Shoestrings

New York Theatre Ballet
Dance Gallery
New York, NY
November 20, 2009

This cozy "Dance on a Shoestring" performance featured an intriguing mixture of old and new, classroom exercises and spirited revivals, dance with verve by the small, vibrant New York Theatre Ballet.  The performance opened with company director Diana Byer's setting of the last ballet choreographed by Sallie Wilson, who had worked closely with the company.   "Pas de Six--Gounod", to the bounding, infectious and dancey music from "Faust" was a charming exercise in Cechetti technique for six dancers featuring  gentle arabesques, flowing arms, and delicate batterie--a perfect work for a spring night, anytime of the year. 

This was followed by something completely different, a modern solo by Rachael Kosch  called "Three Things" to music by Michael Kosch, performed on Coke bottles.  The dancer, Amanda Garrett, combined percussiveness with wit, and made fingers and toes dance a very funny duet.  There were two other brief solos, choreographed and danced by young students based on haiku they had written.  The students are too young to be reviewed, though Coco Monroe performed with the aplomb of a modern Mickey Rooney, and like all good performers, left the audience hungry for more.  Andrea Miller's solo "Blush" danced by Moo Kim, was a fluid work, based partially on martial arts moves, with quick changes of direction and tempo.

These solos were interspersed between selections of Agnes de Mille's work--the New York Theatre Ballet has worked to keep her Broadway work in dancing condition and Gemze de Lappe from the de Mille Working Group has set many of them; the company always dances older works with a remarkable integrity.  There were brief excerpts from the dream ballet from Brigadoon. (It isn't called the Dream ballet, but features women in white dancing around the heroine, and doesn't get much dreamier.)  The communal feeling and folk flavor give this a tinge of nostalgia, but it isn't just a Hallmark card.  It is, really, an evocation of the memories we all wish we had.  Elena Zahlmann was the forthright and honest heroine.  "Dust" was reconstructed from de Mille's notes by Lisa Gennaro and was part of de Mille's 1938 "American Suite".  It involved three women in black, fighting the elements during the Depression's dust bowl.  It also used folk elements to evoke a community, in this case one that was being destroyed.  There were elements of Graham, and it is of its time (another way of saying dated) but the three dancers, Amanda Garrett, Carmella, and Zahlmann, made its case, and it is well work seeing.  

The brief evening closed with a real dream ballet, an excerpt from "Oklahoma".  The invaluable Zahlmann was the dream Laurie, surrounded by her white friends, who didn't stand a chance when the French dancers from Jud's racy postcards paraded on.  This may be a shoestring operation, but it ties up a first class footwear.

copyright 2009 by Mary Cargill