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Mark Morris Dance Group

Pepperland

Penn Live Arts-Annenberg Center

Philadelphia,

May 6-8, 2022

http://www.pennlivearts.org

Pepper land dress rehearsal and press night. Images by Gareth Jones

~Pepperland cast May 2022

Karlie Budge, Domingo Estrada, Jr., Lesley Garrison, Sarah Haarmann, Courtney Lopes, Aaron Loux,
Taína Lyons, Matthew McLaughlin, Dallas McMurray, Brandon Randolph, Nicole Sabella, Christina Sahaida,
Billy Smith, Noah Vinson, Malik Q. Williams

I’d Love to Turn You On…

 Choreographer Mark Morris’ dance animation of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, with a half a dozen of its songs with re-imagined by composer-pianist Ethan Iverson, with some original orchestral interludes conjuring the fantasia of Pepperland.

Sgt. Pepper was lushly produced by George Martin with symphonic fusion, introduced the pop charts to edgy ‘concept’ album and made the Beatles bigger rockstars than they already were. Morris debuted his dance production in Liverpool in 2017 to commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of the album’s release.

If Penny Lane was McCartney’s pop music confection, A Day in the Life was a chilling view of mundane British life, with themes of self-destruction and the allure of drugs and sex and a line that became lore about McCartney rumored death. That symphonic fade at the end of the album is the note that starts Morris’ freewheeling ode to the album and the era.

The dancers momentarily pose as the stars on the album cover from- Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, Sonny Liston, Albert Einstein, et. al. – Costumes by Elizabeth Kurtzman the dancers all dressed in vivid pinks, purple, yellow, green suits, and mod era skirts go with the choreographic flow.

Morris is expected to be unexpected and Pepperland’s cast of 14 dancers’ possess radiant esprit and infectious energy that win us over even through some static sections, for all around funsies. Except for a few audience members who bolted after a few numbers on this rainy night in Philadelphia, this audience loved it.

Morris’ builds a vibrant dance canvas of petit jetes and flattened out pas de bourrée (which echo Nijinsky’s Faun tableau-choreo) and sections peppered with flashes of 60s dances including the frug, pony and boogaloo and even a breakout Charleston rag.

Ringo’s hit ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ (wonderfully sung by Clinton Curtis) leads into the mise-en-scenes depicting ‘the Lonely Hearts Club’ singles hookups of a bygone era, and in the age of Tinder/Grindr apps, Morris choreographs straight and same-sex couples’ dances. Charmingly intimate, but a bit choreographically anemic in their combined effect. It seemed like a missed opportunity for either passion or comedy. Or better yet both.

Musically and choreographically, ‘Within You and Without You’ George Harrison’s rock meditation is truly inspired, with Morris’ lacing in classical Indian dance phrases and interfaith universality of cosmic connections. Groovy would be the word.

With the reprise of Sgt. Pepper at the end, is busted open musically with a Bourbon St. trombone lead by Sam Newsome, soprano sax, Ryan Keberle, trombone and Vinnie Sperrazza, percussion turns into a Bourbon St. parade, with the dancers linked and lurching over the stage like soused zombies.

‘Penny Lane‘ was slated for Sgt. Pepper but was actually released as single and was, as flimsy as it was, a hit. Pianist Iverson turns a few bars from Penny Lane into a Bachesque allegro lead in, then Curtis belts out the song’s quaint descriptive lyrics about the ‘Pretty nurses are selling poppies/though she feels she is in a play/she is anyway/A barber shaves another customer/when the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain/ very strange. Morris makes this droll lyrical narrative into a simpleton panto(dance)mime of said action.

In contrast, the simplicity of kick line Morris concocts for ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ is truly inspired, as Iverson scrambles the beat and dancers are warped out of count signatures- (explained in the program-(the between 6 & 4 is 5. under the music-hall scuffle). and despite that extra piece of the puzzle, this is Morris at his most inventive and for the dancers, a whole article could be written about their quicksilver precision. It is Morris at his best, a warm and witty dance dervish par excellence.

The startling ‘A Day in a Life’ the most compelling track musically, with its haunting lead vocal by Lennon, is the finale of Pepperland. In the 60s, guitarist jazz great Wes Montgomery turned it into a smoldering jazz jam and Iverson builds it into an elegiac anthem of a mythical cultural era.

His somber piano melody  in duet with Rob Schwimmer’s theremin’s time-bending effects that lead into the Clinton Curtis’ vocal and then the dancers singing its ethereal chorale, indeed, was such a….. contact high….. circa ’67…8…9. I cried.

PhillyDanse

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BALLET, BalletOrchestra, ClassicalDance, dancers, musicians, PhiladelphiaBallet, Tchaikovsky

Corps de Ballet | photo: Alexander Iziliaev

Send in the Swans

Philadelphia Ballet

Swan Lake

Academy of Music

March 3-13

www.philadelphiaballet.org

Speaking to a near sold-out audience at the Academy of Music on March 3, Philadelphia Ballet artistic director Angel Corella invoked prayers for Ukraine before presenting his production of Swan Lake. Indeed, it was hard not to think of the dire situation in Ukraine as the curtain went up on the most famous Russian ballet in the world.

It was initially a flop with Russian audiences at its premiere 125 years ago, composer  Peter Illich Tchaikovsky died before he knew of its enduring success that still attracts audiences the world over. It carries the artistic lineage of Imperial  ballet classicism created by Imperial Ballet innovator Alexander Pushkin and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

The folkloric story ballet of Prince Siegfried falling in love with the Princess Odette who is turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer.

At Philadelphia Ballet,  he continues to dust off the classical repertory, and adapts for contemporary audiences, from the many productions of Swan Lake he performed at the height of his career as principal danseur at American Ballet Theatre.

The lavish production look terrific in Philly’s historic Academy of Music. Vivid period costumes by Benjamin Tyrell, from the Swan’s jeweled embroidery to the Prince’s doublets and steely crossbow.

In this revival, Corella has condensed the four acts into two, and from the start he animates the background action in the court scenes celebrating the Prince’s 21 birthday. The corps de ballet men and women really on the mark in the ensemble sharpness and esprit.

 The ballet opens with Prince’s 21^st birthday party, the Queen presents her son with a new crossbow and after some lively dancing and drinking by the guests, the Prince staggers off with his pals for a late-night hunting party. that unfolds with strong ensemble esprit and precision.

Arian Molina Soca is a most lyrical Prince Siegfried, in a starry eyed, well-acted performance. Meanwhile, Soca soars through the air with ease, his turns are centered with exquisite line and finish.  At the lake, Siegfried encounters The Swan.

Daysei Torriente & Arian Molina Soca | photo: Alexander Iziliaev

Principal dancer Dayesi Torriente shows her full range, dancing Odette/Odile. if a bit tentative in her opening scene, but then unlocks the haunted  character of the cursed woman, who can only  transform back to human form at night  as she reveals her true self to Siegfried and , he falls in love with. It’s a tricky role of swan poses and princess radiance.

Torriente’s swan  is a little too skittish as first. but her classical technique regal. In the ball scene As Odile, who Siegfried believes is Odette, Torriente commands every moment, nailing all of the demanding, high voltage pas de bourrée, impeccable jumps and pumping  out 34= fouettes, with a few doubles in the scene finale, before she reveals that she has fooled Siegfried as Odette is still trapped under the spell of Von Rothbart.

 As Benno, Siegfried’s bestie, Ashton Roxander, steals the scene with warm characterization and swagger in the extended solos. He hooks up with equally dynamic partners Thays Golz and So Jung Shin in duets and spritely trios.

 Later, The audience burst into applause at the four Cygnets- those arm-entwined quicksilver ballerinas with their witty arm-entwined pas de quatre, in this performance flawlessly danced by Alexandra Heier,  Thays Golz, Kathryn Manger, and Lucia Erickson.

Principal dancer Sterling Baca is the villainous Von Rothbart, swirling around in a black feather wingspan and horned headdress. Baca was met with lusty hisses his curtain call. He will get his turn as the Prince later in the run.

The ACT II ball scene is packed with character and folkloric dances, The Spanish couples dance with Thays Golz and  Alexandra Heier partnering Etienne Diaz and Russel Drucker; The Russian Czardas troupe led by Kathryn Manger and Aleksey Babayev lead the folkloric Czardas procession and Peter Weil and Nicholas Patterson dazzle as  the tambourine wielding Neapolitans with their a balletic flashdance.

The lakeside denouement pointed up the clarity of the corps de ballet Swans with sumptuous ensemble line and supple pointe work scored to some of Tchaikovsky’s most famous symphonic music.

Philadelphia Ballet’s conductor Beatrice Jona Affron pacing and detailing of the full score even though the overture got off to a shaky start in this performance. Among the many high points, were the virtuosic solo passages by  principal violinist Luigi Mazzocchi and principal harpist Mindy Cutcher.

 Corella typically rotates dancers in the lead and soloist roles throughout the performance run and is luminous Ukrainian principal dancer Oksana Maslova will perform Odette/Odile during the performance run.

 .

BalletMetros

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Balanchine, BALLET, classical dance, dancers

Mr. B’s Nutcracker dances on

Pennsylvania Ballet

George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker

at the Academy of Music, Philadelphia PA through Dec. 31

http://www.paballet.org

Artists of the Pennsylvania Ballet
Photo credits: Alexander Iziliaev

 For years Pennsylvania Ballet’s production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker had little competition from other live productions, but now all through December there is a bounty of holiday fare (and alternatives) to choose from.   But, The Nutcracker remains one of the biggest audience draws, a family affair for many, and if the Dec. 8 performance was any indication it has turned into Saturday date night for both young straight and gay couples.

Pennsylvania Ballet is one of only a few companies that is licensed to perform it, (in the current version since 1987) and some years have been better than others but consistently solid revivals even with some inevitably rote performances during the near month long run. And part of the reason was the ballet itself. 

Act I can lumber along if everything isn’t moving with character energy as the adults socialize with each other, while their children play games, open presents, before the guests break into a tepid parlor mazurka. Then there is E.T.A. Hoffman’s scary Russian 1816 folk tale about a young girl’s Marie’s fantasy dream about her toy Nutcracker coming to life and battling the Mouse King, can come off as too bizarre or even campy.

Marie’s brother Fritz is the bad boy little brother and otherwise the life of this dull holiday party. Herr Drosselmeier enters with his oversized toy boxes with his life-size dancer dolls. First the Concubines in a charmingly mechanical duet. Next the toy soldier is wound up and dancing to Tchaikovsky’s symphonic march by Ashton Roxander with steely eyed (and haunting) precision,  Later Roxander is the sinewy hoop jumping commando of the buoyant Candy Cane troupe.

Charles Askegard doesn’t modernize Herr Drosselmeier, he gives a vintage classic performance punctuated with pantomime of old world theatricals.

Balanchine’s minted version had its premiere on New York City Ballet in 1954. It remains an amalgam of Russian classical ballet from the Imperial Ballet school of his youth, but in a more streamlined Americanized version. The Dewdrop scene, for instance, has the luster of clever showdance that Balanchine was fond of after working in Hollywood and the Broadway stage.  Still, by now this 50s classic can look dated to contemporary audiences.

The ballet kicks into high gear at the end of act I as when the ballerina snowflakes blow through the corps de ballet Snowflakes scene.   The voices of the mighty Philadelphia Boys Choir serenading the dancers from the Academy’s balcony boxes. The Snowflakes fly, in this choreographically intricate scene with its breezy, quicksilver pointe work and unison patterns that keep evolving. The PABallet corps de ballet women danced it with in this precision and glittering esprit.

Since becoming PABallet artistic director Angel Corella has been polishing Act I to make it more animated within the aesthetic requirements of the Balanchine Trust. Also fueling performance vigor throughout the run by rotating five lead casts in the principal dance roles as well as switching off plum character roles among the soloists, demi-soloists and corps de ballet, and most vital, sharper focus on the technical aspects of Balanchine’s neoclassicism.

And the Act II Divertissements allows for vintage Russian choreographic magic by Balanchine. Among the standout soloists in this performance.

Sydney Dolan commanded as Dewdrop, with mile-high battement, and breezy jetes and point work. A little jagged transitional phrases, but overall a gives a dazzling performance.  

Russell Drucker and Marjorie Feiring flawless in their deportment of European drawing room hosts, get to let loose in the Act II with Drucker as a clown drag diva Mother Ginger, with her 8 Polichinelles children dancing out from under her skirt.  And Feiring proves the sultriest spell (and technique) as Coffee in the Arabian dance solo.

Balanchine’s most lustrous classicism is built into the grand pas de deux in the Nutcracker finale, danced by principals Mayara Pineiro and Zecheng LIang as The Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Thrilling pacing and clarity of movement by these dancers in their technical and interpretive artistry. Liang is a muscled and a lyrical prince.  He can execute adagio grande pirouettes as controlled and centered before he pumps them out at high speed.  His circular jete run around the Academy stage is one for the books. Pineiro arabesques are diamond hard, her pirouette runs and expressive carriage is riveting prima ballerina classicism .

And kudos to all of the child performers, many attending PABallet’s school of dance. Ellie Sidlow as Marie and Aoile Mary DiPalma her little brother (and scene stealing mischief maker) Fritz. Rowan Duffy returns as Drosselmeier’s gallant Nephew/Nutcracker.

Ballet Orchestra Conductor Beatrice Jona Affron detailing and pacing with the dancers sumptuous.  Tchaikovsky’s vibrant symphonic rhythms fueled by Ballet Orchestra’s percussion line, pulsing through the strings and powering those flute arabesques. Among the outstanding soloists in the Academy pit, Harpist Mindy Cutcher, violinist Luigi Mazzocchi who once again makes Tchaikovsky’s violin lines breathtaking every year.

BALLET

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BALLET, Choreographers, dancemetros, dancers, neoclassical

PABallet premieres thrill

Pennsylvania Ballet

World Premieres

Nov. 7-10

Merriam Theater, Philadelphia

http://www.paballet.org

Pennsylvania Ballet’s recent World Premieres program at the Merriam Theater featured danceworks created for the company by three contemporary choreographers- Yin Yue, Garrett Smith and Juliano Nunes. The concerts proved a substantive modern ballet sampler bursting with choreographic muscle and thrilling artistry by the dancers.

Cast of Yin Yue’s ‘A Trace of Inevitability
~Photo: Alexander Iziliaev~

 The curtain came up on Chinese choreographer Yin Yue’s ‘A Trace of Inevitability’ scored to original music by Michel Banabila for the cast of nine dancers. Yue is director of her own internationally acclaimed company and was BalletX’s first choreographic fellow in 2015 and has created what could be a signature piece on PAB.

Yue’s ballet idioms fused with grounded modern movement and cultural classicism is vital choreographic ground. As danced in the November 9 evening performance, it flows with urgency and liberated technical precision.

Yue‘s  opening duets stating some of the intricate choreographic themes, and vividly danced by partners Aleksey Babayev-Kathryn Manger, and Alexandra Hughes-Albert Gordonas, and soon other partners  sweep onstage  in distinctly different movement scenarios, some more abstract that others, and not hinting at any gender character roles.

Banabila’s score ‘Dragonfly II’ progresses from lyrical themes to a more industrial rhythmic drive, as the full ensemble gathers in cryptic unison configurations that seems cut loose from what came before. Though the final partnering with one of the dancers slumped in another’s arm adds another layer of mystery.

The propulsive drive of ‘Inevitability’ is matched by the dramatic images of the next ballet, Connection by Brazilian choreographer Juliano Nunes. Scored to haunting orchestral music by Enzio Bosso, the curtain comes up on 10 dancers in fleshtone micro-corsets in sculptural ensemble circles with bodies seeming to bloom out in communal ritual.

Artists of Pennsylvania Ballet in Juliano Nunes’ Connection
~Photo: Alexander Iziliaev~

But at the end of one of those configurations Zecheng Liang is shoved away and it becomes a different narrative. 

Lyrical classicism is laced with explosive solos and duets. Liang is a consummate technical dancer and dancer-actor in both story ballets and abstract works. Also in top form, a dramatic duet by So Jung Shin and Russell Drucker who hypnotize with Nunes’ geometric interlocks.

There is a most riveting moment when Nayara Lopez flies in the air in an arc-back leap partnering Jack Thomas and an electrifying trio danced by Oksana Maslova, Jermel Johnson and Arian Molina Soca. 

American choreographer Garret Smith’s Reverberance is scored to Bach Cello suites ‘recomposed’ by virtuoso Peter Gregson who plays the live accompaniment with passages also supplemented with electronica. 

Even though the cellos are danced in and out against the cobalt blue light and visually has playful charm, enhanced by bluenoir atmospherics by lighting designer Michael Mazzola. Garrett’s uncluttered choreography has such a naturalness of ballet classicism, but the hook of the cello props, however playfully the partnering, runs out of steam.

But Reverberance has many entrancing pure dance elements and admirably Smith keeps Gregson’s musical variations of Bach the equal partner onstage.

Smith’s concept is the varying responses to the music, perhaps in moments, ala Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, where the dancers embodying the string lines, but also idiosyncratic reactions of the music, that are abstract and not meant to be symbolic and unforgettable moments like Yuka Iseda and Sophie Savas-Carstens darting through the air in a gravity defying straight line. Wonderful silky blue ensembles designed by Monica Guerra also give a dreamlike quality.

Peter Weil, Sophie Cavas-Carstens & Yuka Iseda in Garrett Smith’s Reverberance
~Photo: Alexander Iziliaev~

Since becoming artistic director Angel Corella has been upping Pennsylvania Ballet’s expansive artistic goals, with productions both on conventional tracks with revivals of story ballets, as well as a re-alignment of a neoclassical aesthetic of George Balanchine. This program definitely one of the most dynamic for PABallet dancers making the most of in ballet fusion styles and Corella continuing to strengthen a new generation of stars.

DanseMetros

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Choreographers, Contemporary Dance, dancers, KoreshDanceCo., PhillyPremieres, Roni Koresh

Photo Credit: Contigo Photos + Films

Koresh Dance Company

Roni Koresh, Artistic Director

 La Danse

Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Philadelphia

April 25-28

Roni Koresh, choreographer

Jon Levis, composer

Karl Mullen, text

Costumes: Roni Koresh, Cari Shappell

Lighting Design: Peter Jakubowski

Choreographer Roni Koresh tripped the light fandango with his latest premiere La Danse, The Koresh Dance Company’s 2019 spring premiere at the Suzanne Roberts Theater. La Danse ostensibly inspired by the Henri Matisse’s ‘Five in the Nude’ impressionist painting, which Koresh discovered was part of the larger canvas of movement expressions.

La Danse’s 14 scenes are also more than the sum of its parts.  The choreographer’s last long-form work ‘Inner Sun’ was more cohesive, but with La Danse, even with plenty of his Koresh signature, Roni was tapping some new choreographic streams.

The full company opening titled ‘Glow’ has the five men and five women of the company paired off. The music a simmering salon tango.  The ensemble almost in classic tango salon tableau, first sharply silhouetted unison couples, with clean line, then sweeps over the stage, smoldering gazes between the couples in abrazzo variations.

The follow up is ‘Hold My Breath’ a stunning duet danced by Melissa Rector and Devon Larcher, this is one of Koresh’s most intimate and erotic duets.  Larcher a newer dancer with performing with sharp technique and Rector simply hypnotic in sequences with steely lift patterns and solo moves expressing the emotional dynamic of this dance.  

Other duets followed that showcased the strong partnering in various duets- Calie Hocter and Micah Geyer in ‘Put on the Red’, a very athletic Flashdance, with supple arc back positions and intricate lifts. And the very expressive and breathless paced ‘We Live and We Let’ danced by Kevan Sullivan and Sarah Shaulis. Joe Cotler’s dramatic solo ‘Without Thought’ has and improv energy with drama that let into his duet ‘Red Hand of Love’ with Paige Devitt.

Fang-ju Chu Gant commands also as she fandango’s through five potential male partners in ‘Dance Around the Sun’ and dances the guys around before choosing Joe Cotler.

‘Five in the Nude’ is the centerpiece on Act I. Koresh animates Matisse’s painting of the same name. Fang-Ju Chu Gant, Cali Hocter, Paige Devitt, Sarah Shaulis, and Melissa Rector in silky dresses, in fiery light, arms entwined, an earthbound, free dance ala Matisse. Koresh’s classicism and paganism set in motion, Koresh just letting the images flow with female mystique and powerful energy.

Nothing ponderous about ‘Sisters in the Trees’ which danced in Act two with the jazzy orchestral underscoring a trio Rector, Paige Devitt, and Hocter, in bright color 60s de la Renta-esque cocktail dresses, in a jaunty 60s dance camp ala Valley of the Dolls. 

Later, ‘Fingernails Drop in the Universe’ another comic trio with Paige Devitt in a black sequin mini as the Vegas-y femme fatale flanked by show boys Robert Tyler and Geyer.  It is pure tongue in cheeky Koresh as the men duke it out for her moves, but Devitt’s got them chasing their own tux tails.  She also clocks them more than once, before they even have a loser’s chance in hell with her.

Choreographically Koresh is expansive, as is the original music by frequent collaborator John Levis. Levis careens from industrial sound blocks to mystical percussive to Latin-French fusion melodies that cleared the stage for Koresh’s variations of sensual male-female partnering, always fertile ground for the choreographer. 

The ‘let’s dance’ lover theme though is disrupted at various times by allusions to a world in peril. The movement cued by Karl Mullen’s’ poetry as part of the soundtrack. Mullens’ beautifully narration though can cloy with sophomoric poetry. But his of Yeats’ ” center not hold” motif, lifted from ‘Yeats’ The Second Coming and a bit heavy handed on repeat, and especially in the same lines quoting Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance,’

Koresh is more ponderous in the full ensemble sections, as Levis’ score also has more darkly atmospheric implications during ‘The Hidden Room’ ‘Unrest’  and ‘American Dream.’ Movement canvases dancers emoting anger and angst. And give way to Koresh’s enduring motif of communal understanding and cathartic dance rituals. 

The finale ‘La Danse’ with the ensemble back in couple formation, the elegant tango lines, but with a less dreamy certainty, that this won’t be the last La Danse. 

Lighting designer Peter Jabubowski’s lighting design in La Danse was a dazzling partner for everyone onstage throughout the entire program-Sculpting dramatic crossbeams of light, creating enclaves of infinite perspective, bodies that are swallowed in darkness or smoldering fades that let the emotional truth of the dancer linger, This was a La Danse lightshow par excellance.

La Danse’s performances mark the end of a company era with veterans ( and much beloved) dancers  Fang-ju Chu Gant and Joe Cotler retiring from the company after many years as premier Koresh dancers.  Their artistry will indeed be missed.  

BalletMetros

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classical ballet, dancemetros, dancers, PennsylvaniaBallet, reviews

The Wilis command the ballet stage again

Pennsylvania Ballet

Giselle

Angel Corella, choreography (after Coralli & Perrot)

March 7-17

Academy of Music, Philadelphia

www.paballet.org

Pennsylvania Ballet artistic director Angel Corella has been polishing up story ballets over the past five years with revivals including Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Cinderella, et al. All ballets that Corella himself had starred in at American Ballet Theatre and guest starring in on stages around the world.  At Pennsylvania Ballet, he has had varying degrees of success re-staging and streamlining these classics for contemporary audiences. Corella also wants to showcase several emerging stars from the company’s full roster, And a pro-active approach of rotating dancers in different roles during the performance runs that highlights the company’s uniform technical artistry in the classical canon.

With Giselle, Corella leaves the 1841 original choreography by French classicists Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, for all intents, under glass, and at the same time, doesn’t allow it to become a museum piece. Aside from the fact that it looks gorgeous in the Academy of Music, Giselle may even have renewed appeal with millennial dance fans by virtue of its gothic atmospherics with the tragic Giselle initiated into the netherworld of the Wilis.

 The story unfolds as Prince Albrecht secretly tries to court the beautiful young Giselle by posing as a country lad. But Hilarion, Giselle’s local suitor catches on and confronts the Prince as the spring festival dancing commences and the royal hunting party decamps in the village square.  The drama plays out as the peasant dances commence and the highlighted extended pas de deux danced by Thays Golz and Jack Sprance. By design without a lot of ballet fireworks, but Golz and Sprance have precision and chemistry that completely charms.    

In the March 9 performance, Principals Lillian Di Piazza and Sterling Baca as Albrecht and Giselle, have immediate star power, but they are above all fine actor dancers that bring dimension to these mythical roles. 

Hilarion and Albrecht continue fighting and when swords are drawn it is too much for the frail Giselle and she goes mad and collapses of a broken heart. Until that fateful scene, the first act of Giselle can be heavy going with all of its archaic dance pageantry and pantomime choreography. Some of which for contemporary ballet dancers can be a more technically challenging than 36 fouettes.

Buffering that static feel, Corella creates more animated background characters who in countless productions just stand around as scenery watching the principals fly.  Corella makes sure the men’s corps depicting the villagers, for instance, looking particularly sharp and not just filler for the ensemble festival dances by the peasant women.  Actually, in this performance, the PAB corps de ballet women struggled with unison and looked a little atypically rote, which they make up for the big time in Act II. 

The ballet thunder of Giselle and the appearance of the full women’s corps de ballet as the mysterious Wilis, floating over the stage en pointe, in a voluptuous tulle and veils over their faces, that fly off simultaneously before they dance in cross streaming arabesque over the stage.  Whatever struggles the corps de ballet women had in ACT 1, they were electrifying every minute in Act II as the haunted Wilis.

Myrtle, queen of the Wilis, Alexandra Heier solo flawlessly executed in its steely precision as she summons the Wilis to initiate Giselle into the afterlife and commands them to cast Hilarion out when he visits Giselle’s grave.  Corps dancer Austin Eyler captured Hilarion’s machismo, without making him an over the top bully. He struggled with some transitional pantomime choreography but made the most of the pure dance elements. 

Albrecht appears in is royal velvet cape to bring flowers to Giselle grave and mourn.  Myrtle summons Giselle to him, he feels her presence, but cannot see her as she dances near him. DiPiazza enters from her grave ramp and starts her manic reverse arabesque spin and from there, she is completely luminous as the phantom Giselle. Baca conveying pathos expressing Albrecht’s grief during the ballet pyro-techniques of the role.

With its academic score by Adolphe Adam, admirably conducted with balance and flair by Peter Stafford Wilson. Among the outstanding soloists, harpist Mindy Cutcher and violinist Luigi Mazzocchi and not to forget PABallet orchestra’s blazing horn section.

Meanwhile what lusty applause erupted in the Academy when the curtain rose on the corps de ballet for their transcendent ensemble artistry as the Wilis.

  

~DanceMetros~

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AfricanAmericanDance, ArthurMitchell, BALLET, Choreographers, dancers, DTH

Dance Theatre of Harlem returns to Philly

The Dance Theatre of Harlem

Artistic director Virginia Johnson

Annenberg Center, Philadelphia

March 1-2, 2019

50th Anniversary Tour

www.annenbergcenter.org

Dance Theatre of Harlem returned to the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia the first weekend in March as part of their 50th Anniversary tour and a year of commemoration in memory of legendary founder Arthur Mitchell, who died last year.

Coincidently DTH’s performances in Philly fell on the same days that the other New York premier black company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was performing at the Academy of Music across town. Both companies played to sell out houses with many Philly dance fans getting to both on successive days.

The concert opened with Garland’s ‘Nyman String Quartet, no. 2’  set to British composer Michael Nyman’s lush chamber work. The wending string lines have with some baroque DNA laced through and choreographer Garland is expert in characterizing the music itself.  His choreography a fusion of ballet vocabulary-  impeccable line, dynamic pointe work, air slicing jetes, tight ensemble unison, pirouettes, and arabesque variations, but Garland works in witty and unexpected has transitional phrasing with club dance moves and post-modern idioms. 

Garland essays fluid choreographic dialogue of styles, both propulsive and inside Nyman’s music.  Garland uses Nyman’s adagio movement to choreography a meditatively and arresting solo by principal dancer Da’Von Doane.  The blending of many idioms, and with movement quotes- from Nijinsky’s angular Faun to a raised fist iconic gesture of black power. 

Next was a work by African American choreographer Diane McIntyre, that had its premiere in 2016, a work inspired by women she writes in the program, black, brown and beige- who have been warriors for change in the world. At this performance Lindsay Croop, Yinet Fernandez and Daphne Lee danced this inspiring trio.  McIntyre scores the ballet with African – American historic songs performed by the Spellman College Glee Club and original percussive music by Eli Fountain.

The women are first costumed in sheer black dance gowns, are subdued, fragmentary but expressive movement, as if in anguished mourning. Croop breaks away on her own path, she lets out the first vocalization, a primal scream as she steps powerfully on pointe and reaches skyward.  Each of the women has solos, now dressed in vibrantly colored singlets and moving with uninhibited grace and fearlessness.  McIntyre symbolically expressing the black women through history who triumphed over oppression and adversity.

Choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie’s 2017 ballet ‘Harlem On My Mind’ was scheduled for this performance but was switched at the last minute.  One of Garland’s signature pieces ‘Return’ was performed instead. The ballet is set to music by the Godfather and the Queen of Soul- James Brown and Aretha Franklin, but a great concert finale nonetheless, with soul hits including  ‘Baby, Baby, Baby’ and ‘I Got the Feeling.’ Opening with the extended version of Brown’s ‘Popcorn’ which takes off with infectious funk exuberance right out of the gate. Garland combining modernist neoclassical ballet of black dance in America during the 60s & 70s. 

Aretha Franklin’s ‘Call Me’ opening scene with soloist Crystal Serrano who moves between three potential male partners, as she humorous playing the field as Aretha coyly sings ‘I love you’ to each one. Serrano navigates these partners to dance with Dylan Santos after some intricate group lifts. Serrano and Santos smolder in this beguiling dance.

Philly native choreographer Robert Garland, told the DHT audience before the premiere of his ballet, that both companies paid a surprise visit to Joan Myers Brown at her Philadanco studios in West Philadelphia, Meyers-Brown’s school and company, Philadanco was where many dance artists from both companies started their professional careers. Myers-Brown was in attendance at the performance, just back from her own company performing that day at Longwood Gardens in suburban Chester County.

The finale of the Brown’s ‘Superbad’ for the full ensemble, Christopher Charles McDaniel’s breakout solo grooves drew audible delight and applause, not only for his James Brown glides, but his thrilling grande pirouettes and entrechat quatre.

Garland uses the original extended track of‘ Superbad’ he lets break into a Soul Train dance line. The full ensemble cuts lose with signature inventive Soul line moves from the day, with some updates from this generation of dancers that had the audience panting for more.

Former principal dancer Virginia Johnson, now DTH Artistic Director re-established the full Dance Theater of Harlem after an eight-year performance halt but keeping the school and touring ensembles going. Arthur Mitchell was then director emeritus, as Johnson piloted DTH’s full rebirth in 2012. Since then her vision and leadership technically and artistically on full display on their 50th Anniversary Tour, where the company will be performing different programs of company signature ballets, from Balanchine classics to newly commissioned repertory.

Johnson’s vision for the company is ballet forward, visionary contemporary dance and bringing the company’s technical and artistic excellence to a new generation. All of Johnson’s goals were present on the Annenberg performances in this performance.

for complete information on DTH’s 50th Anniversary tour schedule check  www.dancetheatreofharlem.org

 

BalletMetros

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BALLET, BalletMetros, BalletOrchestra, dancers, George Balanchine, Tchaikovsky

PABallet continues to polish its Nutcracker

On New Year’s Eve, Pennsylvania Ballet finishes up their marathon three-week 50^th Anniversary run of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. The ballet a technical barometer of Balanchine’s vintage neoclassical style and it is a showcase for the whole company, that highlights Angel Corella’s core goals as artistic director to nurture an elite roster of dancers from the principals to the company apprentices.

Balanchine’s minted 1954 production of Nutcracker if not done at the highest performance level, can, by now look dated and shopworn, but happy to report that a mid-run performance December 21 proved PAB’s current Nutcracker is as lustrous as ever.

The biggest challenge is the first act, depicting a 19th-century Euro-centric Christmas celebration that is largely pantomime acting, which can devolve to ballet pagaentry and can lumber along.  Corella makes sure that does not happen, with precision pacing and having the scenes burst with ensemble esprit and characterizations. No one is in the background, everyone onstage is animated with naturalized intent, especially the children from the PAB school.

Principal Ian Hussey, (who danced the Cavalier at the matinee performance Dec. 21) delivered a magical performance that evening as Herr Drosselmeir, full of character intrigue. He brings with him the Harlequins and making the most of their brief scene, Nayara Lopez and Kathryn Manger captivated with their steely pointe work.  Then, the highlight of the party scene, dance wise, the thrilling Tin Soldier solo by Peter Weill, flawlessly executed in soldierly sync with Tchaikovsky’s galloping scherzo.  In the Act II diversessments, Manger is captivating also leading the Marzipan Shepherdess quintet.

It is so easy for the mousey fight scene to lumber along, Balanchine was not too inventive with fantasy fight scenes, there is a lot of scrambling around, but the pacing and the campy attack by the corps in those bulbous costumes make this scene fast and fun. For the children in the audience, a feast for the eyes, with the engorged Christmas tree and spectacular light show, the life-size Nutcracker soldier and the junior military band and troops bringing storybook visuals.   

As Marie and her brother Fritz, Audrey Tavor and Ellie Sidlow, are complete scene stealers. Rowan Duffy reprises his always valiant performance as The Newphew/Nutcracker who battles the Mouse King and escorts Marie into the land of the Sweets.

Many years of Balanchine’s Nutcracker opening nights in the Snowflakes scene ending act one, the corps de ballet can struggle with Balanchine’s requisite ensemble precision that ignites the ballet. Not an issue in this mid-run performance they proved of crystalline ensemble precision and esprit de corps. Serenaded from the first balcony by the Philadelphia Girls Choir, this was a perfect scene to experience on this Solstice eve performance.

All of the divertissement in Act II, vintage Balanchine distillations from his training years at the Imperial Russian court. Among the outstanding soloists in this performance- Etienne Diaz nailed the candy cane hoop dance, punctuating it with his silky aerials and glint in his eyes and the backup troupe equally buoyant.

There have been, thankfully, adjustments made to some the ethnic stereotypes in productions of the Nutcracker including Balanchine’s version. ‘Tea’ for instance, with its cartoonish stereotyping which by now represents nothing more than an offensive racial stereotype, thankfully have been erased. 

Marjorie Fierling as Coffee in what used to be called The Arabian Dance, in her silky, harem costume.  It’s Balanchine exotica and Fierling is anything but submissive to it, owning it with sultry mystique and smoldering gaze.

Alexandra Hughes as lead Dewdrop Flower for Tchaikovsky’s Waltz, Hughes captivated with air slicing jetes and shimmering pointe work. The corps Flowers, led by Nayara Lopes and Jacqueline Callahan, all sustaining flawless ensemble balletic line.

In the finale, Sterling Baca and Dayesi Torriente have shimmering chemistry as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

Torriente seemed a bit tentative in her first appearance with the little Angels, but from the moment she took the stage with Baca in the grand pas de deux, Toriente she danced with breathtaking artistry and lyrical expression.

Baca a most attendant Cavalier and the sparks flew when this couple hit those romantic penche arabesques and crucial lifts. Palpable chemistry and drew lusty applause by the time they landed that famous Poisson signature dive.

Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra conductor Beatrice Jona Affron continues to ignite this score with clarity and dimension in countless performances of the Nutcracker in the Academy of Music over her 25 years as Pennsylvania Ballet’s Maestro.