run afterward and didn’t have the time for a 10-hour curtain call 🙂 ), but there were a great many “ooooooh nooooo’s” in the audience at the substitution announcement. I felt badly for Somova — how’s that for a welcome?!
Anyway, I will miss the Kirov. They brought Balanchine to life for me and gave me a chance to see a full evening of works by American expatriate, William Forsythe. I hope they return to NY frequently.
Kirov, Forsythe, and Alvin Ailey Outdoors
Last night I went to see the Kirov Ballet (based in St. Petersburg, Russia) currently performing (through this weekend) at New York’s City Center. I chose to see their all Forsythe program, since I haven’t seen much Forsythe, particularly his ballets. William Forsythe is a postmodern American choreographer who moved to Germany after poor reception to his work here. I’ve seen only a couple of his works, both of them recently made, which I wrote about here and here.
Anyway, I loved it! I’m reviewing the program for Explore Dance and I’ll link to my review once it’s up, but I love how Forsythe challenges the boundaries of both performance and ballet. Space-age looking tutus, classical movement that looks ever so slightly off-kilter, theater lights going on and off and curtains falling throughout the performance, classical poses intertwined with postmodern, harsh yet rhythmic music, dancers taking the stage to talk with each other and practice dance phrases all the while before an actual audience, ballerinas appearing to lift themselves, their men seeming to work against rather than with them, fast jumps and virtuostic leaps taken to their allegro extreme… Plus, I loved Elena Sheshina. It was mesmerizing simply watching her “practice” her routine over and over and over again. And it’s always a delight to watch shaggy-haired, deliciously mischievious-looking Mikhail Lobukhin (here he is dancing) (and in bottom photo above), and the liquidy Alexander Sergeev, whose limbs flow like water.
Afterward I walked down 55th Street to the Alvin Ailey studios to see filmmaker David Michalek‘s latest installation, of slow motion videos of the Ailey dancers.
It was cold so I didn’t stay long enough to see all of them. But I will defintely be back throughout the summer!
At party & showing for armen danilian
At party & showing for armen danilian
Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.
Danilian photographs dancers with the Kirov Ballet based in St. Petersberg, Russia.
Danilian has just released a new book of his photographs called “Behind the Curtain.” It sells for $50. Some of the photos were on display in the gallery last night. One of my favorites was of the dancer in the top picture (sorry my picture is crappy; I only had my cell phone camera with me because I came from court and cameras are strictly forbidden in the courtroom). Unfortunately, I don’t know this dancer’s name since they didn’t have any captions at the gallery.
Fun event; lots of Russians there 🙂 And, they had a string quartet playing that Ariel noticed had instrument cases marked “Kirov”, and a table loaded with Russian chocolates, breads, and wine. Very nice evening!
Intriguing Capoeria From Dance Brazil
I’m very behind on my blogging, but I just wanted to post a bit about an intriguing group I saw last week at Symphony Space, Dance Brazil. The dance troupe, based in the Bahian region of Brazil and directed by Jelon Vieira, performed a medley of modern dance with Brazilian-based movement, Samba (which made me happy), and a dance form that I, shamefully, haven’t seen much of before: Capoeria.
Capoeria is an Afro-Brazilian dance that grew out of slavery; the movement was originally a means of self-defense for slaves against their oppressors, and involved athletic, martial arts-type feats. Over time, it became more stylized and evolved into an art form.
It actually looked to me to be a balletic form of martial arts. Dancers would pretend-kick, lash out at, and jump over each other, but in a very stylized way. And because the athleticism was so functional, so meaningful, it didn’t take over or negate the artistic. For example, there were a lot of barrel turns (but with bent knees and flexed feet), but unlike in ballet, where such wondrous mid-air-turning leaps would be considered tricks whose main purpose is to wow audiences, here it was more like an arty means of trickery: one man would come at the other as if to “capture” him, and the first would make him think he was going to succeed, then, at the last minute, do a flying leap over the guy. It was just brilliant. Definitely made me want to see more.
Unfortunately, it appears that they are no longer at Symphony Space, but if you ever have the chance to see this group, I highly recommend them. And read more about capoeria here, here, and here; also here’s a video of another Brazilian group performing the dance, and here’s a fun video of breakdancers competing with capoeria artists.
Bravo’s Step It Up and Dance This Thursday Night
Tomorrow night (Thursday, April 3rd) Bravo network is finally going to premiere their new dance show, “Step It Up and Dance.” Hosted by Elizabeth Berkeley, this one is supposed to be similar to “So You Think You Can Dance,” with contestants who have at least some dance experience competing in a variety of dance styles for overall best — except there are more styles here, including Ballet (yay, finally!) and burlesque.
Bravo has put out some good shows (Project Runway), so I have high hopes for this one. It’ll be on tomorrow night at 11 p.m. EST. Go here for more details.
Grupo Corpo at BAM
Friday night I was finally able to see the Brazilian dance troupe, Grupo Corpo, live. I’ve seen videos, and have heard so much about them, through Brazilian friends. So, I’ve been wanting to see them for a while, and I was very happy when they finally came to Brooklyn.
Founded in 1975, the troupe, from the Brazilian province of Belo Horizonte, combines ballet with different forms of Brazilian dance and cultural influences — African, Latin, Native American, Portuguese etc. I saw two pieces, “Benguele” and “Breu”, both choreographed by resident choreographer and co-founder, Rodrigo Pederneiras.
I liked the first, “Benguele” best. I saw it as a celebration of the cultural stew that is contemporary Brazil, melding a variety of movement — West African, Samba, capoeira, Portuguese folk, and even jazz — and a variety of sound, from folksy acoustic guitars to orchestral strings, to, my favorite, pulsating African drums. The running theme was a person trying to make his or her way across the stage, or a people trying to find their home, perhaps the result of a diaspora. The dancers moved back and forth and back and forth across stage with a variety of movement. The most common “walk” was the body bent way over at the waist, the arms hanging down, the hands almost touching the floor, almost dragging along it. But the lower body moved to the beats, which gave the walk a definite style and rhythm. So, although the person looked tired and world-weary, bent over from old age or a life of intense, perhaps slave labor, he continued on, like nothing was going to stop him from finding his destination.
At other times, people would move across the stage sideways, knees deeply bent, in a deep lunge. They were very animalistic, looking at times like crabs, at times like insects, and at times like jaguars or panthers. Sometimes, dancers would suddenly dart up from these crouched positions, legs kicking out, like a martial artist fighting his way out of a bad situation but with style and grace, intellect, and artistry — the super-charged, acrobatic capoeira. Some would nearly fly across stage in a quick jazzy skip. Some would slither in loose, pelvic rotating forward samba walks, or side-stepping samba voltas.
There’s nothing more fun, by the way, than recognizing a move! I see now why ballet is so popular amongst people with ballet training. It’s really interesting to see others do a step you’ve struggled with yourself, or to see a choreographer’s unique take on that step.
At times two people would dance together, trotting across the stage happily in a waltzy, swingy pas de deux, illustrating the position social dance has held in Brazilian culture.
At the end, all movement seemed to meld together, like it was blended into one continuous rhythm. The backdrop became a series of vertical stripes, each color represented, and each dancer wore different-colored sashes criss-crossed over his or her torso, a rainbow medley.
The second piece, “Breu,” I liked less than “Benguele,” but it was still good. In this piece, all dancers were dressed in zebra-striped or almost blindingly checkered costumes that at times looked imprisoning like a straight-jacket, at times intriguingly geometric like a compelling architectural model. This piece was much more obviously violent than the first, as dancers thrashed against each other, threw themselves down to the ground, kicked and pushed each other.
At other times, they would refrain from going at each other, to lie down or stand in a row, making various visual shapes with their geometric-patterned bodies. But the movements in line or on the ground would still be fraught with intense emotion. And soon the thrashing pas de deux would return. The Playbill notes that this work was intended to “evoke the dark times in which we live” and to show “the violence and brutality encountered in daily life.” I definitely saw those, but didn’t think it really progressed; it seemed too one note to me.
Another thing I noticed is that most of the members seemed to be white, though there were a couple of black male dancers. I’ve never been to Brazil (yet!) but thought it was a very mixed race society. My friend, Alyssa, and I had noticed the same of Mimulus, when we saw them at Jacob’s Pillow over the summer. Not a criticism or anything; just something I found curious. It’s the same here, of course, with most of the large professional dance companies, especially the ones specializing in ballet. I just wonder if the underlying reasons for that are the same.
Anyway, I really enjoyed Grupo Corpo, especially the wonderful Benguele, and will definitely look forward to more by them!
Happy Fiftieth Birthday to the Greatest Dance Company in the World!
Today marked the beginning of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 18-month-long fiftieth anniversary celebration. I was unable to go to the performance since I was at the trial, but fortunately for me — for all of us! — they have events happening throughout the next year and a half, both in NY and throughout the country, and the world. Go here for a list. In particular, they’re going to be performing in several different churches throughout New York / New Jersey, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, and Pennsylvania as part of their Faith-Based Initiative, beginning at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Manhattan this Sunday. An archive exhibit will be on display in Washington DC in May, and will move to Los Angeles later in the year. And in August, there will be several free performances and open dance classes throughout NYC. And, remember David Michalek’s Slow Dancing videos that I blogged about last summer ad nauseam? Well, he’s made one of Ailey dancers and it’ll be showing on the facade of their studios on 9th Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan throughout the entire anniversary celebration. Free art, what more could you ask for!
There are tons of events though, so do go here for more details. And please don’t miss them if they come to your neck of the woods on tour. Global tour begins in September, and US in January. Happy year!
Sascha Radetsky in Newsweek
Sascha Radetsky is the author of this week’s My Turn column in Newsweek. In it he makes the case for male ballet dancers, or, rather rails against the male-dancer-bashers. Thanks to Danciti for finding it. I wish I could say it’s passe given all the male dancers on TV these days, but can I? I definitely think “Dancing With the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance” have significantly decreased the stigma against male dancers in general, and I feel like that has to affect the world of ballet. Danny Tidwell may have somewhat downplayed his ballet background on SYTYCD, but has anyone watched Lifetime’s new show, “Your Mama Don’t Dance”? Last Friday showcased the male contestants dancing with their mothers. All of them (the male dancers that is) had ballet background, and they proudly announced this, thanking their mums for taking them to classes when they were little, encouraging them, etc. Host Ian Ziering, who’d complained of looking “girly” when learning Latin on DWTS, went nuts over the first guy to dance — Jonathan Silver — whose ballet training in his “contemporary” number was obvious. No one talked one iota about stigmas they faced when they chose a life of dance, then or now. That’s gotta say something…