Tag: TV

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Danny Tidwell and David Hallberg (and CounterCritic) in the Same Room(!): Cedar Lake Ballet Blogger Shindig

Fun fun night! Big understatement! I didn’t even need to get drunk 🙂

Please excuse the Gawkerish, 15-year-old voice of this post. I waited until this morning to blog in hopes that the euphoria would dissipate and Kristin Sloan might post the group photo her boyfriend, Doug Jaeger, took, but as of yet neither has happened.

I must begin by calling myself a big fat hypocrit. I’ve laughed and rolled my eyes at Philip whenever he’s nearly fainted in front of the New York City Ballet stage door upon receiving a smile and hello from Jock Soto or Albert Evans or Wendy Whelan. Last night Danny Tidwell smiled and said hi to me and I promptly choked on my wine. Of course he doesn’t know me; I was just standing there staring gape-mouthed at him when he walked by with … oh crap I’m so bad, I think it was Jamie??… He was there with a girl from SYTYCD, but I’m not exactly sure who. Since the pre-show party was for bloggers, I was half-expecting his boyfriend to come (whom I was very much hoping to meet!) but Benaym was a no-show. I didn’t expect Danny though!!! Oh he’s so cute, and his smile is so warm and charming and sweet, it really just melted me. I can easily see why he is such a star. I got there earlier than everyone else and was nearly alone inside when the earth-shattering hello happened; each time one of my friends walked in, they greeted me only to get in return, “Omigod, omigod, Danny Tidwell said hi to me, Danny Tidwell said hi to me!!!” He’s so much smaller than he looks on TV or onstage. I couldn’t believe it. He’s always appeared to me the size of Carlos Acosta, but he’s well under six feet. It’s just the proverbial larger than life stage and screen presence I guess… And I’m very very very sorry for any SYTYCD fan who’s reading, but I just couldn’t bring myself to snap pics of him. In New York there’s an ironclad rule against “starf***ing.” Everyone does it, but everyone pretends they don’t and to break the pretense is practically illegal, a violation of the NYC social contract. Taylor and Evan and Ariel all agreed with me that I would definitely be immediately kicked out and may even be executed if I so much as tried surreptitiously to get a cell phone pic. So sorry!!! But Mr. Jaeger had a humongoid camera and was shooting up the place, so I’ll keep checking his site and see if he got any.

When Caleb Custer from Cedar Lake sent out the email announcing the blogger party, I had no idea who all was going to show. I was still swooning over Danny when who should breeze up his hair billowing in the wind but the beautiful one himself! When I spotted him pass by the large garage window (Cedar Lake’s studio is actually housed in a big garage, according to Philip, once used by photographer Annie Liebowitz), I couldn’t help myself. I screamed uncontrollably, “Look, there’s David Hallberg!” Doug (Fox), Philip, Ariel and probably about 75 other people in the lobby followed my point. David looked in at us, horrified. He promptly pretended to get a call on his cell phone and spent the next 20 minutes outside pacing up and down the street affecting a phone conversation, every so often peeking in the window to see if all the commotion at his arrival had died down. Meanwhile Danny remained huddled in a back corner with Jamie. Dancers are weird the way they sometimes crave and are other times embarrassed by attention.

Finally David braved the storm and ventured in. He is soft-friggin-spoken to make a massive understatement! He extended his hand to me and said something I couldn’t hear, I said simply, “hi, I’m Tonya,” feeling like a total ass, and he again said something I couldn’t make out. Soft-spoken or not, he clearly either had no idea who I was or was terrified of me. Ariel thinks it’s the latter, because of things like this and this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the former though; he and Marcelo have got to be two of the only dancers on the face of the earth who never Google themselves. Anyway, the awkwardness was soon quelled by his sighting of Philip, who is apparently a friend of his through Craig Salstein. Philip was standing beside me. David doesn’t need to act at all; his natural reactions to things are so sweetly touching. You could see his recognition of Philip visibly register as his face brightened and he went bouncing toward Philip like a dog when it sees a regular playmate, practically rubbing his pelvis up against him when embracing. He then saw Ariel, standing beside Philip, whom he met when he was guesting once in Mobile, Alabama, and hugged her as well. I was feeling like the consummate dog crap, being the only one who didn’t receive a hug. But I guess that’s what I get for posting naked pictures and yelling at him for not blogging often enough on the Winger 🙂

Another highlight for me was meeting CounterCritic, whose original blog (critiquing the critics) I love. He’s such a fantastic writer whether he’s wickedly taunting critics or writing performance reviews himself, which are always spot-on (almost always anyway!) And he’s the only dance blogger who’s on Alex Ross’s blogroll. Oh jealously uncontained… Anyway, he’s so nice in person; all that blog pissiness is a total cover! I can’t really rib David for his puppyish behavior toward Philip because I followed CC around all night like a little dog, sitting next to him even during the show.

Speaking of which, could I talk a bit about the actual performance? Artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, who by the way is really good-looking and personable and used to dance with my beloved Alvin Ailey, held a little Q&A with the bloggers afterward. He said he loves blogs: existing in a sphere so apart from traditional media, they bring something fresh and original to the dance world; they bring balance and new voices, and, though you never know what take you’re going to get from each one, it’s always interesting to see… I’m sure he never thought he’d be getting a blog post all about the pre-show hysteria of meeting Danny Tidwell and David Hallberg.

I want to look more at the (extensive!) press materials and the DVD they included (always an immense plus from dance companies), but for now I want to say how much I love dancer Jon Bond. Everything he does is so full-out, his lines are so sharp and even intense if that makes sense. Just little things like flexing a hand or foot, when he does it, it’s so pronounced that it looks all the more edgy in its awkwardness.

We saw three ballets: “Symptoms of Development,” by choreographer Jacopo Godani, a harsh, unsettling piece which dealt with technology and how it works against human interaction (Evan remarked to me afterward that it was an interesting inclusion in the rep they showed us, since we’re bloggers); “Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue,” by Crystal Pite, my favorite duet being one in which Bond struggled to reach the female dancer in front of him, palm open and fingers extended to the max, running in place to catch up with her, but in vain, as she, running in place as well, was always too far ahead; and “Rite” by Stijn Celis, another take on a dance to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” nearly all of which — of the ones I’ve seen anyway — evoke in different ways the chaos bordering on horror of the rite of passage of boys and girls into men and women. If you’re interested, here’s a YouTube clip of Pina Bausch’s take on the theme, and here’s Maurice Bejart’s, which I’m partial to. Celis’s “Rite” was different in that all characters were androgynous, so there was no real distinction between male and female. All dancers — about four men and four women — were dressed in Asian-looking strapless mini-dresses and wore heavy, almost operatic facial makeup. It actually reminded me of Nacho Duato’s Castrati, which I wrote about here, except both sexes were included, though not both genders (that I saw anyway; others may have different interpretations). The dancers darted, leaped over, and ran atop these three long log-looking sets, covered with green material and meant, I think, to evoke a primitive landscape. The dancers almost looked like nymphs as they interacted: regarding each other quizzically, examining the powder and sweat left on the ‘log landscape’ by each other in a somewhat grotesquely sexual way; performing dangerous run-and-jump catches with each other; it was kind of “Afternoon of a Faun“ish (original Nijinsky version) as well. All pieces were abstract, and all unsettling, but I think this was my favorite because it seemed to have the most going on that I could latch onto and make something of, and, because of the other “Rite’s” I’d seen, I had something to compare it to.

This is a new company, only four years old, and this is the third time I’ve seen them. They tend to take on edgy, visually striking and thought-provoking work and their dancers are very unafraid and do everything full force. For more info on their season, go here. Thank you so much to Cedar Lake for organizing this most fun, and thus far original, event. I’ll post pictures taken by the pro photographers if Caleb sends any my way…

For now, here’s a picture of Ariel taken in The Half King around the corner, where we afterward went to discuss the performance. Okay, where we went to discuss David and Danny 🙂

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Sitting in the gay man section …

Sitting in the gay man section …

Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.


Should be fun!

Update: Actually the whole theater turned out to be the gay section 🙂 Mr. Parsons is very popular amongst a certain population… Hehe, I can see why; it was a lot of fun and he’s got some very good dancers in his troupe. His piece “Caught” appears to be his claim to fame. In it, a man frantically runs toward various lights shining down from above and dances underneath their heat. But then the lights leave him and focus on another part of the stage. At one point, strobe lights just begin flashing all over the stage, completely overtaking him, and he can’t escape. He dances, doing some amazing moves — continuous grand jetes, high twisty jumps — as the lights continue to flash on him. It’s an amazing visual effect — he looks like he’s literally flying, never coming down to the ground — and he must be very focused to be able to dance in all that chaos. I’ve seen things not unlike this before, but the audience was going completely nuts with applause. The guy next to me said to his boyfriend, “it’s worth the price of admission for that alone!”

Parsons also does some interesting things with the body, the male body in particular. His main muse appears to be male dancer Miguel Quinones, judging from the first program. At one point Quinones does these really jazzy barrel turns, where he kind of shakes and shimmies his whole body on each rotation. He doesn’t always gain as much height as a classical ballet dancer, but it’s incredible that he can move so in the midst of the turn. (I was sitting next to a critic — I think the guy from the New Jersey Ledger. His pen started going the same time mine did at those amazing turns 🙂 ) At another point, Quinones did a lovely arabesque, but instead of remaining still, he did these body rolls, starting from his hips and undulating up through his waist, torso, chest, shoulders, then out to the fingers of the outstretched arm — all the while steadily balancing on one leg, the other beautifully lifted behind.

Anyway, I’m going to Program B as well, and I’ll do a write up after! They’re at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea through Jan. 20th.

Okay, gotta go glue myself to the TV — Oh my gosh, Hillary won, Hillary won, HILLARY WON!!!

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Jock!

I saw a documentary last night at New York City Ballet’s State Theater that I really really loved. AND it’s going to air on PBS on April 8th, so everyone can see it! Don’t worry, I will definitely be reminding you all closer to April 🙂 It’s called WATER FLOWING TOGETHER and is about the life of recently retired and widely beloved New York City Ballet dancer Jock Soto (pictured above after the showing speaking with photographer / filmmaker Gwendolen Cates — whom I’m told is related to Phoebe, though I don’t know if it’s true — and a moderator whose name I didn’t get).

There was some real hype over this, and I’m always ready to pounce in such instances, but in this case the hype was deserved. Although the film gets off to a slow start, it quickly gains momentum. I think what makes it so engaging is Soto’s interesting background and wonderful personality. He’s part Navajo, part Puerto Rican, and he grew up on a reservation in New Mexico, before moving to Phoenix (!) for ballet school. The film’s title is the name of his mother’s clan. There’s some great footage of the West, and my favorite parts of the film are (in addition to clips of his rehearsing Christopher Wheeldon’s tear-jerking duet “After the Rain” with the equally engaging Wendy Whelan, who is interviewed as well) those about his Native-American roots. (This could be partly because I have a Native American great-grandmother — Blackfoot to be exact — though I know next to nothing about her since, sadly, she’s been all but erased from my family history). Anyway, Jock’s mother was an artist and used to make Katchina dolls (how I miss Arizona…) and ceramic bowls, and he and his brother used to make and sell Indian Fry Bread (how I SO miss Arizona…) when they were kids. After he retired from NYCB in 2005 he went to culinary school and he and his partner, professional chef Luis Fuentes, have just begun a catering business, so I guess those foodie roots were always there!

Another thing that struck me: Jock’s homosexuality has always been accepted by his mother’s side of the family. American Indian culture, she says, holds homosexuals in high esteem because of their difference. (His paternal Latin side: not so accepting; aunts and grandmas keep asking when he’s gonna get married and, because his father hasn’t said anything, he feels uncomfortable revealing his sexuality to them). But interestingly, Indian society is also matriarchal. So, where women are valued, so are gay men.

 

And, like his longtime partner Wendy Whelan, Jock has such a sweetly endearing personality and a great sense of humor. He laughs easily at himself. Upon entering his apartment (which he openly tells you is a typical NYC dancer shoebox that he nevertheless pays $1,850 for) there’s a sign that reads, “No liquor served to Indians after 6:00 p.m.” Later, while preparing for a performance, he says, “as I put on my makeup and my costume and do my hair, I think, what a strange occupation for a 40-year-old man,” and at another point, trying hard to conceal his fear of and heartache about permanently leaving the stage says, “well, June 19, 2005 will be the last time I’ll ever have to dress in drag.” At one point, he actually lets loose and cries over his eternally pained body and his pending retirement. The scene makes him human and vulnerable and it really drives home that it must be so awful for a dancer to have to leave what he’s lived his entire life for at such a young age.

Anyway, it’s an excellent film and I left out a lot: his meeting and befriending Andy Warhol (I wish Cates had actually gone into a bit more detail on this); his ruminations on his coming to NY at only age 14, living without his family and dropping out of school in the 7th grade; and a lot of amazing dancing, including some great footage of him flying all over stage with his young little sprightly teenage body! Please do watch it on PBS in April, though they have to chop a good twenty minutes off for TV, which seriously frightens me since PBS seems to have a knack for making everything they show as bland as possible. If they cut any of the parts I just mentioned, there will be hell to pay!

It already seems this film is a slightly different version than that others have seen. In her lengthy review, Tobi Tobias mentions several classroom scenes where he’s teaching students at the School of American Ballet (from which aspiring NYCB dancers must graduate), which seemed to be missing from last night’s version. And smartly so, I think: “Classical ballet being the last bastion of chivalry in our disheveled era, Soto works continually to encourage a worshipful attitude in the gentlemen toward their ladies.” Considered the quintessential “manly” dancer though he may be, something about that line kind of makes me want to vomit.

Sometimes it can start to feel a bit stiflingly cliquish inside the State Theater if I’m there for too long, but I had a nice time hanging out before and after with Philip and Ariel, whose reports are here and here.

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In Serious Praise of Cuba

Spent a lovely early evening at the New York City Ballet watching wonderful short film of Jock Soto‘s life (more on that soon!), then came home to watch the art of dance be totally and completely demeaned worse than I’ve ever seen by the insulting new TV show, Dance War. I’ve never in my life seen more people with less dance training seeking to become “stars.” They sang their hearts out and wiggled their butts and seemed in all honesty to have no clue that ass wiggling did not constitute dance. Some actually tried to do jumps but didn’t understand the concept of line (amongst many many other things) and so looked like monkeys.

But I’m more horrified that judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba (from Dancing With the Stars) actually praised them. Carrie Ann said of one woman who did a single fouette then stumbled on the very second whip around, that she had “technique.” A man did a grand battement (really fast high kick — anyone can do one) and Bruno jumped around onstage orgiastically screaming “excellent extension, did everyone see that extension?!” I’m not even going to bother criticizing this assininity; suffice it to say the judges know the fraud they’re perpetrating on the public. They know.

On one hand, I seriously feel like boycotting “Dancing With the Stars” unless they resign. On the other, I guess what can you do when you have a TV show and these are the applicants? You’ve gotta pick someone or the show’s off the air. And you can’t call everyone a bad dancer. So you shrug your shoulders and say, as Carrie Ann did, “Well, it’s easier to teach someone who can sing to dance than someone who can dance to sing.” Could anything be more of a smack in the face to a person who deeply respects dance?

And yet I’m very conflicted. I just can’t understand why people would try out for a show that necessitated the ability to dance when it’s obvious they’ve never had a single dance lesson in their lives. But I also don’t want to sound like the horrendously elitist critics and ballet dancers and afficionados I abhor who insist that in order to be a “real” dancer, one must have “proper training,” which, to them, just happens to include a very expensive education affordable only by the very rich, who are, in our lovely society, usually the very white. A friend and I were talking the other day about how wealthy many of the New York City Ballet dancers are (NOT the aforesaid Jock Soto, by the way).

So, I say, the only way out of this dilemma is to “buy” Cuban! There dance is highly respected as an art form, it is taught by some of the world’s greatest, and it’s also completely free. And free doesn’t exactly produce shoddy. And, if you don’t believe me, take Danny Tidwell’s word 🙂 More Jose’s, more, more!

Okay, it’s late and I’m tired and being a bit goofy all because I got so worked up I got over a stupid dance show… But, seriously, everyone please just watch this! Why oh why isn’t there more dance like it on TV?…

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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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"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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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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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.

 

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SYTYCD 2008 Audition Dates Announced

So, for anyone who hasn’t heard the breaking news of the past half hour, audition dates for the next season of SYTYCD have been announced. Since I’m lazy, I’ll just link to Maria!

I know several people around here who are thinking of trying out; looks like the nearest audition venue for them will be DC since there are none in NY. Which is fine — DC’s not so far away. Come on, come on, someone else I know go be on the show and do really really well so I can say I know more famous people 🙂 Just kidding; I just got back from Alvin Ailey and, as is usually the case when I’ve just returned from an evening of watching my favorite dancers, I am all giggles. Oh I love them so! Anyway, excellent luck to everyone I know … and don’t know … who’s shooting for the stars!

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Pasha & Anya in Ballroom Spectacular and Danny and Rasta Do Nutz

 

A little note on a couple of my favorite SYTYCD stars’ upcoming gigs: Pasha and Anya will be performing in “Rhythm of Love,” at The Palace Theater in downtown Stamford, Connecticut, on December 21st and 22nd. I will definitely be going to this. The show is billed as “Ballroom meets Broadway” and will include both Latin and Standard ballroom as well as theater dance, and is narrative-driven, telling the story: boy meets girl, boy loses girl because he can’t dance to save his life, boy learns to dance and gets girl of his dreams. Aw, sounds cute! “Boy” by the way is played not by Pasha but by another dancer I’m familiar with, Benito (Benny) Garcia, who most definitely CAN dance (particularly a bad -ass mambo). Lead girl is danced by newcomer Emilee Petersen. In addition to Pasha & Anya, the show includes top American ballroom pros J.T. Thomas & Tomasz Mielnicki (Smooth champs), and Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz (#1 in Rhythm), as well as the couple who took first in showdance last Nationals, Garry & Rita Gekhman, and another favorite couple of mine, Felipe & Carolina Telona.

(above photo of Gekhmans, and photo atop that of Telonas, both from the press release; top photo of Pasha & Anya — of course! — by moi 🙂 ). Go here for more info. Thanks again to Laurel for alerting me to this!

Second, Danny Tidwell is scheduled to perform in a San Diego Nutcracker from December 21-23. Performing with him will be… eeeeeee, the wondrous Rasta Thomas! How jealous am I of you San Diegans!!! Sadly, I won’t be able to attend, as I live on the opposite coast, but anyone who does, please do let me know how it goes! Go here for info on that. Thank you to Rebecca for emailing me about this!