Chéri—A Romance in Dance

Alessandra Ferri & Herman Cornejo.
Photo: Joan Marcus

Chéri, based on the novella by Colette, continues Martha Clarke's unique hybrid genre of theater, utilizing movement to advance the story. Clarke—who conceived, choreographed, and directed this Signature Theater production, which runs through December—had the foresight and fortune to engage ABT principal Herman Cornejo and ex-principal Alessandra Ferri as the leads. He is the eponymous Chéri, son of Charlotte (Amy Irving), and lover of his mother's best friend, Lea (Ferri), nearly twice his age. Chéri is a charming, spoiled man who can't resist a glimpse in the mirror, a habit that eventually comes back to haunt him. His mother has put up with the affair for six years, and finally arranges for Chéri to marry a wealthy young woman his age.

We learn fragments about everyone's disparate states of mind in Irving's four brief monologues (by Tina Howe). Irving imbues them with enough salt and snap so that we feel her own vanity, and the guilt in her complicity in the awkward relationship. The two dancers never speak, but they spend a great deal of time embracing, un/dressing, and twirling and spinning in multitudinous ways, often with Ferri's legs and feet as punctuation. 

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.

Delight in Clarke’s Garden, 12/2/08

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Martha Clarke's Garden of Earthly Delights at Minetta Lane Theater

http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/performance/delight-in-clarkes-garden/652/

Martha Clarke’s productions often slide between the seams of defined genres. For instance, her revival of Garden of Earthly Delights could aptly be described as dance, yet it defies that category in part due to its location at the Minetta Lane Theater, its ticket price range, and a planned three-month run. For those who go expecting more traditional theater, perhaps this confection of movement will coax them to see more dance.

Clarke, whose productions have been in the public eye for upwards of three decades, is a creator whose work has been recognized with numerous grants and other institutional laurels. Yet she is not a household name. And the scope of her productions, which are often based on works of visual art, is large and best produced in longer, theater-style runs, rather than the dance world’s week-long norm. (The harrowing story of re-mounting Garden, which premiered in 1984, is told in this New York Times article.)

Garden of Earthly Delights involves only movement and music, provided by an onstage trio in monks’ robes. The eleven performers are all skilled dancer/actors; some are fixtures from established companies, such as Marjorie Folkman and Jen Nugent. The company wears flesh-toned unitards that are somewhat revealing, but not tawdry. They enter walking on all fours, after awhile looking like some kind of gawky species.