World-class review of ballet and dance.
The second and final 2020 Fall for Dance program was not as somber as the first, though it still felt far removed from the ebullient live festivals of years past. Again, four pieces and seven dancers comprised the evening. Once again David Hallberg and Alicia Graf Mack co-hosted the event. And yet again there were two world premiere commissions and two classics on the bill. But this time around I tallied the scorecard at three hits and one miss.
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With the hidden conviction of attending the last Italian dance performances, we went to Venice at La Biennale Danza festival: a kind of resistance, before our new, imminent lockdown. Despite the enthusiastic title, “And Now!” the 14th edition was an undertone: a few critics and journalists, no one from abroad, the audience halved because of the distance rules. Neither was the director, Marie Chouinard, able to arrive from Canada. Instead British choreographer Wayne McGregor was there, attending all the shows: a few days after he would be appointed new director of dance at La Biennale.
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On the fiftieth anniversary of Yukio Mishima's death, the Tokyo Ballet produced its latest version of “M,” choreographed by Maurice Béjart. After a generally terrible year for the arts, to see a nearly sold out production at the Kunio Maekawa-designed Tokyo Bunka Kaikan was extremely positive and served as a reminder that people need to see, feel and participate in art.
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Even in the midst of a global plague, the New York City Center found a way to put on its annual Fall for Dance Festival this year—with a virtually broadcast live performance—and for roughly an hour last night everything seemed right with the world. Well, sort of. Normally, the FFD performances are like rock concerts: whooping and hollering is a main component of the fun. With its populist $15 ticket price, the fest is as much an occasion for the NY dance community to get together and proclaim its love for itself as it is to showcase diverse troupes and...
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Some days, when I find myself spiraling down Twitter’s sewer drain of dystopian disinformation, I contemplate tweeting a stupid joke that goes like this: “I Used to Review Ballet and Now I Tend Chickens: My Pandemic Memoir.”
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While many smaller American ballet companies hang on month to month through the pandemic to learn the ultimate shape of their fates, other troupes have faced harsh consequences swiftly. Just three months after California’s Covid restrictions, the board of the Sacramento Ballet voted to terminate Amy Seiwert’s tenure as artistic director, and the shifts she’d begun there—away from classical chestnuts and regional-level Balanchine and towards European-influenced new works—ended abruptly. Swiftly, Seiwert announced that she was returning to her project-based company in San Francisco, Imagery, which among other endeavors (and tours to the Joyce Theater Ballet Festival and Jacob’s Pillow) produces...
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In a window longer than it is tall, within a white frame, there is a room. A room as a blank canvas. A room as a piece of paper awaiting the first gesture of a drawing. The optical illusion of this window through to a room held within a white frame makes the information it holds appear three-dimensional: my eye registers a room and the white frame becomes a flat two-dimensional screen, on my computer screen, by comparison.
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The dance scene throughout the pandemic has largely consisted of old, recorded performances being posted online. These videos have their merits, but also many limitations. The Royal Ballet boldly tried something different last week. The entire troupe managed to gather safely to put on a gala broadcast live over the internet. Anyone with wifi could purchase a sixteen pound ticket and watch from home, with access to a recording of the performance through November 8th.
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Based in Glasgow, and recently celebrating three years since they formed, Project X have a strong aesthetic and highly prolific output with a focus on history, culture and the lived experience of the African and Caribbean Diaspora. These two brand new short films from the multi-disciplinary company, screening as part of Black History Month, take on a female perspective. Both films rejoice in sisterhood and a strong sense of selfhood, both are beautiful celebrations of black women, and feel powerful and moving in distinct ways.
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Lockdown has seen a major uptick in dance on screen, although much of what’s streaming is old runs and historic films; brand-new work has been harder to come by. This triple bill includes premieres from three UK companies, all devised in response to the pandemic. Produced by the Lawrence Batley Theatre, the works are filmed in and around this Huddersfield venue, and lean into the themes we’ve come to associate with life after Covid: isolation, disruption, and shifting perspectives on freedom and responsibility.
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Fall is here, and the New York City Ballet embarked upon a new season on Tuesday night. Business as usual—except for the fact that I watched it on Wednesday morning. The dance scene in New York will remain virtual for the foreseeable future, alas. But there was great comfort in the fact that City Ballet could still offer an All-Balanchine program to commence its calendar year. The company’s fall season generally begins with a strong return to roots after the lengthy summer hiatus. I so look forward to seeing pristine executions of the Black & Whites, or a slate-clearing “Serenade,”...
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Now, it seems, more than ever, do we need art. And while Covid continues its assault on a huge swath of our population, relief came to this reviewer in the form of a live-streamed concert by butoh master Oguri. Bringing laser-like intensity to each and every performance while simultaneously creating portraits of staggering resilience, this supreme mover continues to surprise, stun and satisfy with his dances, whether solo or in conjunction with others.
Continue ReadingWatching Matthew Bourne's reworked version of the “star-cross'd lovers,” I was briefly reminded of Veronica, played by Winona Ryder, in the dark 1988 comedy by Daniel Waters and Michael Lehmann, Heathers, and her line, “my teen angst bullshit has a body count.” Yes, this is the darker side of Bourne's repertoire,...
Continue ReadingThe choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
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Beneath blue California skies, manicured trees, and the occasional hum of an overhead airplane, Tamara Rojo took the Frost Amphitheater stage at Stanford University to introduce herself as the new artistic director of San Francisco Ballet.
Continue ReadingAfter a week of the well-balanced meal that is “Jewels”—the nutritive, potentially tedious, leafy greens of “Emeralds,” the gamy, carnivorous “Rubies,” and the decadent, shiny white mountains of meringue in “Diamonds”—the New York City Ballet continued its 75th Anniversary All-Balanchine Fall Season with rather more dyspeptic fare.
Continue ReadingAn “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.
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