Mary Cargill

Pam Tanowitz Dance
"Untitled" (The Blue Ballet)
The Kitchen
New York, NY
March 8, 2012

Uptown and downtown combined in the hour and a half long work, featuring former ABT dancers Ashley Tuttle, Sasha Dmochowski, and Brian Reeder, Jean Freebury (formerly with Cunningham), and John Heginbothan (currently with Mark Morris) performing Morton Feldman's String Quartet #1, performed live by the FLUX Quartet.  The music is atonal, un-rhythmic, austere, with occasional bursts of energy.  Tanowitz often choreographs through

"New Untitled Work", "Falling Out"
Lydia Johnson Dance
Peridance's Salvatore Capezio Theater
New York, New York
February 26, 2012

There were no tattoos to be seen at Lydia Johnson's matinee at the intimate Capezio Theater, but there was a lot to enjoy.  The small, female company (with the addition of former NYCB dancer Max van der Sterre as a guest artist) is ballet based, with a weightlessness and controlled upper bodies, which they combine with everyday, non-balletic gestures. 

"Play"
Ballet Arizona
Joyce Theater
New York, New York
February 22, 2012

Ib Andersen, the elegant, understated, and irreplaceable New York City dancer (and for those of us with a long memory, Bournonville stylist extraordinaire) returned to New York as the director of the 35 member Ballet Arizona.  Not surprisingly, these dancers embody some of his best traits; elegant, open upper bodies, modesty, precision, musicality, and the strength to make everything look easy.  The dancers, from a

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Le Tombeau de Couperin", "Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux", "Who Cares?"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
January 17, 2012

The New York City Ballet's winter season opening night had no gimmicks, no so-called theme, no major debuts.  It was "just" an all-Balanchine evening, and pretty pink-and-white Balanchine at that.  But it  had some enjoyable, entertaining, and magnificent performances.  The evening opened

"Arden Court", "Cry", "The Hunt", "Revelations"
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
City Center
New York, NY
December 24, 2011

Robert Battle's first season as the director of the Alvin Ailey Company began with a complete triumph, as he acquired Paul Taylor's sublime "Arden Court".  The Ailey dancers attacked the quick, difficult, and witty choreography with their unique physicality, and captured the uplifting, joyful spirit of the Taylor Company.  It was like watching champagne bubbles do an aerobic class.

Pilar Rioja
Repertorio Español
New York, NY
December 6, 2011

Pilar Rioja, looking much younger than her seventy+ years, gave a series of farewell performances on the wonderfully intimate stage of the Repertorio Español.  She ranged from full-blooded flamenco to a more gracious filigreed fandango, alternating (so she could change costumes) with haunting flamenco singers and guitarists.  The setting was powerfully simple--a stage, a spotlight, and a black background; no gimmicks, just music and dancing. 

"The Garden of Villandry", "Sinatra Suite", "Private Light", "In the Upper Room"
American Ballet Theatre
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 8, 2011

ABT opened its weeklong City Center program with a gala completely bereft of fouettes, and a minimum of point shoes.  The brief welcoming speech by Kevin McKenzie seemed to imply that the dancers were relieved not to be romping through the Spring blockbusters, and that he was glad he could feature some of the

"The Music of Elliott Carter Interpreted"
Works & Process
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, NY
October 2, 2011

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2011 by Mary Cargill

The Guggenheim's intriguing Works & Process series featured Elliott Carter, very much alive at almost 103, and two young choreographers, Emery LeCrone and Avichai Scher.  They were given the same short five pieces of Carter's to choreograph, and the evening featured the two works, interspersed with interesting interviews

"Rooms"
Limón Dance Company
Borden Auditorium
Manhattan School of Music
New York, NY
September 26, 2011

Fusionworks, "a collaborative/interactive roster of artists", sponsored a performance by the Limón Dance Company to live music of Anna Sokolow's harrowing 1955 work "Rooms".  This was recently revived by the Limón company in honor of Sokolow's centenary, but it is hard to understand needing a hook to perform it, and the combination of the vivid, committed performances with the Manhattan School's Chamber

"Ocean's Kingdom"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 22, 2011

Paul McCartney, that is, who in a blaze of publicity, dominated the New York City Ballet's fall gala as the composer and librettist of the new ballet.  Had his name been Paul McGillicuddy, the company probably would not have spent $800,000 to produce his ballet, and he wouldn't have been greeted with the echoes of nearly fifty year old

"The Little Humpbacked Horse"
Mariinsky Ballet
Lincoln Center Festival 2011
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 12, 2011

"The Little Humpbacked Horse", choreographed by  Arthur Saint-Léon to a score by Cesare Pugni in 1864 for the Mariinsky, was the first ballet based on a Russian theme.  Over the years, many hands have reworked it, and the current version has only the story to connect it with the original.  Pugni, et al. were

"Swan Lake"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 2, 2011

Life certainly isn't fair to poor Odette, a beautiful woman trapped in a swan's body, in love with a man who seems easily confused, and who manages to condemn her to death.   But the most unfair part of her fate seems to be that she is constantly trapped in peculiar versions of "Swan Lake", which, in spite of the glorious White Swan pas de