Tuesday, February 28, 2012

All-Star Break: Kings of the Dance and Tom Gold Dance


Flying Kings: Gomes, Hallberg, Côté, Matvienko, Vasiliev. Photo: Gene Schiavone
Just as Linsanity was peaking, along came the NBA all-star break, when the top players get to show off in a different way. The New York ballet world is undergoing a sort of all-star break itself in the wake of NYCB's winter season. Of course, it's not like NYCB or ABT's dancers are lounging around eating bon bons... they tour between NY seasons, or dance with other companies, so the break, or vacuum, is really for us.

Last weekend, the 2012 Kings of the Dance—Opus 3—performed at City Center. This year’s lineup included ABT’s Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg (also, Bolshoi), Guillaume Côté (National Ballet of Canada), Denis Matvienko (Mariinsky Ballet), and Ivan Vasiliev (Mikhailovsky Ballet, and until recently, the Bolshoi). The point of this Ardani Artists project, like many in its portfolio, is to allow ballet to fiddle around and experiment with contemporary styles, and to explore other aspects of physical and emotional expressiveness.

The main drag on this program is that the curatorial taste leaned on a certain genre of European, neurotic gesture-heavy contemporary ballet. At the end of the evening, Mauro Bigonzetti (whose work Jazzy Five comprised the first half), Marco Goecke, Patrick de Bana, and Edward Clug’s vocabularies unfortunately blended together in the mind—a mixture of twitches, cause-and-reaction limb work, and dramatically lit musculature. Even these admittedly fantastic dancers found little in this material to make memorable, although both Hallberg and Gomes worked best in their Bigonzetti solos, taking the task to heart, and Vasiliev blasted off earth in his leaps.

A nice surprise—Gomes choreographed KO’d, the appealing finale, set to a symphony composed by Guillaume Côté. Gomes basically hewed to a classical vocabulary, which seemed to relax and liberate the men. Côté exited after a group section and emerged playing the piano for a brief time. (Too bad these guys have no skills.) An easy collegiality made for an uplifting ending on a bill that could have used some more aesthetic variety.

Tyler Angle and Simone Messmer. Photo: Eugene Gologursky
On Monday night, Tom Gold Dance presented a compact program on the ultra-compact stage at Florence Gould Hall. This ex-NYCB soloist put together a ridiculously gifted cast including current principals Sara Mearns, Tyler and Jared Angle, Robert Fairchild, and Abi Stafford (all from NYCB), and the rising star soloist Simone Messmer at ABT. They performed four of Gold's dances which varied in tone and musical genre. The opening group dance, filled with coy touches, was set to Asian-like music by Alexandre Desplat. Three lovely duets to Romantic piano music (played live), danced poetically by Messmer and Tyler Angle, showed Gold's knack with creating interesting finishes. Three couples performed the more classical Mozart Variations; Stafford, of smaller build and refined features, especially shone in this close context.

The ensemble crammed onstage for Tango Fantasie, in which Fairchild showed his magnetism and cool style, and partners Tyler Angle and Sara Mearns smoldered. Of course, we want to see this caliber of performer as much as possible, but it was hard to see the dance for the dancers. No doubt the performance was meant to entice further support for future programming on a larger stage, a chance Gold certainly merits. Especially if he can assemble all-stars like this.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Ballet Arizona—the stage as artist's canvas

Ballet Arizona in Play. Photo by Kyle Froman

While it involves most of the senses, dance is very visual. So when someone like Ib Andersen choreographs, the results feel even more attentive to the entire visual experience. Andersen gained renown as a dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and New York City Ballet, and is also a visual artist. He is now artistic director of Ballet Arizona, at the Joyce through the weekend with a program called Play, to a melange of classical music. 

As an introduction for those of us who'd never seen the company, Play began helpfully, if obviously, with rudimentary ballet steps done to the Mozart song that we know as "Twinkle Little Star" and that accompanies learning the alphabet. Pretty sparkly lights dangled up and downstage, and the dancers were cloaked in bright light (designed by Michael Korsch, who made ample use of cones of light throughout). Solos for each of the 10 dancers followed in this longish segment.

A primer of Andersen's style, each subsequent section varied in tone and complexity. In the first act, the dancers changed costumes for each of the five sections, wearing mostly some version of a leotard, augmenting a clear line. The most striking movement, to Britten, featured the 10 women in ecru leotards, linking raised hands and clustering and moving apart like an accordion. Their individual personas took a backseat to the crystalline formal arrangements vaguely reminiscent of Tudor's Monotones; the overall effect was compositionally stunning. Subsequent quartets and pairs emphasized, somewhat puzzingly, gymnastic moves, or the plasticity and dimensionality of two bodies snaking and intertwining.

The second act was a stand-alone unit of modules to Stravinsky, the dancers in bright pumpkin and teal (by Andersen, who designed all the costumes). Slightly more traditional in technique and affected gaiety, it showcased Andersen's fluency with the "connective tissue" of dance: entrances and exits and segues between phrases. 

It can't be easy for out of town companies to come to New York, where many of the finest dancers are seen regularly (paragon of perfection David Hallberg was in the audience, for crying out loud). But Andersen knows how to emphasize each dancer's strengths, and the company is extremely well rehearsed. Andersen's distinctive balletic voice created vibrant stage imagery that remains burnished in the mind.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Top Five Quibbles with Romeo + Juliet


Yes, it's a ballet listicle! • It's not like I want to pile on Peter Martins, but after seeing his 2007 Romeo + Juliet at New York City Ballet again last night, I feel compelled on behalf of the dancers, pouring their hearts out onstage (particularly Tiler Peck and Zachary Catazaro as the title pair), Prokofiev, Shakespeare, and the entire audience. The story and score are so strong that you'd think it would be difficult to fail... mmm, nope. Some reasons why:

Lazy choreography. My main objection to Martins' version is the flaccid choreography. The ballroom scene, so charged by the political situation and the pompous music, could not be more rudimentary. Literally, a bunch of six-year olds could perform it. (Actually, some six-year olds do kick it in the mandolin dance with handsprings and triple turns.) I don't mind the simplicity of MacMillan's version regularly performed in New York by ABT, but it also has an import and hauteur appropriate to the impending tragedies. And it's one thing to make it accessible and relatable, but Martins' is simply boring. (Ironic as I often feel like Martins overchoreographs, making his dancers look inept.) Steps in the many group scenes remind me of beginner ballet class combinations that you could do in your sleep: tombée, pas de bourrée, grand jété... and repeat. To squander such dance talent and the occasion of a captive audience on such blandness is depressing.

The design. Danish artist Per Kirkeby created a simple, probably relatively economical central module that serves as house, balcony, friar's lair, Juliet's bedroom, and morgue. It does none of these well, however. No doubt intentionally cartoonish (because after all, we are sitting in a posh theater), it looks more like a high school theater project, and as I've thought before, something from the Flintstones. The centerpiece sits on a dais reached by three stairs that must be the bane of all the dancers' lives. The little modules wheel apart and together noisily and awkwardly and are sometimes feebly covered by drawn curtains. The only redeeming thing about it is that it doesn't have to be completely moved offstage. The costumes, also by Kirkeby, also point out the obvious fact that it's fiction we're watching. But the hideous primary colors worn by the men look cheap, and the robes worn by the townsfolk look like they wandered in from some Kabuki opera across the plaza.

Two acts. Hey, I'm all for trimming the program length at NYCB, which usually tends to about 2:30 hours. As it is, this two-act version runs about 2:20. It may be somewhat Pavlovian (I like ABT's MacMillan three-act version, if you couldn't tell), but more likely it's that the catalyst that sets off the entire tragic ending—Tybalt's killing of Mercutio—happens after the intermission, rather than just before. It just feels bald and hasty and doesn't let that initial murder sink in properly before avalanching to the end.

Casting. For sure, principal Tiler Peck is one version of an ideal Juliet—young, fresh faced, technically astute, and emotionally expressive. And the relative unknown corps dancer Zachary Catazaro fits Romeo to a T. While his technique is less polished, he is strong and puppyish enough to be convincingly smitten; I have no quibble with his performance. It's just that within the context of the entire company, it's very odd for his wingmen Mercutio and Benvolio to be principal Andrew Veyette and soloist Adrian Danchig-Waring. Both would be completely valid Romeos, so for them to be in supporting roles must be a bit maddening. I get that one of the impetus' for Martins to create this R+J was the onslaught of young talent, besides honoring Lincoln Kirstein's 100th birthday. But the rank structure exists for a reason, and when these rare full-length lead roles come along, that seniority should be rewarded.

The slap. It's just wrong. The dancers are up there acting out sword fights, murders, marriage, not actually killing one another or getting married. An angry gesture done properly would have been fine, not the audible slap given Peck by Jock Soto. It's why we have art. Oh, maybe that's the problem here...

Monday, February 20, 2012

Don't Hate Ballet Because It's Beautiful


Altro Canto 1. But they didn't bring the candles to the Joyce... Photo by Marie-Laure Briane.
A surfeit of style in dance can be viewed as a sign that there’s a certain lack of thought or seriousness, and therefore little redeeming value. (See Lana del Rey.) Les Ballets de Monte Carlo visited the Joyce Theater last week, its first New York run in many years. At first glance, Karl Lagerfeld’s gold pleather bustiers, jeans, and bubble skirts (worn by both women and men) in Altro Canto 1 (2006) screamed “slick!” But company artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot’s fluid, clever choreography supplied enough invention and appeal to overcome “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” To melodic music by Monteverdi, Marini, and Kapsberger, the mixed pairings and groupings (grounded by Bernice Coppieters) provided texture and dynamics.

The second work on the bill, Opus 40 (2000), contrasted in no small part because of its score, by Meredith Monk. Another big name, artist George Condo, designed the visuals, which included simple multi-hued dresses and a shimmery lighting that reflected on the backdrop, like the sun playing on a lake. Monk’s vocalise set a tone of childlike innocence and whimsy that at times felt forced. That the lead trio happened to be among the most seasoned members of the company buttressed the inconsistent notion that age is mostly a state of mind.

New York City Ballet presented a solid program on February 17. It led off with Balanchine’s Agon (1957), whose crisp, brief scenes—modern interpretations of a French dance manual—are like perfect little dishes that complement one another. Wendy Whelan and Teresa Reichlen brought their respective warmth and coolness, and Adrian Danchig-Waring showed his strength as a Balanchine interpreter. Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free (1944) featured Robert Fairchild, Andrew Veyette, and Daniel Ulbricht. All three can command the stage, but Fairchild does it slyly, Veyette jovially coercing, and Ulbricht by demanding it.

Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 is a confusing mashup where beauty does seem a gloss. The first three parts (done in 1970) are viewed through a washy scrim, conjuring the effect of dirty eyeglasses. In "Elégie," we see the familiar ballet trope that you can have true love unless your mate is lost in a bunch of clones. Sara Mearns, in bare feet and bubble gum pink tulle, rushes about urgently, chased by Ask La Cour. Not Mr. B’s finest, nor are the following two sections ("Valse Mélancolique" and" Scherzo"). 

But in the final section, "Tema con Variazioni" (otherwise known as Themes and Variations, a classic staple choreographed in 1947 and combined into the whole in 1970), the scrim rose; the steps were lucid, crisp, and architectural; and my heart sang. Megan Fairchild and Joaquin de Luz both possess admirably solid technique. De Luz knows just how to temper his natural flair; Fairchild is confident enough to be gaining an electricity that is beginning to match that of her frequent partner.

NYCB's winter season ends this week, which also sees Ballet Arizona at the Joyce, and the spectacle Kings of the Dance at City Center that includes prodigal son David Hallberg.

Mindhive relink: Lin, Downton Abbey, Justified

Posted yesterday, before I finished archiving my Sunday Arts blogs:
http://fullheartcleareyes.blogspot.com/2012/02/mindhive-jeremy-lin-downton-abbey.html

Meg Stuart’s BLESSED: Channelling Beckett, 1/19/12

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Meg Stuart’s BLESSED: Channelling Beckett, at NYLA.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/meg-stuarts-blessed-channelling-beckett/2101/



Francisco Camacho. Photo by Ian Douglas.
BLESSED, choreographed by Meg Stuart (an ex-pat now living in Europe), was performed at New York Live Arts last week. Her work is somewhat enigmatic in part due to the rarity of her stateside performances. BLESSEDhas a particularly ambitious conceit and set (designed by ­­­­Doris Dziersk). A compact utopia—a small house, palm tree, and swan—is rendered in cardboard, inhabited by the guileless Francisco Camacho. Dressed in crisp whites and shower shoes, he exaggeratedly robo-marches around his domain, elbows and knees at perfect 90 degree angles. It begins to rain, and in alarmingly short order, the palm tree wilts, droops, and crumples to the ground. The sleigh-sized swan’s head sags sadly to one side, and the roof buckles in the center, but doesn’t give way entirely, at least for awhile.

Zombies and Blackboards, 1/12/12

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Zombies and Blackboards: Daniel Linehan and Michael Klien/Steve Valk.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/zombies-and-blackboards/2080/



Salka Ardal Rosengren, Thibault Lac, and Daniel Linehan in Zombie Aporia. Photo by Ian Douglas.
I love me some ballet, but focusing away from traditional dance vocabularies, movement can be generated in many ways. Two shows I saw this past week demonstrated how artists use inventive methods as both a means and an end—Daniel Linehan’s Zombie Aporia and Michael Kliën’sChoreography for Blackboards. These were, respectively, part of theAmerican Realness (tbspMGMT) and COIL (PS 122) festivals, timed to entice the multiple eyeballs of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference-goers (as well as Under the Radar).
Zombie Aporia, at the Abrons Art Center, was performed by Linehan (who studied at PARTS and is based in Brussels) with Salka Ardal Rosengren and Thibault Lac. Working with spoken and sung words as much as dance, at times they took directives from a laptop, or one another; recombining verses, moving in a naively appealing style. This childlike aura was amplified through sections that evoked games like Simon Says led by an orchestra conductor, and follow-the-bouncing-ball sing alongs. In an especially poignant section, verses scrolled on a laptop controlled by Rosengren, eyes closed. She held Lac’s hand as he acted as the human microphone, loudly speaking the words that Linehan, on tiptoe and reading from the laptop, whispered into his ear. This simple, interdependent poetry of this part contrasted with other more robust scenes, with Rosengren in particular forcefully reciting text as Lac created vibrato by squeezing her body, or whipping her forward and back. Sound and movement were inseparable, performative agents of a powerful curiosity and intelligence.

Streb and Merce End Things with a Bang at the Armory, 1/16/12

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Streb and Merce End Things with a Bang at the Armory
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/streb-and-merce-cunningham-dance-co-end-things-with-a-bang-at-the-armory/2057/



Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Park Avenue Armory "Events." Photo by Anna Finke, courtesy Cunningham Dance Foundation.
Two recent end-of-2011 dance events at the Park Avenue Armoryunderscored the venue’s potential for artistic discourse on a grand scale—Elizabeth Streb’s Kiss the Air! and Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s final Eventsleading up to New Year’s Eve. Both performances felt carnivalesque; Kiss the Air! truly like a three-ring circus, complete with a barking ringmaster. The dancers’ (or “action engineers”) entrances set the bar high, literally, as each, hanging from a t-bar strung from a descending cable, swooped down from a tower, slamming at high speed, full-force, into a padded pillar.
As the show unfolded, they worked through the installations of equipment scattered throughout the vast drill hall. Streb’s apparatus (credited to her and Hudson Scenic) are often sculptures in and of themselves, such as one that is essentially a rotating ladder from which the dancers hung, balanced, in pairs or groups, spinning faster and faster. Springboards propelled with compressed air made the dancers graceful projectiles before falling to earth. (Obviously landings are a key, but even done properly, you have to wonder about repeated impacts.) And in an overly long section, they dove off of a multi-tiered Hollywood Squares-like structure, splatting on mats in formation. The raucous finale involved bungee harnessed dancers, a shallow pool, and much juvenile splashing of the audience, but not before cannonballs were dropped onto concrete blocks (in plexiglass sleeves), shattering into shards and dust just inches from the audience, apparently for the shock value. Several live and recorded videos were projected onto huge screens, and swivelling lights enhanced the circus feel.

Stuff I liked 2011, 12/22/11

Stuff I liked 2011
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/stuff-i-liked-in-2011/2036/


Yes, the ubiquitous year-end list is here. Some top highlights, many covered in this blog, and by no means comprehensive.
ABT's Marcelo Gomes & Isabella Boylston. Photo: Rosalie O'Connor.
ABT’s Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg
Both of these dancers gave incredible, shooting star performances of Albrecht in ABT’s Giselle. Gomes didn’t simply act, he was the prince, dancing convincingly as if his life depended on it, pushing himself further than my already sky-high expectations—as deep and rich as ballet can get. Hallberg too pushed his physical limits and transcended technique to give a sublime rendering. Both took the very ordinary entrechat six and made it heartrending artistry. Pure alchemy. See them both during ABT’sNutcracker season at BAM. Also, keep an eye on the pure lines of Joseph Gorak.
De Kooning at MOMA
This MOMA show connected the numerous dots in De Kooning’s storied career. It is what MOMA does best as the torch bearer of modernism, showing how De Kooning’s work swerved close to Pollock’s and other peers before breaking his own fresh tracks.
Histoire du Soldat/Lar Lubovitch
I’ll say it once more: Lar Lubovitch is underrated for the pure craft of his gorgeous movement making. See: his inventive characterizations for Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat, at Galapagos with Le Train Bleu, and his two-program, star-studded run at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Mark Morris at MMDG
Morris keeps making gorgeous, inventive dances. His studio show was phenomenal.

Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewelrey Auction: The End of an Era, 12/15/11

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Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewelry Auction showing at Christie's.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/elizabeth-taylors-jewelry-auction-the-end-of-an-era/2015/



Elizabeth Taylor jewels
Courtesy Christie's.
With the auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry collection over and done with at Christie’s, an era has come to a close. Grossing nearly $116 million, and setting records left and right, the collection could have filled several jewelry stores with only the finest specimens in the world. And that’s without factoring in the Liz quotient, that aura of unofficial royalty that graced most everything she touched. (A portion of profits will be donated to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation).
The collection evoked Taylor’s earlier years, before she became tabloid fodder for the wrong reasons. Many of the baubles were artifacts of her countless marriages and affairs, each of which seemed to pack more passion and drama than the lifetimes of a dozen ordinary folk. (Which is not to say that the ordinary folk aren’t just as happy, or happier.) There’s never been a star quite like her, nor will there ever be again, most likely, during this time when visiting Occupy Wherever, or lobbying against land mines, rank as admirable acts. A far cry from jetting to the Côte d’Azur, 20 carats around one wrist, to celebrate yet another honeymoon. Or hanging out with pal Michael Jackson, who gave her several pieces, a number of them monkey-themed. For the most part, her taste was extravagant, but many of the key pieces are tastefully designed to showcase magnificent gemstones, including the Krupp diamond and “La Peregrina,” a teardrop-shaped pearl.

Ailey Company Takes on Paul Taylor, 12/8/11

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Ailey Company Takes on Paul Taylor's Arden Court.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/ballet/ailey-company-takes-on-paul-taylors-arden-court/1996/


The concept of legacy is everywhere now in the dance world. Merce Cunningham Dance Company is giving its final American theater performances at BAM this week, leading up to a send-off event at Park Avenue Armory on New Year’s Eve, and then poof, sniff!, they disseminate, presumably into other lucky companies and schools. Meanwhile, at City Center,Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater begins a new era under Robert Battle’s artistic direction(through January 2). A major aesthetic shift this season is to present Paul Taylor’s Arden Court(video), and going by a recent New York Times interview with Taylor and Battle, it’s the first of many dances by Taylor to be performed by Ailey. The connection makes sense: Battle honed his professional skills with the company of David Parsons, one of Taylor’s dancers, and Battle studied with PTDC alum Carolyn Adams.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Linda Celeste Sims and Antonio Douthit in Paul Taylor's Arden Court. Photo by Andrew Eccles.
AAADT’s rendering raises the question: must it look like the original company? Because to state the predictable, AAADT has a long way to go before it does justice to Taylor’s style in that respect. For sure, Arden Court is a challenging dance which plays with the very concept of time—a passage full of level changes is performed, and then done double time. There are also glacial promenades and precision interactions between partners. Where Paul Taylor Dance Companymakes it look breezy and legible, AAADT powers through some sections, blurring  connections, edges, and crispness. And I don’t always think of PTDC as balletic, but the dancers perform the choreography with a simultaneous levity and groundedness that places them—perfectly balanced—in our atmosphere. (Their inaugural Lincoln Center run begins March 14.) Some of Ailey’s dancers may jump higher (and some certainly look like they’re trying), but there’s a weightiness to the men, in particular, that evokes a car with challenging aerodynamics. And those very prominent shoulder muscles actually seem to constrict the range of motion of the mens’ arms. (Also, is it too much to ask to be able to do a cartwheel?) It should be noted that the women seemed far more at ease in Arden Court, but it’s really a showcase for the guys.

The Simple Gift of Angel Reapers, 12/2/11

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Martha Clarke/Alfred Uhry's Angel Reapers at Joyce Theater.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/the-simple-gifts-of-angel-reapers/1978/


The concept of legacy is everywhere now in the dance world. Merce Cunningham Dance Company is giving its final American theater performances at BAM this week, leading up to a send-off event at Park Avenue Armory on New Year’s Eve, and then poof, sniff!, they disseminate, presumably into other lucky companies and schools. Meanwhile, at City Center,Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater begins a new era under Robert Battle’s artistic direction(through January 2). A major aesthetic shift this season is to present Paul Taylor’s Arden Court(video), and going by a recent New York Times interview with Taylor and Battle, it’s the first of many dances by Taylor to be performed by Ailey. The connection makes sense: Battle honed his professional skills with the company of David Parsons, one of Taylor’s dancers, and Battle studied with PTDC alum Carolyn Adams.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Linda Celeste Sims and Antonio Douthit in Paul Taylor's Arden Court. Photo by Andrew Eccles.
AAADT’s rendering raises the question: must it look like the original company? Because to state the predictable, AAADT has a long way to go before it does justice to Taylor’s style in that respect. For sure, Arden Court is a challenging dance which plays with the very concept of time—a passage full of level changes is performed, and then done double time. There are also glacial promenades and precision interactions between partners. Where Paul Taylor Dance Companymakes it look breezy and legible, AAADT powers through some sections, blurring  connections, edges, and crispness. And I don’t always think of PTDC as balletic, but the dancers perform the choreography with a simultaneous levity and groundedness that places them—perfectly balanced—in our atmosphere. (Their inaugural Lincoln Center run begins March 14.) Some of Ailey’s dancers may jump higher (and some certainly look like they’re trying), but there’s a weightiness to the men, in particular, that evokes a car with challenging aerodynamics. And those very prominent shoulder muscles actually seem to constrict the range of motion of the mens’ arms. (Also, is it too much to ask to be able to do a cartwheel?) It should be noted that the women seemed far more at ease in Arden Court, but it’s really a showcase for the guys.

Lar Lubovitch: Stars Abound, 11/23/11

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Lar Lubovitch: two programs at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/ballet/lar-lubovitch-stars-abound/1965/


There seems to have been more movement than usual among top dancers in many of the city’s dance companies. One of the lucky recipients of this instability, as seen in two programs at the Baryshnikov Arts Center from November 9-20, is the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. The company’s dancers always impress; Lubovitch’s choreography seeps into his dancers’ bodies and souls, and we feel that. But this season’s additions include Clifton Brown, an Ailey perennial and perhaps one of that company’s biggest stars in the past decade, who now holds the title at Ailey of “Guest Artist”; Elisa Clark, late of Mark Morris Dance Group; and Carlos Lopez, until recently an ABT soloist.
Lar Lubovitch Dance Company “Crisis Variations.” Pictured: Katarzyna Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis. Photo by Paula Lobo.
Lubovitch has been taken for granted in recent years perhaps in part because of his constant quiet presence and his durability; his company performs seasons regularly, although a change in venue seems to be perennial. The totality of his choreographic skill and craft is unsurpassed. It can be stupendously beautiful—the flowing curves, seamless organic shapes, tableaux of breathtaking gorgeousness, and the essential connecting movement. But lest you think he’s incapable of doing anything else, see Crisis Variations, his recent premiere. Given Katarzyna Skarpetowska’s powerful dramatic skills, you can understand how he was coaxed to address crisis. She seemed in a constant state of collapse, her joints folding mercilessly, giving in to gravity’s pull. Helpless in the face of catastrophe, she was eventually subsumed by the group.

Whitney: Anarchy and Mayhem, 11/17/11

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Whitney: Anarchy and Mayhem, David Smith and Sherrie Levine shows.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/museums/the-whitney-anarchy-and-mayhem/1938/



David Smith, 17 h’s, 1950, painted steel © The Estate of David Smith/Licensed by VAGA, New York. Photo courtesy of the Estate of David Smith, photo by David Heald.
The Whitney has on view two solo exhibitions whose titles elicit tension—David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy, and Sherrie Levine: Mayhem. (And this ain’t even Zuccotti Park!) These two artists couldn’t be more different. Smith is the old fashioned kind who constructed lively steel sculptures with which the viewer can immediately engage on a visceral level. His work elicits the satisfaction from viewers that they’ve seen Abstract Modern Art, but stuff that their 8-year-old kid definitely could not do. Levine creates sculptures but on a conceptual plane, trafficking in appropriation and replication. Her work has wrought controversy about ownership and plagiarism, as well as a plain old “why?” Seen together, the shows exercise the heart and the brain.
Smith (1906-65) often cut geometric shapes out of steel plate and welded them into totemic shapes. He made steel boxes, stacked them in lyrical ways, and buffed swirls into their surfaces. He played with gravity, balance, and even words—well, letters, anyway, as in his tree-like 17 Hs. The scale of his works in the Whitney show (through January 8), which also includes earlier sculptures of a more symbolic, surreal nature as well as sketches and photographs, tends toward the human side, sometimes casting them more as playmates than as alien objects. He sang, talked, and danced in metal.

Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre: Music to My Eyes, 11/10/11

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Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre at Tribeca Performing Arts Center
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/dusan-tynek-dance-theatre-music-to-my-eyes/1919/



Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre in Widow's Walk. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.
It’s a no-brainer that the use of live music improves the experience of seeing dance by some unmeasurable but substantial increment. Mark Morris has carved a laudable, if lonely, niche by only using live music. But of course, like any other luxury, it must be paid for, and as companies build up repertories, the attached costs also increase proportionally. But there are ways to compromise, as Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre did in two week-long programs at Tribeca Performing Arts Center, when Tynek brought in the group ETHEL to play onstage for the second week. The music ensemble’s presence alone lent an importance and immediacy to the choreography, and to the music for some of the works, by Aleksandra Vrebalov.

Fall for Dance and City Center Grow Up, 11/3/11

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Fall for Dance and City Center Grow Up
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/ballet/fall-for-dance-and-city-center-grow-up/1901/


Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in Naharin's THREE TO MAX. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
The eighth year of Fall for Dance (through Nov 6) marks a transition of sorts for the popular festival, which has by all accounts succeeded in its goal of exposing a vast range of the world’s dance offerings to large New York audiences via cheap tickets. Geographically, it takes place in the renovated New York City Center, recently transformed from the proverbial comfortable old couch into a more modern, sleek iteration with the requisite wall of flat screens, handsomely overlaid with tracery elements of Moorish patterning that echoes throughout the theater. Wider (and fewer) seats in the house decrease the claustrophobia of the old setup and improve the sightlines. House doors now open perpendicularly to the stage rather than parallel, so there’s less leaked light. The old cast-iron radiators in the foyer are gone, a services booth has been added, and even the logo (which will change colors seasonally) was redone.
Onstage, however, the festival itself feels like it’s moving away from the new, free for all, mix and match melange that contributed to FFD’s continuing popularity which could’ve been described by the old adage about the weather: if you don’t like it, wait a minute and it’ll change. This year’s slate feels more mature, more classical, less representative of indigenous forms, the lineup of dancemakers more self-consciously selected for big-time potential (particularly in ballet, possibly addressing its obsession with a few choreographers at a time), as well as  modern masters such as Trisha Brown and Mark Morris.

Freeman's Alley: Take That, Paris, 10/27/11

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Freeman's Alley, gallery round up.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/freemans-alley-take-that-paris/1895/



Photo: Call My Lawyer (detail), by Jimmy Trotter
Photo: Call My Lawyer (detail), by Jimmy Trotter.
Let’s face it—New York is great, but it’s not Paris. It doesn’t have that beautiful pale stone palette, that uniform low horizon, that radial street layout that gives it a geographical heart, all those brasseries. But Freeman’s Alley, near the Bowery, actually feels just a little bit like Paris, if you squint your eyes to blur the New York coarseness and thin coating of grime. And if you stumble upon it the way I did, it feels all the more magical.
I happened into Mulherin + Pollard gallery at 187 Chrystie Street, where I saw Jimmy Trotter’s exhibition, The Sweetest Kill(through Oct 30), plus an engaging group show, Daydreaming Animals. Trotter uses various media to draw, paint, and layer text and cartoon and pop imagery in serendipitous, yet highly satisfying compositions. It’s like a cross-section of the content of his brain, laid out in plain sight. Your eye is tugged from one image cluster to another, noticing along the way an overlaid geometric structure camouflaged in white. Words process differently than images, so it feels like your brain is being massaged while being fed candy. Another work features a bunch of glued-on pom-poms (Puff Balls) that made me smile. So did Babylon, an installation featuring an shrine of plastic figurines and small toys sheltered within a grotto made of 100+ drawings and scraps.

Ballet Up Close and Personal at the Joyce, 10/21/11

Ballet Up Close and Personal at the Joyce: Houston Ballet, Suzanne Farrell Ballet
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/ballet/ballet-up-close-and-personal-at-the-joyce/1876/



Houston Ballet's Karina Gonzalez and Connor Walsh in ONE/end/ONE. Photo: Amitava Sarkar.
In New York, we see a lot of ballet of all shapes and sizes. Seeing two of the country’s laureled companies—Houston Ballet last week, and The Suzanne Farrell Ballet(through Oct 23), from DC—at the Joyce Theater, from a relatively close distance, raises issues that continually simmer on the back burner. Here are a few.
Proximity. Seeing Balanchine close up doesn’t seem to work as well as from a distance, as when watching New York City Ballet at Koch Theater. It’s like the veil of mystery drops, and the difficulty of what they’re doing is far more apparent. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing, and can even be a choreographer’s goal—to reveal the intense physicality of dancing—as it did in Jorma Elo’sONE/end/ONE, performed by Houston Ballet. At other times, the magnification of being human, shaking muscles, hands grappling, feet slipping, detracts from the illusion of perfection, as it did at times during the Farrell program. Which leads to…

Faustin Linyekula at The Kitchen, 10/13/11

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Congo's Faustin Linyekula at The Kitchen, with live music by Flamme Kapaya.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/faustin-linyekula-at-the-kitchen-serious-fun/1858/



Faustin Linyekula & Flamme Kapaya in "More, more, more...future" Photo © Agathe Poupeney.
Not only is Faustin Linyekula’s more more more…future great fun, it packs a potent message. In fact, there’s so much condensed into this 90-minute production at The Kitchen (through Oct 15) as part of FIAF’s Crossing the Line festival, that you feel as though you’d made a trip to the choreographer’s native Democratic Republic of Congo, tellingly additionally qualified in his bio as “former Zaire, fomer Belgian Congo, former independent state of Congo…,” indicative of its struggle for independence and stability.

New York Live Arts—Dancer Crush, 10/16/11

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New York Live Arts—Dancer Crush, favorite familiar faces on one sweet bill.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/new-york-live-arts%E2%80%94dancer-crush/1837/



Holley Farmer. Photo by Ian Douglas.
Holley Farmer. Photo by Ian Douglas.
There are so many talented dancers in New York City that, sadly, it’s easy to take even the finest ones for granted.New York Live Artsspeaks to this in a program called Dancer Crush, a showcase of some of the artists whose repeated appearances on New York stages over the years have made an indelible impression. Some of them dance the work of the big name choreographers to whose companies they belonged; others perform their own pieces. NYLA’s Carla Peterson and Annie-B Parsons of Big Dance Theater curated this amazing slate (through Oct 8).
The most powerful piece, for me, was Brandi Norton performing Trisha Brown’sAccumulation (1971). Maybe it’s the music (Grateful Dead’s Uncle John’s Band), maybe it’s Norton’s velvety, hypnotic style, maybe it’s that Brown is receiving a 2011 Bessie for Lifetime Achievement… it all came together in a gorgeous little dance bomblet. Another dynamo work was Merce Cunningham’sSolo Event with Loops (1971-2009) done by Holley Farmer. Never mind that her return to the stage in his choreography held its own sentimental strength, the simplicity and inventiveness of this solo (with chair) resonated in Farmer’s clear, human delivery.