NYCB On and Offstage
New York City Ballet concluded its 75th anniversary year with its traditional summer residency upstate at the amphitheater of Saratoga Springs’s Performing Arts Center (SPAC).
Continue ReadingWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
There were high expectations for Staatsballett Berlin’s double bill featuring two well-known choreographers, Alexander Ekman and Sharon Eyal. “Lib,” which stands for Liberty, by Alexander Ekman is a collaboration with hair designer and artist Charlie Le Mindu: In fact, the evening opens with a man wearing a long vertical wig on his head, seated in the auditorium, while the spectators take their places. The performance has already started but only some realise it. He slowly and casually moves towards the stage and once there he entertains with some foolish movements and poses. Then, one by one, four graceful dancers enter the stage to warm up virtuosically. Two dancers face each other, compulsively communicating through motions, and appear as ‘frenemies.’ They keep performing long, stretchy, strong and elegant movements that paint the horizon with marvellous lines until a blonde hairy being abruptly enters the stage. The ballerinas, now puzzled, observe him as an odd outsider before leaving him behind. The hairy creature performs his own energetic solo, and although the movements are recognizable, they are entirely enveloped by the bizarre costume. The solo is followed by the quintet wearing various forms of whole-body wigs of human hair. The colours are earthy and the movements are humourless despite the costumes.
Performance
Place
Words
Polina Semionova and Ksenia Ovsyanick in “Lib” by Alexander Ekman. Photograph by Jubal Battisti
“Uncommonly intelligent, substantial coverage.”
Your weekly source for world-class dance reviews, interviews, articles, and more.
Already a paid subscriber? Login
New York City Ballet concluded its 75th anniversary year with its traditional summer residency upstate at the amphitheater of Saratoga Springs’s Performing Arts Center (SPAC).
Continue ReadingThe inaugural Unite Ballet Festival, directed by Calvin Royal III, took place at the Joyce Theater from August 13-18, 2024.
FREE ARTICLEBefore digital audio, compact discs, cassette tapes with their ribbons of sound sandwiched within a small case, and pressed vinyl records, came wax cylinders to record and reproduce sound, thanks to Thomas Edison’s 1877 invention of the hand-cranked phonograph.
Continue ReadingFar from Southern Spain, but in the heart of Hollywood, that once monthly dance staple, “Forever Flamenco,” was alive and well again at the Fountain Theatre, if only for the month of August.
Continue Reading
comments