Stars of the International Ballet Stage
As seen at New York City Center, New York. Photographs by Steven Pisano
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If Simone Biles, Baryshnikov, Michelle Kwan, Mr. Wiggles, and Bruce Lee somehow had a baby, that child would be an ideal candidate for the Compagnie Hervé Koubi. The French-Algerian Koubi—who got a doctorate in pharmacology before doing a 180 into choreography (and in his case, it was probably a 540)—brought his jaw-dropping fusion of athletic styles to the Joyce this week in a new work titled “Sol Invictus” (invincible sun). This was another fascinating submission from the Van Cleef & Arpels Dance Reflections curators. Koubi’s 18 dancers pulled off stunts I would not have believed were humanly possible. A reverse worm! Slides across the floor on heads, knuckles, and kneecaps! There were multiple iterations of what appeared to be inverted ice skating scratch spins performed on heads and palms of hands. Dancers circled the stage in a variety of aerial tricks, including back handspring manèges in which only one hand or foot touched the ground in between rotations. If his dancers were not disproving gravity, they were low to the ground with their legs hovering above it as if they were on imaginary pommel horses.
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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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