Going Solo with Lar Lubovitch
“I never set out particularly to be a creator of solos,” says Lar Lubovitch. “But after 60 years in the dance world and 120 dances, I will have made a number of solos.”
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Few personalities in the ballet world question the essence of classical dance nowadays. Masterpieces such as “The Nutcracker” or “Swan Lake” are little more than gainful blockbusters in December programs. “The Sleeping Beauty” is no exception: its seemingly Manichean argument, happy-ending, fairies' parade and decorative choreography had plunged the ballet into formaldehyde for centuries. So, when a modern-minded choreographer took on an age-old fairytale ballet, one could think that the outcome had to be of the cerebral type, for a few jaded balletomanes to enjoy. Fortunately, Ratmansky’s revival is anything but a pedantic throwback to the days of yore. He doesn’t lecture the audience. Nor does he keep ballet in mothballs. Restoring Petipa's lustrous classicism, his approach highlights ballet as a theatrical art, thus fighting a strong anti-narrative trend. And with a little help from his ABT friends, he succeeds partly in casting a new light on that distorted tale on pointe. Although he tries to make ballet more approachable, he occasionally lends the piece an unintentional elitist tone; for the many, his reconstruction of “The Sleeping Beauty” might have looked a little jet-lagged.
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Misty Copeland and Gabe Stone Shayer in Alexei Ratmansky's “The Sleeping Beauty.” Photograph by Doug Gifford
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“I never set out particularly to be a creator of solos,” says Lar Lubovitch. “But after 60 years in the dance world and 120 dances, I will have made a number of solos.”
PlusIn the canon of classical ballet, star-crossed love is an integral theme. With its US debut of “The Butterfly Lovers”—a new full-length work inspired by a Chinese folktale that dates back to the Tang Dynasty—Hong Kong Ballet brings an artfully rendered addition to this tradition
PlusThey begin to move without warning, slowly, as if awakened from some eons-long slumber. A mass of 18 dancers, all dressed in varying bright tones, moves just at the edge of the rising tide in front of a U-shaped crowd sitting against the dunes of Rockaway Beach.
PlusFor nearly 50 years the legendary dance photographer, Paul Kolnik, helped create the visual identity of the New York City Ballet.
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