Wet Paint

Crossroads – Hip Hop and Hoops

by Karen Posted on November 12, 2013

Crossroads – Hip Hop and Hoops — An Indigenous Experience
Frank Waln, Samsoche Sampson, Ike Hopper
Chen Dance Center
Friday, November 8, 2013

The Chen Dance Center in New York City’s Chinatown is one of my favorite dance venues. There is a welcoming atmosphere to the place. While young dance students congregate and laugh together in the main hall, guests receive a warm greeting in a reception area. A spread of soft drinks and Chinese appetizers is offered. Artistic Directors H.T. Chen and Dian Dong mill among the guests, engaging them in conversation. This friendly interaction continues during performances in their theater.

H.T. Chen had been attending a conference when he first saw young Lakota hip hop artist Frank Waln performing his original compositions. Waln’s spoken word poems carry the same edge as Eminem’s work, drawing upon personal problems within his family, and the struggles and resilience of his people in the face of colonization. Waln doesn’t pull any punches. It’s a very rare occasion when we in America ever talk about the truth of our history, or about our current relationship with the peoples of the First Nations. But right out of the gate, Waln’s music schools us. His earthy plainspoken songs tell the story of genocide, cultural stereotypes and forced assimilation. He talks about witnessing domestic violence, being abandoned by his father at the age of four, and witnessing the hard work his mother was left to do on her own. Waln said that in younger years he felt very introverted and he couldn’t talk about these things. But through his music, he was able to tell the story. His mission is to bring happiness, health and respect to Indigenous people.

Chen invited Waln to do a residency at the Dance Center. This set up a cross cultural dialogue between the two unique and marginalized communities — that of Native peoples with those who live in Chinatown. The goal was to bring solidarity and awareness to both communities. Before receiving a Gates Millennium Scholarship to attend Columbia College in Chicago, Waln had never left the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. He’d never visited a place like New York City’s Chinatown. Many of the young Chinese students at the Chen Center don’t often leave their Chinatown neighborhood either, and they’d never before met Native people or heard their music or seen them dance. The residency opened communication between the two groups, and resulted in the performance of CrossroadsHip Hop & Hoops – An Indigenous Experience.

The program opened with an original dance and poem performed by a group of Chen Dance Center students, while Samsoche Sampson played the wood flute. As they moved, the children recited a poem they’d created about the American experience of emigration. They named the countries from which their people had come, the type of work that their ancestors had done, and the things that the children do now that they’re here. They mimed to the story and struck poses reminiscent of those seen in Chinese artwork. They ended with the sentiment, “We should all live peacefully.”

Throughout the evening, Waln alternately spoke about his experiences of growing up on the Rosebud Lakota reservation, and then the shock of leaving it to attend college in a big city. Though he spoke candidly about his own personal pain and the struggle of his people, it seemed to always be from a position of strength, from a personal responsibility he felt to talk about the portrayal of Natives in colonized society, no matter how strong the resistance to such conversation within American media and formal education. His words were spoken with great use of rhythm and grooves to the accompaniment of the wood flute, and also to pre-recorded tracks mixing samples of traditional Lakota music.

As Waln sang, Sampson danced with a series of eight hoops. The hoops were rolled on the floor, spun on his arms, and ultimately woven together and around his body in a series of amazing formations. When joined together across his back and along the length of his arms, he looked like a magnificent bird. He laced the hoops together to form what looked like a sacred vessel. All the hoop work is done while Sampson performs a series of two steps or turns on one leg.

Onondaga fancy dancer Ike Hopper joined Sampson, both men dressed in colorful regalia complete with big headpieces, collars and bustles full of ribbons and streamers which flew on the breeze as the men performed turns and Native dances. For the final dance, the Native fancy dancers were joined by a traditional Chinese Lion’s Head dancer and a Taiwanese Diety dancer. It all made for a dazzling spectacle of color and movement across cultures.

Waln’s work is powerful. It is of the utmost importance that his brand of truth telling be heard and seen by those of us who live in big cities like New York City, where there is little to no awareness of the First Peoples who live on this continent. Not only is it crucial that we listen to stories like Waln’s, but it’s every bit as crucial that we hear them told in the voices of those who survived extermination, and those who live by their ways in spite of the effects of colonization. I’m grateful to the Chen Center for presenting this program, as I am to Waln, Sampson and Hopper for their words, music and dance. We need to hear and see more of this type of work.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Chen Dance Center, Frank Waln, Ike Hopper, Samsoche Sampson | Leave a comment

Wheeldon’s Cinderella – San Francisco Ballet

by Karen Posted on November 6, 2013

Cinderella
Choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon
San Francisco Ballet
Friday, October 25, 2013

Christopher Wheeldon takes a decidedly different approach to his production of Cinderella. He shows facets of the characters which don’t always come up in the traditional telling of the story. And he does not shy away from the darker aspects of the story or the sadness of some passages in the Prokofiev score. Above all, he uses stage craft and special effects to an enormous advantage, making the ballet accessible and attractive to those who might not otherwise choose to attend a ballet.

Based on the Brothers Grimm version of the Cinderella fairytale, the story tugs at our hearts from the earliest moments, before the scrim is even raised. We meet a happy family — Cinderella as a young girl, playing with her mother and father. Her mother suddenly takes ill. As she is ailing, her husband holds her and promenades, with little Cinderella holding on behind him. As her mother succumbs and ascends to the heavens, Cinderella is lifted and reaches out to her, but their separation by death has begun. When the girl weeps at her mother’s grave, a tree grows, borne of her tears. The tree itself becomes a major character in the story, protecting her and embodying her mother’s spirit.

There is no fairy godmother in this telling of the story. Instead, Cinderella is protected by Four Fates, men who swirl around her and come to her aid, carry umbrellas when she visits her mother’s grave in the rain, assist her with her chores and lift her when she’s grieving. Wheeldon’s prince grows from a waggish boy to a rebellious young man uninterested in his royal responsibilities. He is often accompanied by an equally mischievous friend, Benjamin.

Vanessa Zahorian’s Cinderella can be girlish or wise beyond her years. She is grounded and she moves with purpose. Though she can appear to be lost in a dream, she’s never overtly pouty or swooning. Davit Karapetyan’s Prince Guilliame is a bit more understated and sometimes eclipsed by the presence of Hansuke Yamamoto who played Benjamin with great charm.

Shannon Marie Rugani played Cinderella’s stepmother with sharp comic timing. For her, and for the step sisters (Sasha DeSola and Clara Blanco), there is always something of a flat note present in their choreography — it’s just slightly off and it always gets a laugh.

While there is no bravura in the choreography, there is plenty of sweetness and loveliness present when Ms. Zahorian and Mr. Karapetyan dance together. When the prince and Cinderella first meet, he is disguised as a beggar and Cinderella does not know his real identity. Still they sway together, barely traveling, and we can feel the attraction that has ignited between the two of them. Their pas de deux passages are most romantic.

Cinderella prepares for the ball in a stunning and atmospheric scene, staged by Basil Twist, which takes place beneath the full grown tree. Small groups representing the seasons dance with the Four Fates. Their costumes are gorgeous and the movement is gentle, very much mimicking the natural world. When the Fates slide on the ground, it’s as if sledding on the snow. They jump in a la second, and they look like snowflakes themselves. As the scene builds, the tree truly looks as if its blowing in the breeze and that a storm might be on the way. The leaves come lower to the stage as if they’re heavy with rain. The most spectacular effect of the evening happens when Cinderella emerges in her dress for the ball, which has a train that could take up half the stage. In a feat of amazing staging, her train turns into the coach which she rides to the ball.

The ballroom scene is a never ending swirl of dancers and colorful costumes in turquoise, navy and purple. Everything is bold and nothing fades into the background. Even when the soloists are performing, the party guests are usually dancing too. They barely rest throughout the entire scene — their dances sometimes creating lanes along which the principals travel.

Act Three finds the prince and Benjamin dealing with a never ending line of chairs filled with women (and a man and a puppet and a knight in armor) who want to try on the gold slipper. Moments of this scene reminded me of the bench dance Our Favorite Son from Will Rogers Follies. The line eventually winds its way into Cinderella’s kitchen and her stepmother isn’t beyond whipping out a hammer and attempting to pound the slipper into place on to her daughter’s foot.

Wheeldon’s Cinderella is a wonderfully theatrical piece, a delight to the eye, with strong appeal to the ballet fan as well as to a general audience.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Christopher Wheeldon, Cinderella, Clara Blanco, Davit Karapetyan, Hansuke Yamamoto, San Francisco Ballet, Sasha DeSola, Shannon Marie Rugani, Vanessa Zahorian | Leave a comment

BalaSole – Visages

by Karen Posted on November 4, 2013

Bala Sole – Visages
October 24, 2013
Ailey Citigroup Theater

Young dancers who set out on the journey toward a performance career learn early on that the dance world can be a cruel place which excludes many whose hearts are full of love for the art and whose commitment to their work is fierce. When a young dancer stands before the gatekeepers of dance companies and conservatories, they soon find out that their heart and commitment will only carry them so far, especially if they’re a very tall girl, or a short man, or flat footed, or curvy, or a person of color, or someone north of age thirty.

When discouraged, overlooked and rejected by the gatekeepers due to his height and his age, BalaSole Artistic Director Roberto Villanueva circumvented the obstacles. Not only did he choose to start his own company, but he decided to focus his company’s mission on providing a stage for those whom the dance world is quick to silence. At the end of the evening, when his company of ten stood shoulder to shoulder to take their bows, it was evident that very few of them resembled one another. Their program, Visages, showcased a variety of solos created by dancers who were celebrating the very traits that might have otherwise marginalized them in another dance company.

The company danced Chapter 10 to open the program. It’s a short piece set to music by Haydn. It opens with the dancers lined up from downstage to upstage. They alternately step out of the line and look back at those standing in the line. To me, this seemed to celebrate their defiance of the exclusionary rules of dance. They seemed to look at one another with delight, to celebrate that they were working in an atmosphere which sanctioned their differences.

Dressed in black leotards, they perform phrases with pretty ballet elements, woven together with modern contractions and sharp port des bras which lift and open the chest, as if the individuals are embracing possibilities. It’s in the unison passages that we can see the variety of expressions with which steps can be executed. The dance was created and rehearsed over the course of six days, as a method for the dancers to “get to know one another”.

Falling Together, Falling Apart seemed like a valiant battle against gravity, choreographed by Teal Darkenwald and danced with strong emotion by Christa Hines. She rises gracefully from the floor as if lead by her outstretched hand. She seems stricken as she turns on the floor before sailing with ease into a standing turn. The entire piece seems like an act of determination to triumph above the pull of troubles, setbacks or enemies. We feel her frustration as she pounds on the floor, yet she seems uplifted and especially expressive when executing lush port des bras phrases.

Sining has a lovely Japanese atmosphere. The piece was choreographed and performed by Janina Clark, danced to Sakura performed on koto. Ms. Clark is a beautiful dancer, and her movement is so clean as her arms twist and flutter, and she strikes poses that we may have seen in traditional Japanese artwork.

I especially loved Revealed, danced and choreographed by Steven E. Brown, who (like me) is 56 years old. The movement of his piece reminded me of some of the work that I’ve seen done by Eiko and Koma. Brown works very slowly, mostly above the waist, his focus on the smallest details of the movement rather than on big sweeping gestures and bravura. From beginning to end, the dance travels about five feet, yet it takes us on a journey of controlled strength. It isn’t until the final moments of the dance that Brown shows his face directly to the audience, while rising up on releve. For me, this piece seemed to illustrate the need for companies with a mission like BalaSole’s, and the reasons why a dance career needn’t end while the dancer is still young.

I’ve seen Ursula Verduzco’s Nothing to Hide several times in the past year. The piece is malleable and it seems to tell different aspects of the story with each performance. For me, this performance was the most powerful one yet, packing the deepest emotion. Ms. Verduzco’s movement seemed especially lovely, especially controlled, especially lyrical. Her arms are beautiful and expressive. There are a few moments when she seems to be struggling to take a stand or to find her voice, but she is shut down, usually by her own will. It is only in the last moment of the dance that she finally opens her mouth wide. I was taken by the look on her face — a combination of strangling fear and defiant determination to move ahead, to move beyond the fear.

Jason Garcia Ignacio choreographed and performed My Brother’s Keeper to music by Couperin. Mr. Ignacio is so exciting to watch. He has fierce strength, great control and a very supple back. The first section of this piece plays with contemporary movement against the steadiness of the baroque accompaniment. The second section seems to take its lead from the music. At moments Ignacio seems to travel with an invisible partner. The dance winds up where it began, only this time Ignacio looks sharply to his right in the moment before the blackout, as if acknowledging another presence in the dance.

Sensational flamenco vocalist Julia Patinella sang a capella for Go To The Limits of Your Longing. Dancer and choreographer Anna Brown Massey is seated opposite her. Compared with the tremendous emotion exuded by Patinella, Ms. Massey’s movement is compact, smaller, and limited. As with some of the other pieces in the evening, she seems to be demonstrating the restraint imposed by society upon the dancer who wants to explode and take off. As Ms. Patinella rises to her feet, belting our her song, Ms. Massey unfurls her arms and legs with caution and self conscious reserve. She never quite completes her extension, as if deliberately withholding her energy, rather than actually taking the same risks as the vocalist.

Distancia opens with dancer/choreographer Katherine Alvarado confronting the audience directly. Deep in a controlled grand plie, she stares straight at us with an intense focus. But as the violin music fills the air, she seems to drift off into a trance, her long hair cascading, her attention wandering, her head bobbing gently to the side. Perhaps she’s falling into a dream. Her outstretched arm initiates a traveling phrase and then a series of chaine turns. At the end of the dance, she looks around, as if having returned to consciousness and regaining her bearings.

Body Rebellion was a favorite piece of mine. The stage lighting becomes bright white as choreographer and dancer Delphina Parentiv turns on her shoulder and initiates a series of interesting and original phrases. She has the stage presence of a rock star. Her hips are loose and she consistently surprised me by taking the movement further than I’d have expected it go. Her musicality is strong and her phrases join together seamlessly. The closing moments of this piece were especially endearing, as Ms. Parentiv covers her mouth, cocks an ear to hear, then turns an imaginary key to her own heart.

The final solo, Seconds Remain The Same, is choreographed and performed by Artistic Director Roberto Villanueva. Though he said he was 43 and felt as if he was 83, none of that was in evidence when he danced. His stage presence is commanding. Though the piece seemed to be abstract, his strength, control and amazing flexibility seemed to tell a compelling story.

The evening closed with a piece called To Be Determined, which showed some further development upon the opening piece. This time the dance unfolded into a series of trios which teamed together various company members with a wide sweep of ages, builds and styles.

It’s always wonderful to see the work of artists who drive their lances and stake their claims, regardless of what the gatekeepers have to say about them, based only on their physical appearance. In every other culture, all members of the community are encouraged to participate in the dance. It’s good to see this spirit whenever it surfaces in the western world.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged BalaSole, Christina Hines, Delpina Parentiv, Janina Clark, Jason Garcia Ignacio, Julia Patinella, Katherine Alvarado, Roberto Villanueva, Ursula Verduzco, Visages | Leave a comment

Benjamin Briones Ballet – Choreographer’s Residency

by Karen Posted on September 27, 2013

Benjamin Briones Ballet – Choreographers Residency and Performance
Steps on Broadway – September 20, 2013

I always look forward to seeing new works by Benjamin Briones, Ursula Verduzco, and the choreographers and dancers with whom they work. Their programs always feature a strong ballet and Latin influence. Their work stands out in a world where technique and tricks are often held in highest esteem. Briones and company present works that focus on reaching the viewer’s heart, and they find a surprising variety of styles and pathways with which to do this.

The performance took place in the corner studio on the third floor of Steps. When the room was darkened, the night time city became the backdrop, made mystical by the light of the full Harvest Moon. It seemed an appropriate setting for the opening piece, titled All That Remains, choreographed by Briones. Somber and reflective, the dance addresses feelings of loss and loneliness. Six women dressed in gray wander the floor to a classical guitar accompaniment. No one is smiling. From time to time, they cast questioning or wistful glances at one another, or move in unison for a few phrases. Lucia Campoy’s solo is weighted with an undercurrent of heartache as she reaches out or lays her hand over her chest. But in the final section, when the women dance together, they seem resigned to their fate, and there is now a sense of strength emerging alongside their sorrow. The choreography never becomes contrived — it remains elegant and straightforward. In the closing moments of the dance, the women line up and move forward, maybe even as a community, then they suddenly look up in unison for a moment before the blackout. Briones is masterful in his use of small gestures like these, which sing the praises of the human spirit. I appreciate the seamless transitions with which Briones’ choreography suggests the strength and wisdom which can emerge from hardship.

Sarah Rodak danced an excerpt from Vera Huff’s Five Ninas, a suite set to different songs by Nina Simone. For Wild is the Wind, Rodak seems to embody the spirit of love itself blown along on the wind. She is rolled along the floor. She slowly rises, then rides the wind back down to earth. There is a beautiful elemental feel to this piece as the movement swells and subsides. Rodak rises, feet planted on the floor, before being swept up in a gust of chaine turns across the floor, until the dance closes in a dramatic stormy ending. Assistant choreographer Jordan Fife Hunt spoke about stressing the importance of relationship in his work with Huff. As I watched Rodak move, she seemed to personify the elements of a relationship itself, rather than the individuals who were in the relationship.

A Straight Line of Two Circles, choreographed by Felix Aarts, shifts the energy of the program abruptly from the romantic to the abstract. The dancers wear short clear plastic raincoats over their leotards. There is a feeling of unrest as they scurry from side to side or venture upstage with their hands trembling. At times I wondered if they were portraying the frantic and futile “busy-ness” of our society. The movement of the hands are prominently featured. One woman appears to be counting, taking inventory. Another looks as if she’s polishing furniture. Another holds her trembling hand to her forehead, maybe as if to describe a frantic thought process. Aarts said that his intention is to challenge the viewer to come up with their own narrative. I found it surprising that he conceived the dance with the dancers and found the music for it later — he said that he’d changed the music for this piece four days before the performance. He wanted to find music to illustrate the movement, rather than the other way around.

Ursula Verduzco performed her dance Nothing to Hide, which I’d seen and reviewed in different incarnations at various festivals. I’d never before seen her perform the solo herself, so it was remarkable to witness the level of emotion she was able to summon, even though this performance seemed scaled down for the smaller floor, in comparison to earlier ones that included a set. Verduzco’s hair is worn long and sometimes acts as a screen to hide behind, or it flows wildly to symbolize her anguish. She slaps the floor in frustration. She deftly dramatizes the struggle to find one’s voice and to make a statement with it.

Briones’ Lights On tells the story of a couple who move from love to hostility to remorse and back to love, as if on an endless loop. The red in their costumes seemed to personify the fire of their passions, both destructive and loving. As the lights come up, we see the couple hand in hand, leaning away from each other, pulling apart, until the woman lets go and the man falls to the floor. An argument ensues. She escalates. He outdoes her. Tension builds until she vents her frustration by slapping his face. She knows that she’s gone too far and her remorse is instantaneous. Contrite, she approaches him. Their truce is demonstrated as they dance an electrifying pas de deux. There is strong chemistry between dancers Kara Walsh and Taylor Kindred. Their partnering appears to be effortless, with beautiful ballet technique. But I was most impressed by the sweep of emotions that they were able to conjure, not only with facial expressions and mime, but with the movement of their bodies, with the unfolding of an extended leg, or with the trust of a lift. Again, the expression of Briones’ work moves deftly and invisibly from one emotion to the next, through love to antagonism to regret to reconciliation.

The program closed with Megan Phillipp’s Divided By Three. Verduzco portrayed a woman who seemed to be haunted by two alter egos, danced by Lucia Campoy and Yeong Ju Son. I really liked the compositions that Phillipp created by using formations of three. In a passage where the three women sat in a row of chairs, Verduzco bolts upright in the center, while the dancer to her right sits upside down, head toward the floor and feet reaching up, and the dancer to her left lays her head in Verduzco’s lap, pinning her in place. Or the recurring theme where Verduzco stands at the head of the line and the arms of the other two dancers come out behind her, as if they were her own limbs, holding her back. As tension builds, the accompaniment of a piece by Philip Glass keeps whirling and whirling. I especially loved the purple costumes with tulle skirts which were used for this piece.

The friendliness and hospitality of this company was clear in the way that connected with the audience after the performance. They hosted a Q&A, and seemed genuinely interested in removing the barrier between artist and audience. To elaborate on the words of Jordan Fife Hunt, they acknowledge that the performance doesn’t exist within the dancer — rather it exists in the relationship between the dancers and the audience. As Briones told the audience, any involvement with the production on our part “keeps the art of dance alive”.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Benjamin Briones Ballet, Felix Aarts, Lucia Campoy, Megan Phillipp, Ursula Verduzco, Vera Huff | 1 Comment

Open Rehearsal with Ballet Next

by Karen Posted on August 16, 2013

Ballet Next
Residency at Kingsborough Performing Arts Center
Open Rehearsal
August 8, 2013
Photos and video courtesy of Ballet Next

When Ballet Next’s Artistic Director Michele Wiles launched into her first effort at choreography, she began by working in her socks. After years of performing classical and contemporary ballets en pointe, she wanted to take the pointe shoes off. This approach seems to personify Ballet Next’s mission — exploring the art of ballet in a new way. Her company is doing a residency at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, and throughout an Open Rehearsal, she provided the audience with a glimpse into her process.

She told us that she’d changed her choice of music three times before finding her groove with Infra 4 and 5 by Max Richter. She placed her palm over her solar plexus as she talked about the search for an energy that felt right. As the music conjured different emotions, those emotions were translated into different forms of movement.

For this new piece, currently untitled, Ms. Wiles worked with soloist Tiffany Mangulabnan. Both dancers are en pointe and they trade off solos, each one dancing in the center while the other walks the length of the stage, sometimes with an eye on the soloist. The movement of the opening solos is lovely and lyrical. Later, the port des bras becomes staccato. There are isolations of the shoulders and ribs. The torso rolls and the dancers undulate, rising out of a deep plie as if riding a wave.

For me, it is the unison movement in this piece that is especially lush and gorgeous. It is in the unison sections that the chemistry between the two women is given its showcase. Though their styles are slightly different, they work so beautifully together, and they seem to bring as much power to the moment as a larger ensemble would have done.

Ms. Wiles paused to make a change in a section of the dance. She instructed Ms. Mangulabnan to adjust the movement, and then she seemed delighted that Ms. Mangulabnan had inadvertently embellished the phrase. She instructed her to remember the changes so that they could work on them in the next rehearsal. Later on, during the Q&A, Ms. Mangulabnan explained that dancers train the memory in the same way that they train muscles. The training begins as soon as they start taking class. Day after day, students are made to learn new phrases of choreography and perform them right away. Because Ms. Mangulabnan had executed the new movement of Ms. Wiles’ piece, she declared, “It’s in there.” It is easier for her to remember executed movement than it is to remember choreography that she only watched someone else perform.

Ms. Wiles talked about other fortunate accidents that happened in the studio, such as a moment when Ms. Mangulabnan’s bun came undone during the second section of the piece. Those who were watching the rehearsal agreed that the dance looked better when the dancer’s hair was loose, and so that became part of the ballet. They ran the second section, both of the women wearing their hair down, and that little detail did seem to open up the energy of the piece.

After a lovely vocal performance by singer-songwriter Aurora Barnes, Ballet Next’s cellist and Music Director Elad Kabilio talked about the music for Brian Reeder’s Different Homes. He demonstrated the different voices in Benjamin Britten’s 1964 piece Suite for Cello Solo. They each speak melodically and clearly by themselves, then when played together they either “meet or contradict each other”. With this music, Mr. Reeder set out to explore a different type of intimacy and relationship between dancers.

For this ballet, danced by Ms. Wiles and Jens Weber, Reeder set for himself the challenge of creating a pas de deux in which the hands are never used for contact and support. The dance opens with the dancers standing back to back, their heads resting on the shoulder behind them. The hand becomes a feathery extension of the arm as unusual lifts are achieved by contact on different parts of the arm. At several points, Mr. Weber’s arms are extended forward like parallel bars and Ms. Wiles’ balances against them, or is lifted by them, in a variety of different fashions. Their promenade happens arm in arm, linked at the elbow. When Ms. Wiles strikes an attitude front in releve, she is chest to chest with Mr. Weber. The dance does succeed in opening up an unusual conversation and vocabulary between the partners.

During the Q&A session, Ms. Wiles spoke with fondness about her years with American Ballet Theatre and all of the great artists with whom she worked. After seven years as a principal with the company, she asked herself, “What do I want to do next?” She was ready to take the risk of striking out on her own and exploring the art of ballet in another way.

Though the journey has been artistically rewarding, there have also been challenges which led her to find new solutions. Economic challenges caused her to become much more inventive in creating costumes. Ms. Mangulabnan, who came from Phillipine Ballet Theatre, a larger company with a more regimented routine, also spoke about the adjustments in her process after coming to work with Ballet Next. Rather than taking a daily company class and working with the same artists consistently, she now has to take class on her own. There seems to be nothing routine or predictable about the work that she does with Ballet Next. “Every other month there are new people in the studio to work with and learn from”.

Ballet Next sees itself as a “platform for artists”. Every time that I’ve seen them, there has always been live accompaniment. Mr. Kabilio said that the musicians are part of the collaborative process from the very beginning. “You can’t collaborate with a CD,” which most companies have to use because their budgets can’t cover the costs of live accompanists in the studio. Because of Ballet Next’s close working relationship with their musicians, trust is built between dancers and musicians.

Ballet Next will be appearing at New York Live Arts, January 13 through 18, 2014.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Ballet Next, Brian Reeder, Elad Kabilio, Michele Wiles, Tiffany Mangulabnan | Leave a comment

Things You’ll See in Bay Ridge 03

by Karen Posted on July 12, 2013

Posted in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Just A Photo, Karen | Tagged Bay Ridge, Narrows Botanic Garden | Leave a comment

American Ballet Theatre’s Sylvia

by Karen Posted on June 30, 2013

Sylvia
June 25, 2013
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House

From the opening moments in the Sacred Forest, I was reminded that Sylvia and her Attendants occupy a unique role in classical ballet. It’s not often that we see a woman depicted as being fierce and self sufficient, in command of a weapon and well aware of her power. As Polina Semionova danced the role of Sylvia, she struck the perfect balance of courageous huntress and beautiful young woman — feminine in her courage and power. In Act I, she repeatedly raises her fist in celebration of a successful hunt, and as a display of her strength. At the same time, the sweetness of her face and the girlish grace of her movement remain in evidence.

There were lovely moments in the Act I ensemble dances. Each man wraps a garland around his partner’s waist. Each man lights on one knee and holds his partner on his back in a boat lift. There is a lovely closing gesture in which the partners fold over on each other. Their powder blue costumes create a lovely haunting atmosphere against the sets of the woodlands.

Roberto Bolle is manly and gallant as Aminta, humble in his expression of love, yet powerful enough to hold his own among the ensemble of women who travel with their bows and arrows. His movement is every bit as lush as the gorgeous Léo Delibes score.

When Sylvia’s helmet is removed, her fierceness becomes eclipsed by her softness and femininity. It is in the moments after Eros casts his spell on Sylvia and she falls in love with Aminta that Semionova is at her most moving. With only the smallest, most understated gestures, softly flicking her hands, gently staggering forward, clinging to the arrow that Eros had aimed at her, she displays her grief and her heartache. It is such a stirring passage.

Jared Matthews is cool and self-possessed as the evil Orion. As he attempts to seduce Sylvia in Act II, she’s clearly in control, yet Matthews’ Orion is not acknowledging it, and soldiering on with complete confidence that he will win her as his lover. The bass and the drum take over and Julio Bragado-Young and Kenneth Easter, as Orion’s slaves, perform a rhythmic comic dance. Semionova’s Sylvia remains poised and focused on her goal of tricking Orion and escaping his cave. She portrays Sylvia as being clever and intelligent even in flirtation — her movement is all ballerina grace, charm and allure, but at the same time, she carries the attitude of the triumphant hunter.

Act III is a display of splendid pageantry at the Temple of Diana. There are processionals with men carrying golden statues of Bacchus. Colorful skirts swirl and the company dances reels and ensemble dances. Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak, as the Goats, clearly an audience favorite, nearly stole the show. Bolle makes a triumphant entrance carrying Semionova in a dramatic and very high lift. Both were brilliant in their solos and pas de deux — they have wonderful chemistry as partners and their dancing seems effortless. An enormous and prolonged outburst of cheers went up from the very appreciative audience at the end of the pas de deux.

Leann Underwood was captivating in her final scene as Diana. She carries herself with such authority in the closing moments of the story. There is an earthiness and a seriousness to her decision that is just arresting. It created great tension, which is so beautifully resolved at the end of the story. A lovely production.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged American Ballet Theatre, Polina Semionova, Roberto Bolle, Sir Frederick Ashton, Sylvia | Leave a comment

Graham Deconstructed: Acts of Light

by Karen Posted on June 24, 2013

Graham Deconstructed: Acts of Light
Martha Graham Dance Company
with an introduction by Artistic Director Janet Eilber
June 20, 2013
Graham Studio Theatre

The experience of an audience member can be so deeply enhanced when an Artistic Director takes the time to do what Janet Eiber does in the Graham Deconstructed events. This is a series of informal talks and performances which are presented in the company’s home studio. Before a “mini-performance” gets underway, Ms. Eiber takes the time to talk about the history and the behind-the-scenes stories of the dances we’re about to see. This “archeological dig” through the work includes commentary from the original dancers and accounts of things that were said and done in the studio while the work was being created. I am grateful to the Graham company for their continuing efforts to bring us closer to the dancers and to Graham’s process. The piece being discussed this evening was Graham’s 1981 work Acts of Light

The commission was brought in by a Danish board member, whose only stipulation was that Graham had to use music by Danish composer Carl Nielsen. The music is gorgeous — thick, lush and dramatic. But it’s said that Graham, who preferred plainspoken music for dance, hated it. “This music is going to bury me!” she declared while creating this ballet. During the performance I could begin to see her point. I did feel that there were some moments where the music threatened to overpower the choreography.

We also learned a bit about the paces that Graham put her dancers through in the studio — encouraging them to compete for featured roles, and withholding her decision about who would be cast until the last minute. For the third section of this dance, a series of duets, trios and quartets, it’s said that Graham just divided up her dancers into smaller groups and told them to come up with something quickly, or else their roles would be given to others. Graham dancer Peggy Lyman said that as a result, the piece came together in a hurry.

The dancers performed on the studio floor in their leotards. From the opening moments, and throughout the dance, their focus is often cast upward to the heavens, the chest and arms held open as if in prayer.

The first section, A Conversation Between Lovers, featured principal dancer Maurizio Nardi and soloist Xiaochuan Xie. The music is romantic and dramatic, and the dancers move with a sense of joy and a subtle playfulness. All the artistic athleticism of Graham’s work is on display here. Ms. Xie is on her back on the floor until Mr. Nardi scoops her up and lifts her overhead with wonderful blinding speed. Though there is chemistry between the lovers and they are involved with each other, they also keep gazing upward, as if acknowledging a divine presence.

Accompanied by five men, Blakeley White-McGuire emerges dressed in stretchy white fabric for Lament. Her costume is not so different from the black tube “torque of grief” worn in Graham’s 1930 landmark dance Lamentation. According to Ms. Eiber, the dancer who originated this role had been through a terrible ordeal, and Graham chose to incorporate this into her choreography, this time moving beyond a portrait a grief alone, and including a focus on the resilience of the human spirit. Ms. White-McGuire falls and struggles but also rises, sometimes into breathtaking high lifts. There is an intense seriousness to her posture and her movement, a real heaviness of spirit. This is sometimes echoed by the men who perform movement that seems earthy and ritualistic. They circle her or pound on the floor. In the final moments of this section, they move as if in a processional, and lift her above them. The image is reminiscent of the closing moments of George Balanchine’s Serenade, and I wondered if that was a deliberate decision on the part of Martha Graham.

One of the loveliest aspects of this performance, whether it was intended or unintended, occurred during the closing section, Ritual to the Sun. The performance took place on the eve of the summer solstice and at this point of the dance, the dancers became bathed in the gorgeous evening sunlight that poured in through the tall studio windows. It lent a beautiful ethereal atmosphere to the piece.

Graham has famously said, “I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”

Toward this end she incorporated a theatrical version of her daily class into Ritual to the Sun. I had only ever seen this movement performed in high school and college classes. To see the company’s prayerful execution of this same movement, in that evening sunlight, got me all choked up. It was as if they were praying through their bodies. The energy in the studio was extraordinary.

Throughout the crescendo of the dance, I became aware of each dancer’s unique voice and body and of their fierce energy and strength. The trios and quartets were soulfully danced, with ritualistic unison patterns, or impossible tilts and soaring lifts, all carried out in a prayerful attitude.

Every time that I leave the theater after having seen the Martha Graham Company perform Graham’s original works, I am always overwhelmed by the way in which the dancers and the choreography have displayed the strength of the human spirit. It always feels as if Graham’s enormous energy is still making its presence felt inside the theater.

Graham Deconstructed is an ongoing series. You can subscribe to the company’s mailing list for future updates. The Martha Graham Dance Company will be performing at New York City’s Summerstage on July 23 and July 24, 2013. They will be at Jacob’s Pillow on August 21 through August 25, 2013.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Acts of Light, Graham Deconstructed, Martha Graham Dance Company | Leave a comment

Print Design for Dance Studios

by Karen Posted on June 20, 2013

I’ve had a life long love affair with dance, especially with ballet. It began in the 1970s when I took class at American Ballet Theatre School. These days I work behind the scenes for a couple of dance companies and studios. I also review dance concerts for Body Wrappers / Angelo Luzio.

We started working on marketing materials and theater programs for the Vicky Simegiatos Performing Arts Center back in 1999. I was so happy to find a studio in Bay Ridge that was so strong in ballet, and all the work that I’ve done for VSPAC throughout the years has been a labor of love. (It’s also been really touching to have had such a long relationship with the studio — some of the beautiful ballerinas pictured above were just little ones when I first met them.)

Every year at this time, we prepare their marketing materials for September Back-to-School Registration.

Being surrounded by all of these dance images always reminds me of how deeply I love ballet. The discipline, the ritual, the exertion, the glamour, the music, the artistry, the spirituality, the community, the communion, and the inspiration of all the great primas and masters who came before and those who continue to work today.

I also love the promise that’s contained in every September as we’re poised on the cusp of a new season.

:: :: :: :: ::

Photo of ensemble of VSPAC ballet students by Jesse Stein for Body Wrappers/Angelo Luzio

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Brochures, Copy Writing, Flyers, Marketing for Dance Studios, Print Design, Programs | Leave a comment

Shostakovich Trilogy by American Ballet Theatre

by Karen Posted on June 9, 2013

Shostakovich Triliogy – American Ballet Theatre
Choreography by Alexei Ratmansky
Metropolitan Opera House – June 3, 2013

American Ballet Theatre’s Shostakovich Trilogy reminded me of everything that I find so attractive in Alexei Ratmansky’s choreography. Though it is intricate, complex and demanding in terms of technique and staging, its humanity is always in evidence. There is always a gesture, large or small, which anyone can recognize as an expression of the human experience. Though his formations and phrases are beautiful on the surface, each one also seems to be laden with deeper meaning or context.

Dmitri Shostakovich composed Symphony #9 in 1945 to celebrate the Russian victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Though Ratmansky’s choreography for this piece is well detailed and full of dazzling counterpoint, he captures a carefree feeling in the opening sections. It is delightful to see the way that the dancing picks up on small details and phrases in the music, amplifying them with movement in the arms or feet. In the larger formations, there is often this stunning tension and release. The dancers crowd close together before the dance opens up and their arms and legs unfurl in kaleidoscopic fashion.

In gentler moments of a pas de deux, the dancers pause, no longer focusing on each other, but looking beyond to measure their surroundings. Throughout the dance, several men gather to lift and travel with one dancer. I felt that this really brought out the masculinity, the power and the fraternity of the men.

The closing moments bring the celebration to a climax with an extraordinary ending, which made the audience gasp at its beauty and the surprise it delivered. Principal roles in this performance were danced exquisitely by Veronika Part, Roberto Bolle, Jared Matthews, Stella Abrera and Sasha Radetsky. Praise has to be given to all the dancers in the ensemble sections as well, for their outstanding work.

Chamber Symphony is a beautifully haunting dance. When the curtain went up, I felt as if we’d walked in to the middle of a story in process. Dancers are lined up as couples in various stages of pulling apart. A central figure emerges, played with great heart and emotion by James Whiteside. A crowd gathers around him, as if in support or curiosity. When he falls to the ground, they all step back in shock, then withdraw.

Three women, danced superbly by Sarah Lane, Yuriko Kajika and Hee Seo appear to be his muses, somewhat recalling Balanchine’s Apollo. There is a dreamlike quality to the piece. Perhaps the story was unfolding before us. Or maybe tragic events were being recalled from a dreamlike state. Whiteside is bare chested, wearing a suit and skin tone ballet slippers, which from a distance make him appear to be barefoot. He often seems lost and longing or stricken. His muses swoon in his arms or drift away from him.

For Piano Concerto #1, communist imagery of red hammers and sickles hang above the stage against a gray background. The dancers’ unitards are gray in front and red on the back, which create striking patterns as they constantly change direction. The staging and the movement are so complex with few unison phrases. This creates great dramatic effect. At times there is so much happening even within the ensemble dances that it’s hard to know where to look. But the drama and the emotion are maintained at times even with simpler forms, as the dancers move in straight lines or perform wisps of Russian folk dance steps.

The leading men, danced by Danil Simkin and Calvin Royal III, are dressed in gray and their partners, Xiomara Reyes and Gillian Murphy wear red leotards. Their pas de deux sections are lyrical and the lighting is softer and atmospheric. At one moment, when the company returns to the stage, the two women stand still, holding on to each other, each protecting the other, as they take in the sight of the dancers who surround them.

One of the most haunting moments of the dance came as the men crossed the stage on the diagonal, each with a woman balanced on his shoulder, her legs in attitude suggesting the shape of the sickle. Throughout the entire evening, I was taken by the workmanlike posture of the men. They move with urgency, with the physicality of laborers. They wear fixed looks with intense focus, and they often travel together at close quarters in small groups, an assembly of them being used to lift one dancer.

This was a program of exceptional dancing, not only from the principals, but from the entire company. Ratmansky’s creative voice is unique and it works so beautifully on American Ballet Theatre.

Posted in Dance, Karen | Tagged Alexei Ratmansky, American Ballet Theatre, Chamber Symphony, Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Concerto #1, Shostakovich Trilogy, Symphony #9 | Leave a comment

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