Miami City Ballet Matinee Performance on April 17th

Miami City Ballet, Saturday, April 17th, Gary Sheldon, Conductor

Heatscape (Bohuslav Martinu/Justin Peck):
First Movement:  Emily Bromberg, Renan Cerdeiro
Second Movement:  Tricia Albertson, Kleber Rebello
Third Movement:  Andrei Chagas, Jennifer Lauren, Shimon Ito

Viscera (Lowell Liebermann/Liam Scarlett):
Jeanette Delgado, Renato Penteado, Kleber Rebello, Jennifer Lauren, Callie Manning, Zoe Zien
Francisco Renno, Piano

Bourree Fantasque (Emmanuel Chabrier/George Balanchine):
First Movement:  Jordan-Elizabeth Long, Shimon Ito
Second Movement:  Simone Messmer, Rainer Krenstetter, Emily Bromberg, Samantha Hope Galler
Third Movement:  Nathalia Arja, Renato Penteado, Ashley Know, Neil Marshall, Zoe Zien, Chase Swatosh
Fourth Movement: Entire cast


Miami City Ballet was founded in 1985 and is just finishing its 30th Anniversary season.  It's week-long appearance at the Koch Theater was the capstone of the anniversary celebrations -- the first time the Company had performed at Lincoln Center and their first appearance in New York City since 2009.  They brought eight ballets spread over three programs on this visit.  Their music director, Gary Sheldon, conducted the New York City Ballet orchestra for all seven performances.

Lourdes Lopez, the artistic director of Miami City Ballet since 2012, commissioned 'Heatscape' from Justin Peck in 2015.  Justin used the Piano Concerto #1 by Bohuslav Martinu -- a composer whose 'Sinfonietta la Jolla' he had also used for his 'Paz de la Jolla' in 2013.  The well-known street artist and graphic designer Shepard Fairey-- who created the 'Hope' poster of Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential campaign -- created the backdrop and Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung designed the costumes.

Company members in Justin Peck's 'Heatscape'.  Backdrop by Shepard Fairey and costumes by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung.  
Photo from Miami City Ballet website.

This video by Ezra Hurwitz and Justin Peck shows Justin imagining the choreography amidst Miami's Wynwood Walls -- a site where vivid street art is encouraged and celebrated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_w11RwHYuw 

'Heatscape' itself is a brilliant introduction to this company -- as sunny and open-hearted as its home city.  The choreography is athletic and complex, but most of all it is immensely fun to watch -- and hopefully to dance.

The curtain opens with the entire 17-member cast lined up across the back of the stage facing Fairey's backdrop -- a huge red and orange sunburst with a wide border in a dark blue and gold border across the bottom, both inspired by Indian mandala patterns.  They're wearing Bartelme & Jung's pale costumes -- short white dresses for the women and beige shorts with white tops for the men.  They turn and race to the front of the stage before beginning to dance to the jaunty opening of the first movement (Allegro moderato).  As the music shifts into a more contemplative mood a central couple (Emily Bromberg and Renan Cerdiero) emerges. 

Tricia Albertson and Kleber Rebello in the second movement of 'Heatscape'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik

In the second movement (Andante) a different couple (Tricia Albertson and Kleber Rebello) dances a sensual pas de deux.  There is a beautifully executed movement repeated several times, where Ms. Albertson rises through a hoop of Mr. Rebello's encircling arms.  Mr. Rebello must be incredibly strong to sustain Ms. Albertson in the air supported on his extended arms.

Miami City Ballet dancers in Justin Peck's 'Heatscape'.  Photo from Vanity Fair

The romping third movement (Allegro) is led by Andrei Chagas, Jennifer Lauren and Shimon Ito.  Peck often devises choreographic patterns which intrigue and sometimes deceive the observer -- here two concentric circles of five and then seven dancers each.  You initially think that you see a circle of men and a circle of women, but then you realize they are probably organized by height with a single tall woman mixed with four tall men and a shorter man with four short women.  By the time you've figured that out, the circles have grown to seven members each -- again seemingly organized by taller and shorter without regard to sex.  It reminded me of the moments in Balanchine's 'Agon' where the three quartets -- initially four men and two groups of four women -- suddenly become mixed and then resolve again by sex.  It is all enormous fun for the observer and obviously for the company.

Miami City Ballet dancers in Justin Peck's 'Heatscape'.  Photo from Vanity Fair

 At the end the cast gathers at the back of the stage and then race to the front as the curtain descends.

Liam Scarlett's 'Viscera' to Lowell Liebermann's 'Piano Concerto #1' was created for MCB in 2012 and has since also been danced by the Royal Ballet -- where Scarlett is resident choreographer.  The dark, partially translucent costumes are also by Scarlett. 

Jennifer Kronenberg and Miguel Guerra in Liam Scarlett's 'Viscera'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for NYTimes

The murky lighting design is by John Hall.  I found what of Scarlett's choreography we could see through the gloom arduous with often clumsy partnering.  The 16-member-cast was led by Jennifer Carlynn Kronenberg, Jeanette Delgado and Miguel Guerra, but the entire group floated on and off stage seemingly at random. 

The program closed with Balanchine's 'Bourree Fantasque' to music of Emmanuel Chabrier.  The work was staged for the Miami company by Susan Pillare -- who had also staged it for the School of American Ballet's 2010 Workshop Performances.  It was one of the first ballets that Balanchine created -- in 1949 -- for New York City Ballet.

The first movement -- created for Tanaquil Le Clercq and Jerome Robbins -- is one of Balanchine's pairings of a tall, long-legged ballerina with a shorter partner.  Both Le Clercq and Robbins were well-known for their wit.
  

Tanaquil Le Clercq and Jerome Robbins in the first movement of Balanchine's 'Bouree Fantasque'.
Photo by George Platt Lynes

Here the Miamians Jordan-Elizabeth Long and Shimon Ito had great fun with the taller woman/shorter man paradigm.  In this movement the women all expertly manipulated fans while the men gave their best toreador impressions.

Balanchine created the second movement for Maria Tallchief and Nicholas Magallanes.  The ballerina -- a relative of the Waltz Girl in Balanchine's 'Serenade'and the Elegie ballerina from his 'Tschaivkosky Suite #3" --  fades in and out of the ensemble as she is pursued by her ardent suitor.  MCB's Simone Messmer and Rainer Krenstetter danced with poignance and longing as the thwarted lovers.

Simone Messmer and Rainer Krenstetter in the second movement of Balanchine's 'Bourree Fantasque'.
Photo by Andrea Mohin for NYTimes

Balanchine set the third movement on Janet Reed and Herbert Bliss.  The Miamians Nathalia Arja and Renato Penteado were dazzling in this performance.

The fourth movement brings the entire cast of 42 dancers on stage for a rousing finale featuring cadres of ballerinas from the three previous movements crisscrossing the stage in space devouring grand jetes.

Mass grand jetes by the women of the second movement  in the final movement of
Balanchine's 'Bourree Fantasque'.
Photo by Gene Schiavone

 The complexity of the patterns -- including more concentric circles -- that constantly change and resolve is extraordinary and offered a final example of the exuberance and joie de vivre that this company brought to the Koch Theater. 

Miami City Ballet dancers in the finale of Balanchine's 'Bourree Fantasque'.
Photo by Renato Penteado for Miami City Ballet

  

Even More Ballet Quibbles and Bits . . .

Video for SAB's Winter Ball

Here's a new video that was produced for The School of American Ballet's Winter Ball on Tuesday, March 3rd:

https://vimeo.com/122016655

It features three advanced students from the 2014-15 Winter Term -- Alicia Holloway from Morgantown, WV; Jocelyn Dolson from Superior Township, MI; and Thomas Davidoff from Atlanta, GA.

Peter Walker, an SAB alumnus and NYCB corps member, choreographed a piece for the intermediate students that was also performed at the Ball.

SAB's Intermediate Students in Peter Walker's piece d'occasion for The Winter Ball.
Photo from SAB Facebook page

SAB Workshop: Who's Staging What?


Jock Soto has begun working with the advanced men on the Third Campaign from Balanchine's 'Stars and Stripes'.  Getting all of those rows lined up military style looks like the biggest challenge at this point.

Yvonne Borree and Jonathan Stafford are working with at least two couples on the Wedding Pas de Deux from the last act of  'Sleeping Beauty'.  Tschaikovsky's melodies float out of the studios most afternoons.  (In my earlier 2015 Workshop post I neglected to mention that Ms. Borree danced Aurora during her career at NYCB.)

Suki Schorer is in the midst of teaching two casts of female students Balanchine's 'Valse Fantasie' to the music of Glinka.  Schorer, SAB's senior Balanchine stager, usually teaches the entire work to all of the girls before she selects the casts.

Susan Pillare is working with the individual sections of the 'orchestra' for Jerome Robbins' 'Fanfare' -- some days the reeds, some days the strings, but not yet the brass and percussion sections.

Justin Peck's Ballet 'Heatscape' for Miami City Ballet:

Miami City Ballet cast in Justin Peck's 'Heatscape' with decor by Shepard Fairey.
Photo by Daniel Azoulay for Miami City Ballet.

Here's a promotional video for Justin Peck's new ballet for Miami City Ballet -- a collaboration with the well-known Miami street artist and muralist Shepard Fairey to the music of Bohuslav Martinu (Piano Concerto #1).

https://youtu.be/L_w11RwHYuw?t=13

It's great that today's hot new ballet choreographer collaborates with artists and musicians to create many of his new works.  

I'm reminded of how exciting Twyla Tharp's 'Deuce Coupe' was when it was first staged by the Joffrey Ballet at City Center (1973) with five street artists spray painting graffiti tags on three rolls of paper as they were slowly raised across the back of the stage while Erika Goodman danced the ballet vocabulary at the front of the stage and the rest of the company (plus some Tharp dancers) danced Tharp-isms around her -- all to music of the Beach Boys.

 

Joffrey Ballet in Twyla Tharp's 'Deuce Coupe' (1973) with United Graffiti Artists painting backdrop.
Photo from Dance Magazine archives by Herbert Migdoll

Unfortunately, the fumes from the spray paint were toxic for the dancers, so the backdrop was later replaced by a stationary backdrop for 'Deuce Coupe II'.      

Guest Teachers at SAB in March:

During March there have been guest teachers at The School of American Ballet.  Jason Beechey is the head of the ballet school associated with the Semperoper Ballett in Dresden (the Palucca Hochschule fur Tanz Dresden).  He taught the advanced men's class (and probably others).  Mr. Beechey trained at Canada's National Ballet School and also studied under Stanley Williams at SAB and at the Vaganova School in St. Petersburg.  Mr. Beechey danced with the London City Ballet and Charleroi/Danses (Belgium).  He came to the Dresden school in 2006 and has been expanding its program of global student exchanges and implementing its apprentice program with the Semperoper Ballett.  He has also been involved with Youth America Grand Prix and the Prix de Lausanne.

Aaron Watkin, the Artistic Director of the Semperoper Ballett Dresden, also taught classes.  Mr. Watkin also studied at the National Ballet School of Canada and attended summer sessions at the School of American Ballet.  He went on to perform with the National Ballet of Canada, the English National Ballet, and the Dutch National Ballet before working with William Forsythe at the Frankfurt Ballet.  He has been Artistic Director of the Dresden company since 2006.  

Nikolaj Hubbe, the Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Ballet, taught classes from March 28th through April 1st.  When Nikolaj was a principal dancer at New York City Ballet (from 1992 to 2008) he used to teach occasionally at SAB.  He's always very patient with the students and carefully explains the mechanics of the movements he wants.  Schooled in the fast, light, precise Bournonville style, Nikolaj adds yet another dimension to these students' technical skills.

Hopefully, these gentlemen were also looking at the students as candidates for their schools and companies.