Stars of the International Ballet Stage
The IBStage Star Galas have a mission to unite the best and brightest for gala ballet evenings. As seen at New York City Center, New York. Photographs by Steven Pisano
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Life is a thief,” pouts Alan Greig, emerging in the studio space clad in black vest, full skirt and voluminous trousers. Impish and imperious, he becomes Tennessee Williams in waspish mode even as he lies dying, or perhaps he's Blanche Dubois, looking to fill the void. Throughout this gorgeously unhinged performance, he inhabits several queer icons. Languid and yet toxic, he's a typically acerbic Joan Crawford, insisting through narrowed eyes that she retains some semblance of normality because of her tendency to clean her own house strutting and shimmying, he's Alison Goldfrapp, a modern day glam disco diva giving “Ooh La La.” Almost hacking up a furball, he transforms into the immortal Quentin Crisp, whose first priority when war broke out was to “find some henna.” Or Bette Davis, eyebrow arched, insisting that smoking one hundred cigarettes a day is because it's expected of her, inextricably linked to her image. These stories may or may not be apocryphal, but that's scarcely the point.
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The IBStage Star Galas have a mission to unite the best and brightest for gala ballet evenings. As seen at New York City Center, New York. Photographs by Steven Pisano
PlusWhile Kendrick Lamar performed “Humble,” during his Super Bowl halftime set and was surrounded by dancers clad in red, white and blue—and in the process assumed the formation of the American flag (choreographed by Charm La’Donna)—so, too, did Faye Driscoll use performers who created slews of shapes/sculptures in her astonishing work, “Weathering,” seen at REDCAT on February 8, the last of three sold-out performances.
PlusLet’s start with the obvious, or maybe to some this notion will be highly disputable, even offensive. OK, then, let’s start with what kept repeating in my head as I walked out of UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, synapses abuzz with the wonders of Twyla Tharp Dance’s 60th anniversary “Diamond Jubilee” program: My God, Twyla Tharp really is the most brilliantly inventive choreographer now alive on the planet.
PlusIn Maldonne, French filmmakers Leila KA and Josselin Carré pose eleven women side by side on a barren stage. They’re dressed in floral patterns that hearken to the 1950s. The camera zooms in to frame their faces—each woman is in a state of distress.
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