World-class review of ballet and dance.
The third—and final—instalment of the New York City Ballet’s “Balanchine Black & White” festival offered three abstract ballets: “Square Dance,” “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” and “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” in a program dedicated to Balanchine’s famed minimalist aesthetics. If the costumes of the dancers were simple and stage décor was absent, the stylistic and dramatic variety of the choreography was rich, vibrant and powerful.
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Guillaume Côté's new ballet, “Being and Nothingness” made its premiere alongside two-thirds of Alexei Ratmansky's “Shostakovich Trilogy.” Two quite different pieces to put together and yet the bill was a success. Côté's existential mood allowed the dancers to explore darker shades in vingettes, while Ratmansky's “Shostakovich Trilogy” kept a steady flow of movement.
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The second program of the New York City Ballet’s “Balanchine Black & White” festival was dedicated exclusively to Balanchine-Stravinsky ballets, honoring the most extraordinary creative partnership in twentieth century arts. Balanchine was Stravinsky’s most devoted advocate and promoter; like no other choreographer he respected, understood and adhered to the composer’s musical philosophy and values. “Balanchine employed his choreography as a conduit through which the message of Stravinsky’s music could be clarified and strengthened,” wrote Charles M. Joseph in his book Stravinsky’s Ballets, describing this unique artistic alliance.
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Bubbles at the ballet! And what a fantastic way to end a program, which is precisely what Los Angeles Ballet did by presenting Jiří Kylián’s deliriously witty, “Sechs Tänze,” a 1986 bauble set to Mozart that should be required viewing for those who think ballet is a mysterious and elite art form.
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Rambert's newest bill promises a lot of excitement: it kicks off with the London debut of Alexander Whitley's 2015 work “Frames,” then moves on to a revival of Lucinda Childs' simple but celebrated “Four Elements,” commissioned in 1990. The headline act is a world premiere from artistic director Mark Baldwin that features 20 dancers swishing to the on-stage syncopations of a 32-piece brass band, the musicians' gleaming instruments shielded from the action by perspex armoury and art deco-inspired scaffolding.
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“Balanchine Black & White,” a three-program celebration of the great ballet master’s most exalted and extreme aesthetics, offered a unique opportunity for ballet-goers to appreciate and experience anew the breadth, depth and extraordinary invention of Balanchine’s trademark style of neoclassical ballet. The festival, which opened New York City Ballet’s spring season, featured twelve abstract one-act ballets, stark and minimalist, entirely liberated from any kind of stage décor, theatrical pantomime or elaborate attire, with the dancers wearing stylized practice costumes predominantly in black and white. In each of these ballets only music and movement create a nucleus of the action, expressing...
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When the American is in Paris he undergoes an education. Sure he arrives in ill-fitting clothes, pronouncing "coin" as if it were currency, but when he leaves he is a Man of the World. So we will forgive Jerry Mulligan, the ex-G.I. played by Robert Fairchild in “An American in Paris” at the Palace Theater, for appearing a little shallow. He's in the works. And underneath those clipped lines and long silences there is probably a fine mind; he is just more reserved, that’s all, and it serves the French—who tend to sound much smarter than they are—right.
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“The impulse to feel, experience and understand a dance work in the theatre should be an individual one—beginning in the heart and contemplated in your mind. It is your frame of mind which colours your world, and the same should be true of art. When all explanations have been exhausted and you find yourselves outside of definition but immersed in sensation—the only thing left is to feel.”[note]Rafael Bonachela, Sydney Dance Company “Frame of Mind” programme, Southbank Theatre, Melbourne, Australia May 7 2015, 14[/note]
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There's a strong element of isolation to James Wilton's “Last Man Standing,” a moody two-act work that ruminates on mortality and the existential crises it inspires. The choreography constantly links the six dancers together in tight-grip grasps only to dismantle their connections, a reminder that death is never anything but an individual journey. It's a dark piece to be sure, made even more so by its soundtrack, a tempestuous medley of Tool songs, but the six-strong group (which includes Wilton himself) breathes an indelible radiance into it, lifting the mood out of desperation and into quiet introspection.
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Last month Hofesh Shechter, Akram Khan and Lloyd Newson—three giants of the UK's contemporary dance scene—issued a damning edict on the quality of British contemporary training, claiming they regularly struggle to recruit home-grown talent “of sufficient calibre.” Their criticism raises some interesting questions about how we measure quality in the contemporary sphere, where technique is not codified as definitively as it is in ballet, and valuable performance skills can range from improvisation to gymnastics to vocals. What makes a good contemporary dancer? Is it strength? Precision? Versatility? Emotion? Intent?
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It’s been a huge month for the Australian Ballet. Long time and much loved principal artist Madeleine Eastoe announced her retirement after 18 years with the company. A few weeks earlier, senior artist Reiko Hombo had also announced her departure. The loss of senior ranked artists is a big deal in ballet companies. But with change comes opportunity. Earlier this month, following her debut performance as Giselle, Ako Kondo, was promoted to principal artist—the company’s highest rank. She is just 24 years old. With more promotions inevitable, and a wealth of talent among the more junior ranks, there is the opportunity to witness rising stars...
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There's something about the formalisms of the ballet world that gives one an almost racy feeling when its backstage doors open up. One of the great strengths of Ballet 422, directed by Jody Lee Lipes and produced by Ellen Bar (the latter a former soloist with NYCB; the two are married): all that takes place backstage remains unadorned. There are no back-stories, no interviews, and we're left not knowing the names of some of the dancers. Then again, ballet is about "showing and not telling," Bar told me over the phone. A dance doesn't come with footnotes or appendixes attached;...
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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