Beautiful Beast, Innovation at It's Best

Sidra Bell premiered her new piece at DMAC-DUO Multicultural Arts Center on May 12th 2010. I had never seen any of her work before so I didn't have any notions of what I would be witnessing. Much to my surprise, I was blown away. The house was intimate but elegant and there was a dancer on stage setting the mood for the night while the audience found their seats. I was interested to say the least.
The dancers were crisp and precise, languid but controlled, and engulfed in their role most completely. Sidra's movements spoke eloquently through here dancers as they transcribed the story she was telling to me. It was borderline ritualistic, vaudevillesque, witty, with a splash of sex. Definitely my favorite performance in NYC to date. I want more as soon as possible.

Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi Ballet

Yes, that’s right. Lady Gaga and the Bolshoi Ballet are performing on the same stage, the same night, in the same piece – at the 30th Anniversary Gala of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles on November 14th. This partnership is so obvious that I’m ashamed I didn’t see it coming. Perhaps it’s standard for Hollywood celebrities to attend gala events for LA arts and cultural institutions, but if I lived in La-la land, I’d be eager to see this unique pairing of a young, outspoken pop star and Russia’s most disciplined, classically trained ballet dancers performing in a contemporary art space. The outcome of this overly ambitious event: unpredictable.

Consciousness As A Dance

This week, the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival will present the innovative choreographer William Forsythe and his Frankfurt-based company in the US premiere of Forsythe’s Decreation. Inspired by an essay by poet Anne Carson, Forsythe used Carson’s writing as a starting point to explore, in choreographic terms, the poet’s thesis of the dissolution of the self in order to create space for something new. According to The Forsythe Company’s website, “Sound is transformed, weeps and soars through the throats, the bodies, which move in a constant, oblique tension.” In Decreation, the dancers interact with onstage cameras, their own projected images, and one another as they explore the progression of the soul.

In addition to seeing The Forsythe Company at BAM, the public has a chance to see William Forsythe in conversation at the New York Public Library on Friday, October 9th at 1 PM. Forsythe and the cognitive scientist Alva Noe will discuss consciousness as a kind of dance, as something that we engage in as opposed to something that occurs inside our brain.

The Power Of Propulsion, Wicked Movements

The performances are provocative, political and personal, where a surprisingly familiar world is portrayed. The musicians and dancers play on stage together. A combination of energetic and sometimes staccato movement complements the percussive score in Uprising, while haunting strings and powerful drums dominate the activity in In your Rooms. The Times’ Debra Craine says that, "Shechter’s piece lifts the lid on secrets, peering into the dark recesses where we hide our fears and insecurities, our most private emotions." Sound powerful? It is, just watch for yourself. Simply wicked!!!

Ballet Is Sexy

The publicity Wheeldon has received from The New York Times, New York Magazine, the BBC and others has consistently emphasized that Wheeldon seeks to prove that ballet=sexy. Most people think of ballet as tutus and a rather dull presentation of meaningless movement. Morphoses is pure prowess of movement and the ability of that movement to pique a viewer’s aesthetic interest and emotional reaction.

In Program One- There Where She Loved, Vicissitude and Slingerland
I'm never surprised by the ingenuity of Wheeldon’s works, particularly the creativity he brings to partnering. What was surprising was seeing Dance of the Hours, the “mockery ballet” danced by Ashley Bouder and Gonzalo Garcia. This is what most non-aficionados probably associate with ballet- cheesy smiles and bejeweled tutus. The piece ends with Gonzalo doing a bunch of grande pirouettes à la seconde with Bouder circling him with piquè turns. This is the ballet equivalent of a novel ending with “and they lived happily ever after” in that it’s trivial and tired.

The next and last piece of the program, Fools’ Paradise confirmed that yes, its inclusion was paramount. The juxtaposition between Hours and Paradise proved that ballet can be unquestionably sexy. Paradise began with shiny paper falling behind the scrim, eerily illuminated by boom lights. The movement was delicate and profound and ended with all nine phenomenally beautiful dancers attached to one another in a pyramid like sculpture of legs, pointe shoes, arms and fingers, all lifted and interlaced. Joby Talbot’s ‘Dying Swan’ orchestration added an overwhelming elegiac quality to the entire piece.

Wheeldon proved with Paradise that ballet is not just sexy, ballet can be a patois more powerful than language. Watching a beautiful ballet like Paradise can feel like finding your center when it’s otherwise lost. It can be an expression of sentiments so intensely intimate they cannot be expressed to family, a close friend, or a lover. This is dance. Wheeldon undoubtedly accomplishes this in his ballets and the debut of Morphoses is not only an extraordinary success but a true ‘Revolution in Tights.’

Taipei Gala

Directed by Tzar-Shing Wang, the third International Ballet Star Gala has announced an impressive line-up of dancers from major companies around the world. The program offers a variety of classical pas de deux such as White Swan with ENB's Daria Klimentova and Stuttgart's Friedman Vogel(who also performs a Manon pas de deux) and Copelia with Bridgett Zehr and Zdenek Konvalina(who will also dance Prokofiev Pas de Deux), as well as more contemporary pieces like Forsynth's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated pey performed by Sofiane Sylve and Simon Ball (also presenting Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux).
Fireworks are guaranteed courtesy of Ashlely Bouder and Daniil Simkin in Flames of Paris and Le Corsaire, while excerpts of two David Dawson ballets-Giselle and Grey Area, will be danced by Yumiko Takeshima and Raphael Coumes-Marquet from Dresden. Elisa Carillo Cabrera and Mikhail Kaniskin will give a taste of Kazimir's Colours and the Grand Pas de Deux, while the Paris Opera's Isabelle Ciaravola and Herve Moreau will offer duets from La Dame aux camelias and Mahler's Third Symphony. The gala takes place in Taipei's National Theatre on August 22, 2009. www.balletstargala.com

Why Boarding School?

As intensives wind down at the end of summer, you may be dreading the return home, where you get to dance only a couple of hours a day. What's the next step when you are ready to immerse yourself in your training full-time? Top ballet boarding schools can offer world renowned faculty, intense schedules, state-of-the-art facilities and the company of peers with a shared passion. But what are the factors to weigh before deciding if training away from home is a good idea for you?
For starters, ask yourself:
Does the school feed into a company that I would like to dance for?
Who are the faculty?
What percentage of students dance professionally after graduation?
What percent goes to college dance programs?
What is the academic program like?
If you want to be a professional dancer, boarding school can wipe years off your training time. You are immersed in an environment with people who are extremely focused, students who want to be dancers, rather than students whose parents want them to dance. Oftentimes the ones who have had to fight the hardest to be there are the ones who are most prepared to leave home. They have already dealt with the resistance and feel strongly enough to have made it there. If you are passionate, committed, open-minded and learn everything you can, you will be successful. It's the best way to keep all your doors open