SAB's Summer Choreography Workshop

Last Thursday evening, we went to the Summer Choreography Workshop at The School of American Ballet.  There were two showings of the program -- one at 5:30pm for SAB staff and families of Summer Course students; and one at 6:30pm for SAB donors.  We went to the second showing.

The program was introduced by Meredith Robbins, the School's Director of Development, and Caroline Langerman, Director of Individual Giving, who welcomed the audience and introduced Peter Walker, one of the two choreographers.

Peter Walker in Balanchine's 'Who Cares?' at the 2011 SAB Workshop performances.

Peter is an alumnus of SAB and a member of the corps of NYC Ballet.  He told us the sad news that one of his dancers was sick and unable to perform in his ballet, 'Passage'.  He and the remaining seven dancers in his work had just held a meeting and decided that they could not perform 'Passage' without her.  It was a gracious speech given in the aftermath of disappointment for Peter and the eight students who had all been working hard on his piece.

There is a delightful Youtube video that Emily Kikta created with Daniel Ulbricht, Harrison Coll, and Peter Walker during NYCB's week in at the Kennedy Center last March.  You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjtxvQrHIhU

It looks like it was fun to make, and it sure is fun to watch. 

Then Silas Farley spoke about his new ballet, 'The Dowland Dances'.  The ballet uses seven pieces by the English composer John Dowland (1563-1626) from the 2006 recording 'Songs from the Labyrinth' by Sting with the lutenist, Edin Karamazov.  Silas said that in addition to the music, he was inspired by court dances of the Elizabethan period -- the gavotte, the galliard, the lavolta.

Silas used eight advanced students -- Anissa Bailis, Jarod Curley, Andrea Fabbri, Jared Kelly, Anastasia Kubanda, Carolynn Rowland, Xhosa Scott, and Samantha Schaubach --in various combinations of solos, duets, trios and more.  One or two dancers would emerge from group patterns for solos or duets, then recede back into the group again.  One dancer's phrase was sometimes elaborated by other dancers in cannon.  Silas has mastered the art of drawing the audience's focus toward specific dance images -- no mean feat in an evenly lit studio where viewers are arrayed in four rows on one long wall with the rest of the space used for the dance.

In 'The Dowland Dances' Silas gives each of the eight dancers opportunities to display their singular capabilities.  All of them seemed fully invested in making their individual moments count while remaining within the context of Silas's complete work.  Is this perhaps part of a trend to eliminate the hierarchy in ballet and fully embrace the concept of 'dances at a gathering' of equals? 

I found the lyrics, sung by Sting, to be a distraction.  You can't easily understand them and concentrating on them detracts from enjoying the dance.  When music, choreography and dancers are all largely unknowns, adding unfamiliar and largely unintelligible lyrics creates another layer of complication.  I would like to have the opportunity to see this work again after listening to the Sting/Karamazov recording (and perhaps seeing the PBS Great Performers program that arose from it).  It would help to have the titles of the seven selections and perhaps their lyrics printed in the program. 

Silas is also an SAB alumnus and NYC Ballet corps dancer.  During his years at SAB, Silas was known as a student who could quickly learn and retain ballet combinations and choreography.  Even before he was eligible to choreograph for the annual Student Choreography Workshop, Silas volunteered to act as a 'ballet master' for the older students.  Since joining NYC Ballet in 2013, Silas has also taught classes at SAB and created pieces for student dancers to perform at the 2013 and 2014 SAB Winter Balls.

Silas Farley teaching an SAB class.  Photo by Rosalie O'Connor

Silas Farley is definitely a talent we'll be watching in the future.