Dance season arrived last week with a vengeance. Suddenly there is just too much to see, too much to choose from! Here are a few of the things I’ve caught around town:
2.Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Salva Sanchis’s “A Love Supreme,” at New York Live Arts
3. The New York City Ballet fall gala, with works by Troy Schumacher, Gianna Reisen, Lauren Lovette and Justin Peck
Looks like I have some catching up to do…
Let’s recap 🙂
Since my last post (of Jan. 20), New York City Ballet has reached the midpoint of its winter season. Here are a few glimpses of what’s gone on so far.
On Jan. 22, I reviewed two mixed bills, one including Liebeslieder Walzer and Glass Pieces, the other Ballo della Regina (a not very inspiring performance), Kammermusik No. 2, And Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3. You can can read my review, for DanceTabs, here.
Then, on Jan. 27, I reviewed a wonderful all-Balanchine program: Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Sonatine (jazzily danced by Tiler Peck), a luminous Mozartiana, and a pretty good Symphony in C. The review is here.
While I was down in Sarasota, I watched rehearsals for Miro Magloire’s new ballet for Aida. It was fascinating to see him navigate the challenges of choreographing for opera: restricted space, weird footwear, fabric, tempo. I wrote about it here, for DanceTabs.
The Trisha Brown Dance Company is completing its three-year Proscenium Works Tour, after which the company will transform itself into a smaller, more nimble entity. Brown’s large pieces will likely never be performed by her company again. An important, and moment of transition for the company. Her dancers came to BAM one last time at the end of January, where they performed Set and Reset, Present Tense, and Newark (Niweweorce). My review for DanceTabs is here.
The Baroque-Burlesque company Company XIV, which created a very effective Nutcracker a few years ago, is back with a new decadent evening, a naughty version of Snow White. Decadent it is, an sumptuous to look at, but unfortunately, not tight enough to hold my interest for two hours. Here’s my review, for DanceTabs.
Gemma Bond, a dancer with ABT, produced her first full evening of works, danced by a group of her friends (all wonderful dancers). The evening was a bit of a throwback, with much loveliness all around. My review is here.
“Phrasing is a recognition of the values of talking, of thinking; it’s an evaluation, an itinerary,” says Violette Verdy, the great ballerina, coach, and storyteller. My profile of Verdy just came out in The Nation. You can read it here
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ABT has announced its fall season at the Koch. It will include:
An NYC premiere by Mark Morris and company premieres of Frederick Ashton’s Monotones I and II, Balanchine’s “Valse-Fantaisie,” and Marcelo Gomes’s “Aftereffect,” as well as revivals of Twyla Tharp’s The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Michel Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose & Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table.
Here is a link to the full press release.
There were three débuts at New York City Ballet on May 5: Zachary Catazaro in Apollo, Russell Janzen in Duo Concertant, and Lauren King in Symphony in Three Movements. There were some nerves on display, particularly in Apollo.You can read my review for DanceTabs here.
A Violette Verdy coaching at City Center from a few years back. Jenifer Ringer’s rendition of Liebeslieder with Jared Angle, which starts at 34:14, is seared into my brain from that day. So simple, and intimate, and true.
Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance is at the Koch through March 29. My review of two programs is here.
…thanks to Robert Swinston’s Compagnie CNDC—Angers. See my review for DanceTabs here.
This week, NYCB is bringing back “Harlequinade,” Balanchine’s 1965 remake of the Petipa ballet “Les Millions d’Arlequin,” with Joaquín de Luz in the title role. Like his “Nutcracker” and “Coppélia,” “Harlequinade” is a nostalgic look at another age, the cozy world of 19th century fantasy ballets. And like those other works, it’s full of children. See my review of last night’s performance here.
I sat down with Ethan Stiefel a few weeks after his return to New York from New Zealand where, for three years, he was the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet. We talked about his time there, his transition from dancer to director, his choreographic aspirations, and his plans (and non-plans) for the future. You can find the interview here, at DanceTabs.
