Works and Process: Two Interpretations of Music by David Lang
October 5, 2010
Last year, the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series commissioned two choreographers, Larry Keigwin and Peter Quanz, to each choreograph a piece to Steve Reich’s Double Sextet. The results were presented side by side at the Guggenheim last September, and provided a refreshing look at two interpretations of the same score.
This year, the concept was repeated with two new choreographers and a new score. Commissioned by Works & Process and Morphoses, Jessica Lang and Pontus Lidberg choreographed to the same piece of music by David Lang over the course of five weeks in a residency at Vineyard Arts Project. It was an experiment in engaging audiences in new music and new dance in a more meaningful way by fostering an immediate exercise in comparing and contrasting. The two pieces premiered at the Guggenheim on October 3rd and 4th. For those who missed it, the Guggenheim created a short video (above) with excerpts from the two pieces. Enjoy!
Morphoses to Adopt a Curatorial Model
February 25, 2010
Morphoses in Christopher Wheeldon’s Rhapsody Fantaisie, photo by Erin Baiano
After an announcement earlier this week about Christopher Wheeldon’s departure from Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, which he established in 2007, the company released a statement today about its plans for the future. Here is the press release:
Lourdes Lopez, co-founder and executive director of Morphoses, announces a new direction for the company following the departure of founding artistic director Christopher Wheeldon, effective February 18, 2010. The company will now be known simply as Morphoses.
“Morphoses will adopt a curatorial model in which the company will invite artists from various disciplines to take on the role of resident artist for one season, leading the company’s artistic vision for that year,” said Ms. Lopez.
The embrace of a curatorial model is a natural evolution and expansion of the company’s mission and vision. To date, more than half of the company’s repertory is comprised of works by a diverse group of emerging and well-known choreographers that include Michael Clark, William Forsythe, Tim Harbour, Adam Hougland, Lightfoot León, Edwaard Liang, Pontus Lidberg, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Liv Lorent, Emily Molnar, Alexei Ratmansky, as well as Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins; the balance of the works were created by Christopher Wheeldon.
Morphoses has become a robust platform for some of the most talented choreographers in contemporary ballet, enabling them to create work with a versatile company of dancers. Collaborators have included such artists as Los Carpinteros, Francisco Costa, Hugo Dalton, Narciso Rodriguez, Joby Talbot, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, and Martha Wainwright.
“Christopher’s artistic vision and talent has helped make Morphoses one of today’s most important dance companies,” said Ms. Lopez.
By adopting this curatorial model, the company will afford artists the opportunity to use Morphoses as a stage to forge dynamic creative partnerships that will produce innovative works for the dance world. This model will enhance the company’s capacity to reach out to a larger, broader audience and engage a younger generation. The company has begun the process of identifying the roster of resident artists for the upcoming seasons and will be announcing plans in the near future.
“In addition to its artistic achievements, Morphoses has established a successful business model and self-sustaining administrative structure that allows the company’s resources to be focused on its artistic goals, bringing forward a new generation of talent to younger audiences,” added Ms. Lopez. Since its founding, Morphoses has achieved artistic and financial success through annual seasons in New York and London, domestic and international touring, and private and institutional support.
“The company has built up a reserve of funds to support the curatorial model,” stated Catherine Gildor, a member of the board of Morphoses. “We see this as validation of the crucial role that Morphoses has taken on in the world of contemporary ballet and are therefore committed to building upon our success.”
Morphoses’ mission is to broaden the scope of classical ballet by emphasizing innovation and fostering creativity through collaboration.
Morphoses, Year Three
November 6, 2009
Morphoses in Christopher Wheeldon’s Rhapsody Fantaisie, photo by Erin Baiano
During its third season at City Center last week, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company offered six ballets over two programs, along with behind-the-scenes videos of the dancers rehearsing at Martha’s Vineyard, live music, and a pre-curtain greeting from Christopher Wheeldon himself. There always seems to be a lot of fuss (both good and bad) over this three-year-old company – the “Ballet=Sexy” motto sparked interest in its first season, high-profile costume designers and dancers got attention in 2008, and this year’s uninspiring videos received criticism for focusing on butterflies and blueberries instead of on the choreographic process – along with speculation about how Wheeldon’s choices shape The Future of Ballet. Once all of the excess is stripped away and the expectations about Wheeldon filling Balanchine’s shoes are set aside, Morphoses appears to be a struggling dance company with flawed programs and inconsistent choreography – not unlike many other contemporary ballet troupes.
Last Friday evening’s program started out strongly with Continuum (2002), part of Wheeldon’s trilogy of works set to music by Gyorgy Ligeti. Featuring four couples, a thornily intriguing piano score, upside down scissoring legs and spidery hands, the work was structurally and choreographically similar to Wheeldon’s 2001 ballet Polyphonia. The geometric partnering was set within a meditative atmosphere that felt otherworldly yet grounded.
Morphoses in Wheeldon’s Continuum, photo by Erin Baiano
Paul Lightfoot and Sol León’s Softly as I Leave You, second on the program, was an insincere, angst-filled portrayal of the end of a relationship. Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk are talented dancers, but this work, which used the unusual pairing of Bach and Arvo Pärt, mainly featured their high extensions and flexible torsos as they struggled in and around a coffin. They deserved better, and so did the audience.
Unfortunately, Wheeldon’s newest work, Rhapsody Fantaisie, was a lackluster close to the program. Set to a lush piano score by Rachmaninoff with a bizarre backdrop of windsocks by Los Carpinteros, six couples in deep red costumes swept through movement that combined ballet vocabulary with folk dance influences and imaginative lifts. But it was all a blur, rushing by so quickly with nothing and nobody catching the eye, except for the radiant Wendy Whelan in a duet with Andrew Crawford. Their pas de deux demonstrated how Wheeldon’s movement is most enlightening when it slows down and allows both the audience and dancers to pause and sink their teeth into his choreographic cornucopia.
Wheeldon recently confessed that he’s uncertain about the future of Morphoses, citing fundraising obstacles and the stress of managing a dance company while also choreographing for it. These are challenges faced by many choreographers who start their own companies, except that Wheeldon was already in the spotlight and gaining plenty of publicity when he founded Morphoses because of his time as a New York City Ballet dancer and resident choreographer. For Wheeldon to abandon Morphoses after such a short amount of time would be cowardly. There are countless other struggling companies – many of which have been around for much longer than three years – that have persisted with fewer resources and smaller budgets than that of Morphoses. The company has been extremely fortunate to have performed at Sadler’s Wells, the Vail International Dance Festival, and City Center over the past three years, and there are plans to tour to several cities internationally in 2010. Performing worldwide is impressive for such a young company, but perhaps Morphoses should focus on smaller, local projects before calling it quits so that Wheeldon can devote his energies to the choreographic process.
San Francisco Ballet at City Center
October 22, 2008
San Francisco Ballet in Helgi Tomasson’s The Fifth Season, photo by Erik Tomasson
San Francisco Ballet‘s engagement at City Center came to a close this weekend after presenting three diverse programs. The two that I saw illustrated artistic director Helgi Tomasson’s dedication to preserving Balanchine classics while incorporating newer choreographic voices, including his own, into the repertoire. Not everything was successful, but one thing was clear: SFB dancers have impeccable technique and clarity of intention, and the men in particular are some of the strongest I’ve ever seen.
One program opened with Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, and the other closed with The Four Temperaments. The former showcased the dancers’ clean lines and pure technique. Frances Chung, in the second variation, had a lovely, engaging presence that made the challenging choreography look effortless. But this ballet felt dated and uncomfortably formal, especially when compared to the black-and-white Four T’s, set to Paul Hindemith’s wonderfully moody Theme with Four Variations for String Orchestra and Piano. I had forgotten how many high leg extensions and battements are in this ballet, all of which were performed with simultaneous control and attack. The highlight, however, was Taras Domitro in the Melancholic variation. Not only did he amaze the audience with his unbelievably flexible back, but he also infused the variation with lyricism, passion, and a subtle spiritual quality. Perhaps he went against Balanchine by showing so much emotion, but it only enhanced his performance.
Mr. Tomasson contributed Concerto Grosso and The Fifth Season back to back on one of the programs. Set to a strings composition by Karl Jenkins, The Fifth Season included a waltz, a romance, a tango, and a largo for a variety of couples. While the dancers – dressed in blue-gray leotards and tights – were in command of the movement, it was unclear what they were attempting to convey, which left me wondering: What exactly is the fifth season? Mr. Tomasson packed as much choreography as possible into the music, but the result was still bland. Concerto Grosso showed the technical prowess of five men who performed a series of solos and duets. They were all superb, and their technical strengths clearly inspired Tomasson enough to make a ballet about just that. Poise, elegance, and artistry played a role, but this was mainly about technique.
Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba in Within the Golden Hour, photo by Erik Tomasson
I had mixed feelings about Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company’s recent season at City Center, so I was prepared to be disappointed by Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour, which he created for SFB last April. But this ballet, set to Ezio Bosso‘s music for strings, revealed the choreographic complexity and emotional depth that reminded me why I’m drawn to Wheeldon’s work. Three pas de deux were framed by ensemble dancing that again emphasized the strength of SFB’s men. Golden lighting, costumes in various earth tones, and Bosso’s mysterious compositions created a delicate, otherworldly atmosphere. At the heart of the ballet was a lyrical duet for Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba that conveyed the distant longing for something far beyond their reach. Wheeldon interwove the music and movement to create a pure, organic whole, with the slow tempo allowing the dancers to luxuriate in every stretch, extension, and detail of the intricate partnering. This is one of the strongest Wheeldon ballets I’ve seen in a while, but it would be so refreshing to see some independent women in his works. Within the Golden Hour, like many of his other pieces, relied on the men manipulating the women from one movement to the next. The shapes and lifts that they created were stunning, but it was always the men initiating the movement. And while there were a series of duets and solos for the men, the women were rarely featured on their own.
Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith in Yuri Possokhov’s Fusion, photo by Erik Tomasson
At the beginning of Mark Morris’s Joyride, digital number plates that were attached to the dancers’ shiny metallic costumes caught the audience’s attention, but the piece eventually wandered from one grouping of witty movement to the next. John Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony contributed to the flatness of the piece, continuing along without ever gaining momentum. Yuri Possokhov’s Fusion, on the other hand, was focused on building – or rather, fusing – several parts into a greater whole: old and new, ancient and modern, east and west. Unfortunately, the piece was formulaic in the way it went about conveying this cultural merge. First, four men danced who represented the “old”; then several couples illustrated the “new”; and then they danced together, with Possokhov incorporating choreography from both the old and new. The only truly enlightening part of Fusion was a duet for Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith. With sweeping lifts and lunges, the dancers seemed to set aside the piece’s agenda and just immerse themselves in the movement.
Both programs showed musical and choreographic range, but what was most memorable were the superb technical and artistic abilities of SFB’s dancers.
Morphoses Multimedia
October 8, 2008
Rubinald Pronk, Maria Kowroski, and Edwaard Liang rehearsing Monotones II, photograph by Yaniv Schulman
Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company concluded its second season at City Center on Sunday afternoon. I wrote about both programs here and here, but decided to post some more rehearsal photos from Monotones II and two surprisingly good videos of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s One and Lightfoot León’s Shutters Shut. Lighting and costumes are essential components of the otherworldly atmosphere in Monotones II, so it’s refreshing to see photos of the dancers in practice clothes, clearly working together in the studio to figure out the intricate partnering in this ballet. The videos will give you a sense of the rhythmic quirkiness in Shutters Shut and fluid movement in One, but as I always say, dance videos are no substitute for live performances.
Adrian Danchig-Waring, Wendy Whelan, and Tyler Angle rehearsing Monotones II
Edwaard Liang, Maria Kowroski, and Rubinald Pronk
Tyler Angle, Wendy Whelan, and Adrian Danchig-Waring
Maria Kowroski
All photos courtesy of Yaniv Schulman
