PhillyStage

The Wilma Theater’s premiere run of Christopher Chen’s ‘Passage’ closed earlier this month. & in the days after I wrote my review of the production, I couldn’t stop thinking about it & tinkering, not really sure I was unpacking all that was happening in the play.  While doing this, I let too much time pass to place the review on one of my regular theater outlets, but am posting it finally because it is in the final analysis this production was not only thought provoking, unexpected and brave theater that confronts profound issues of our time, even as it strips off the veil of theatrical conceits~ Lew

Passage
By Christopher Chen
The Wilma Theater
Directed by Blanka Zizka
 

 

At the Wilma Theater, director Blanka Zizka’s HotHouse ensemble of actors develop new material ala a repertory company, working on a continual basis in the studio even  between productions. The theatrical equivalent of dancers taking morning class, exchanging ideas and developing methods and skills in the allied arts.

Since its inception, Hothouse has tackled a wide range of new material that isn’t necessarily trending in regional theaters around the country. Christopher Chen’s ‘Passage’ for instance, busts through a number of conventions- including Chen instruction, for instance, that the actors not be typed by sex or ethnicity, meaning  any actor, can play any role. The characters in the play are identified only by their initials.

‘Chen’s 2014 play ‘ Caught’ was a funny, biting satire about western appropriation and exploitation of Asian Art, and a hit at InterAct.  ‘Passage’ has some inadvertent character humor, but it is a deadly serious, socio-political drama.

A ‘fantasia,’ according to Chen with glancing reference to themes in ‘E.M. Forster’s “A Passage to India” about the inescapable injustices ignited by England’s colonization of India in the 19th Century.

Chen deals with our current era of colonization, xenophobia and the politics of ‘the other.’  An ideological axis of evil, however veiled by seditious regimes vying for total control.  In dramatic lit terms, “Passage” is closer to the political theater of such works as Marc Blitzstein’s 1938  ‘The Cradle Will Rock” confronting top to bottom societal corruption (which was shut down initially by the WPA) or Larry Kramer’s AIDS polemic “The Normal Heart”-  productions with undecorated social messages delivered in theatrical confrontational ways.

The citizens of the occupied country are indeed ‘the other’ in their own land and the rulers employ micro- and macro aggressions to strip them of their humanity. Meanwhile the culture wars rage and  Chen’s characters draw ‘us’ or ‘them’ political fights that  are always one sentence away from getting ugly and personal. Sound familiar?

The pawns in this drama are only identified by letters. The play opens as Q (Justin Jain) is traveling to Country X for the first time to join his fiancée R (Ross Beschler) and along the way he befriends F (Krista Apple) on a teacher returning to the colonized country, but can’t really tell him why. Q is looking forward to joining his fiancé but nervous about adjusting to a culture he doesn’t yet know.

H (Taysha Marie Canales) and M (Keith Conallen) are colleagues and soon to be former friends. At a social gathering they get into an ‘worldview’ argument about the political landscape of Country X. The have a circular fight about protesters who are now in the streets over a teenager being thrown in jail for steeling batteries.

They are joined by B (Lindsay Smiling) the most esteemed cardiac surgeon in Country X, who wants to bridge divides at least with his peers and tries to be the diplomat to no avail.  Later, B’s  view changes when he is reprimanded at the hospital where he works for being late due to the roads being blocked because of the protests.  Then when he attacked at gunpoint, but he is the one who ends up in jail, he is a disposable 2nd class citizen. F (Krista Apple) meets him in the Temple and they are attracted to each other but events have them to distrust each other.

Meanwhile, Q and R are reunited lovers, but Q can’t ignore the social injustices he sees in the country and questions R’s acceptance of them.  R asks him coyly “Don’t tell me I have to walk on eggshells around you” and Q responds, “only if you say the right thing.” R and J (Jaylene Clark Owens) justifies the jailing of the teen with her colleague R, and they justify towing Country Y’s nationalist line.  Q sets forth into the ‘cave’ to go it alone, to begin his transformative moment in a new country and  is confronted with a monstrous entity.

Whatever appearance of stability is, the grotesque mask that obscures police state tactics already at work. And indeed the utopian scenarios by Country X fall away to get to the ultimate political end game. Chen keeps the audience on unmoored theatrical footing, as we try to connect with what is happening and unravel the implications.

B seeks refuge in the Temple and talks about a time when people were more meditative and private about their inner lives and now the inner world becomes an outer commodity- or you lose, socially, professionally, emotionally and certainly politically.
The temple and the cave, cultural touchstones are the backdrops for all the unfolding existential journeys of these amorphous characters.  The maze is ultimately unknowable metaphysical space that is in the end no sanctuary from the dystopian void. Adding to the mysteries, Sara Gliko morphs into other creatures,  a gecko and a mosquito, making pointed comments like a survivalist Greek chorus.

As simmering as all of this surreal landscape is, Zizka’s focused direction is naturalized and a balancing act of Chen’s colliding polemics, while respecting Chen’s jarring narrative structure, some scenes striking as overwritten, others  underwritten.  The cast fully committed in every moment.

Meanwhile, Phil Colucci’s sound and music design transports in tandem with Matt Saunders set is sculpted black and white spaces, with geometric floor designs for the temple and the cave labyrinth carved out with lighting.
Zizka continues to develop plays with substantive social justice themes and this is certainly one, even as it almost collapsing under its own weight. Chen seems to abandon his characters and throw a wrench into his own narrative as Sara Gliko directly addressing the audience ala a motivational speaker in an extended, and unnerving way, even inviting us to leave or stay.  I, for one, had a squirming dislike for this final scene & yes wanted to leave the theater. Other audience members who were bounding to their feet to applaud, were clearly moved by this vaporizing of the fourth wall.

A week later any bets I wasn’t the only one still think about Passage and these characters trying to survive the looming monsters of oppression from without and within.

“Passage” is a brave theatrical experiment by Chen and some of it probably should be more narratively focused,  but without doubt it is daring theater by Chen, Zizka and Hothouse players.   They are committed to new theater that isn’t, by design, meant to be easily, or safely, deciphered.  And that’s what living theater in a hostile, anti-intellectual, oppressive and politically insane time is all about.

Classical Philly

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca |Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica: Libretto

Verizon Hall, Philadelphia, May 12, 16 & 19, 2018
Jennifer Rowley (Tosca); Yusif Eyvazov (Mario): Ambrogio Maestri (Scarpia): Richard Bernstein (Angelotti); Ehtan Lee (Shepherd Boy)
Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, Joe Miller (director); Philadelphia Boys Choir Jeffrey R. Smith (director)
James Alexander (designer and stage director); Jon Weir (lighting design)

Baritone Ambrogio Maestri & Soprano Jennifer Rowley in Tosca (photo: Jessica Griffith

Philadelphia Symphonic Choir & Philadelphia Boys Choir in Tosca

Since Yannick  Nézet-Séguin became musical director of the Philadelphia Orchestra five years ago, he has tried to stage operas in Verizon Hall, by design not easy, since the orchestra is not in a pit, but onstage during performances. It works well enough with minimalist operas like “Bluebeard’s Castle” and “Electra” where the singers able to perform in front of the musicians, but more  problematic for the semi-staged production of Puccini’s Tosca, in a semi-staged production with the singers ensconced on a platform in the choir loft. Stage director David Alexander having to move the cast block the loft tiers, making the scene focus diffuse and somehow static and scrambled at once.

On the ps side the orchestra is in sight for the whole performance, a rare chance in grande opera to take in aspects of singers-conductor- orchestra dynamics. Further, Nézet-Séguin is able to vault the orchestra’s voluptuous sound, and otherwise igniting Puccini’s symphonics at the outset. Nezet-Seguin specializes in equalizing large scale classical pieces with famous stand alone passages familiar to concert hall audiences.  Tosca’s famous arias and dramatic passages are landed in context by the Philadelphians with precision and balance, relative to the entire score.

And handling the most dramatic ones, Soprano Jennifer Rowley as Tosca, and stepping in at the last minute for an ailing Sonya Yoncheva.  At the May 16  Rowley seemed detached and with little passion in Act I’s scenes with tenor Yusev Eyvazov, who played her artist lover, Mario. Since Flora Tosca is a singer herself, Rowley was a bit underpowered and detached portraying flirty jealousy. She made up for it in Act II when she tries to save him from being tortured by Baron Scarpia, starting with her ‘Vissi d’arte’ aria.

The drama begins as Cesare, bass Richard Bernstein  (making the most of his short dialogue passages) an escaped political prisoner is being hidden, in the church by a sousey Sacristan. In pursuit is Scarpia, wealthy chief of police, who suspects that Cavaradossi and Flora are withholding information.  Scarpia arrests Mario to force Tosca to talk about what she knows of Cesare whereabouts.

Baritone Ambrogio Maestri is the dastardly Scarpia, who later blackmails Tosca into being his lover.  She bends to his will as she hears Mario being tortured in his cell. Rowley and Ambrogio have great adversarial chemistry. Scarpia can certainly be portrayed with over the top villainy, but Maestri tamps that down as an actor and vocally to his characterizations, his baritone bringing subtlety and breadth.

Rowley has to be convincing leading him on until she can make a move to help Mario.  She unleashes  her soaring gold soprano, particularly commanding upper vocal range surfing over Puccini’s the orchestral crescendos. Yusev Eyvazov’s brings the house down in the famous “E lucevan le stelle” aria with thundering classic tenor drama.

Bass Kevin Burdette is used as comic relief as the Sacristan, swigging from a flask and flouncing about as he leads the choir to distracting the guards & protect Caesare.

Director James Alexander lets the Philadelphia Boys Choir scamper around the seats and rock out a bit for their sacred hymn “Te Deum.” The adult members of the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir are costumed as soldiers, police and townsfolk, but there is not much for them to do. Boy Soprano Ethan Lee appears as Shepard in Act II in perfect voice, both ethereal and earthy.

Nézet-Séguin was animated and even had a few new dramatic conductor moves to punctuate the crescendos. He looked like he was having a great time, going for every dimension of the score, despite production limitations. Among the standout soloists Jeffrey Khaner (flute), Hai- Ye Ni and Priscilla Lee, lead cellos, CJChang, viola,  David Kim, violin; Richard Woodhams, oboe and the breathtaking horn herald that launches Act III by the always masterful Jennifer Montone.

Nézet-Séguin is now conductor designate at the Metropolitan Opera and has already been putting his stamp on the Met Orchestra. Meanwhile, he is showing equal flair in the sustained clarity, detailing and character of Puccini with The Philadelphians. In fact, so assured, that even though Yannick had the score in front of him, he barely seemed to look at it.

Other issues swirled around the three performance of Tosca and the regular concert season closing concerts with piano superstar Helene Grimaud.  The performances were met with protesters objecting to the orchestra’s tour of Israel, because of current policies concerning and conflict with Palestinians.  The orchestra asserts that their tour is not political and their mission is one of musical diplomacy.  Stay tuned.

 

 

Pasión y Arte~ Flamenco vanguards

 

Elba Hevia y Vaca in My Voice, Our Voice | Mi Voz, Nuestra Voz. Intercultural Journeys and Pasión y Arte, Friday, May 18, 2018. Photo: Aidan Un.

Jeanne d’Arc Casas in My Voice, Our Voice | Mi Voz, Nuestra Voz. Intercultural Journeys and Pasión y Arte, Friday, May 18, 2018. Photo: Aidan Un.

Pasión y Arte is choreographer-dancer Elba Hevia y Vaca’s Philadelphia-based flamenco troupe with international reach in their concerts, café tablao and collaborations that continues to explore traditions and new expression in flamenco dance and music. Hevia y Vaca’s collective has a feminist sensibility that in fact has always been an integral aspect of the art form.

Past and present came stunning together in Pasion y Arte’s concert last weekend titled My Voice, Our Voice | Mi Voz, Nuestra Voz a co-presentation with Intercultural Journeys presented at the majestic basilica at the Episcopal Church in West Philly May 18-19. The program quotes a poem by Virginia Woolf’ as the thematic key “The history of most women is/Hidden either by silence, or by/flourishes and ornaments that amount to silence.”

The concert explored traditional flamenco forms and flamenco fusion in collaborations with improvisational choreographer Annie Wilson, next to more traditional and free-form flamenco choreographed by Hevia y Vaca in collaboration with dancers Sarah Candela and Jeanne d’Arc Casas.

The musicians performing a fusion of contemporary classical music led by German composer-guitarist Andreas Arnold who specializes in flamenco guitar from Andalucia, Juilliard trained percussionist Jeremy Smith and virtuoso cellist and percussionist Adam Maalouf. Maalouf also switched from strings to percussive instruments, including a Pan-tam a flying saucer looking instrument just invented in year 2000 and one that Maalouf has clearly mastered. Venezuelan opera singer Barbara Martinez, also a virtuoso flamenco singer.

Among the many performance highlights at the May 19 performance~

‘Compas –solea por bulerias’ a percussive a capella duet with dancers Sarah Candela and Jeanne d’Arc Casas. They use ‘compas’ (hand clapping) to establish the rhythms as they dance  solos and unison patterns. They also move in close to the audience, establishing an intimate synergy with the audience.

Next was the first musical interlude by the band, an altogether transporting composition ‘Odisea’ the first of Arnold’s original music in the concert. Followed by ‘Bulerias’ a fiery solo by Candela, which she dances and also sings. Candela conveys a more improvisational, almost conversational artistry with less theatrical phrases, her personality expressive and non-intense, even as she polishes off phrases with classic flamenco moves.

Singer Barbara Martinez enters in a stunning champagne flamenco dress with cascades of fringe ala the jazz age, and starts to sing and dance. Pasion generally uses male cantors with the husky (affila) vocals. Martinez at the other end of the vocal spectrum, with a golden center soprano, both earthy and ethereal, so expressive and sublime with these musicians.

‘Manton’ showcases Elba Hevia y Vaca and Annie Wilson’s fusion choreography. The beautiful embroidered silk shawl with long fringe, the manton, is symbolic of many things in flamenco. Wilson has an iridescent white one that she is curled up under as Hevia y Vaca enters, peering  mysteriously  over a black and red floral one.  This is a modern duet in bare feet and they free dance around each other.  They lock eyes and Hevia y Vaca’s strikes a flamenco pose, she drapes her manton over Wilson’s and it becomes a hand puppet dancing to the wending guitar and percussion lines.

‘Bata de Cola’ is the ruffled train of a flamenco dress, and Wilson unceremoniously comes onstage and climbs a red dress flamenco one as Elba enters in a maroon cola. They pull the ruffles up and their face and bodies are swallowed in, protection, symbolic of power, sexuality and dignity, it frames their inviolate dignity even as they crash down and scrub the floor with the train, then lay on it as if it were a field of flowers, then curl in it as if in a cocoon.

Costume designer Patricia Claire Dominquez use of traditional (and stunning) flamenco dance dresses, with contrasting contemporary unadorned dance togs, is inspired. In the after talk with the audience, Hevia y Vaca speaks of women having to hide themselves in clothes for society’s approval.

‘Tangos de Granada’ with Martinez singing dancing with lyrical upper body expression and flamenco hand choreo (florea) and her soaring vocals.  She is joined by Candela in a flirty lyrical dance with a silk fan, sweeping over the floor in elegant, fiery patterns and splitting atoms with her footwork. D’ Arc Casas enters in a stunning red and blue dress with a voluptuous cola she whips around her body during forceful turns and she kicks up defiantly. Candela also performed a thrilling segment with a pink Manton she flared around her body like a matador cape. Their choreography movements becomes more intricate and their interplay with the musicians simply spellbinding.

The musicians and dancers form a circle for their bows and  with a joyous free dance, each taking an exit solo, included Jeremy Smith flashing a few body percussion moves.

A co-presentation with Intercultural Journeys, a performing arts organization whose mission is to bring together diverse artists and audiences. Pasion y Arte’s concert was the finale of their current season, with the ironic theme “Borders and Boundaries.”  Of course, the point being both those world realities are vaporized by these stellar artists through the universal languages of music and dance.

For information about upcoming performances and events check their websites-

http://www.pasionyarteflamenco.org  &  http://www.interculturaljourneys.org

BalletMetros~extra

Premier soloist James Ihde bids farewell with ‘Diamonds’

May 13 on the Academy stage ~ Lillian DiPiazza & James Ihde in Diamonds photo: Arian Molina Soca

Red roses sailed over the Academy of Music stage on May 13 landing at the feet of Pennsylvania Ballet soloist James Ides, retiring from the company after 25 seasons, a favorite with audiences and three generations of PABallet dance artists. Ihde’s career with the company is almost unparalleled & he is has continued to dance in top form in his final seasons.  His swansong dance is indeed one of the most demanding roles for a danseur, the male lead in George Balanchine’s ‘Diamonds.’  It was suggested to Ihde by PAB artistic director Angel Corella and in his final performance James would partner prima ballerina Lillian Di Piazza.

Back to those roses in a moment, but first, there the matinee performance of Balanchine’s trilogy “Jewels”~  ‘Emeralds’, ‘Rubies’ and ‘Diamonds’~  representing a range of neoclassical choreography.   The dramatic glittery backdrops and sumptuous costumes by Karinska elicited applause and wows as the curtain went up on each one.  Much credit goes to Balanchine Trust repetiteur Elyse Borne’s for her technical precision and distinct musicality she brings to each ballet in this revival.

‘Emeralds’ is scored to music by Gabriel Fauré and is one of Balanchine’s most decorative ballets, and at its best as it was in this performance, a haunted mystique.  Karinska’s costumes have the mens in velvet emerald doublets and the women in pale green tulle ballet skirts.

Both lead couples, Yuka Iseda-Jermel Johnson and So Yung Shin- Jack Thomas,  captivating in their technical artistry.  The featured trio also proved a dazzling mise-en-scene for corps dancers Alexandra Heier, Emily Davis and Ashton Roxander.  Affron brought forth all of the lyrical mystique of Faure, and among the sterling soloists principal violinist Luigi Mazzocchi, harpist Mindy Cutcher, oboist Nick Masterson & cellist Jeannie Lorenzo.

‘Rubies’ is Balanchine is another defining collaboration with composer Igor Stravinsky and an undisputed masterpiece.  The propulsive drive of Stravinsky’s ‘Concerto for Piano and Orchestra’ inspiring Balanchine to break out of his own signatures and conventions. ‘Rubies’ choreo in a completely different choreographic key for Balanchine, so different from the austerity of his most famous modernist ballets. It’s witty and wry choreography that leaves room for liberated interpretation by the dancers. And lead couple Ian Hussey and Oksana Maslova revel in its propulsive virtuosity as a most fiery balletic romp. Balanchine’s angling the choreography in counterpoint to the Stravinsky dominant piano solos. played with breathtaking command by PAB pianist Martha Koenemann.

And the third lead, a breakthrough role for PB apprentice Sydney Dolan. Commanding technical artistry and star power. Five men are in position to move her around in arabesque variations, a dancer version of the ‘facets’ to a ruby’s inner ‘fire.’  And really that concept extended, in this performance to the corps women,  who throughout with sharp ensemble pointe & (counter)pointe work.

James Ihde about to launch his final performance (photo: Arian Molina Soca)

Then it was all about ‘Diamonds.’ The anticipation for James Ihde entrance was building during the extended corps de ballet scene that opens Balanchine’s ‘Diamonds’ his glittering distillation of  Imperial Ballet classicalism set to the sonic waves of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1.  when they finally exit and then the burst of applause as Ihde and partner Lillian DiPiazza make their entrance,   Di Piazza and Ihde have radiant chemistry together from the start.  Ihde had a few tentative moments and completely pitched out of grand pirouettes, but, powered through, with incredible authority and artistry.

His jete circle nicely paced. DiPiazza’s steely pointe work and subtle expressiveness make this an indelible partnering. The full corps de ballet executing the crucial unison ensemble work without looking mechanical. And this was another opportunity for Corella to showcase what has been developing all season, a more uniform strength in the mens corps.

The curtain coming down on the full company ensemble grande processionale by Balanchine and DiPiazza and Ihde the glittering center. And then it was all over, the applause building as the curtain came back up on Ihde alone on the Academy stage for several moments that were, indeed, like an intimate, a once in a lifetime moment with an old friend…

James Ihde final bow

photos: Beverly Wexler

 

…As the current roster of PABallet dancers came onstage with roses & heartfelt embraces. Many of James’ former dance colleagues were there to bid him farewell including  legendary founder of Pennsylvania Ballet Barbara Weisberger, who was a protégé of Balanchine dating back to the 30s when she was the youngest dance student in his class.

A most memorable moment as Conductor Beatrice Jona Affron came onstage to take a bow with Ihde. Affron has been conducting  PABallet Orchestra since the early 90s, in fact, as long as James’ tenure.  And without doubt, this performance of Tchaikovsky, Faure and Stravinsky has to be among the finest programs this orchestra has ever played.

PABallet founder Barbara Weisberger & James Ihde (courtesy PAB)

Artistic director Angel Corella presented Ihde with a bouquet and champagne as confetti and more roses sailed out from the orchestra pit during the 20 minutes of lusty applause for a great contemporary danseur, an indelible dancer in this and many another ballet season to remember.

A PABallet dancer for all seasons

Pennsylvania Ballet soloist James Ihde is retiring after 25 years, a rare achievement in itself, but rarer still, the fact that he is dancing taking his final bows in top form, co-starring with PAB principal dancer Lillian Di Piazza in George Balanchine’s ‘Jewels’ at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia this weekend.

Soloist James Ihde & PABallet maestro Beatrice Jona Affron (photo: Arian Molina Soca)

Originally from Kent, Ohio, in the early 90s, Ihde was a student at the company’s school, during a particularly rocky time for the financially strapped company. The artistic director Christopher D’Amboise was stepping down and Roy Kaiser, longtime principal with the company was named interim director and both D’Amboise and Kaiser wanted Ihde in the company. Ihde became a corps de ballet member in 1993 and flourished during Kaiser’s tenure and has been a soloist for 15 years.

Ihde has danced a wide variety of lead roles over the years is widely admired by colleagues and audiences for his artistry, warmth and down to earth personality. Earlier this week, not resting on any laurel, Ihde was in PAB studios, for his regular rigorous regimen of rehearsals and morning class and talked about his long talked tenure with the company.

(photo: Alexander Iziliaev)

He noted that he first thought about retiring five years ago, “I felt that something was happening then, that was telling me ‘it’ was shutting down,” he explained “My back had been bothering me,” he explained “and I thought maybe ‘it’ was shutting down.” But Ihde worked through it, dancer warrior that he was used to being, “eventually I got my full mobility back,” he recalled, “then I got a 3rd or 4th career wind and these amazing roles swung my way and I was dancing in some of my favorites.”

Ihde adds, “I had the opportunity to do them better actually, then I would have in the past,” he said “I appreciated them more. When Roy Kaiser stepped down in 2014 and former American Ballet Theater star Angel Corella became artistic director, there was a large turnover of dancers and Ihde knew there was a possibility that his contract wouldn’t be renewed. But the parts kept coming Ihde way for what would be his final seasons, with Corella programming many of the most innovative and in-demand international choreographers. Through it all Ihde’s technique and artistic imprimatur was well suited to neoclassicism and contemporary ballet fusion.

James Ihde & Martha Chamberlain (photo: Alexander Iziliaev)

Ihde has always been modest about his artistic skills “I didn’t have the goods to be a purely classical dancer, in the sense of getting those featured parts. I don’t have a lot of bravura technique or tricks I could pull out. I was suited to have more opportunities in neo classical and contemporary dance, I felt I had a better niche.”

A short list of Ihde’s most notable roles over his long career include Lar Lubovitch’s” Waiting for the Sunrise,” Balanchine’s “Agon” and “The Four Temperaments, Jerome Robbins’” In G Major” William Forsythe’s “Artifact Suite,” Jiří Kylián’s” Forgotten Land,” Christopher Wheeldon’s “Liturgy” and “After the Rain” and title roles Balanchine’s “Apollo” and Ben Stevenson’s “Dracula.” Ihde’s brilliant interpretation of two solos in Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments.”

And now as a career finale, a part that, Ihde has always dreamed of. “I was envious over the years not having danced “Diamonds” pas de deux. When Angel presented that, when we talked about this being my last year, I felt grateful. And I immediately thought it would be an amazing thing to get to retire with. I didn’t go into it with any expectation. But I wanted it to be memorable.”

The role is pristine Balanchine, requiring lyrical technique with the lead couple dancing throughout and capping it off with a central 10-minute pas de deux, which will highlight what so many PABallet fans will remember about Ihde, his dynamic partnering.

“It’s a little more classical approach than most of Balanchine’s ballets. And of course, it’s so great dancing with Lillian Di Piazza. Ihde is known for his partnering strength and onstage chemistry with such luminous former and current prima ballerinas. Ihde remembered his first partnership on a regular basis was ballerina Meredith Reffner “we always had a great time in rehearsals and on stage.” Ihde recalled some challenging partnerships but said that he always learned “the positive effect” because “you always had to figure out how to make it work.”

Ihde is known for his strong partnering with such luminous PABallet principals as Gabriella Yudenich, he recalled “Gabby always really went for it onstage and I loved that.” And with Lauren Fadeley Veyette, dancing in ‘After the Rain’ and ‘In G Major’ and the Forsythe ballets with her. She was so generous, always patient and the we always worked things out together.”

They are some of Ihde’s best memories as a dancer, but “I wasn’t a natural at it,” he admits, “Quite the opposite. I wasn’t a disaster, “he laughs “but I had to learn partnering every step of the way. Even down to this performance. I do feel very confident in my partnering, but I still being coached, taught and shown things.”

The soloist has been onstage a lot in his final season, including last month appearing for the 23rd time in the dancer’s annual Shut Up & Dance concert benefit performance for MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance) raising extra funds by letting an audience member rip his shirt off.

Ihde’s short term plans are uncertain. He plans to teach and enjoy a break from the studio regimen for a while, but nothing is definite right now. For now, as he prepares for his final challenge, he can even look back with a measure of pride.

“Almost any dancer, if they have any self-awareness. see their limitations and what they didn’t do in equal, if not greater amounts,” he intimates, “But I have gotten a different perspective lately, that I’ve been here a long time and got to do so much, and feel I’ve made a contribution to the company.” Ihde said.