Secretary of Arts: Good or Bad?
January 30, 2009
Two weeks ago I posted about an online petition in support of a cabinet-level arts official, along with a link to an article quoting arts leader Michael Kaiser, who is in favor of this. Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article by David A. Smith, who sharply opposes the creation of a cabinet-level position. Although he recognizes that arts institutions are struggling now more than ever, Smith states that centralization is not the best way to address the problem. He writes, “It’s a fallacy to move from that idea to the prescription that all government arts policy should be centralized and placed within a cabinet-level Department of Culture.” Furthermore, he argues that comparing a department of culture to other existing departments is futile:
“Many will say (often in a testy voice) that the arts deserve a cabinet-level presence because they are just as important to the country as the Defense Department. While that’s something of an apples and oranges comparison, the deeper problem is that it assumes that the country’s defense and its arts can be furthered via the same sort of bureaucratic means. But while our nation’s defense would collapse in the absence of the centralized power of our Defense Department, having a Department of Culture – or even a “Cultural Czar,” to use that awful label we’ve apparently become so fond of – would be neither an effective nor necessary way to guarantee the health of cultural expression in America.”
I agree with Smith that art is a “more individualistic enterprise” than many other activities, but Kaiser points out that “leaving the arts organizations to themselves”, as is currently the case, results in too many divisions “among many offices”. An arts official with a policy role would serve as a spokesperson for organizations, promoting increased support and cultural diplomacy. We need someone to ensure that the arts aren’t continually placed on the back burner, but, as Kaiser rightly notes, Congress is unlikely to create another department because of the cost. So, how do we save a struggling and neglected cultural environment?
Club Midnight: Flesh into Light
January 28, 2009
Tasha Taylor in Amy Greenfield's "Spirit in the Flesh"
This weekend, Symphony Space will present award-winning director and producer Amy Greenfield’s three-part multimedia event “Club Midnight: Flesh into Light“. The evening will begin with the expanded version of Greenfield’s award-winning film “Club Midnight”, which transforms the erotic dancer’s art into lyrically inspired films. The premieres of “Live Tides” and “Spirit in the Flesh” will follow. “Spirit in the Flesh” unites Leonard Nimoy’s photography book, Shekhina (which, in Kaballah, is an all-encompassing female power of creativity and healing) with film, dance, music, and spoken word. The piece has been designed specifically for the Thalia Theater, and features music by Philip Glass, Einsturzende Neubauten, Lee Hazlewood, and Dennis Hopper.
You can learn more about this event at the Club Midnight website or at Amy Greenfield’s blog, Cinema Body.
January 30th and 31st, 7:30 and 9:30 PM each night
Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater
Symphony Space
Broadway at 95th Street
Order tickets online or call 212.864.5400
Jordan Clarke’s Vanilla Strawberry
January 26, 2009
Ever since coming across Jordan Clarke’s videos on Vimeo, I’ve enjoyed observing how he integrates movement, color, light, sound, and speed into his films. His latest video (above) is to “Knickerbocker” by Fujiya & Miyagi.
Miami City Ballet at City Center
January 25, 2009
Miami City Ballet in Tharp's "In the Upper Room", photo by Michael Nagle
Last Wednesday, Miami City Ballet performed for the first time in Manhattan at New York City Center. Artistic Director Edward Villella, a former New York City Ballet principal who founded MCB in 1984, chose two Balanchine ballets and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room for the opening night program. It’s understandable that Villella would want to showcase his company in Balanchine works – many of which he learned from the choreographer himself – since it’s considered an accomplishment for any company to perform Balanchine. But NYCB’s winter season is under way, providing New Yorkers with a wealth of Balanchine repertoire, and American Ballet Theatre always performs some Balanchine works in its fall season at City Center. Isn’t New York City ready for something fresh and new? As interesting as it is to watch another company interpret Balanchine’s ballets, I would have liked to see Miami City Ballet dancers in newer works by other choreographers.
Symphony in Three Movements, set to Stravinsky’s score of the same title, looked a bit crammed into the City Center stage, but the sixteen women in the corps were a crisp ensemble and maintained solid formations (there are many in this ballet). The recorded music – due to financial limitations – did not enhance the score’s urgency, nor did it allow the dancers to always show their musicality. In the lead pas de deux, Jeremy Cox and Jennifer Carlynn Kronenberg provided the most playful interpretation I’ve seen of this choreography, and setting aside their stiffness, they performed brightly and made the most of the limited space. However, this ballet really belongs in the larger New York State Theater, where it premiered in 1972.
Balanchine’s La Valse, set to Maurice Ravel’s menacing score, goes from mysteriously intriguing to unbearably melodramatic, ending with a Death figure claiming the life of a young woman (Deanna Seay) waltzing in a ballroom. Yet, the story matches the absorbing score, and the dancers were equally dramatic. The men, however, gave much weaker technical performances than the women. And the lighting, particularly in the opening scene, was too bright – not portraying the mystery and allure of Balanchine’s ballroom.
The program closed with Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room. When this marathon of a ballet – set to Philip Glass’s pulsing score – is performed well, it can transport me to another realm. This last occurred in 2006 when ABT performed Room at City Center. Unfortunately, Miami City Ballet’s performance left a lot to be desired. Too much fog at the beginning made it impossible to see the striking opening movement, which is repeated throughout the ballet. While certain dancers had mastered Tharp’s relentlessly fast and complex movement (especially Alex Wong and Jeanette Delgado), others lacked power and intention, and ran out of steam during the riveting climax of the piece. Room is all about fierceness, and Tharp herself calls the three men in sneakers “stompers” and the women in pointe shoes a “bomb squad”. But without power and incessant energy, Tharp’s masterpiece loses the phenomenal effect that I know it can have on the audience.
New York City Ballet: All Robbins
January 22, 2009
Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall in "The Cage", photo by Paul Kolnik
Last spring, New York City Ballet celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Jerome Robbins’ death with the Jerome Robbins Celebration. This season, the company pays tribute to the choreographer with the “All Robbins” program, which will be performed for the last time on Saturday afternoon. The four ballets cover a range of musical choices and are performed in the order in which they premiered, spanning from 1945 to 1983.
Interplay is a playful piece, set to Morton Gould’s American Concertette, for four men and four women in brightly colored costumes. The dancers flirt with one another, horse around, and do cartwheels, but this is all interspersed with stylized movement that compliments the jazzy score. At one point, the dancers compete to see who can perform the most sophisticated moves. Sean Suozzi was at ease in Free Play, and Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild were excellent in a romantic, lighthearted duet. Interplay is clearly a product of the 1940s, but it still seems fresh in 2009.
Perhaps one of Robbins’ most bizarre ballets is The Cage (set to Stravinsky’s urgent Concerto in D for String Orchestra), which depicts a tribe of female creatures who kill after mating. Rebecca Krohn is an aggressive Queen in command of the pack of fierce, messy-haired women, who move in unison as they stretch open their mouths and creepily crawl across the stage. But the most intriguing creature is the Novice, played by Wendy Whelan. Contorting her muscular limbs into angular shapes while mercilessly attacking Sébastien Marcovici, Whelan looks at home in the quirky movement. I cannot imagine any other dancer more vividly interpreting this role.
If I had been told that Four Bagatelles were a Balanchine ballet, I would have believed it, for it is so simple and different from the Robbins ballets I’ve seen. The piece is set to four of Beethoven’s bagatelles – short piano pieces – beautifully played by Nancy McDill. Wearing a green tulle skirt and corset, Tiler Peck showed a new softness in her dancing that I hadn’t noticed in previous seasons. Her delicate, airy movement matched the music, particularly when she seamlessly glided across the stage in her solo. Gonzalo Garcia was buoyant, expansive, and proved to be an elegant partner with a superb sense of timing. The movement itself was not particularly innovative, but Peck and Garcia emphasized the nuances to make this ballet thoroughly enjoyable.
Gonzalo Garcia and Tiler Peck in Four Bagatelles, photo by Paul Kolnik
According to Deborah Jowitt’s program notes, Robbins did not think I’m Old Fashioned was worthy of Fred Astaire, whose duet with Rita Hayworth in the 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier was the inspiration for the ballet. In a way, he was right. The balletic version of the duet is boring, especially since Astaire and Hayworth’s more interesting duet is shown on a large screen behind the dancers. While there is a visible motif in the theme and variations, the ballet goes on for far too long to hold the audience’s interest. Another Robbins classic, such as West Side Story Suite, Glass Pieces, or even The Concert, would have been a more engaging close to the performance.
