World-class review of ballet and dance.
In the yawning space of the machine hall, we assembled. A small group of mourners cloaked in suitable attire, our number countable upon my fingers, no need for the toes. We came in pairs to “Recovery,” to a space formally the domain of pigeons and vandals, to witness “a delicate duel with time.”[note]Nat Cursio and Shannon Bott, Artists' statement “About the work,” Nat Cursio website, 2014.[/note] I brought with me my curiosity and an expectation to become unmoored.
Continue Reading
When it was conceived in 2006, “Sacred Monsters” marked Sylvie Guillem's transition from the classical scene to the contemporary one—an intriguing development that had the famed ballerina's fans on the edge of their seats, eager to witness what turned out to be an inspired reformation. This revival, however, speaks to a less celebratory event: Guillem's impending departure from the stage altogether. (Her final performances have been announced for May 2015.) A full house showed up last week to watch the piece, which takes its title from an old French nickname for the biggest icons of the theatre and also features...
Continue Reading
P.O.V. Dance Project debuted “Wireless Connection” at Dancemakers in Toronto last Friday evening. The newly formed company appeared neat, sophisticated and upbeat, with a compelling hybrid style informed by styles ranging from ballet to hiphop. P.O.V. is directed by choreographers Amy Adams and Kylie Thompson, and have a pick-up company of a dozen versatile dancers. They have a light touch, and the dance was fresh, and the attitude contagious.
Continue Reading
The term ‘plateau effect’ describes the phenomenon of diminishing returns—that is, the reduced effectiveness over time of a once effective measure. Jefta van Dinther’s production by the same name does just that, putting forward a series of bold scenes, each of which ploughs ahead at a high-octane pace until the wow factor wears off and the audience adjusts to the sensory shock (think pulsing music, flashing lights, shuddering bodies). Van Dinther has a knack for detecting the very moment viewers have acclimatised, and it’s then that he throws another jolt into the mix, making for some powerful transitions. The one-act...
Continue Reading
Instead of employing a straight narrative, this dance theatre piece tells its story through a series of interlacing vignettes, each one evocative, impassioned and quasi surreal. The twisted tale centres on an urban park facing commercial redevelopment and its occupants' response to the impending loss of their communal space, which brings together homeless people, tourists, street performers, pedestrians and more. It's an elliptical piece, its tone careening from wacky to biting in a flash, but the quality is steady throughout: Jasmin Vardimon's dancers commit themselves to their roles wholly, and the result is a crisp slice of social commentary on...
Continue Reading
Jillian Vanstone and Harrison James made an exquisite pair, dancing the lead roles in “Manon” with the National Ballet of Canada on Sunday. It may be getting cold outside, but inside, the pas de deux were scorching.
Continue Reading
Though it lags somewhat in the middle, this four-part bill is robust and stimulating. The intricate music of London-based contemporary composer Thomas Adès unites the pieces, each of which features the musician conducting from the pit or tickling the ivories on stage. Adès' participation in the programme elevates it greatly, breathing life into his already vigorous notes so that they form an integral and unforgettable element of the performance.
Continue Reading
Who knew that when modern dance legend Martha Graham teamed up with Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 1964 to be artistic advisor of an Israeli dance troupe (Graham held the role until 1975), that the company would not only be going strong 50 years later, but would be at the forefront of contemporary dance. That fact, of course, has to do with the iconoclastic choreographer Ohad Naharin, who has helmed the 34-member troupe since 1990, his full-bodied dancemaking never failing to astonish, mesmerize and awe.
Continue Reading
When it was founded in 2012 by Benjamin Millepied, L.A. Dance Project was touted as some kind of second coming for the dance scene in Los Angeles. It’s too bad, then, that the 9-member troupe is rarely in town and that its home, the Theatre at Ace Hotel, a refurbished United Artists movie palace originally co-founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, has extremely bad sight lines and a small stage for dance. That the audience can also bring in food and drink (popcorn, wine and whatever), is another reason the venue is a less than...
Continue Reading
Forget crooning crockery; it’s waltzing pigs and jazz-dancing ravens in David Bintley’s “Beauty and the Beast,” a glittery production with a green twist. Bintley’s version reframes the fairytale as a pro-conservation allegory: an arrogant prince with a heartless hunting habit is cursed into living as a beast himself among the very animals he once targeted. The eco slant calls to mind Bintley’s excellent “Still Life at the Penguin Café” in its manifest respect for the natural world, though “Beast” is less of an admonitory tale than one focusing on personal redemption.
Continue Reading
Equal parts dystopian horror show and raucous romp, Matthew Bourne’s “Lord of the Flies” is a firecracker of a production. Over two acts, nine members of Bourne’s New Adventures and 22 locally sourced teenagers retell William Golding’s allegorical tale of marooned British schoolboys and their atavistic descent.
Continue Reading
The ritual began the moment I entered the upstairs studio at Dancehouse. Correction, the ritual began before that. As befits a work which looks at the liminal space between states, and between performer and audience, unbeknownst to me, it began in the series of actions I undertook to dress and walk around the corner to Dancehouse, ready to fill my agreed role as ‘audience member’ awaiting ‘a performance.’
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading