The “Trojan War of Massed Energies” Reviewed
October 31, 2007
Joan Acocella wrote an insightful and honest review of Morphoses for this week’s New Yorker. A ballet and dance writing veteran, Joan has written myriad reviews for the New Yorker and the New York Times, but this is one of her better ones. As she says in her article, movement is ballet’s medium, so describing and writing about ballet is incredibly difficult- especially a powerful ballet. But Joan captures exactly what makes Morphoses remarkable.
“A ballet, to have a story, doesn’t need to show us somebody falling in love or getting killed. The story may be just a tone, or a kind of encounter between two people.”
I thought that at the end of the “Je Ne T’Aime Pas” pas de deux at the end of There Where She Loved Maria Kowroski scorned her lover, not the other way around, but otherwise, Acocella gets it right.
Read it here: The Newcomer
This week’s New Yorker reviews not just new works by one of our favorite choreographers, but also new works by our favorite composer, Philip Glass: The Endless Scroll
Stand up, sit down, shout, let it all out!
October 27, 2007
This Op-Ed piece in yesterday’s NY Times got me really excited, and I strongly suggest that you read it. It talks about “the indivisibility of movement and sound” and humans’ natural tendency to move when we hear music. The author, who is a professor of music and psychology at McGill University, mentions the brain scans that he has conducted and which have shown that the motor cortex is active during music listening. Additionally, he discusses how “civilized” behavior has prevented people from moving freely when listening to music, especially in public places.
So, sound stimulates movement. No wonder I can’t stand still when I’m listening to music! It just feels “natural” to move! In a dance composition class I took at Barnard, I was asked to dance in silence, and even to choreograph without music. While it was interesting (and challenging!) to explore the idea of creating movement in silence, I always felt a little awkward. Movement can definitely be initiated from within, but for me, music is what gets the choreographic and improvisational juices flowing. The Op-Ed piece points out that music and dance have occurred together “through tens of thousands of years of evolutionary history”, so why would we try to separate them? When listening to music in public places – walking down the street, in a clothing store, on a bus, etc – have you ever had the desire to jump up and down, shimmy your shoulders, do a bunch of pirouettes, or a huge grand jeté, but then restrained yourself because it wasn’t “normal”? I know I have!
I think that people are naturally movers, but social norms and self-consciousness force us to limit our physical movement. At music concerts (and I mean everything from the NY Philharmonic to Justin Timberlake), the audience would be more actively engaged in and part of the performance if they felt comfortable dancing to the music. And not just tapping their feet or nodding their heads, but using their whole body to express themselves. Plus, they’d probably enjoy the concert more, too. Think about this: tons of subway riders listen to ipods without moving at all, but wouldn’t mass transportation be more fun and interesting if we danced to our respective soundtracks? The subway would be one crazy dance party!
Dance Photography
October 26, 2007
Damian Woetzel and Maria Kowroski in Eliot Feld’s The Unanswered Question
photo by Paul Kolnik
About two years ago, at a New York City Ballet winter season performance, I ended up sitting in the viewing box for dancers’ guests and friends after a company member donated his un-used tickets to the box office. I gladly traded in my 3rd ring student rush ticket for the viewing box, which is in the orchestra. Directly to my left was a man who was busy setting up his camera and flipping through the program to review that evening’s cast. I guess he saw me studying the camera – and wondering who he was – because he then smiled and said, “Hi, I’m Paul Kolnik and I take photographs for the company. I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be snapping a lot of photos throughout the evening”. For the next few minutes he showed me his camera and explained that he was photographing the performance because several dancers were making debuts in their roles. Throughout the performance, I heard the clicking of his camera at least a hundred times, which had me guessing exactly which moment of the ballet he was trying to capture. In fact, he watched the entire performance through his camera lens!
Mr. Kolnik was clearly focused on taking the best photographs possible for the company, which is certainly admirable. Since my eyes tend to zip about the stage in an effort to absorb everything, I’m not sure I would be a very good dance photographer. But I really appreciate and admire the people who have the focus and skill to capture dancers on camera. When the monthly issue of Dance Magazine arrives in the mail, or when I receive brochures about upcoming dance performances, I admit that the first thing I do is skim them for photographs. Above is a beautiful photograph taken by Kolnik of Maria Kowroski and Damian Woetzel in Eliot Feld’s The Unanswered Question.
It is worth noting that Kyle Froman, a long-time NYCB corps member, has just released a book called In the Wings, which is filled with photographs that he has taken from backstage at NYCB. I think these behind-the-scenes photos will be just as beautiful and interesting as the photos that Kolnik takes from the audience.
Power, baby
October 25, 2007
He’s one of the most unique choreographers and his movement is ferocious and intense. He’s become a hip-hop choreography icon in the last few years, choreographing for Britney, dancing to Justin and appearing on every cover of virtually every Dance magazine. But let’s face it- Wade Robson is enthralling.
A few weeks ago Wade appeared dancing his own choreography in a “circus inspired” piece on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. I was completely transfixed. I particularly like the balloons. And the Umbrellas. And the music.
Check it out on youtube (below) or for much higher quality, watch the show on ABC (which I highly suggest you do!). Robson’s piece aired on the October 16th show about 20 minutes in.
Wade also has a pretty sweet commercial for his own brand of dance shoes. Power, baby.
Watch it on ABC!!!
More on Morphoses (Program 2)
October 23, 2007
Program 2 of Morphoses showcased a variety of choreographers, with works by Wheeldon opening and closing the performance. The highlight for me was Morphoses, one of Wheeldon’s signature pieces, originally choreographed for NYCB in 2002. Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall were completely in touch with one another as they moved effortlessly from one unthinkable shape to the next. I had seen this piece performed at NYCB a few times, but this time I was particularly struck by the fluidity of the dancers as they “morphed”. Near the beginning of the ballet, the four dancers hold hands as they flex or arch their backs and use different levels to form twisted shapes and knots. The continuous movement of this part of the piece was amazing, and reminded me of those hypnotic screensavers of a three-dimensional box that changes shapes and colors. Sterling Hyltin replaced Ashley Bouder, and although she performed remarkably well, there were a few moments of strain in the partnering with Edwaard Liang. Overall, the combination of sophisticated dancers and remarkable choreography was superb.
Liang’s Vicisstude, which was also on Program 1, was even more enjoyable after the second viewing. The pas de deux gave both dancers the opportunity to showcase their strengths: for Maria Kowroski, her beautiful, long lines and expressive upper body, and for Tyler Angle, his grace, superb partnering ability, and excellent jump.
Propeller and Satie Stud were two brief pieces that involved a lot of posing and not a lot of movement. I thought that both pieces lacked flow and connections from one shape or pose to the next. While Propeller certainly offered some unusual lifts, the piece seemed to be more about testing the dancers’ physical strength for shock value, rather than about incorporating these unusual lifts into an organic whole.
Slingerland Pas de Deux, choreographed by William Forsythe, was also on Program 1, but this time with Aesha Ash and Gonzalo Garcia performing. They danced with passion and lyricism, and seemed to invite the audience into their dancing. On the other hand, Wendy Whelan and Edwaard Liang performed the piece with more sharpness and precision, and they remained distanced from the audience, making the piece seem more mysterious. I liked both interpretations equally, and think it’s great to see what different dancers bring to a piece.
The performance closed with Mesmerics, a Wheeldon piece for three men and three women, with six cellists on stage playing Philip Glass. The piece involved a lot of changing pairings, with one couple exiting the stage and quickly being replaced by another. Adrian Danchig-Waring of NYCB definitely stood out because of his power, intensity, and incredibly expansive arms. He also looked more grounded than in the past, dancing with the floor rather than a few inches above it.
The expectations for Morphoses were high, perhaps too high. Rather than saying that my expectations were or weren’t met, I would say that overall I was impressed with the choreography, the balance of the programs, and the artistry and technique of the dancers. More importantly, I think the performances showed raw, emotional physicality and choreography that’s sexy, which is exactly what Wheeldon wants Morphoses to be.
