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. 

American Ballet Theatre -- Sunday,November 2, 2014

On Sunday afternoon, November 2nd, we went to the State Theater for American Ballet Theatre's matinee.  There were some casting changes announced at the start of the program, but the p.a. system is so mushy that I couldn't catch the changes -- here's what was in the printed program:

Sinfonietta (Jiri Kylian/Leos Janacek)
       Company

Bach Partitia (Twyla Tharp/Johann Sebastian Bach)
       Misty Copeland, Gillian Murphy, Stella Abrera, James Whiteside, Marcelo Gomes,
       Calvin Royal III
       Violin Soloist: Charles Yang

Gaite Parisienne (Leonide Massine/Jacques Offenbach)
     Hee Seo, Isadora Loyola, Herman Cornejo, Marcelo Gomes

Jiri Kylian's 'Sinfonietta' choreographed to Leos Janacek's music of the same name was first staged for Nederlands Dans Theater in 1978 and premiered at ABT in 1991.  It is danced
by 14 dancers against a backdrop of a stylized landscape of a low plain surmounted by a clear blue sky.  The men wear loose shirts and tights and the women wear knee-length dresses of various colors with soft shoes.  The set and costumes for ABT's production are by Walter Nobbe.

Cast in the final moments of Jiri Kylian's 'Sinfonietta'.  Photo by MIRA from ABT website

The orchestra, conducted by Charles Barker, is augmented by a brass choir of 10 musicians on the stage aprons during the first and fifth (final) movements.  The sound was glorious and provided a strong platform for the dance.

Created nine years after Robbins' 'Dances at a Gathering', the format of this work is hardly original -- a group of dancers coming together in various combinations to interact and celebrate their connection to the earth.  Yet it is viewed as Kylian's masterpiece. 

Much of the cast swirls on and off stage in the four outer movements.  The central movement is a pas de six for three couples -- Veronika Part with Blaine Hoven, Devon Teuscher with Thomas Forster, and Isabella Boylston with Calvin Royal III (according to the printed program).  Each couple sometimes danced independently of the others; sometimes two couples danced the same steps while the third danced different steps.  Since we don't know the ABT dancers very well, it's hard to pick out any dancer for special recognition, but the overall work struck me as disappointing and the level of dancing as unexceptional.

ABT dancers in Santo Loquasto's costumes for Twyla Tharp's 'Bach Partita'.  Photo by Gene Schiavone

Twyla Tharp's 'Bach Partita' was choreographed in 1983 for ABT to Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Solo Violin'.  It was revived in 2013 by Susan Jones.  The Bach was played in the pit by Charles Yang -- I'm sure played very well, but solo violin music is not a great favorite of ours -- more to be endured than enjoyed. 

The costumes by Santo Loquasto are incredibly unattractive -- short skirts and sleeveless tops for the women; short shorts with sweater vests over T-shirts for the men, all in beige and dove grey; knee-length dance dresses in mouse brown for the 16-woman corps that appears in the final movement.

There are three principal couples -- Misty Copeland with James Whiteside in the first movement; Gillian Murphy with Marcelo Gomes in the second; and Stella Abrera with Calvin Royal III in the fourth.  The third movement is a pas de six for the three couples.  In the first movement Copeland and Whiteside are joined by four demi couples who also appear with Murphy and Gomes in the second movement.  In the fourth movement, Abrera and Royal are joined by three different demi couples.  In the fifth movement the three principal couples are joined by all seven demi-couples and the corps of 16 women.

Stella Abrera with Calvin Royal III, Gillian Murphy with Marcelo Gomes, and
Misty Copeland with James Whiteside in the third movement of Tharp's 'Partita'.   Photo by Darren Thoms

Tharp's choreography is less quirky and mischievous than much of her work for ABT during the Baryshnikov era (1980-1989).  The blips and squiggles that often seem so effortlessly right in her work are kept to a minimum in 'Partita'.

Copeland and Whiteside were limpid in the first movement.

Misty Copeland and James Whiteside in Tharp's 'Partita'.  Photo by Julieta Cervantes for NY Times

Murphy and Gomez danced the second movement with great technical assurance and sensual undercurrents.

Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomez in Tharp's 'Bach Partita'.  Photo by Gene Schiavone

Abrera and Royal bring flair and polish to their fourth movement pas de deux, but they lack rapport.

The seven supporting couples all danced with crispness and enthusiasm;  the 16-woman corps less so (maybe they were thinking 'why do I have to wear this ugly brown dress?').  It was certainly the most interesting choreography of the afternoon and was generally well-danced.

The biggest disappointment of the afternoon was 'Gaite Parisienne'.  The ballet by Leonide Massine to the music of Jacques Offenbach was created in 1938 for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.  It joined the ABT repertory in 1970 (I remember that production fondly because Mimi Paul, a favorite ballerina, danced the Glove Seller).

Michael Smuin as the Peruvian and Mimi Paul as the Glove Seller in the 1970 ABT production of 'Gaite Parisienne'.
Uncredited photo from internet

Wikipedia says of the 1988 ABT production (revived last spring) that it features 'cartoonish sets by Zack Brown and extravagantly patterned and colorful costumes by French fashion designer Christian Lacroix'.  I'll add the designs are chaotic and distracting.

The set features an inner proscenium arch that is too small for the State Theater stage, cutting off views from supposedly full-view seats and adding to the overall clutter of the production. Massine was primarily a choreographer of character, creating movements that define each dancer's identity -- the gauche, antic Peruvian; the preening, supercilious officer; the grandly swanning La Lionne; the shy, insecure Baron; the pushy, competitive Flower Girl; and the confident, ardent Glove Seller -- are clearly drawn by their movements.

Unfortunately, Massine was less assured at using choreography to focus audience attention on specific characters or activities -- a severe handicap in this messy production.  Superstar dancers like Herman Cornejo as the Peruvian and Marcelo Gomes as the Baron are simply swallowed up in the visual chaos.  Cornejo may be a wonderful dancer, but as the Peruvian he just seemed silly.

Herman Cornejo as the Peruvian with the admiring Cocodettes (ladies of the evening)  in 'Gaite Parisienne.
Photo by Andrea Mohin for NY Times

Hee Seo has long, beautiful limbs and an exquisite line, but as the Glove Seller -- a role that is all about glamour and passion -- she is far too restrained and surprisingly unmusical.  She ignored crescendos and climaxes and often seemed a half beat behind the pit.  As the only character en pointe, the Glove Seller really must validate the suitability of this work for the company's repertory. 

Hee Seo as the Glove Seller and Marcelo Gomes as the Baron in 'Gaite Parisienne'.
Photo by Gene Schiavonne

Marcelo Gomes as the Baron is a strong and gallant partner, and the role requires little more.

Secondary characters and groups seemed inadequately rehearsed and danced with little panache or enthusiasm.  The Can-Can Dancers seemed particularly bland in what should be a rowdy dance of extremes.

Charles Barker lead the orchestra in a lovely, nuanced performance of the Offenbach score.  If only the dancers had responded with an equally musical performance on stage the the crazy quilt set and costumes could have been forgiven.  Alas, in their Lacroix creations and with indifferent dancing, the dancers simply added to the visual cacophony.