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<\/a><\/p>\nIn the opening passage of Lyric Suite, Allegretto Gioviale, dancer Richard Scandola stands alone and shirtless.\u00a0 He looks around, guarding his own back, and he seems careful not to make a sound, as if he is hunting.\u00a0 Slowly and deliberately, he shifts his weight.\u00a0 The passage opens up only slightly as he moves forward in a series of turns until, like several of the passages of Lyric Suite, it closes with the same movement with which it opened.\u00a0 This passage was dedicated by Anna Sokolow to Vaslav Nijinsky, and even though the music and dance are non-narrative, the theatricality is always there.\u00a0 The dance does not respond literally to composer Alban Berg\u2019s atonal music, but rather it works with the music to conjure emotion and atmospheres.<\/p>\n
Francesca Todesco dances Andante Amoroso.\u00a0 There is interesting movement with the hands, fingers woven together as if to make a basket which she holds close to her heart.\u00a0 They move\u00a0 behind her neck, pulling on her head before she extends her arms overhead, hands turned palms up.\u00a0 It made me feel as if she was searching or beckoning to the heavens while reconciling the pull of earth.\u00a0 In another sequence, she seems to be rocking on the waves of the ocean before her gaze returns upward.\u00a0 There is a long and dramatic series of turns in which her head sometimes drops.\u00a0 In the closing moments, she is reaching skyward as her body sinks and finally falls to the floor.<\/p>\n Allegro Misterioso follows, danced by Samantha Geracht.\u00a0 She enters in a floor length gray skirt.\u00a0 Her hands tremble as she lifts them.\u00a0 She seems even further bound to the earth, sinking, falling, and getting back up.\u00a0 She runs frantically around the stage, at times moving backwards till the end of the passage, where she seems resigned to her fate, stuck on the floor and unable to rise as the stage goes black.<\/p>\n Melissa Sobel and Gregory Youdan danced Largo Desolato.\u00a0 The partnering is beautiful and the movement in this section is more lyrical and slow, but with intensity.\u00a0 It reminded me of Anna Sokolow\u2019s quote, \u201cTrue lyricism has to have passion and strength underneath it.\u00a0 For an arm to come up beautifully and with meaning, it has to have great power and energy.\u201d\u00a0 There was a lovely and unusual sequence as the dancers sit on the floor and advance toward each other with a high developpe initiating each movement.\u00a0 They stand and grasp each other by the forearms, backs arched backward and chests lifted as if in euphoria.\u00a0 Simple movements like ronde de jambs and tendus on the floor are used to lovely effect.\u00a0 The gentle beauty of this passage seems to resolve the tension set up in the Allegro Misterioso.<\/p>\n But the tension returns, builds and explodes with a bravura performance by Luis Gabriel Zaragoza in Presto Delirando Tenebroso.\u00a0 Zaragoza\u2019s dancing is riveting and dramatic — I found it impossible to take my eyes off of him even for a moment.\u00a0 His facial expressions are haunting and heart breaking.\u00a0 He dances the role of one who\u2019s been captured and dehumanized, like a soldier or a prisoner, but the humanity within him struggles to be set free.\u00a0 There are dramatic changes in direction that pivot rapidly and unexpectedly.\u00a0 He executes a series of grand jetes but he slowly loses steam, as if the life is being drained from him.\u00a0 He struggles to open up but winds up falling.<\/p>\n Lyric Suite closes with a quartet, Adagio Appassionato.\u00a0 Four women dressed in floor length red skirts travel along the stage mostly at close quarters.\u00a0 The choreography plays with level changes and the rippling swirling of the skirts to great effect.\u00a0 Some of the patterns seem to be more formal — the women stand in a square at one point, as if for a reel.\u00a0 Toward the end there is another interesting sequence in which the dancers seem to be moving away from one another, yet the group remains at close quarters.<\/p>\n Anna Sokolow\u2019s work was pivotal in the world of modern dance.\u00a0 It was wonderful to see it performed by Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble and it would be great to see more modern companies tackle her repertoire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble presents Sounds of Sokolow Lyric Suite The Theatre at the 14th Street Y December 8, 2012 All photos by Meems In the opening passage of Lyric Suite, Allegretto Gioviale, dancer Richard Scandola stands alone and shirtless.\u00a0 … Continue reading ![\"Sokolow](\"http:\/\/www.irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/02_Meems_121204_160_7.jpg\")
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