“Havana Rakatan”
Ballet Rakatan
New York City Center
New York, NY
February 18, 2015
Coming on the heels of the recent thaw in the U.S.- Cuban diplomatic relations (though not as its result), Cuba’s “Havana Rakatan” turned up the heat on the cold February night in New York with its dazzling United States debut. Composed of the Ballet Rakatan dance company and a son cubano music band Turquino which performed live onstage with the dancers,
“Satyric Festival Song,” “Embattled Garden,” “Lamentation Variations,” “Rust,” “Chronicle”
Martha Graham Dance Company
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
February 12, 2015
Though the theme of Martha Graham Dance Company’s winter season was “Shape & Design,” Program A appeared to be more about history and the endurance of Martha Graham’s innovation and use of modern dance to convey a message. Following a short silent film by Peter Arnell which organized over 2,000 still photographs into what appeared
“Hallelujah Junction,” “A Place for Us,” “The Goldberg Variations”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 6, 2015
Amidst portrayals of stories and emotions, it is sometimes easy to forget what dance is inherently about: expression of music. In a mixed bill to mostly piano accompaniment, New York City Ballet presented three works that served as an excellent reminder of that, and the dancers did a fine job dancing the scores.
Peter Martins’s “Hallelujah
“Symphonic Dances,” “The Cage,” “Andantino,” “Cortège Hongrois”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
January 30, 2015
Besides the music composers’ national origin, the works presented by New York City Ballet as part of the “Hear the Dance: Russia” program had one artistic commonality: dancers in all of the pieces seemed on a quest for a freeing approach to the stylized and formalistic aspects of the choreography. Despite a number of debuts, it was mostly the
“Swan Lake”
Mariinsky Ballet
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Brooklyn, NY
January 22, 2015
Fielding a leading cast of two imports, the Mariinsky Ballet showed points of departure and a sense of new direction against the backdrop of its iconic tradition. Amidst the uneven performances from the Perm ballet school trained Oxana Skorik and the Royal Ballet school trained Xander Parish in the main roles, you could see glimpses of emerging interesting new styles, and their imperfections kept them from
“Swan Lake”
Mariinsky Ballet
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Brooklyn, NY
January 16, 2015
Ulyana Lopatkina’s interpretation of Odette is largely viewed in Russia as the epitome of the role, and her single performance in the Kostantin Sergeyev’s 1950 retooling of the Petipa/Ivanov “Swan Lake” original during Mariinsky Ballet’s New York tour showed why. Not a single one of her movements was amiss, much as not a single one of them lacked detail, and to witness
"ChopEniana,” “Patterns in Space,” “Esmeralda,” “Dying Swan,” “Don Quixote”
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 18, 2014
The “ladies” of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo once again dazzled the audience with their clever humor and admirable technique, and from the pre-performance announcement that a dancer, a certain Ms. Notgoodenoff, will not be performing to the last note of the Hava Nagila that they spontaneously broke into while still in their “Don
“Chroma,” “Suspended Women,” “Revelations”
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
New York City Center
New York, NY
December 12, 2014
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s premiere of Jacqulyn Buglisi’s 2000 work “Suspended Women,” carefully wedged between the no longer new for the company “Chroma” and the classic “Revelations,” offered a moving glimpse of the atemporal elements of the female experience, and the evening’s program as a whole provided a perspective on the company’s artistic dimension.
Buglisi’s
“Castles,” “Fabulist,” “Dome”
Doug Varone and Dancers
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 2, 2014
The three works presented by Doug Varone and Dancers at the Joyce Theater each told a different type of story. The 2004 “Castles” opened the night with formations and disintegrations laced with narratives resembling and inspired by fairy tales, the New York premiere of “Fabulist,” a somewhat autobiographical solo performed by the choreographer himself, was a deeply moving storyteller’s monologue, and the world
“Flames of Paris”
Mikhailovsky Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
November 16, 2014 (matinee)
How could you make Stalin’s favorite revolution-themed ballet a success in 2014? A faithful reconstruction would hardly seem like the right strategy, yet that is precisely what Mikhail Messerer, Mikhailovsky Ballet’s Ballet Master in Chief, did in staging his revival of Vasily Vaynonen’s classic “Flames of Paris.” The approach turned out to be worth the risk, earning the ballet two
"Kindertotenlieder”
Gisèle Vienne and artists
New York Live Arts
New York, NY
October 29, 2014
Contrary to its title, Gisèle Vienne’s “Kindertotenlieder” does not mourn the death of children, nor does it use any of Gustav Mahler’s famous songs from the opus of the same name. Instead, it taps into something deeper and darker, presenting nearly every instantiation of the violent and disturbing triggers of human anxiety, through a creative integration of movement with music, sound, speech, and
"Torrent,” “Ostinato,” “Closer,” “Students of the Asphalt Jungle”
Brian Brooks Moving Company with Juilliard Dance, The Australian Ballet, BJM- Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Rennie Harris Puremovement
Fall For Dance Festival
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 17, 2014
Fall For Dance festival’s fourth program was full of expressions that belie outward appearances. The two middle works, set to gentle, repeating live piano music of Bill Evans and Philip Glass respectively, were rich with content that was