Picture huge pieces of cardboard, dancers outfitted in Elizabethan collars, ski masks, squeaky sneakers, shirts and pants with floral, stripes or geometrical prints on a bare stage lit only by hanging rows of flickering neon lights—this was William Forsythe’s Sider at BAM October 9-12. It’s never only bodies moving in space for Forsythe, so Sider is another one of Forsythe’s layered masterpieces. It begins with three dancers and three pieces of cardboard that would become their partner, a kind of covering or sometimes a message board. At first the message board reads: “In disarray,” but later, “she is to them as they are to you” and even later, “is and isn’t.” Add to that the gibberish, or “language” from some of the dancers that we “understand” because of the purposeful intonations; we kinda get that there is a story. Add to that, malleable bodies whizzing through movement phrases with precision, like chess pieces in a wild game. They balanced the refrigerator-sized cardboard on their hips, hugged it, used it as a visual guide, made it into a house, hid under it and managed to make an apartment for just two. All the while, the neon lights would flicker on and off intermittingly, and other sounds powered the air like bombs falling from a plane. Adding even more, near the end, by way of the dancers, the cardboard pieces make their way to the audience and a dancer ends up in the first row. They stay for a while, build a fort then make their way back to the stage. To finish, holding the cardboards lengthwise in uneven rows, all 19 dancers begin to drum out rhythms like a drum-core until one by one they exit. Forsythe then takes us back to the beginning—three dancers and three boards are on stage. If this wasn’t enough, the dancers wore earphones throughout because they too were prompted with layers and layers of directives; rhythms of 16th-century Elizabethan tragedy unheard by the audience. The live – “public score” was by Thom Willems.
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New York City Ballet’s medley of George Balanchine’s works, “Black and White,” Sunday, October 12 with The Four Temperaments (1946), Episodes (1959), Duo Concertant (1972) and Symphony in Three Movements (1972) was a delight. True to form, each work offered precious memories of Balanchine at his neo-classical best. There was the hip thrusting, flexed wrists and a taste of the Lindy Hop in The Four Temperaments; the off-centered, harlequinesque shapes and flung leaps in Episodes; the coy, light and lively characters in Duo Concertant, and the playful precision of moving large groups as one in Symphony in Three Movements screamed timeless excellence. Sara Mearns, indeed a technician, commanded the stage with effortless artistry in Episodes. The season is over, but the winter season runs January 21-March 2. Lar Lubovitch Dance Company The Joyce Theater October 8–20 The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company celebrates its 45th anniversary with two premieres, Vez (working title), a reimagining of Fandango (1989), with a newly commissioned score by Randall Woolf plus selections from the company’s extensive repertoire. All programs will feature live music. Find out more – www.joyce.org. David Dorfman Dance BAM Harvey Theater October 16—19 David Dorfman Dance returns to BAM with the premiere of Come, and Back Again, an evening-length that explores love, vulnerability and mortality. Come, and Back Again features five dancers—including Dorfman—and five musicians playing music by Atlanta-based band Smoke. Find out more www.bam.org Miguel Gutierrez Abrons Arts Center, Underground Theater October 16-19 Gutierrez’s myendlesslove is “…not quite a solo performance about sex, desire and objectification that incorporates movement, video and music. It is about love, sex and desire…” notes the choreographer. Find out more www.abronsartscenter.org Charlotte Vincent’s Peak Performances October 17-20 British choreographer Charlotte Vincent’s Motherland (U.S. premiere) “…dismantles the dream that modern women can have it all. Applying equal doses of humor, emotion, and intellect expressed through an integration of live music, movement, spoken word and song,” notes the press release. Find out more www.peakperfs.org. INTERMEZZO Dance Company 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center October 18-20 The new ballet company, INTERMEZZO Dance Company, founded by American Ballet Theatre soloist Craig Salstein, announces its debut season with world premiere ballets to live music by The Wyrick Quartet led by Eric Wyrick, concertmaster of the New Jersey Symphony. Find out more www.intermezzodancecompany.org. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Oct 19 - 20 De Keersmaeker and her Belgium-based company Rosas return to BAM with the premiere of two works, En Atendant & Cesena. The works are said to be “Grounded in the 14th-century polyphonic vocal style known as ars subtilior,” and will be performed live. “In En Atendant, De Keersmaeker explores the transition from twilight into night, as eight bodies cluster, disperse, and reconnect…” “In Cesena, a new day dawns as 19 dancers, dressed casually in sneakers, inscribe their movements on a circle of sand. With references to the bubonic plague and a bloody medieval massacre by papal legate in the northern Italian city of Cesena,” notes the press release. Find out more www.bam.org. JOYCE Dance Talks
DANY Studios 305 W 38th Street MODAY, October 14 FREE Houston Ballet: An American Treasure The Houston Ballet is one of the best ballet companies in America that New York dance audiences rarely see. Artistic Director and choreographer Stanton Welch is bringing 24 dancers and a program representing the range of the company’s repertory for their 2nd season at the Joyce Theater. This richly video-illustrated Dance Talk, presented by dance historian Linda Szmyd Monich, will focus on the ballets being performed: Mark Morris’s Pacific, an ensemble work to Lou Harrison’s live performance of Trio for Violin, Cello & Piano; Ben Stevenson’s Twilight, a pas de deux to Rachmaninoff’s Elegie, Op. 3 #1; Hans Van Manen’s Solo, a virtuosic work for three male dancers to Bach’s Suite for Violin in D minor; and Stanton Welch’s Play for 16 dancers to the techno music of Moby. Monich explores the company’s vision and the qualities of its magnificent dancers. Think African Goddess. Think Venus Hottentot. Think fierce. Think elegantly fierce. Now, lock eyes with Nora! New York/Zimbabwe dancer/choreographer, Nora Chipaumire premiered part one of rite riot, on FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival at FIAF’s Le Skyroom, October 3 -5. Chipaumire wanted to be a part of the centenary celebration of the ballet that’s happen in the world of dance. There is no large cast, no large orchestra and certainly no large set. However, there is Chipaumire, a DJ (Philip White – composition and sound design), and a vertical box made of wood and Plexiglas with openings on two sides (Peter Born – Scenic Design). The audience sat around the box, the skylight covered part of the ceiling, and voyeuristically we peer into Chipaumire’s process. On display in a black shirt covered with shiny safety pins, a skirt, black boots, sparkly makeup and bright lipstick, she soon stripped, purposefully slow, into red panties, neon green bra and is barefooted. She asks,”… is this a female/woman’s manifesto…am I caged. We wonder, is she confined, do we see her as an object of fasciation? The lights cast mesmerizing silhouettes on the walls and on the skylight and she is everywhere. Pose. Pose. Pause. Smile. Lift a fist. Circle her hips. Shapes evolve slowly at first, covering all four corners. She lifts one heel, her torso softens as she folds forward, her head visible only through legs. Balance. Rise. Stare. Eventually her movements grow, pick up speed, her breath is harsh now, it’s heavy, she stomps, she shakes her butt, her makeup is smeared, she sweats a lot, Public Enemy blares, juxtaposed against a few of those famous first chords by Stravinsky. Sacrifice? Purposefully slow, she re-dresses, putting on the black jacket, shirt, skirt and boots. And to funky West African music she dances until she is done. Black out. Chipaumire flips the Stavinsky/Nijinsky canon, she is, as she says, the chosen one and we look on as the villagers. Do we see her as “…an angry black woman; African woman?” Is there rage, a riot? She demands that we think about this. See my interview with Chipaumire here - http://www.charmainewarren.com/1/previous/2.html BAM presented Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company’s A Rite, conceived, directed, and choreographed by Bogart, Jones and Janet Wong in collaboration with the performers, October 3-5. Yes, this work is obliquely inspired by the 100 year-old ballet, The Rite of Spring, performed in 1913 by The Ballet Russes under Sergei Diaghilev, with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. But, that’s not what this work was about. The music was the raison d'etre. To begin, out of nowhere, across the back wall, the dancers and actors appear, and it’s the music that makes them move. However, we do not hear Stravinsky’s first whispery chords, instead it’s the more complex second section, and it is loud. They move fast. Held at the elbow, hands are planted on jaws, while bent knees flap in and out. Switch. A tape recorder softly plays more of the score. Switch. A single voice hums chords far off stage. Switch. A piano crosses the stage and the first chords are played. Switch. An actress details the history of Stravinsky, the music, and directs the cast in a voice lesson seated on stools, she asks, “What is it about that particular night?” Someone responds, “People said that event one hundred years ago was all bad; they blamed it on the dancers.” On this night, there was no riot; instead there was inquiry. A Rite considers the idea of conflict. They mention “occupy Wall Street,” for example, and there was the lone soldier who questioned the memory of battle while his arms, as a machine gun, fires off—rat, tat, tat, tat, tat. They move fast again. Go. In clumps, they rush the stage. One body spills out, they catch it—freeze. Go again. They harmonize the first chords again. Go again. Switch. True to form, Jones and the collaborators include a memorable section of Stravinsky by way of big band jazz and blended with dances of the time—minstrelsy —indeed! To end, three openings – tall boxes for entrance and exits appear. Some themes return, some are new (Black power fist raised high, arms as machine guns, the soldier dances with the girl in red; the chosen one), then—rat, tat, tat, tat, tat…bodies fall, and the soldier walk among the bodies. When they eventually rise they hum the chords, leave the space, and alone, the soldier runs back and forth along back wall between strips of hanging material. When A Rite ends, we appreciate the confluence of ideas realized by each artist. See my interview with the collaborators here- http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2013/sep/26/riteinspired-music/. Lar Lubovitch Dance Company The Joyce Theater October 8–20 The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company celebrates its 45th anniversary withtwo premieres, Vez (working title), a reimagining of Fandango (1989), with a newly commissioned score by Randall Woolf plus selections from the company’s extensive repertoire. All programs will feature live music. Find out more – www.joyce.org. DANCENOW Festival Joe’s Pub October 9–12 Encore Performance - October 19 DANCENOW returns to New York City’s “best tiny stage,” Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater with forty artists/companies including: binbinFactory/Satoshi Haga & Rie Fukuzawa, Mark Dendy, Jennifer Edwards/JenEd Productions, Heidi Latsky Dance, BIGMANARTS/Lawrence Goldhuber, Harlem Dance Club, WKcollective, 10 Hairy Legs, Steeledance, Pengelly: Projects and much more. Find out more - www.joespub.com Talk:DanceMotion USAsm with members of Doug Varone and Dancers and Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company BAM Fisher (Fishman Space, 321 Ashland Pl) Oct 10–12 Oct 11, post-show, moderated by Deborah Jowitt Oct 12. Find out more – www.bam.org Fred Ho’s Sweet Science Suite featuring the Green Monster Big Band BAM Oct 11 - 12 The Sweet Science Suite: A Scientific Soul Music Honoring of Muhammad Ali includes choreography by Emmanuel Brown who combines hip-hop and martial arts elements in this musical homage to Muhammad Ali. Find out more – www.bam.org VON USSAR danceworks The Ailey Citigroup Theater October 11-13 VON USSAR danceworks presents the 7th Annual Dance Gallery Festival featuring original works from emerging and established choreographers nationally and internationally including: Erin Cardinal (Florida), David Justin (Texas), Dante Brown (New York), Philippe Dury (France), Tori Duhaime (Colorado), Alenka Cizmesija (New York), Jamal Jackson Dance Company (New York), Alia Kache (New York), BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance (New York) and many more. Find out more - www.dancegalleryfestival.com. Blink Your Eyes Harlem Stage October 12 Blink Your Eyes rounds out our citywide homage to Sekou Sundiata with Days of Art & Ideas - two days of reflection, discussion, and performance that culminate with WeDaPeoples Cabaret - a raucous night of socially engaged poetry, music and dance, as well as mixing, mingling and dancing. See choreographers/activists Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Liz Lerman and Urban Bush Women on October 12. Find out more - www.harlemstage.org Dance Theatre Etcetera Presents Dance on the Greenway IKEA Brooklyn - Erie Basin Park October 12 Dance Theatre Etcetera’s 2nd annual Dance on the Greenway, a festival of site-specific dance offers two shows at 1 PM and 4 PM featuring Rashaun Mitchell, Shannon Hummel, Suzanne Beahrs, Kandice Ross and Solomon Goodwin. There is so much more. Find out more - www.dtetc.org Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance Company premiered the commissioned work, Fold Here (September 26-29) as part of Peak Performances at Montclair State University. The box, mostly a cardboard box, projections and the cast of 9 dancers are what we see, and what helps to shape the story (if that’s what we are apt to get from the evening). Added to this environment is the impetus for getting to this point—the show—Raymond Carver’s story about guiding the eyes of a blind man to help him “see.” A stack of boxes are piled high stage right and two solid structures where the projections are shown is upstage right, across part of the back wall. Soon the dancers people the space. They are dressed in fabulously, colorful and funky variations of shorts, dresses, shirts and other “everyday” wear. They are beautiful. They take on the Miller’s vocabulary with ease. Uniquely, their malleable bodies run, create tableaus, make contact, manipulate each other’s body parts, topple, offer text here and there (and they are good at it), manipulate and dance with the boxes, plus they are just funny. Francesca Romo holds our attention in the subtle way she melds dance with humor. And, especially beautiful was the dance/theatre duo with Caroline Fermin and Dan Walczak where all the collaborative points (the dance, the set and the projections) gelled as one. The collaborators are: dancers (Franmcesca Romo, Eric Berey, Fermin, Allysen Hooks, Matthew Perez, Daniel Staaf, Emily Terndrup, Austin Tyson and Walczak); set concept designer (Jon Bausor); projection and video designer (Tal Rosner); lighting designer (Robert Wierzel); costumes designer (Jenny Lai); music and sound designer (Andrzej (Andrew) Przybytkowski; associate lighting designer (Amith A. Chandrashaker); and dramaturg (Alejandro Rodriguez).
My Amsterdam News October 2013 Dance Calendar: http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2013/oct/03/october-2013-dance-calendar/ Please read my article written for JW Marriot's luxury hotels - jwm - "Visions of Sugarplums" - http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mcmurry/jwm_2013fall/index.php#/50 |
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AuthorI am a performer, historian, consultant and dance writer. I am a Empire State College's online program Center for Distance Learning. I am also a former faculty member at The Ailey School and the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University dance major program, Hunter College, Sarah Lawrence College (Guest), Kean University and The Joffrey Ballet School's Jazz and Contemporary Trainee Program. I write on dance for The Amsterdam News, Dance Magazine and various publications. Click below to read more about me at my home page - "About Me." |