March Dance Happenings in New York City

February 21st, 2011

By Rachel Straus

Guggenheim Museum Works + Process: “How Judges Judge—Youth America Grand Prix”

March 6 and 7

Youth America Grand Prix is America’s first and the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition. JYAGP jury members Gailene Stock, Director of the Royal Ballet School; Franco de Vita, Director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre; and Adam Sklute, Artistic Director of Ballet West, will offer insight into the selection process as they critique dancers’ performances during an impromptu ballet competition on stage.

Keigwin + Company at The Joyce Theater

March 8 – 13

The cabaret-oriented, bawdy choreographer Larry Keigwin premieres Dark Habits, which examines fashion and drama (and of course sex). The score features original music by cellist Chris Lancaster and pianist Jerome Begin as well as familiar rock tunes.

Guggenheim Museum Works + Process: “Watermill Quintet—Robert Wilson Curates New Performances”

March 13 and 14

Robert Wilson will present his newest work in process. Combining dance, performance art, theater, video, and music, Wilson’s piece is created in collaboration with five young emerging directors and choreographers, and the composer Michael Galasso.

Martha Graham Dance Company’s 85th Anniversary Season at the Rose Theater

March 15 -20

America’s oldest modern dance company will offer four programs, featuring Graham’s master works, a world premiere by Taiwanese choreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava, a revival of Robert Wilson’s Snow on the Mesa, and “The Political Dance Project,” a montage of dances by 1930s female choreographers of the political left.

Trisha Brown Dance Company at Dance Theater Workshop

Mar 16 – 19, 22 – 26

The company will present four works, including Foray Forêt, (1990), the last of a series of works created in collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg; and Watermotor (1978), Brown’s solo dance that will be performed for the first time by a dancer other than herself.

Miro Magloire, Ben Munisteri and Michele Wiles at the Museum of Art and Design

March 16

Magloire and Munisteri’ solos for American Ballet Theater principal dancer Michele Wiles will show off her versatility in an intimate, tabula rasa-like gallery space of this new museum.

Guggenheim Museum Works + Process: “Royal Danish Ballet”

March 21 and 22

Prior to their American tour in May and June 2011, the Royal Danish Ballet dancers will perform excerpts from the repertory. Newly appointed artistic director Nikolaj Hübbe (a former New York City Ballet principal) will discuss his vision for the company with John Meehan, Professor of Dance at Vassar College. Dancers will perform highlights from August Bournonville’s The Jockey Dance, La Sylphide, A Folk Tale, and Bournonville Variations, plus Nikolaj Hübbe’s new staging of Napoli, and Jorma Elo’s Lost on Slow.

“Dances From The Heart” at Cedar Lake Theater

March 21 and 22

Now in its sixth year, the event will offer four performances over two days and feature 19 dance companies in benefit of Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Juilliard School Spring Dance Concert at Peter Jay Sharp Theater

March 23-27

Dance division students will perform Bronislava Nijinska’s masterwork Les Noces (1923), Eliot Feld’s Skara Brae (1986) and Mark Morris’s Grand Duo (1993)

Merce Cunningham Dance Company at The Joyce Theater

Mar 22-27

Before disbanding in December 2011, the company will present at The Joyce CRWDSPCR, Quartet, and Antic Meet. This trio of dances has not been seen in New York for decades. Performing Cunningham’s works are the final group of dancers he personally trained.

Guggenheim Museum Works + Process: “Celebrating David Del Tredici—With New Choreography by Lynne Taylor-Corbett”

March 27 and 28

Lynne Taylor-Corbett presents a dance to David Del Tredici’s Grosse Tarantella. The Young People’s Chorus of New York City, directed by Francisco J. Núñez, will sing Del Tredici’s Four Heartfelt Anthems. A moderated discussion with the composer and choreographer will follow the performance.

Dance Theater Workshop: Richard Move and MoveOpolis!

March 30 – April 2

Martha Graham impersonator extraordinaire Richard Move will perform alongside Graham principal dancers in ways that pay homage and poke fun at the first lady of modern dance.

Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Skirball Center

March 31- April 2

Madrid-based contemporary ballet company CND2 makes its New York City premiere. The performance is part of the company’s final tour with artistic director Nacho Duato, who took over the directorship of the ballet company of St. Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theater in January.

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Fair and square

February 18th, 2011

By James Jorden

I’m not the type to say “my head is still reeling,” but, go figure, my head is still reeling from seeing Vieux Carré performed by the Wooster Group last night. I’m not going to pretend to review this masterpiece (what could I say besides “oh, my God!” over and over again), but rather I’m going to take the opportunity to go off on a tangent. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Stupendous Farewell

February 17th, 2011

by Keith Clarke

Every corner of Westminster Abbey was filled this Tuesday as the late Dame Joan Sutherland was remembered in style with a grand memorial service, the highlight of which was hearing her voice again, sounding out over the echoing spaces, singing “Let the Bright Seraphim”from Handel’s Samson and “Casta Diva” from Norma.

The service was set off in style with Tony Pappano conducting the Royal Opera House Orchestra, and Valda Wilson was the soprano chosen to honor La Stupenda with “Pie Jesu” from the Fauré Requiem and the Alleluia from Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate.

Former Royal Opera House general director Sir John Tooley gave an address that was more catalog of achievements than personal reminiscence, but there was a very nice story about how the young Joan Sutherland had been refused entry into a youth choir that she auditioned for. It was declared that she sang too loudly, and would have drowned out the other girls.

It fell to a former prime minister’s wife to sum up in the order of service. As Dame Norma Major put it, “She was born with a God-given talent and shared it generously with the world.”

 >>> 

Wednesday saw the country’s orchestra managers heading for Derby, in the Midlands, for the 2011 annual conference of the Association of British Orchestras. The area is the home of RollsRoyce, and most managers were clearly wondering whether they could keep the wheels on the old wagon while they wait for the Arts Council to declare the winners and losers in the great funding carve-up. It was, said the chief exec of one of London’s major symphony orchestras, “like the sword of Damocles.”

It looked like it was going to be a long three days, chewing over the ABO conference theme of “Protect and Survive,” but at least it brought the delegates three days closer to being put out of the misery of not knowing their fate, one way or the other. A full report will appear on MusicalAmerica in due course.

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Reflections on a Website

February 17th, 2011

by Edna Landau

Dear Edna,

I know this is a very basic question but what should be included on an artist’s website? For an ensemble website, how much information should be included about the individual artists?—Wanting to Get it Right

Dear Wanting to Get it Right:

In 1975, shortly after the foundations of the Internet were first developed, Elliott Carter wrote a chamber work entitled “A Mirror on Which to Dwell.” Taken out of context, that title defines for me what a perfect artist website should be: a true reflection of yourself and your accomplishments which others will find compelling.

When I was a young artist manager, the typical marketing tool was a color flyer that had an artist’s name and photo, a brief bio, some review quotes, and maybe one or two record covers. It cost abut $3000 and was out of date within a few months after it was printed. Today a website offers an artist the opportunity to present themselves exactly as they wish to be seen at any given time and to keep the public current with up to the minute developments in their career.

The essential elements of an artist website are pretty standard and straightforward:

  1. An attractive home page that is not cluttered and draws the viewer in
  2. An electronic press kit (downloadable PDF) consisting of your bio, any feature articles, reviews, review quotes, or other quotes from notable individuals familiar with your work. If you are creating an ensemble website, it is perfectly appropriate to include short bios of the individual members, along with links to their websites.
  3. Photographs (JPEGS) suitable both for print and web use. (Don’t forget to credit the photographer.)
  4. A calendar of your performances (if there is sufficient activity to merit such a listing)
  5. Audio and/or video samples of your work, or links to other sites containing such samples or other information about you (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, InstantEncore.com, iCadenza.com)
  6. Information about buying your recordings or compositions (if applicable) and joining your mailing list
  7. Contact information for you and others representing you (such as a manager or publicist

Optional:

  1. A list of repertoire you are ready to perform
  2. Sample programs
  3. Outreach experience
  4. A page about your teaching activities
  5. A blog

Think of all the above as the nuts and bolts of presenting yourself to the world. The ultimate challenge, however, is to create an Internet presence that is professional and attractive and that captures the essence of who you are and how you wish to be seen. Take proper care to ensure the accuracy of everything on your website (have someone else proofread the content) and to update it regularly.

Ultimately, originality and creativity may add a final touch that will personalize your website and make it memorable. Composer Alex Shapiro’s beautiful photographs add an extra dimension to her website that highlight her versatility and individuality (www.alexshapiro.org). Tubist Aubrey Foard’s “Study with Aubrey” page sends a reassuring message to a parent that he would be a very caring and nurturing teacher for their child (www.aubreyfoard.com). Brooklyn Rider’s whimsical home page compels you to open the doors and peek inside (www.brooklynrider.com).

Have fun with your website but also make sure it is interesting, genuine and thoroughly professional. Then it will truly be a mirror of yourself on which others will wish to dwell.

© Edna Landau 2011


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Nixon in China but Not (Yet) Hong Kong

February 16th, 2011

by Cathy Barbash

I’ve caught the Met’s Nixon in China twice, live and by Saturday radio broadcast, and have been trying to find out if any US-based Chinese officials or their surrogates have attended, and if so what they thought of it. No evidence has surfaced yet, though I was pleased to see that China Daily’s US online edition covered it, albeit more as a feature. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2011-02/11/content_11984376.htm. This constitutes official acknowledgement that the work exists and is of interest, the first step in what could be either a long or short road to a production in China. More on that later.

The opera was telecast in HD last Saturday in both in Japan and South Korea, but, to no one’s surprise, not in Hong Kong. Instead, this week’s Hong Kong offering was Don Carlo. I have been told that Don Carlo was originally scheduled for that day in Hong Kong. Not sure whether this means that Nixon was not originally on offer: was Don Carlo the original programming in Japan and Korea too, but then they changed their choice when Nixon became available?  Does this have to do with conservative audience tastes, realpolitik, or a little of each? Still trying to sort this out.  Inquiries to the Met, while graciously received, have not yet been answered. My take? I loved the opera, but I would wager that the current production could not be presented in China. I would agree with the belief expressed elsewhere that the simulated sex, even more than the politics, would be the deal-killer.  

Those of us who work in China enjoyed the many resonant and evocative production details, from the trees at the airport, the platitudes at official meetings, and the need to know what one does and doesn’t discuss at such meetings (at one point Nixon is told to “save that for the minister”), to the big tables and endless ganbei toasts at the banquet, and the squared-off black beds in the last act. Mark Morris captures the spirit of The Red Detachment of Women with great élan.

The Met invited all of the remaining Old China Hands who had worked on the Nixon visit to the dress rehearsal, a gracious and savvy gesture. Resulting press coverage has been fascinating. Here are links to some of the best:  

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/02/14/110214ta_talk_talese
http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2011/02/01/nixon-china-redux
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/arts/music/13nixon.html?scp=2&sq=Max%20Frankel&st=cse

To which Alex Ross eloquently reacted in his February 12 post on his blog, The Rest is Noise.

In China, younger generation cultural professionals are in fact interested in presenting the opera either live or telecast, though this has not yet been possible. Chinese netizens have commented on the opera, and some have watched online excerpts from previous productions. One comment on http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA5NjMxMTMy.html reads:

我擦, 这段历史。老美比我们认识还深刻啊。
Wǒ cā, zhè duàn lìshǐ. Lǎo měi bǐ wǒmen rènshi hái shēnkè a.
My god, this period of history. Old U.S. knows it more deeply than we do. 

I had suggested to relevant people that a private feed into the U.S. Embassy might be arranged for use as a special by-invitation event, as an opportunity for dialogue. It seems the stars did not align. I will go out on a limb however and bet that within the next 5 years, one or more of the major Chinese cultural institutions will produce the opera. All have the resources, guanxi (connections), and the appetite for projects of this scale. And when this happens, that will truly be news…news…news….

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Valentine Dances

February 14th, 2011

By Rachel Straus

When the pressure is on to be romantic, delivering the goods is a challenge. The week before Valentine’s Day, four dance events intentionally (and unintentionally) dabbled in matters of the heart.  Merce Cunningham’s 1998 Pond Way—as filmed by Charles Atlas—was surprisingly the most romantic. (It was screened at the Baryshnikov Arts Center on February 7 as part of “BAC Flicks: Mondays with Merce.”)

Dressed in Scheherazade-meets-minimalist costumes (by Suzanne Gallo), the dancers circumnavigated each other with the aplomb and gentleness of amphibious courtiers. Roy Lichtenstein’s pointillist Landscape with a Boat served as the backdrop and Brian Eno’s New Ikebukkuro (For 3 CD Players) proved subtle and serene. As Banu Ogan traversed the length of the downstage space, a male dancer gently stopped her. Cunningham’s reference to The Rose Adagio in Sleeping Beauty is unmistakable. But instead of being given a flower and striking a virtuoso balance on pointe (as is the case in Beauty), Ogan was neither held nor presented. One by one, a male dancer appeared, placed his palm on a different part of her body, and then evaporated into the wings. Each touch was delicate, almost unobtrusive, like a soft breeze that comes out of nowhere and gives one pause.

**

Mark Morris is not known for his high-flown treatment of heterosexual love. His 2007 Romeo and Juliet (to Prokofiev’s original score with a happy ending) lacked romantic fire. In his choreography for John Adams’ Nixon in China (1987), which is making its Metropolitan Opera House debut (and which I saw on February 12), Morris reinterpreted the propagandist Chinese ballet The Red Detachment of Women (1964). Under Peter Sellers’ direction, Morris choreographed a ballet within a ballet in which President Nixon (James Maddalena) and Mrs. Nixon (Janis Kelly) leave their opera house seats and become involved in the ballet’s action: A peasant girl (Haruno Yamazaki) is whipped to a pulp, then given the Little Red Book. She becomes a rifle-wielding revolutionary comrade. In Act III, she dances with a soldier (Kanji Segawa), once a “decadent” in a European white suit.

Their final pas de deux occurs behind the Nixons (Pat and Richard) and the Tse-Tungs (Mr. and Mrs. Mao), as performed by Robert Brubaker and Kathleen Kim. The singers describe their early years in which sex and love played a greater part in their lives. The fact that Peter Sellers obstructs Morris’ choreography—placing the formidable dancers behind six beds and five singers—says a lot about Sellers’ opinion of Morris’s duet, which does little to support the lyrics about love and loss.

**

Martha Graham wasn’t exactly a romantic, but she sure knew how to choreograph sex. In preparation for the Martha Graham Dance Company’s 85th season at New York’s Rose Theater (March 15-20), the troupe presented their second informal showing on February 9 at DANY Studios. Graham dancers excel in staring each other down with an intensity of gaze only a bull could countenance. When Tadej Brdnik and Xiaochuan Xie locked eyes during an excerpt from Robert Wilson’s Snow on the Mesa (1995), it became clear that their relationship was not the PG variety. That said neither Mesa nor these dancers’ interpretations were overwrought. Brdnik and Xie’s physical beauty and technical command will make this Wilson ballet worth seeing. The other excerpts presented included Graham’s Appalachian Spring (1944), Cave of the Heart (1947), and Deaths and Entrances (1943)—as well as Bulareyang Pagarlava’s work in progress, based on Deaths. It is neither sexy nor romantic. It seems to poke fun at Graham’s seriousness.

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Seriousness and silliness shared equal billing at Joe’s Pub on February 11, with the kickoff of Dancemopolitan’s 2011 season. Called  “Kyle Abraham and Friends: Heartbreaks and Homies,” the cabaret-style event  (produced by DanceNOW [NYC]) featured seven works by Kyle Abraham and one by three guest choreographers: David Dorfman, Faye Driscoll, and Alex Escalante. On the Pub’s kitchen-size stage, the costuming placed the dances squarely in the retro past. Hot pants prevailed. Afros and beards were in the house. However, when Abraham began short-circuiting his body to the music of Love Me by Sam Cooke—a pioneer of soul music who was shot dead at the height of his career—the evening lost its playful tone.

Like an electric switch, Abraham altered his mood. This fast-firing, dancer-actor expressed heartbreak, rage, innocence, bawdiness in moment-to-moment slices of bodily action. Abraham also shape shifted into a lover because “Heartbreak and Homies” was made with Valentine’s Day in mind. Abraham intermittently mingled among the audience (and in his last solo he curled up in some of their laps). Upon returning to the stage, Abraham flicked his emotional switch down to a dark place: He silently wailed. His body sputtered. It was shocking, its pathos mesmerizing.

Less shocking but equal absorbing was Alex Escalante’s solo about getting dumped via cell phone. As the dancer repeatedly mouthed his disappointment into a microphone, his words looped back into the sound system. An echo chamber of voices chaotically intermingled, in which  Escalante’s laments, his conversation with his lover, and the crooning lyrics of Kiss and Say Goodbye by the Manhattans developed a three-way conversation. At the work’s beginning, Escalante asked the audience: Have you ever been in a relationship that had a total communication breakdown?

Broken down by too many voices, Escalante eventually staggered away from the microphone. His gait resembled a boozer’s drawl. He never fell down. Any amateur who loosened their limbs like Escalante’s would be on the floor, nursing his knees, crying for help.

 

 

 

 

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Credit Where It’s Due

February 10th, 2011

by Keith Clarke

Those nice people at MasterCard seem to be all over the London arts business at the moment. No sooner has the ink dried on a three-year agreement with the Southbank Center that will support three annual summer festivals than the pen has come down on another three-year deal. Newest beneficiary is the Society of West End Theaters, which is using the cash (or is that credit?) to relaunch the Olivier Awards.

The society’s suitably theatrical president, Nica Burns, was clearly very excited to announce the news at the Theater Royal, Drury Lane on Feb. 7, almost going into vertical take off as she enthused over the healthy state of London theaters, which last year enjoyed a record $822 million and 14 million ticket buyers. “How brilliant is that?” asked Nica with a rhetorical flourish. And she had a ready answer: “It’s because we’re just bloody good at what we do!”

Such hearty back-slapping may have seemed a little un-English to arts writers quietly dunking their chocolate chip cookies, but never mind. Enjoying a bloody good place in the opera nominations was English National Opera, winning two nominations, for Elegy for Young Lovers and A Dog’s Heart. That should bring cheer to a company that is currently weathering the charge that it has a produced a turkey in Mike Figgis’ Lucrezia Borgia, just at the moment that it is being weighed in the Arts Council balance, along with every other arts organization in the country.

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Nervous times at BBC Radio 3, the UK’s principal classical music station. The mighty BBC Trust has passed some tablets down the mountain, expressing the view that the station is elitist, heavy, inaccessible and daunting. What needs to be done, apparently, is to make Radio 3 “more welcoming and accessible”. 

This will cause consternation among those for whom the station’s moves towards greater accessibility have already been unpalatable. At a time of monumental dumbing down, while Radio 3 has loosened its stays considerably in recent years (I understand some of the presenters even wear open-neck shirts), it has managed to maintain its position as a network for grown-ups with brains that are still functioning. If the BBC Trust wants to bring in the kind of unbelievably idiotic continuity announcers who fill the BBC Television networks with saccharine, there will surely be an uprising among Radio 3’s loyal and discerning listenership.

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A footnote to the obituaries for the great Welsh soprano Margaret Price: Some years ago she came on to the stage of the Wigmore Hall to do a recital, supporting herself on crutches, one foot heavily encased in a plaster cast. Was it a skiing accident? Some falling scenery in the opera house? Not at all. She had dropped a magnum of champagne on her foot, she explained.

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Whose Rights Are They Anyway?

February 10th, 2011

by Edna Landau

I was fortunate to have as a guest lecturer in my class at the Colburn School earlier this week the noted entertainment lawyer, Don Franzen. He gave a wonderful presentation entitled “Overview of Entertainment Law for Musicians,” which assisted me greatly in answering the following questions.

Dear Edna:

I am a flutist and am interested in producing my own CD. I am wondering if there are legal issues that I need to address as I start this process. Do I need rights to record works for sale? From whom would I get them? Some of the works are older (J.S. Bach), some newer (Ravel, Shostakovich), and some very new. I’m guessing that the process might be different for each.  —Flutist

Dear Flutist:

Your guess is excellent and correct! According to copyright law, you are required to pay a royalty to a composer whose music is not in the public domain (i.e., it is still protected by copyright) if you record their music. You are free and clear in the case of J.S. Bach but in the case of Ravel, some music could still be under copyright protection, depending on when it was written. The music of Shostakovich and  younger composers is definitely not in the public domain. In order to record it, you must obtain a mechanical license. You can accomplish this quite easily through the Harry Fox Agency (www.harryfox.com). Note that the procedure will differ according to how many units you intend to produce. It also bears mentioning that this procedure would apply even if you intend to distribute the recordings for free. You can find more detailed and helpful information about this on the Harry Fox Agency website and in Angela Myles Beeching’s excellent book Beyond Talent. (See the section entitled “Licensing Issues.”) In that book she explains that if the work you are recording has never been recorded before, rather than pursuing a mechanical license, you must get permission from the composer or his/her publisher. Ms. Beeching also gives the following guidelines regarding works under copyright protection: “As of this writing, copyright protection is good for the life of the composer plus seventy years if the work was composed on or after January 1, 1978. For works composed before that date, it’s the life of the composer plus renewable terms totaling ninety-five years. If the copyright on a work has expired, it falls into the ‘public domain’ and can be recorded without a mechanical license.”

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Dear Edna:

 I’ve had cases where composers have asked me via e-mail to perform their compositions and I or the concert presenter was still charged for performing a contemporary work. I do want to promote contemporary works and young composers but this is discouraging. Does it make a difference what sort of venue you perform in?  —adventurous pianist

Dear adventurous pianist:

It is great that you are eager to champion young composers. Please don’t get discouraged! Undoubtedly, you recognize and understand that composers need to be paid for their works just as you expect to receive a fee for your performances. In the majority of cases, performers don’t need to concern themselves about paying rights fees because they play in halls that have blanket agreements with performing rights societies such as ASCAP and BMI and the costs are assumed by the concert presenter. The proliferation of smaller, more informal venues as popular performance spaces is a relatively recent development and those venues are not likely to have such agreements. In such a circumstance, you have a few choices: a) find out the cost in advance and ask the venue if they will take care of it b) assume the cost yourself as part of your overall expenses relating to the concert, if you are presenting it, and hopefully you will be reimbursed through ticket sales or donations c) choose not to play contemporary music on the program (a shame) d) ask the composer who wrote to you personally and seems eager for exposure if they would waive their rights in this particular instance. Hopefully, as time goes on, you will become so comfortable with this matter that you will be able to address if up front with any venue in which you are thinking of performing, and your excitement about performing new music and attracting a potentially new and young audience will inspire them to pay the performance royalty as just a part of doing business.

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Dear Edna:

I have recently been asked to appear on local television in brief interview and performance formats. Can you tell me who owns the rights to what they decide to air? If I were to want to put it on YouTube, would there be a problem? —TV novice

Dear TV novice:

Your question is an important one and it is not asked often enough. If a video recording is made of you by a second party, they retain the rights and you must request permission for further use of it. What you do own are your spoken words and therefore you could publish a transcript of what you said without cause for concern. People are amazingly casual when they upload to YouTube but in truth, the use of any performance footage should be cleared with the source of the footage including, by way of example, a presenter, venue, competition or media entity.

© Edna Landau 2011

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Musical Pointe Shoes: New Chamber Ballet

February 7th, 2011

By Rachel Straus

When a ballet dancer runs, the box of her pointe shoe hits the floor. The sound is unmistakable: low in timber, dense, much like a percussion instrument. Most choreographers don’t want the audience to hear dancers’ feet. But in Miro Magloire’s Night Music, which had its world premiere at City Center Studio 4 on February 4, the German-born choreographer made percussion the subject of his ballet. Reminiscent of Kabuki for its formalism and pregnant pauses, Night was the second of five works presented by Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet.

In Night, Madeline Deavenport, Katie Gibson and Lauren Toole become multi-instrumentalists, thanks to the black claves they grasped in their hands. Unlike the majority of works on the evening’s program, Night did not present the dancers in conventionally feminine ways. In black velvet tunics, the women engaged in abstract combat (lunging into each other’s space, circling like birds of prey). When one dancer struck her claves together, the others dropped to the floor, as though felled by the force of the sound. This was dramatic, but occurred midway through the dance. And when the performers rose from the floor as though nothing had happened, Night lost some of its edge.

The other two premieres on the program also possessed striking moments. But in the bare bones environment of Studio 4 (no lighting, no wings), the works’ choreographic weaknesses became more glaring. New Chamber Ballet (lead by Magloire) spends its funds engaging live musicians and highly trained ballet dancers rather than renting formal theaters. It’s too bad that a presenter (like Joyce Soho) hasn’t offered this small but ambitious troupe a better performing space.

In Emery LeCrone’s premiere Virtuoso, Alexandra Blacker’s wingspan and suppleness was exceptional, but her close proximity to the audience made her appear more vulnerable than wondrously superior. Then there was the choreography. Against Camille Saint-Saëns’ melodically torrential Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor—played live by Erik Carlson (violin) and Steven Becker (piano)—choreographer LeCrone failed (or chose not) to develop cascading phrases reflective of the composer’s first movement, Allegro Agitato. Consequently, the music and dance felt at odds with each other.

The last premiere on the program was Constantine Baecher’s Sketches of Woman Remembering. A dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, Baecher has contributed five works to New Chamber Ballet. His sixth ballet takes its inspiration from Vaslav Nijinsky’s Afternoon of a Faun (1912) in which a Faun’s sexual advances are rejected by three nymphs. In Sketches, three women—Alexandra Blacker, Victoria North, and Lauren Toole—dance solos of regret. It’s important to know that back in 1912 the Faun was Nijinsky, who was the non plus ultra of sexuality on the ballet stage.

Sketches begins with the barefoot dancers standing upstage like Greek columns (instead of togas the women wear pink leotards and are covered in a diaphanous fabric). One by one each walks forward. Each solo involves the manipulation of their floor-length veil. In Nijinsky’s ballet, a similarly translucent piece of fabric is stolen from the lead nymph. It becomes the surrogate for the nymph’s body. In the ballet’s scandalous finale, Nijinsky (legend has it) simulated climaxing into the scarf.

Nothing so sexual occurs in Baecher’s ballet, which is also choreographed to music by Claude Debussy. Against Preludes – Book 1, Nos. 6, 3 and 1 (as performed by Steven Becker), the fabric becomes a symbol of mourning. But dancing about a lost sexual opportunity isn’t easy to convey. The strongest moment was when Katie Gibson wrung her shroud out in time to the music’s trilling, as though attempting to wash away her regret.

All three new works have the potential to become dances worthy of seeing again, especially if they are presented with some theatrical distance and more dramatic lighting.

The other works on the two-night program were Magloire’s Klavierstück, to Karlheinz Stockhausen, and his Sculpture Garden, to George Frederick Handel’s Violin Sonatas in A Major.

 

 

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Nixon in Amber

February 4th, 2011

By James Jorden

It’s not hard to guess why Peter Gelb would choose to import a recreation of the original production of Nixon in China instead of devising a new staging from scratch. It would hardly be prudent to blow a million dollars on a six-performance run of a work unlikely to be revived any time soon, and surely the Met’s General Manager felt he should offer an olive branch to Peter Sellars after the snub of Dr. Atomic.

On the other hand, if I wanted someone sensible and kind running the Met, I wouldn’t have voted for Peter Gelb. Read the rest of this entry »

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