{"id":4267,"date":"2014-02-25T17:45:32","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T22:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/?p=4267"},"modified":"2014-02-25T20:19:49","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T01:19:49","slug":"collaborations-periapsis-music-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/collaborations-periapsis-music-dance.htm","title":{"rendered":"Collaborations – Periapsis Music & Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"unfinished_pattern_cap\"<\/a>Periapsis Music & Dance
\nCollaborations<\/em>
\nFebruary 14, 2014
\nKumble Theatre
\nAll photos by Rachel Neville<\/p>\n

Periapsis Music & Dance bridges the gap between living composers and choreographers.\u00a0 Artistic Director, composer and musician Jonathan Howard Katz collaborates with Artistic Director, choreographer and dancer Leigh Schanfein in creating original works.\u00a0 Their second season demonstrated their unique mission by having music played live on the stage as part of the\u00a0 dance performances.\u00a0 For this season, they also invited guest choreographers and composers.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-2042<\/a><\/p>\n

The program opened with a Periapsis piece titled Marionettefadendurcheinanderwalzer<\/em> set to original music by Jonathan Howard Katz.\u00a0 The dancers move like marionettes, rising up on pointe and performing lovely phrases before turning limp and robotic, sinking on knocked knees, or collapsing to the floor.\u00a0 The gorgeous music veers back and forth from dreamy abstract atmospheres to pretty lyrical melodies.\u00a0 From this very first piece, all I could think about was how wonderful and special it was to have original music played live on stage and how well it worked with the contemporary ballet performance.<\/p>\n

\"Periapsis<\/a><\/p>\n

Ursula Verduzco presented the Benjamin Briones Ballet in the world premiere of Pushing Mud<\/em>.\u00a0 For this piece, the piano is stationed at the back of the stage in one corner, while a cellist and violinist play in the opposite corner.\u00a0 This makes the diagonal across the stage a strong element in the composition of the dance — all exits and entrances and much of the traveling seemed to move along that route.\u00a0 Ms. Verduzco dances the role of an outsider, one excluded from the group, either by her choice or theirs.\u00a0 She falls into place when the company fills the stage, but the dance describes\u00a0 her character as never quite managing to coalesce with the others.\u00a0 Her movement is sultry and dramatic with flamenco elements in the rolling gestures of her hands and wrists and the regal carriage of her chest and head.\u00a0 Her port de bras are luxurious and beautifully expressive.\u00a0 A strong actress, she can also conjure expressions of grief and frustration, both on her face and through her movement.\u00a0 The group travels together, sometimes at very close quarters, while she observes from the sidelines.\u00a0 There is a moody and somber feel to the music, perfectly complemented by the drama of the dance.\u00a0 I especially loved the sweep of the closing phrases of this piece.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-2818<\/a>unguarded<\/em> also received its world premiere.\u00a0 The dance is choreographed by Tucker Davis, and performed by him and Denise Miller to live percussion played on stage by Sarah Mullins.\u00a0 The flirtation between the dancers is quirky, cute and very artistically done.\u00a0 I appreciated the cleverness with which the dance tied in to the music; a cymbal crash sounds to punctuate a humorous phrase of choreography or the movement explodes as the drums rumble.\u00a0\u00a0 Ms. Miller and Mr Davis are full of personality.\u00a0 They don’t shy away when it comes to taking risks, and they make wonderful partners.\u00a0 The dance never seems to be taking itself seriously and yet it’s performed in such a strong and distinctive artistic voice.<\/p>\n

The Unfinished Pattern<\/em> is choreographed by Leigh Schanfein and performed by Periapsis. In the opening sequence, one dancer stands in a spotlight while another stands in shadows.\u00a0 The two perform their movement in unison, but the lighting creates two distinctly different atmospheres.\u00a0 Schanfein’s choreography is gorgeous and lush — a ronde de jamb on the floor suddenly turns inward with a bent knee, and it feels as if the story being told has just taken an abrupt turn.\u00a0 The dance has a lovely rolling feeling against the percussive phrases in the music.\u00a0 There is lovely detail in unexpected places, using the shoulders, the wrists and the hands.\u00a0 The larger company is exciting to watch too.\u00a0 I was impressed by their technique, their artistry, and the heart with which they dance.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-3846<\/a>Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Da’ Von Doane was named as one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch<\/em>.\u00a0 His contemporary ballet Behind the Veil<\/em> received its world premiere.\u00a0 The dance weaves through classical and contemporary movement, flowing with earthiness and elegance.\u00a0 A trio of bare chested men are muscular and sometimes aggressive, moving seamlessly through powerful explosive movement into slow controlled adagio phrases.\u00a0 They accompany Raven Barkley, who dances with great strength and power.<\/p>\n

Lut Ave Dontralus<\/em> comes out of The Julliard School.\u00a0 Three vocalists take up different stations around the stage as they sing.\u00a0 Joseph Davis and Cleo Person, both dressed in white, perform a high energy modern duet which weaves around the vocalists.\u00a0 The dance is edgy, full of quick and sometimes aggressive movement, which changes direction rapidly.\u00a0 Ruth Howard’s choreography beautifully complements the details of the original composition created by Zachary Green.<\/p>\n

The program closed with Laid Upon the Children<\/em>, based on the story of Romeo and Juliet, specifically the party scene and the crypt scene.\u00a0 This piece is another collaboration between the artistic directors of Periapsis.\u00a0 Mr. Katz talked about Ms. Schanfein’s wanting to present swing dance in the party scene, and his taking on the challenge to compose a swing section, even though he wasn’t used to composing jazz.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-4131<\/a>The first section, Too Like the Lightning<\/em> includes staccato movement with flexed feet and hands.\u00a0 Couples travel the floor in unaccustomed ways.\u00a0 They weave through well recognized ballet phrases then move in new directions, sometimes in parody of the stiff court dances that we sometimes see in classical ballet.\u00a0 The swing section is great fun, and the dancers seemed to enjoy performing it as much as the audience enjoyed watching it.\u00a0 It is in this scene where Romeo and Juliet first see each other across the crowded room.<\/p>\n

\"untitled-4458<\/a>The crypt scene, Grace for grace<\/em>, is heartbreaking and beautifully performed by Tucker Davis.\u00a0 A strong actor, Mr. Davis lets us feel his grief without any great displays of histrionics.\u00a0 He dances with the lifeless body of his Juliet (Hannah Weber), dragging her, crawling under her, trying to get her to embrace him, doing everything he can think of in futile hope of animating her.\u00a0 A very emotional and sad piece, well acted and danced, especially at the very end.<\/p>\n

I love the mission that Periapsis Music & Dance has undertaken, to bring living composers together with choreographers and dancers.\u00a0 It is carried out beautifully by the company’s very capable ADs.\u00a0 Though they are a young company, they appear to have assembled a good sized repertoire in the two years that they’ve been working together.\u00a0 I found the choreography and dancing to be very compelling and the music to be magnificent.\u00a0 I look forward to seeing where they take things from here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Periapsis Music & Dance Collaborations February 14, 2014 Kumble Theatre All photos by Rachel Neville Periapsis Music & Dance bridges the gap between living composers and choreographers.\u00a0 Artistic Director, composer and musician Jonathan Howard Katz collaborates with Artistic Director, choreographer … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,20],"tags":[500,566,563,564,562,565,302],"class_list":["post-4267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","category-karen","tag-benjamin-briones-ballet","tag-da-von-doane","tag-jonathan-howard-katz","tag-leigh-schanfein","tag-periapsis-music-dance","tag-tucker-davis","tag-ursula-verduzco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4267"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4289,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4267\/revisions\/4289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}