SAB 2015 Student Choreography Workshop

On Saturday, October 10th, we went to The School of American Ballet for the first showing of the 2015 Student Choreography Workshop.  This year 55 students danced in 16 works choreographed by their fellow students.  This is the first time that female choreographers (11) outnumbered male choreographers (5) -- better reflecting the make-up of the School's Advanced Division than in the past.

As in prior years, the ground rules are that the works must be five minutes or less, must use no more than five dancers, and must be created and ready for presentation in a span of less than three weeks.  Choreographers chose their own music --with assistance from Jeff Middleton, SAB's music teacher, if sought.  They select their dancers from among their peers -- dancers can appear in only one work.  I suspect that 'negotiate' may be a more accurate description of this process.  It is up to each choreographer to schedule rehearsal times, book studios, and resolve scheduling conflicts within the 15 hours of studio time they are allotted for rehearsal.

The entire process from application through presentation is overseen by Kay Mazzo, co-chairman of SAB's faculty, and Renee Rossi, the School's artistic coordinator.  

Christina Clark (right) giving pointers to Gianna Reisen and Kennard Henson.

All photos by Rosalie O'Connor for The School of Aamerican Ballet

The workshop was presented three times -- first on Saturday afternoon, October 10th, for faculty, staff, and volunteers of the School, participants' families and fellow students; the following Wednesday, October 14th, as part of 'A Fall Affair', a benefit evening for The School's younger patrons; and then on Thursday evening, October 15th, for SAB's major donors.

Every year the resulting ballets provide astonishing testament to the talents of SAB's students as both choreographers and dancers.  While every person in the audience probably had clear favorites, here are my thoughts on all 16 works.

• Christina Clark chose the first movement (Allegro moderato) of J. S. Bach's 'Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWW 1041' for the dancers Justine Flores, Gianna Reisen, Thomas Davidoff, and Kennard Henson.  She responded to the jaunty rhythms of this music with correspondingly bright, complex movements which showed off her dancers speed and clarity.

  

  Gianna Reisen in Christina Clark's piece.

Justine Flores and Kennard Henson in Christina Clark's work.

• Courtney Nitting worked with the familiar 'Winter' movement (Allegro non molto) from Antonio Vivaldi's 'Concerto for Violin, Strings and Continuo in F Minor' -- aka 'The Four Seasons'.  Courtney's dancers were herself and Marc LaPierre.  She was the only student to choreograph a piece on herself and I kept wondering how much that simplified the rehearsal process.  It was a lovely piece that responded in interesting ways to its score.

Courtney Nitting in her own piece.

Marc LaPierre in Courtney Nitting's piece.

• Paul Hindemith's 'Capriccio in A Major' from his 'Three Pieces for cello and piano' was a challenging choice of music for Taylor Ayotte.  She added to the complexity by selecting the very tall redhead, Lily Cascells, and two shorter men, Adrian Pasten and Noah Strand.  Ms. Ayotte met these challenges with a quirky, capricious work.

Lily Casscells in Taylor Ayotte's Hindemith piece.

• Christopher D'Ariano selected 'Bounce Bounce' and 'Sink' composed and played by the violinist, Hilary Hahn, and the pianist, Hauschka, on a prepared piano.  The pieces are propulsive and repetitive and Christopher's choreography for Christina Clark and Saskia de Muinck Keizer was by turns skittish and assertive.

Saskia de Muinck Keizer with Christina Clark (left) in Christopher D'Ariano piece.

• To 'Paestigium' by Stefano Ianne, Gilbert Bolden III created an intense, virtuosic piece for Larisa Nugent, Darius Black and Roman Mejia.  There was a short break in the music which Gil used for a lovely grouping of the three dancers that seemed like the perfect conclusion -- but, it was a false ending.  The audience applauded, drowning out the resumption of the music and dancing, leaving us feeling sheepish and confused.  Still the piece utilized the talents of three wonderful dancers who danced with poise and elan.

Larissa Nugent in Gilbert Bolden III's work to Stefano Ianne's 'Praistigium'.

Roman Mejia in Gilbert Bolden III's work to Stefano Ianne's 'Praistigium'.

• Isabella Carroll chose the second movement (Allegro molto) from Gabriel Faure's 'Piano Quartet #2 in G Minor' for her dancers, Taylor Ayotte, Emily Helman, Devon Malin and Trevor Dines.  The music features a fractured piano melody over a turbulent, often plucked, string background.  Ms. Carroll offered an energetic, yet nuanced, response for her dancers -- displaying their speed and stamina.

Taylor Ayotte and Trevor Dines in Isabella Carroll's Faure piece.

Taylor Ayotte and Emily Helman jete in Isabella Carroll's work to Faure.

• Adrian Pasten offered some tonal relief from the long series of intensely allegro pieces with his setting of Sergei Rachmaninov's 'Elegie in E flat Minor' for his five dancers -- Jennifer Hackbarth, Erin McAvoy, Lily Wheatley, Dallas Finley and Ethan Fuller.  The music is reflective and relatively slow, giving Adrian's dancers a chance for some lovely adagio partnering, while the skittering undercurrent offered opportunities for quirky passages as well.

Dallas Finlay and Lily Wheatley in Adrian Pasten's work.

Jennifer Hackbarth, Erin McAvoy, and Lily Wheatley in the Pasten piece.

Jennifer Hackbarth and Ethan Fuller (Erin McAvoy behind) in Adrian Pasten's Rachmaninov work.

• Lily Casscells took on the Third Movement (Allegro) from Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto #2 -- music used by Alexei Ratmansky in 2008 (for both NYC Ballet and ABT) and by Kenneth MacMillan in 1966 (initially for the Berlin Opera Ballet and later for the Royal Ballet) and therefore familiar to many of us in the audience. Although her dancers were sometimes spread too far apart across SAB's Studio #1, Lily's choreography was extremely musical.  Lily's five dancers -- Eliza Blutt, Hailey Dupont, Jonathan Alexander, Jonathan Fahoury, and Xhosa Scott -- responded to the breathless music with style and airborne virtuosity.

Hailey Dupont, Xhosa Scott, and Eliza Blutt in Lily Cascells work.

Jonathan Alexander, Eliza Blutt, Xhosa Scott, Hailey Dupont,
 and Jonathan Fahoury  spread out in the Cascells work.

Jonathan Fahoury in the Cascells work.

• Using the effervescent final movement (Allegro fugato) from Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata #5 for Cello and Piano in D Major, Katherine Deuitch created a playful romp for Isabella Carroll, Rachel Costin, and Wilson Livingston.  Katherine used the contrast between the two instruments and the passing back and forth of the fugue from piano to cello as the basis for her choreography.

Katherine Deuitch working with Isabella Carroll and Wilson Livingston on her Beethoven piece.

Rachel Costin in the Katherine Deuitch piece.

• Jonathan Alexander set selections from Arthur Honneger's 'Toccata and Variations for Piano' on his dancers: Gabriela Schiefer, Mark Cudihee, and Andres Zuniga.  The music was written when Honneger was still a music student at the Conservatoire de Paris and reflects the influence of J. S. Bach in its structure and of Honneger's teacher, Vincent d'Indy, in its harmonics.  Jonathan effectively mined the contrasting rhythms and moods of the three-section Toccata (and also I believe the rather intense Variation I) for his choreography.  He also integrated the abilities and personalities of his three dancers effectively -- especially Ms. Schiefer's musicality.

Gabriella Schiefer and Mark Cudihee in Jonathan Alexander's work.

Andres Zuniga in Jonathan Alexander's piece to Honegger's 'Toccata'.

• Gianna Reisen choreographed a duet for Emma Von Enck and Christopher D'Ariano to 'Ford's Farm' composed by Mason Bates for the violinist, Hilary Hahn.  The acerbic, folk-flavored music for violin and piano honors Henry Ford who was an amateur violinist as well as a pioneering automaker.  Gianna uses it for a clever pas de deux which Emma and Christopher danced with wit, style and elegance.

Emma Von Enck and Christopher D'Ariano in Gianna Reisen's work.

• Rachel Costin chose a propulsive piece for string quartet -- 'Caixa de Dolcos' by Chiel Meijering -- for her four dancers -- Ana Maria Delmar, Phoebe Klett, Jennifer Pauker, and Michael Garcia.  There's a breathless quality to the music that Rachel captured nicely with her four dancers.

Rachel Costin working with Phoebe Klett and Michael Garcia during rehearsals.

• 'Run' by Ludovico Einaudi begins as a contemplative piece for piano and strings with a burbling undercurrent that then builds in intensity.  Saskia de Muinck Keizer used it for a lovely pas de trois for Emily Ireland, Josephine King, and Gilbert Bolden III. 

Gilbert Bolden III and Emily Ireland rehearsing
 Saskia de Muinck Keizer's piece.

Josephine King and Gil Bolden rehearsing.

• Eliza Blutt used the third movement from Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's 'Quintet for Strings and Piano'.  Her dancers were India Bradley, Nieve Corrigan, and Nathan Compiano. After the rather anguished opening the choreography, like the music, was spikey, angular and energetic. 

India Bradley in Eliza Blutt's piece.

Nieve Corrigan and Nathan Compiano in the Eliza Blutt work.

• Emily Helman used the second movement (Scherzo - allegro) from Johannes Brahms 'Piano Quartet in C Minor' for her piece.  Katerine Deuitch and Ally Helman (Emily's sister) were her dancers.  The scherzo format uses repeating sections -- in this case ABABA (I think) -- that allowed Emily opportunites to recapitulate and expand choreographic motifs.

Emily Helman worked with Ally Helman and Katherine Deuitch.

• Nathan Compiano produced the absolute highlight of the program to the 'Sacrificial Dance' from Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring'.  Nathan selected five women -- Lily-Frances Cosgrove, Gariella Domini, Kristina Hadjipetkov, Mary Thomas Mackinnon, and Marie Millard.  The work begins with the five women dancing in unison often with pointes stabbing the floor.  Gradually, Ms. Millard is isolated from the other four women, who continue to dance as a coordinated group as the music grows more insistently frenetic.  At the final chord Marie throws herself head first at the audience -- caught by the other four just in the nick of time in a vivid final image of flailing limbs.

Nathan Compiano's cast: Lily-Frances Cosgrove, Mary Thomas Mackinnon, Marie Millard, Kristina Hadjipetkov, and Gabriella Domini

Lily-Frances Cosgrove, Mary Thomas Mackinnon, Gabriella Domini, and Kristina Hadjipetkov rehearsing Nathan Compiano's piece to Stravinsky's 'Sacrificial Dance: The Rite of Spring'.

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The range of music chosen by these student choreographers is amazing -- from Bach and Vivaldi in the early 18th century right up to music composed in the early 21st century -- six of the 16 pieces used music composed in the last decade.  The young choreographers ability to analyze these often complex scores and create equally complex dances for them demonstrates their inherent and acquired musicality.

With 15 of the 16 choreographers also dancing in another choreographer's work there must be lots of logistics issues to resolve -- four of the works used two other choreographers as dancers.  The two-week rehearsal period must have been especially hectic and required diplomatic and logistical skills as well as musical and dance acuity.

I always wonder how much input the student dancers have to their peers' choreography and how much the choreographers simply impose what they want on their dancers -- are the choreographers collaborators or dictators or a bit of both?   Certainly in all of the works on this program the dancers were shown to their advantage -- perhaps they are chosen by their choreographers because they display these qualities each day in class, but probably they are also given opportunities to develop them during the choreographic process.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall in those rehearsal studios where it all came together for this impressive program.

Once again, we are beholden to Nancy Norman Lassalle for endowing these annual workshops and to Cynthia and Leon Polsky for their continuing financial support.  Their generosity gives all 55 of these students rare opportunities to participate in the act of creation as dancers, choreographers, and sometimes both.