Duke Performances : A Month in Review (Part 4)

Tags

Dancing, Duke performances, Gregory Hines, Marshall Davis Jr., Sammy David Jr., Savion Glover, Tap, tap dancing

Savion Glover / January 23, 2013, 8 PM / Page Auditorium                                    Image from Duke Performances (No copyright infringement intended)

On January 23^rd, Savion Glover’s SoLe Sanctuary performance had its Page Auditorium audience abuzz before the show even started. And that’s not surprising.

As one of few living tap masters, Glover has been featured on television in shows ranging from Seasame Street to Dancing with the Stars. Glover has performed all over the world since his career began around 1985, and he is certainly no stranger to North Carolina audiences. SoLe Sanctuary brought the Duke audience something new; this show focused more on the physical practice of tap than on the form’s often performative nature, inviting the audience into a moving meditation.

In this work, Glover paid respect to his craft and to those who came before him. At Duke, Glover and his colleague, Marshall Davis Jr. tapped on a raised stage; above them hung photos of Sammy Davis, Jr., Gregory Hines and other legendary tappers, creating a living altar of sorts. Behind the raised stage, performer Kietaro Hosokawa meditated, heightening the widespread sense of calm onstage.

Glover began the performance with clasped hands and a downward gaze, dropping his heels and toes alternately and traveling in a circular pattern. As the hoofer picked up speed, those same small foot movements created a ripple effect through his lower legs and up through his knees. It was here that the audience first encountered Glover’s uncanny ability to maintain a sense of calm in his upper body while outputting a flurry of sound down below. And it was in those moments that audience members may have begun to wonder just how many beats per minute this tap master could muscle.

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But no one was speedy enough to keep stats. When the bass dropped, Glover quickened his tapping, introducing scraping sounds and syncopation into his footwork with crisp precision. Glover’s meditative beats kept the audience hushed, especially when he began to tap one foot so fast that it seemed superhuman.

Auditory accompaniment during this part of the show layered heavenly “Ahh” sounds beneath a deep voice. Metered musings poured out of speakers in honey-like tones, warm and smooth with signature slowness. Glover kept the beat as the voice explained, “Tapping is like the rhythm of words…words overlap and repeat.” And for Glover, tapping is an extension of the soul.

This dancer’s ability to variate his volume and tone were undeniable as he performed both complicated combinations and basic beats, both solo and in unison with dancer Marshall Davis Jr. Throughout the evening, the two men played off of one another in a multitude of ways – one minute challenging each other in a dance battle of sorts and the next minute dancing in perfect unison. It was clear from his visible smile that Glover began to enjoy himself more thoroughly when joined by his colleague.

Savion Glover / Photo from Duke Performances (No copyright infringement intended)

In this section, more showy material such as turns and wings elicited cheers from the crowd. There were also many solo moments, with a strong utilization of the sagittal plane of movement (upstage to downstage and vice versa) and a downward-facing V shape in the arms. As time progressed, the dancers began sweating through their clothing, creating a visual cue that this performance was a serious test of physical endurance…and of mental endurance, too.

SoLe Sanctuary, which was billed as 80 minutes with no intermission, stretched to 120 consecutive minutes. Though the audience certainly enjoyed watching the show, its visual appeal lagged more than once in what can perhaps be interpreted as improvisation gone overboard. Ultimately, though, the men made up for their long-windedness with their charisma and technical prowess.

At the evening’s end, the two men appeared to be in a Zen-like state. As audience members rose to their feet, the men embraced, bowed once and left the stage. I want to note here that Glover’s performance etiquette – both during and following the show – speak to his humility. As someone who watches a lot of live performances, I appreciate that Glover does not need extensive bows to confirm his excellence or success. Instead of presenting a show to members of his audience, Glover shares it with them. That alone truly makes a difference.

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Have you seen Savion Glover perform? What was your experience like? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Meow Meow – Beyond Glamour

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Audience Participation, Beyond Glamour, Burlesque, Dance Criticism, Dancing, Durham Arts Council, Meow Meow, PSI Theatre, Singing

February 13, 2013, 8:15 PM / PSI Theatre in the Durham Arts Council

Imagine watching a live performance and feeling like your mere presence annoys the performer. Imagine feeling like the show itself is a huge inconvenience, and that the performer can’t wait for it to end. Then imagine being blown away by that very same performance, and you’ll have an idea of what it is like to watch Burlesque artist Meow Meow do her thing.

I had the pleasure of viewing Meow Meow’s evening-length show, Beyond Glamour, on February 13^th at the Durham Arts Council’s PSI Theatre. And the pleasure was certainly mine, not hers…or so she made it seem.

At the top of the show, Meow Meow hurried in the door, smoking two cigarettes and dragging luggage behind her. She explained that she had had “a bit of a shitty afternoon,” after being dumped by her boyfriend and held up at the airport. Because her dancing boys were absent, Meow Meow had audience members carry her props to the stage while others hastily removed her layers of pleather and glittering garb. And with that shot-out-of-a-cannon style entrance, Meow Meow set the stage for a raucous, unpredictable evening.

From Meowmeowrevolution.com. No copyright infringement intended.

Meow Meow spent the night letting the audience know how the show would have played out if it were in its top form. The captivating performer often gave lighting cues, requesting ‘political lighting’ for dramatic moments and blackouts when she felt humiliated; she also noted choreographic changes…may of which substituted less impressive moves for showy leaps and splits.

But no one in the audience was complaining.

Meow Meow’s performance quality was beyond seasoned; she spat out sarcastic remarks and crooned with perfect deliberation, all under the guise that she was having an “off” night.  From the singer’s ear-piercing shrieks to her haunting whispers, she had the audience members eating out of the palms of her hands – which was great, because she often asked them to get onstage.

Choice audience members found themselves helping Meow Meow undress, sharing her wine and performing onstage as her backup dancers. Meow Meow also occasionally requested that members of the audience translate her song lyrics, which ranged from French love songs to more ‘political texts’ in German or Italian.  And, in a heart-melting moment, Meow Meow slowed down to sing Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees.”

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Meow Meow’s command of multiple languages – her ability not only to speak them, but to imbue each one with genuine emotion – gave Beyond Glamour universal appeal; regardless of an audience member’s native tongue, Meow Meow can speak to him or her. And beyond her glamour and her well-tuned vocals, it is that ability to touch hearts that gives Meow Meow so much allure.

Meow Meow’s Beyond Glamour was a joy to watch, and I left wishing so badly that it had a surprise second half. You can rest assured, though, that Meow Meow let everyone in the audience know that she was contracted for only 70 minutes. And that was all we got.

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Have you seen Meow Meow, or any other burlesque performer, in a live show? What was your experience like? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Duke Performances: A Month in Review (Part 2)

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acrobatics, dance, Dance Criticism, Diavolo Dance Theater, Duke University, Fearful Symmetries, gymnastics, Leandro Damasco, Trajectoire

Diavolo Dance Theater - Trajectoire     (Continued from Part 1) 

Chisa Yamaguchi, Diavolo Dance Theater’s Education Director, addressed the audience before curtain-up on Trajectoire, explaining that the work was choreographed in 1999, and Nathan Wang’s original musical score was not heard until opening night. Yamaguchi noted that this work would be more ethereal and visceral than Fearful Symmetries, and also that it is a company favorite to perform.

Trajectoire began tranquilly; the curtains opened to reveal a large boat in a half moon shape, and the silhouettes of two outstretched dancers in the ship’s underbelly. These performers, still unseen and mirroring one another, were then joined by dancers in front of the ship, for brief, athletic solos. And that’s when the spectacle began.

Diavolo’s female dancers effortlessly mounted the ship and formed a line down the center of its wooden deck. Weight distribution on the half-moon became uneven as the dancers treaded their legs to create a steady rocking motion. The women then became an extension of the boat, falling, rolling, flipping and leaning in a constant exploration of their shifting senses of gravity.

Male company members took the spotlight back with solos in front of the boat that highlighted their individual strengths. For example, dancer Ezra Masse-Mahar’s ballet background was evident in his lofty jumps and elongated lines, while dancer Leandro Damasco Jr.’s quick floorwork and fluidity suggested a familiarity with the funk techniques known as Popping and Waving.

From http://www.villagelife.com. No copyright infringement intended.

More awe-inspiring moments followed these solos as the boat’s rocking became more intense. In one moment, dancers hung parallel to the ground, supported by the boat’s railings. Later, female dancers took death-defying swan dives off of the boat’s crests, sailing into the arms of their trusted colleagues. These literal leaps of faith inspired waves of discussion and audible gasps in the audience, and they set the tone for the standing ovation that was soon to follow the show.

In another Russian Roulette-style section of choreography, dancers tempted fate as they played below the rocking ship. An obstructed audience viewpoint in these moments made it appear as if the dancers below the ship might be crushed at any second, and also as if dancers appeared atop the ship out of nowhere.

From Diavolo.org

After a bit more vigorous choreographic play, the dancers in Trajectoire reached the end of their visceral explorations. Onstage energy calmed as a single dancer soloed atop the boat and her comrades disappeared inside it. Trajectoire’s final scene featured this woman, after a jump-heavy, fighting-against-the-odds style solo, sliding down the boat, reaching for a light that illuminated her from above.

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It should be noted that this work’s ending was markedly similar to the ending of Fearful Symmetries, so to put the two works on a program next to one another was a questionable choice, in that respect. Overall, though, I was impressed by the physical prowess of the Diavolo Dance Theater company members, and by the way that their work has developed over time. This was my third time seeing the company – I saw Fearful Symmetries in an earlier, shorter iteration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Krannert Center for the Performing Arts – and I found that Fearful Symmetries had much more substance upon this more recent viewing. Trajectoire was performed just as I remembered it, and it was refreshing to revisit the work. Diavolo Dance Theatre is never dull, that is for certain!

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Have you seen Diavolo perform lately or ever? What is your favorite work in their repertory? If you haven’t seen Diavolo perform, have you seen Cirque du Soleil or another acrobatic company? What kind of death-defying feats have you witnessed onstage?

Leave me a comment and let me know!

Duke Performances: A Month in Review (Part 1)

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acrobatics, dance, Dance Criticism, Diavolo Dance Theater, Duke University, Fearful Symmetries, gymnastics

Duke University was the place to look for masterful performance art this January and February. Tap master Savion Glover’s rapid rhythmic stylings and Diavolo Dance Theater’s death-defying feats were almost superhuman in their evening-length shows; burlesque artist Meow Meow’s vocal range and quick wit left audience members equally awed and entertained during her three-day Broken Heart Cabaret, Beyond Glamour.

I’ll be posting about these three performances over the next week or so, highlighting one performance or piece at a time. The posts may be a bit out-of-order chronologically, so bear with me! I am starting today with Diavolo Dance Theater’s work Fearful Symmetries, as performed at the company’s February 8^th performance. Soon to follow will be a post about Diavolo’s Trajectoire.

Diavolo Dance Theater / February 8, 2013 / Reynolds Industries Theater
Artistic Director Jacques Heim and Executive Director Matt Wells

In Diavolo Dance Theater’s Fearful Symmetries, ten company members used Tetris piece-like structures to continually reshape their onstage performance space. In doing so, the dancers challenged themselves to redefine the ways in which they interacted with gravity. Dressed in industrial work garb, these performers crawled in, out, around, under and on top of the cubic pieces, always with a strong sense of theatricality.

The music in this work began as industrial sounds; machines scraped and oscillated, periodically emitting a hisses of steam. Horns, woodwinds and percussion instruments were introduced as the dancers’ choreography became more active, and it appeared that each note had a correspondingly punctuated movement*.

*The audience later learned from Diavolo Educational Director Chisa Yamaguchi that Fearful Symmetries was the second part of a three-part installment commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. The music by John Adams, she said, came before the choreography in this work, which was a creative shift for the company. This explains the dancers’ heightened sense of musicality throughout the piece.

The piecemeal box structure continually altered the onstage atmosphere, which, with the dancers’ choreography, created moving imagery as different as the Star Wars trash compactor scene and the classic Mary Poppins “Step in Time” chimney sweep choreography.

A dancer dives off of a dissembled box in Diavolo’s “Fearful Symmetries.” No copyright infringement intended.

As partially illustrated above, dancers performed headstands and balances on top of the blocky shapes, and flipped off of them just seconds later. Fearful Symmetries’ choreography also utilized the shapes’ ability to obstruct audience perspective; dancers created unique images by highlighting only specific limbs while their torsos were concealed behind the blocks.

As the work progressed, animalistic male choreography amped up testosterone levels onstage; at one point men pounded aggressively on fragments of the block (which were, at that time, arranged to look like desks) and executed wave-like arm gestures in a ripple pattern.  After pursuing a single woman with wolf whistles, the men each found their own female counterpart. Makeout moments between couples ensued here, but these romantic connections didn’t feel particularly genuine. It was here that I found myself asking – What is this work really about?

The program notes suggested that in Fearful Symmetries, the cube evoked the beginning of time, and that it held the answers to questions like, “Where do I come from?” and “Where am I going?” While the cube was most certainly an abstract figure in the choreography, I can’t say that my perception of it was quite so lofty.

I preferred to think of the dancers’ interactions with the block as a theatrical comment about problem-solving. At first glance, a problem can seem very large and may be daunting to approach, much like the cube at the start of Fearful Symmetries. But with the help and support of one’s community, that same problem can be reshaped and managed in a multitude of ways – just like the cube.

Fearful Symmetries ended with the image of a woman seated on the shoulders of her cohorts, peering through a telescope at an overhead light. The idea of this dancer, who was quite literally looking forward toward a positive future, satisfied both the artistic director’s interpretation of the work, and my own.

Which interpretation  makes more sense to you? Leave me a comment and let me know!

 

“A Rite” – Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company

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Bill T. Jones, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Carolina Performing Arts, dance criticsm, Modern dance, music, SITI Company, Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, theatre

Just a short time ago, Bill T. Jones and Anne Bogart were approached by UNC Executive Director for the Arts Emil Kang to create commissioned works for Carolina Performing Arts’ ‘12-‘13 season. Bogart, who directs SITI Company, and Jones, who directs Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, fused their like-minded companies for this exploration of the 1912 ballet “The Rite of Spring”. Their collaboration, “A Rite,” which premiered at UNC Chapel-Hill’s Memorial Hall on January 26^th, educated the audience about the history of “The Rite of Spring” while exploring themes of war, hope and scientific progress.

Anne Bogart. Photo Credit: Craig Schwartz . No copyright infringement intended.

Bill T. Jones. Photo credit: Stephanie Berger.

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At the premiere, Dactors (Dancer/Actors) opened with what were perhaps their “Dances of Death” – choreographic phrases built under the notion that, if repeated long enough, they would result in death. This section was vigorous and featured strong, angular movement vocabulary. Jumps with flexed legs and feet and angular arms with jutting elbows hearkened to the 1912 ballet’s original choreography – its non-traditional use of flexed feet and turned-in knees and feet in particular. Dactors’ movements synched at several moments in a “thinker” pose of sorts; in a demi-squat, the performers quaked their knees and stared off into the same corner, one arm folded across the chest and the other in a fist clenched below the chin.

“Thinker pose.” Photo Credit: Carolina Performing Arts.

Following this dance segment, actor Will Bond delivered a monologue, introducing a structural back-and-forth between dance and theatre segments that continued throughout the show. A clear sufferer from PTSD, Bond’s character spoke with difficulty about his time in WWI and flinched when touched by other performers; his monologues evolved over the course of the performance from a mostly coherent investigation of patriotism, honor and sacrifice to an aggressive repetition of the phrase “Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat,” with a mimed machine gun in hand. At his breaking point, Bond’s character ‘killed’ the other dactors, stating, “It’s not my fault…They never told me that when you kill, you kill yourself,” reflecting the deep-seated remorse and bitterness that can develop post-war. Onstage performers supported Bond’s storyline throughout, building war-like images of soldiers marching early on, and later creating the image of soldiers fallen from battle.

Other spoken word in this performance referenced Jonah Lehrer’s Proust Was a Neuroscientist, a text that the SITI Company began working with in their 2008 piece, “Who Do You Think You Are.”  Dactor Stephen Duff Webber’s character utilized this text to question space and time, in one moment asking why time progresses only forward as his fellow performers appeared to rewind their previously executed choreography.

“A Rite.” Photo credit: Carolina Performing Arts.

Another unique character in this work was the teacher, a character created to honor UNC’s Eugene Falk Distinguished Professor of Music, Severine Neff. Neff initially proposed that Carolina Performing Arts celebrate the centennial of “The Rite of Spring,” and her character, played by SITI Company’s Ellen Lauren, wove “A Rite” together through instruction-based monologues that often introduced or explained choreography. A monologue about the use of circles in the musical score, for example, drew attention to the female dancers’ flared skirts and the circular floor patterns and arm gestures in the accompanying choreography. Lauren’s lessons also explained the riotous audience response to the 1912 ballet, the structural composition of Stravinsky’s music, and some of the creative process behind Jones’ and Bogart’s collaboration.

Ellen Lauren as Professor Severine Neff. Photo Credit: Carolina Performing Arts.

In perhaps the lowest point in the evening, dactors sat on stools lining the front of the stage, speaking to Lauren in a Q & A style interview. Lauren inquired about the performers’ knowledge of the audience and about why they chose to perform, and in response, the dactors engaged in shouting matches, disputing their conflicting opinions with heightened voices and combative body language. In this moment, just like at the 1912 ballet, people responded to the performance in a riotous fashion – but did this lesson really need to be spoon-fed to the audience in such a literal way?

I found this section compositionally grating because it didn’t feel genuine; the dactors lost their senses of cool without any real emotional buildup, and some integrated curse words into their responses in a way that felt gimmick-y. It is one thing to drop an F-bomb out of sheer anger and passion, and it is another thing to curse because that it implies anger and passion. Bogart and Jones know the difference between the two, so this oversight in the performance was disappointing.

“A Rite.” Photo credit: Carolina Performing Arts.

Another chaotic section, this time more expertly executed, followed another of Lauren’s lessons earlier in the show. In an explanation of musical structure, Lauren explained that in score of “The Rite of Spring”, the chords are vertical and the linear element is free. “This,” Lauren continued, “invokes the vision of the artist being set free in the chords.”  The dactors took their cue, developing big, joyous facial expressions and leaning back on their stools as Lauren continued to speak. The music dropped during more comedic parts of her monologue, letting the audience hear things like, “People like that, the whole Occupy Wall Street thing,” and “Don’t forget, this piece is all about sex.” Meanwhile, the performers became increasingly maniacal-looking and began crawling downstage, mouths agape, eyes bugged and crying from their overwhelming happiness. And here, Jones and Bogart made a comment about the public’s interpretation of artistic freedom without explicitly stating it.

Overall, “A Rite” succeeded in teaching about a significant moment in music and dance history, while also challenging the audience to consider its present-day implications. Bogart and Jones blurred the lines of theatre, dance and music to create a production that was as visually pleasing as it was intellectually stimulating. As the curtain dropped, I found myself hungry for more, my mind humming with new energy – and I think that says it all.

Click here to listen to Janet Wong (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company Associate Artistic Director) and Anne Bogart talk a bit about their collaboration, and to learn more about CPA’s The Rite of Spring at 100 season.

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Have you seen “A Rite” or any other version of “The Rite of Spring”? How was your experience alike or different? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

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“A Rite” – Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company

Conceived, directed and choreographed by Anne Bogart, Bill T. Jones and Janet Wong in collaboration with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company

UNC Memorial Hall – Chapel Hill, NC

January 26, 2013

Three performances – Three valuable takeaways

Tags

Carolina Performing Arts, dance, Dance Criticism, Meredith Monk, music, National Theatre of Scotland, performing arts, Silk Road Ensemble, theater, Top of the Hill Bar, vocal exploration, Yo-Yo Ma

In the interest of personal growth, I stepped outside of my comfort zone as a critic on three recent occasions. On September 16, 2012, I attended The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, a National Theatre Of Scotland production performed in Chapel Hill’s Top of the Hill bar; in late September I attended an evening of music by Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble at UNC’s Memorial Hall; and on November 2^nd, I viewed Meredith Monk’s multidisciplinary work Education of the Girlchild Revisited at Duke’s Reynolds Industries Theater.

Each of these productions showcased a unique directorial vision that I have not previously experienced as a viewer, and each left a lasting impression. Here’s what I took away from each company:

The National Theatre of Scotland: Audience engagement is everything.

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart told a theatrical story of self-discovery through spoken word, choreography and live music. The performance took place in the back room of a bar – an intimate performance space with no separation between the stage and audience seating. Actors utilized the room’s nuances, delivering a combination of poetry and prose from atop covered tabletops, tall chairs and bar counters. Company members also used their bodies to build what props they lacked; a car made of human bodies with flashlights as headlights was a standout in this category.

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Actors prompted audience participation many times throughout the evening with requests that ranged from audience chants, cheers and songs to impromptu prop construction. Luckily, no hardhats were necessary; before curtain up, actor David McKay shook hands with seated audience members, instructing them to tear napkins to create “snow”.

By taking such an inclusive approach with their audience members, the members of the National Theatre of Scotland ensured that their performance would command attention from the start. To learn more about The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart click here.

Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble: Learning occurs through different senses.

At their UNC performance, Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble performed four musical selections: John Zorn’s Suite from Book of Angels (2004), Colin Jacobsen’s Atashgah (2010), Vijay Iyer’s Playlist for an Extreme Occasion (2010) and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s Sacred Signs: Concerto for 13 Musicians. Though the ensemble’s cohesiveness and technical strength were jaw-dropping, it wasn’t just the group’s musical prowess that captivated the audience.

Silk Road Ensemble in performance / Photo Credit: Jennifer Taylor

Artist Hillary Leben created moving visuals to accompany the live performance of Sacred Signs: Concerto for 13. These graphics were based on The Rite of Spring’s original ballet scenery and evoked dance imagery from the 1912 production.  By giving the music historical context, Leben contributed an additional storytelling method and introduced a new way for audience members to process the musical composition.

On a more visceral level, compositional dynamic and character could be interpreted from the faces and body language of the ensemble members. Watching the Silk Road Ensemble felt like being invited to tight-knit family jam session, where both the laughter and the mutual respect flowed freely between participants. The musicians communicated with one another and the audience through the tension – or ease – in their bodies and faces, an element that spoke to how well this group works together both personally and professionally.

Silk Road Ensemble / Photo Credit: Max Wittaker

To learn more about The Silk Road Ensemble, check out their website. 

Meredith Monk Ensemble – Open-mindedness is key.

Meredith Monk’s Education of the Girlchild Revisited featured a solo from Monk’s 1972 work in Part I, and Part II, Shards, featured music, images and movement from the Girlchild period, 1969-1972. The latter section introduced three women – an androgynous dancer and two tall blonde vocalists – to Monk’s formerly solo act.

Performers explored a free spectrum of sound and movement, as well as the passing of time, both within the piece and during human life.  In Part I, Monk regressed from an old woman into a child of sorts, in a slow-paced 45-minute solo. Monk’s choreography included upward glances, rotations of the body, and ticking in the spine and fingers; vocalizations ranged from sung English words to high-pitched animal noises. See what I mean in the clip below.

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In Part II, Monk continued her kinesthetic and vocal explorations with performers Katie Geissinger, Ellen Fisher and Allison Sniffin. Live keyboards onstage dictated the performers’ progression from Stage Right to Stage Left, and also defined the passing of time for audience members. In its more lively segments, this section featured galloping, skipping and snake-like trains of movement; in slower moments, performers surrounded keyboards singing bizarre harmonies.

Based on the audience’s fidgety behavior throughout the night and the sparse, hesitant standing ovation at the end of the show, it was clear that Monk’s exploration of minimalism was difficult for many audience members to endure. Post-show, I found myself asking what the performance meant and how I could learn from it, two questions that turned my critical eye inward.

The Meredith Monk Ensemble reminded me that as an audience member, I must approach all work with the same level of patience and open-mindedness. One of the best things about art is that it challenges what its audience finds familiar, and though I didn’t love this work, it certainly made a lasting, valuable impression on me.

To learn more about Monk’s work, click here.

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Have you seen a performance recently that expanded your horizons? I’d love to hear about it! Leave me a comment below.

So You Think You Can Dance 2012 Tour

Tags

2012 Tour, Amelia Lowe, Chehon Wespi-Tschopp, Cole Horibe, Cyrus Spencer, dance, Dance Criticism, Durham Performing Arts Center, Eliana Girard, George Lawrence II, Lindsay Arnold, Matthew Kazmierczak., Season 9, So You Think You Can Dance, SYTYCD, Tiffany Maher, Will Thomas, Witney Carson

Over the course of its nine seasons on-air, Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance has brought high quality dance into the homes of millions. The show features a group of 20 dancers who compete in a variety of dance styles with the hope of being crowned “America’s Favorite Dancer” at season’s end. In the meantime, SYTYCD viewers learn about new dance styles and about how choreographic malleability is the name of the game in the commercial world of dance.

As of season two, the show’s Top 10 (now 12) dancers follow the run of the show with a tour, bringing America’s Favorite routines – and some surprises, too – to theatres and arenas nationwide. This year’s tour featured Season Nine winners Eliana Girard and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp, Audrey Case, Cole Horibe, Cyrus Spencer, George Lawrence II, Lindsay Arnold, Tiffany Maher, Will Thomas, Witney Carson, Amelia Lowe and Matthew Kazmierczak.

Eliana Girard

The Tour

North Carolina’s SYTYCD fans packed the Durham Performing Arts Center on Sunday, December 3^rd, giving the performers frenetic energy for their 28th of 30 performances. The evening’s lineup featured more than 30 duets and group numbers, in addition to a solo from each dancer. While most of the routines were familiar to TV fans, some numbers involved casting swaps and a lessened or increased number of dancers onstage.

Because its content’s widespread familiarity, the SYTYCD Tour presents a rare opportunity to its viewers – the chance to experience a live dance performance like they would a rock concert. In other words, when an audience member enters a theatre already knowing the performers’ repertoire, he or she can more actively respond to – and critique – the show.

That being said, I would LOVE to hear the perspectives of anyone who attended a performance on the SYTYCD 2012 Tour. Please leave me your thoughts in the comment section below!

And now, of course, my personal critique.  I’ll limit myself to just a few important notes below.:

1. Eliana Girard and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp deserved their titles.

Eliana’s articulate hands, feet and facial expressions, and her never-ending extensions made it difficult to watch anyone but her in group numbers. And let’s not forget to mention her pole dancing skills or her ability to get down in a hip-hop number. Okay, Eliana. We see you…and we’re dumbfounded.

Chehon wasn’t an early favorite of mine this season – I was rooting for Cole to win Top Male Dancer – but what Chehon lacked in stylistic novelty he made up for in technique and performance quality. You might remember Chehon’s final solo during Vegas week (below at 2:30-3:40). Those leaps are every bit as impressive in person!

2. Amelia Lowe and Witney Carson made an impact.

I spent much of Season nine thinking that Amelia Lowe was riding on the coattails of her unique image, but it is worth noting that she is a fierce performer. She and Will performed one of my favorite numbers of the evening, “The Lovecats” by The Cure, choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D’Umo. (below)

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I loved Witney from the beginning of the season and she did not disappoint onstage. I had forgotten about Witney’s duet with SYTYCD Season One winner Nick Lazzarini (maybe due to a lack of chemistry), but I am glad that the tour brought it back, revamped. On tour, Witney performed this Travis Wall number, set to Molomo’s “Sing It Back” with George, and the pair had tangible heat between them.

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3. Lindsay Arnold missed the Hot Tamale Train.

From her lack of energy in group numbers and duets to her uninspired, poorly executed solo (she fell out of a pirouette), Lindsay Arnold’s performance lagged throughout the evening. Though Arnold’s “Gravity” duet with Cole was performed with abandon on television, the dancer played it safe onstage. Arnold’s emotional trauma and clarity of movement were lost as she performed what seemed like a marked version of the routine seen below:

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Arnold’s better moments came in a ballroom trio set to Jennifer Lopez’s “Dance Again,” and in a Paso Doble with Cole set to “Unstoppable” by E.S. Posthumus and choreographed by Jason Gilkison (below).

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4. “I Will Always Love You” stunned the audience.

In a theatre where the energy buzzed all night, a duet set to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” brought the evening’s first moment of silence. Performed by Witney and Chehon, this number highlighted Ms. Houston’s haunting voice with choreography by Stacey Tookey. I can honestly say that, like Christina Applegate in the video below, I also found myself ready to cry at the end of this performance.

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What was your SYTYCD Tour experience like? Please leave me a comment below!

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So You Think You Can Dance Season 9 Tour

Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham, NC

Sunday, December 2, 2012

A brief history of: The Nutcracker

Tags

Ballet, Christmas, dance, Lev Ivanov, Mariinsky Ballet, Marius Petipa, New York City Ballet, Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker

With the winter holidays rapidly approaching, audiences across the United States are enjoying local and touring productions of The Nutcracker. Though Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” was an immediate success after its 1892 concert debut, the complete ballet did not gain popularity until after George Balanchine’s 1954 staging for the New York City Ballet.

So what happened in the meantime? And how was The Nutcracker initially created?

In 1890, fresh off the success of The Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose a new double-bill program for the Imperial Theatres. This program was to feature an opera – Iolanta – and a ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa, Ballet Master at the Imperial Ballet and Tchaikovsky’s former collaborator on The Sleeping Beauty.

A page from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”

Petipa sourced Alexandre Dumas père’s “The Tale of the Nutcracker,” – an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” – for the ballet’s libretto, or storyline. Petipa simplified the story’s plot for the ballet, specifically excising a flashback story entitled “The Tale of the Hard Nut”; The Nutcracker ballet now tells the story of a child who receives a magical nutcracker for Christmas and falls into a majestic dreamworld filled with toys and treats.

The Nutcracker’s choreographic composition shifted early on when Petipa unexpectedly became ill. Russian dancer/choreographer Lev Ivanov was called in to finish Petipa’s work, and though historically Ivanov is said to have choreographed the entirety of The Nutcracker’s 1892 premiere, it was still Petipa’s name that was listed as the choreographer on promotional posters in St. Petersburg.

The Nutcracker premiered in St. Petersburg’s Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on December 18, 1892 on a double bill with Tchaikovsky’s opera, Iolanta. While dancers and choreography received mixed reviews, Tchaikovsky’s score was an instant hit.

Since then:

Variations on The Nutcracker’s original choreography have taken many forms since the work’s original premiere. Adults have been cast as Clara and the Nutcracker Prince in several instances, which suggests more of a romantic central love story; Alexander Gorsky’s 1919 production and Vasili Vainonen’s 1934 version were examples of this choreographic choice.

The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo brought an abridged version of The Nutcracker to New York City in 1940. Annual performances in England began in 1952. In 1954, the New York City Ballet gave the first of many annual performances of The Nutcracker with George Balanchine’s staging. And the rest is history.

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Above is a duet from George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker as staged on the New York City Ballet. Video Credit: Dance On.

The Nutcracker Onscreen:

For those who cannot see a production of The Nutcracker on a local stage, the production is being broadcast this holiday season on through a variety of networks.

December 3rd: Fathom Events is broadcasting Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in movie theaters nationwide, including some showings in 3-D. This recorded version of The Nutcracker features the Mariinsky Theatre’s Alina Somova as Clara and Vladimir Shklyarov as the Nutcracker. For more information about this nationwide event, click here.

Sundays, November 25th-December 25th: The Ovation channel is broadcasting a performance of The Nutcracker at every Sunday this month in “Battle of the Nutcrackers”. This show pits five premier international dance companies against one another in the ultimate Nutcracker showdown. This year’s featured companies are the Royal Opera House (Nov. 25), the Bolshoi Ballet (Dec. 2), the Mariinsky Ballet, the Berlin State Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker!. 

For more information (and some Nutcracker performance clips), click here. 

Parsons Dance Review

Tags

Ballet, Christina Ilisije, contemporary, dance, David Parsons, Ebben, Elena D’Amario, Eric Bourne, Ian Spring, Jason MacDonald, Jazz, Lauren Garson, Melissa Ullom, NC State, Parsons Dance, Salsa, Steven Vaughn, Swing Shift, Zoe Keating

As evidenced by the positive audience response at Parsons Dance’s NC State concert, David Parsons, artistic director, is a master of crafting choreography with mass appeal. By choosing a single theme for each piece, Parsons ensures that his work is easily understood by all audience members. He then creates seemingly endless movement variations on those same themes, which ensures the engagement of newbies and dance-savvy viewers alike.

Take circles, for example.

Round My World / Photo credit: Krista Bonura

In the aptly titled, Round My World (2012), Parsons dancers explored circular movement in many forms. This episodic sextet was structured primarily in duets and group choreography. With the exception of a near collision between two women early in the work, dancers slipped around and among one another with natural grace. In one memorable section women spiraled around their male partners like the stripes on barbershop poles, building a string of circles in the horizontal plane.

Zoe Keating’s varied cello stylings dictated equally varied movement characteristics for each section of Round My World. As Keating introduced lower, pluckier notes in her music, Parsons’ choreography became more grounded. Over time dancers transitioned from joyful, balletic movement vocabulary to punchy rhythmic footwork and winding pelvic circles.  With extreme confidence and sensuality, the dancers also popped their chests forward and rolled their heads, sending hair flying in a circular shape. This Latin dance section illustrated that the placement of a circle in the body can strongly dictate how it is interpreted in a culture.

Perhaps the best thing about this work was a choreographic choice that I typically dislike – circular (A-B-A) structure. Parsons ended each episode with the image of a circle, and, notably, maintained the image’s novelty each time it appeared. By varying the circular design – dancers linking hands in a circle, lifted women with rounded port de bras, et cetera – and by building each image suddenly on the stage, Parsons gave his composition a sense of wholeness. And, given the work’s theme, we can only assume that he planned it that way.

See a video of this work sandwiched inbetween Caught and A Stray’s Lullaby below:

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Ebben (2009) showcased dancer Melissa Ullom’s physical prowess and emotional depth. Set to the famous aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”(Well then? I’ll go far away) from the opera La Wally, Parsons’ choreography channeled the strength of opera’s heroic title character. Ullom began the dance with a slow, circular stalk around the Ken doll-esque Eric Bourne, who stood, unmoving, facing upstage. With a percussive musical shift, Ullom’s initial series of extended single-leg balances became more mobile, evolving into turns and held arabesques on tiptoe.

A portrait of tumultuous romantic love, this work climaxed with a confrontation between Ullom and the then-animated Bourne; in this scene, Bourne menacingly stared at Ullom from overhead as she laid on the floor, pelvis pushed up in sexual strain. A smart choice on Parsons’s behalf, Ullom conveyed her anguish more through bodily tension than facial expressions; the work could have easily become overdramatic had he chosen the reverse.

Below is a video of this piece, performed by two women in NYC’s Bryant Park (2010). Ebben is a snippet from “Remember Me”, a full-length dance-theater work and rock-dance opera choreographed by David Parsons. Learn more about it here.

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But Kind of Blue proved that Parsons choreographs facials well, too.

Originally commissioned by Italy’s Umbra Jazz Festival to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the birth of Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (2001) paid tribute to the artist’s best-selling album of all time (1959’s Kind of Blue). Set to Davis’s “So What”, two couples in blue and red invited us into a world where the dancing was cool and the jazz was hot. Downstage solos and duets featured flexed feet, finger snaps, wrist circles and shoulder isolations. Upstage, dancers crossed like passersby on a dark city street, stopping occasionally to watch their fellow performers. This pedestrian element introduced a level of voyeurism, but not in a creepy way; interactions between dancers stayed friendly during this work, even in moments of competition. Dancers’ playful facial expressions atop upbeat choreography made this work  a joy to watch. Davis would have been proud.

Watch some video excerpts below:

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A portrait of the working class, A Stray’s Lullaby (2012) featured four dancers in dingy garb, dimly lit and gently stirring to the sounds of a bustling city street. After a group section of slow, low-to-the-ground turns, planks and pounces, dancer Christina Ilisije broke away from the group for a solo that was ugly by design. Ilisije abstracted contorted, angular body positions with flexed feet and staccato rhythms. In one repeated string of choreography, Ilisije pulled herself forward like a broken doll, contracting one foot and thigh to inch her seated body forward. Yoga poses like Wheel, Fish and Candlestand made abrupt appearances in Ilisije’s choreography, but the dancer never took a calming breath.

Jason MacDonald’s aggression took on a different character in the solo that followed. Set the gruff twang of Kenji Bunch’s voice, MacDonald delivered jousts and agitated full-body quakes with the ferocity of a man fighting for his life. As time progressed, MacDonald’s movements became increasingly animalistic, which was best-illustrated by his choreography’s final moments. Lit from the front like an animal caught in the headlight of a moving car, MacDonald defensively sprang forward on all fours, his silhouette growing large behind him. After a pregnant pause, MacDonald retreated, his solo bleeding into a romantic duet by Melissa D’Amario and Ian Spring that was tense both physically and emotionally. In a return to circular structure, this work ended as it began…but this time, with more hope. Out of the dim collective banded together by hardships, D’Amario emerged, reaching upward toward a light as the stage grew dark.

And the breathtaking solo choreography didn’t stop there.

See: Spotlight on “Caught” by Parsons Dance

The evening came to a close with Swing Shift (2003), an upbeat octet with playful movement vocabulary. Costumed in red wine velvet and beige nylon, dancers partnered with one another in swinging lifts, long extensions and circular hopping patterns. Parsons’s choreography took significant influence from Kenji Bunch’s accompanying musical tracks, which featured primarily string melodies and driving piano beats. In a distressing solo by Melissa Ullom, for example, whispered words and praying gestures existed among a musically metered series of angular poses.

Swing Shift / Photo credit: Yi-Chun Wu

In a notable program change, Swing Shift introduced Parsons apprentice Lauren Garson as an unbilled eighth dancer. Though she was enthusiastic and well-trained, Garson appeared to be slightly under-rehearsed. After an obvious collision with Ullom during a sideways traveling step early in the piece, Garson stood out again in later unison choreography as she danced just slightly out of synch with her comrades. Despite these minor performance flubs, Swing Shift gave audience members something to smile about at the program’s close.

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Parsons Dance

Artistic Director: David Parsons

Friday, October 12, 2012

Presented by NCSU Center Stage

Stewart Theatre, Raleigh, NC

http://www.parsonsdance.org/

Spotlight on: “Caught” by Parsons Dance

Tags

choreography, David Parsons, Modern dance, NC State, Parsons Dance, Strobe light

Below is an excerpt from a larger review I am writing about Parsons Dance. I thought that this work deserved some special attention! :

In Caught, an electrifying composition set to Robert Fripp’s “Let The Power Fall,” dancing dynamo Steven Vaughn performed countless leaps in swift succession, only to be caught at the height of each jump by the flash of a strobe light. With this lighting effect, Parsons created the illusion that Vaughn was running and turning midair, suspended indefinitely by some outside force. Vaughn’s freezes ranged from split-legged leaps to C-shaped sideward trajectories, and occasionally the image of Vaughn’s arm ticking toward the ground like the hand of a clock.

Press photo for “Caught” / Photo by Angelo Redaelli

But Vaughn wasn’t always in motion; after especially physically challenging sections, he was spotlighted centerstage, standing still and sporting a sly smile. These well-timed moments might have suggested that Vaughn had been still along, if only his heaving chest would have cooperated.

Below is a video clip of David Parsons himself performing this incredible work. Though the choreography has changed a bit (For example, the dancer stands in stillness instead of returning to the slow, six-step circle), this video is a great demonstration of what it is like to view Caught live.

Caught was a visual masterpiece that, to be honest, left me dumbfounded. The dancer’s incredible physical strength and specificity, paired with the  choreographer’s intricate lighting design and choreography make this work one to celebrate.

Did I mention that this work was originally performed in 1982? How’s that for choreographic innovation?