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And on Thursday, Garland showed that he was getting some things right: Dance Theater, now in its 55th season, has a vintage kind of glow. The company, along with its dancers, seems to be more sure of itself: It’s growing into a sense of style. Honoring Mitchell was a reminder of why Dance Theater, born after the assassination of the Rev. Along with showcasing the transformative power of ballet, Garland writes in the program, Mitchell used Dance Theater as a means for social justice in part by way of its repertoire: George Balanchine ballets were performed alongside works by Black choreographers like Geoffrey Holder. 2,” which braids social dance with classical ballet.
Persons: Robert Garland, “ Arthur Mitchell, , Robert, , — Mitchell, Garland, Mitchell, Martin Luther King Jr, George Balanchine, Black, Geoffrey Holder, curation, , , Marius Petipa Organizations: New York City Center, Dance Theater of Harlem, Locations: New
Watch: The Solo of ‘Solitude’
  + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Gia Kourlas | Stephan Alessi | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: 1 min
Watch: The Solo of ‘Solitude’Click through as Joseph Gordon performs a section from Alexei Ratmansky’s new dance for New York City Ballet, a reaction to the horrors of the war in Ukraine.
Persons: Joseph Gordon, Alexei Ratmansky’s Organizations: New York City Ballet Locations: Ukraine
For a company to unveil a decent new ballet is a strange and marvelous occurrence. To unveil two in one season? Quality choreography that celebrates classicism, that highlights musicality — that even pushes the form into new realms — isn’t the norm. But at New York City Ballet this season, two premieres were worthy of many more viewings — and in the case of Alexei Ratmansky’s harrowing “Solitude,” set to Mahler, endless ones. Inspired by a 2022 photo of a Ukrainian father kneeling before the body of his dead son, the ballet filled the stage with bodies expressing the tangible ache of grief and love.
Persons: Alexei Ratmansky’s, , Mahler, Ratmansky, , , Tiler Peck, Francis Poulenc, Peck, Peter Martins, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine’s, Mary Thomas MacKinnon’s Organizations: New York City Ballet, City Ballet, della Locations: New, Ukrainian, della Regina
Robert Garland has held many positions at Dance Theater of Harlem over many years — principal dancer, resident choreographer, school director, archivist and company webmaster. At long last, he has caught the prize title: artistic director. A couple of years ago, the company’s executive director, Anna Glass, and Virginia Johnson, then its artistic director, invited him to dinner. Normally his evenings were spent at Dance Theater’s school, where he managed the pre-professional students. “They’re like, ‘Oh, come on!’”Johnson, a former star dancer, told Garland that she had decided to step down.
Persons: Robert Garland, Anna Glass, Virginia Johnson, Garland, , , ” Johnson, ” Garland Organizations: Dance Theater of Harlem, Dance
Images of women testing their bodies’ endurance have been swirling about the universe lately. For “The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988,” De Keersmaeker is joined by the young Russian-born pianist Pavel Kolesnikov. On paper, De Keersmaeker’s version of “Goldberg Variations” is a solo. This “Goldberg” is stark and simple, painting a choreographic picture full of shadows and light that mercifully loosens up over time. So does De Keersmaeker, a respected experimentalist based in Brussels, who has turned to Bach several times over the course of her career.
Persons: Taylor Swift, Madonna, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, ” De Keersmaeker, Pavel Kolesnikov, “ Goldberg, Goldberg, Bach Locations: Russian, Brussels
Or, worse, when that world is breaking down with such vehemence that the air seems to grow more toxic by the minute? In Alexei Ratmansky’s new ballet “Solitude,” dancers waver and buckle as inner and outer forces wreak havoc on their bodies. Ratmansky’s latest ballet, his first as artist in residence at New York City Ballet, is about war — the devastating war in Ukraine, the country where Ratmansky grew up and where his parents still live. That grief — the solitude of “Solitude” — is apparent from the start. The principal dancer Joseph Gordon kneels before the limp body of Theo Rochios, a young student of the company-affiliated School of American Ballet.
Persons: Alexei Ratmansky’s, Gustav Mahler, Ratmansky, David H, Joseph Gordon, Theo Rochios, Gordon Organizations: New York City Ballet, Koch, American Ballet, Rochios Locations: New, Ukraine, Russian, Kharkiv
Ashton Edwards rushed across the stage and straight into Taylor Stanley’s arms on a Sunday afternoon at New York City Ballet. In “The Times Are Racing,” a fervent ballet by Justin Peck, that hug is part of the choreography — a freeze-frame of raw emotion, like a stop sign dropped into a sea of hurtling, sweeping bodies. The embrace is a signal for a new beginning: an intimate pas de deux that unfolds like a dream within a dream. Their performance glowed, and not just because it was newsworthy: This was the first pairing of two nonbinary dancers in a major pas de deux at City Ballet. But what mattered more was the energy between their physical forms; the warmth they radiated even at a distance; and their phrasing, which was so fluid that at times they seemed less two bodies than one.
Persons: Ashton Edwards, Taylor, , Justin Peck, , ” Edwards, Edwards, Stanley Organizations: New York City Ballet, Times, City Ballet Locations: New
For better or worse, Ravel’s “Boléro,” with its churning swell of sound, has stirred the imagination of artists over time, among them the choreographer Maurice Béjart and the ice dancing team of Torvill and Dean. She takes revenge by transforming into a snake and chasing him until he perishes, burning to death as he tries to escape to the bell of the Dojoji temple. Genkuro coaxes out the sinister notes of the score in a deranged but good way. If you have to watch another dance to “Boléro,” this one, at least, is full of drama, danger and brittle, seething anger. As the music builds so does Kiyohime’s rage, which Tokuyo illuminates with icy solemnity as the fire of passion is turned into despair and, ultimately, revenge.
Persons: , Maurice Béjart, Bo Derek —, Blake Edwards, Nihon, , Boléro, Hanayagi Genkuro, Azuma Tokuyo, Nakamura Kazutaro, Genkuro coaxes Organizations: Japan Society Locations: Dean,
“Roy’s Joys,” set to recordings by Roy Eldridge, is abundant with layers of vernacular dance, ballet and modern — everything to grow a company of dancers, and grow they did under Battle. That mix of new and the unexpected old was also important in the bigger picture of dance — “Roy’s Joys” (1997) was granted a second, much-needed life at Ailey. Alvin Ailey studied with Martha Graham; Taylor was in her company. I’ll never forget the invigorating sight of Ailey dancers performing Taylor’s “Arden Court,” a bold, crisp example of showing them, as he said, in new ways. But Battle branched out, and as he dusted off the Ailey company, he led it into the 21st century with a public persona that was as fresh as his artistic agenda.
Persons: Lazarus, , Rennie Harris, Twyla Tharp, Roy Eldridge, Ailey, Carolyn Adams, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Taylor, I’ll, Taylor’s “ Organizations: Ailey, Center Locations: Taylor’s “ Arden
All the while Eliza Babinska charged along, energy spilling out of her body like sparks of electricity. “Eliza hates this,” Vasilisa, her older sister, said with a giggle. When Vasilisa first saw her perform, she said: “I was like, that’s my sister? I saw her face, and I was like, whoa.”Even the way Eliza holds her head in class is imposingly regal. On the subway, her chin started to droop, almost as heavily as her eyelids.
Persons: Pati, Eliza Babinska, , “ Eliza, ” Vasilisa, Eliza, Julia, Vasilisa, Organizations: New York City Ballet, School, American Ballet Locations: Queens, Manhattan, barre, droop
The ghosts of “takemehome” are embodied by his dancers, dressed in streetwear separates, as they dip in and out of manic states, sometimes clawing at the air as their audible breath echoes across the gloomy stage. When the dancers in “takemehome” do get going, their energetic shifts lead to quick sprints, rapid fire jumps, far-flung limbs, but there is also much slow motion, in which bodies lean back and drag forward as if suspended by strings. Lately it seems that European contemporary dance, at least from France, has a thing for slow motion. Sometimes I wonder if it’s a subconscious way of willing those in the world to take a much-needed pause. When five of the performers, some standing on the amps, pick up guitars and start to strum — they do so vigorously, their arms moving up and down to create a sheet of sound — the zeppelin turns an angry red.
Persons: Chamblas —, , Yves Godin, Virginie Mira, strum Locations: California, France
It’s not a race, but Lauren Lovette seems to be running, not walking, to create a body of work for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Last year, after becoming Taylor’s resident choreographer, she presented two new works; this week, as part of the Taylor season at Lincoln Center, she added two more, including the world premiere of “Echo” on Thursday. Dancers, all men, mainly bare chested, began a gliding procession toward the stage, migrating along all the pathways of the theater — the sides, the aisles. This kind of offbeat entrance isn’t exactly new to dance, but Lovette used it in a meaningful way: It was almost primal, as if the music were calling for the dance. One couldn’t exist without the other in this artistic reverberation or, as she named it, echo.
Persons: It’s, Lauren Lovette, Paul Taylor, , David H, Shawn Lesniak, Kevin Puts’s Organizations: Paul Taylor Dance Company, Lincoln Center, Koch, “ Fame, , Orchestra of St Locations: , Luke’s
American Ballet Theater opened its fall season on a high note: Alexei Ratmansky’s “Piano Concerto No. The program, part of the first New York season created by the company’s artistic director, Susan Jaffe, gradually lost steam. “Petite Mort” (1991) is flimsier than ever. Devon Teuscher’s clean, classical elegance lent the overlong work a boost of grace and energy, but the ballet, created in 1948, is hardly a good time capsule. In a program note, Lander describes his ballet as “an expression of myself, and of my thoughts on dance.
Persons: Alexei Ratmansky’s “, Mort ”, Jiri Kylian, Harald Lander, Susan Jaffe, Devon Teuscher’s, George Balanchine’s, Frederick Ashton’s “, , , Lander Organizations: Ballet Theater, New, Lincoln Center Locations: New York
George Balanchine, by his own admission, always admired jewels, a quality he attributed to his Georgian roots. “I like the color of gems, the beauty of stones,” he wrote in “101 Stories of the Great Ballets.”When, in 1967, the curtain rose at New York City Ballet on his opulent triptych, known as the first full-length plotless ballet, it had no unifying title. “Emeralds” possesses the fragrant earthiness and secrecy of nature; “Rubies” is heat and playfulness, with the games and posturing of a summer scape in New York City; and “Diamonds” casts a dazzling spell of cool refinement that wavers between soft and hard. “Jewels,” as it came to be called, is an occasion as well as a ballet. (The music was performed live, though before the show, members of the New York City Ballet Orchestra held a rally in front of Lincoln Center’s plaza to protest delays in contract negotiations.)
Persons: George Balanchine, , Balanchine, Lincoln Kirstein, Suzanne Farrell, Allegra Kent, Patricia McBride, Edward Villella — Organizations: New York City Ballet, City, Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet Orchestra Locations: New, New York City, Lincoln
While Brutti generally does the talking for (La)Horde — Harel and Debrouwer understand English, but aren’t as comfortable communicating — they speak as one. “He was like, ‘You’re young, you’re hot at the moment — if not now, when?’” the group said. It made them think — not about the job, but about how applying for it could serve (La)Horde, in a deeper way. They decided that they would create a manifesto about what contemporary dance could be today. Contemporary dance is something.
Persons: — Harel, Debrouwer, Childs, , Dimitri Chamblas —, Arts —, Chamblas, , , Horde Organizations: Ballet National, Marseille, California Institute of, Arts Locations: Los Angeles, Marseille
Let her dance.’”She was short, her turnout was nonexistent and her feet needed a lot of work. She is firm about one thing: If her young self were to audition for the School of American Ballet today, she wouldn’t get in — much less into the company. And I think that was the main thing he respected about me. And I think he saw that I loved to dance.”Walczak was also a sharp observer. (With the dancer Una Kai, she wrote “Balanchine the Teacher,” a jewel of a book examining the fundamentals that shaped the company’s first generation.)
Persons: , , “ ‘ We’ve, wouldn’t, Mia Slavenska, Slavenska, , ” Walczak, I’d, Una Kai, “ Balanchine, Suzanne Farrell’s Organizations: School of American Ballet, Ballet Russe, Carlo, Radio City Music Hall, Ballet Society Locations: Balanchine’s
With outstretched arms, dancers skimmed across the sand like gliding birds, soundless against the pressing wind and somehow soaring without actual wings. Surveying the shoreline of Rockaway Beach on a recent morning, Patricia Lent, from the Merce Cunningham Trust, was elated. “This is a dream come true,” she said, adding: “It’s someone else’s dream — but it is a dream come true.”Cunningham’s “Beach Birds” has finally made its way to the beach. An adaptation of this 1991 dance is part of this year’s Beach Sessions Dance Series, at Rockaway Beach on Saturday. Staged by Lent and Rashaun Mitchell — both former company members and trustees — “Beach Birds” comes to life in a setting where the sand, the sea and real birds create, along with 11 dancers, a humming summer landscape.
Persons: Patricia Lent, Merce Cunningham, Lent, Rashaun Mitchell —, , Cunningham, John Cage Organizations: Merce Cunningham Trust Locations: Rockaway
Robert Garland, the artistic director of Dance Theater of Harlem who, like Sibley, is from Philadelphia, recently presented a ballet at Lincoln Center. “O’Shae put his body on the line,” Garland said in an interview. “And his expression was turned into resistance. He was just being who he was.”Because of the way he died — and the way that he was dancing when he died — Sibley’s body is now an act of resistance. That has much to do with vogue, a language that grew out of the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s.
Persons: Robert Garland, Sibley, John Carlos, “ O’Shae, ” Garland, , , Joan Myers Brown, remembrances, Jason Rodriguez Organizations: Dance Theater of Harlem, Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Dance Company, Ailey, Gliding, Adidas Locations: Philadelphia, Mexico City, Sibley, Harlem
The lyrics that stand out during Lee’s dance, “Nothing here to care about,” are deceptive — to dance this dance is to show that you do care, that you aren’t going down without a fight. The Pinegrove Shuffle is an antithesis to the pink — albeit fun — universe of Barbie. And I feel like that’s contributed a lot to my dance moves. I put a lot of hips into it.”It also helps that he is a snowboarder. “All my hobbies,” he said, “kind of correlate back to this Pinegrove video.”
Persons: Lee, Barbie, , Shakira, ” Lee, that’s, Locations: Maryland, Salisbury, Mass
There’s a gorgeous scene in “Barbie” that isn’t painted the usual pink. It’s a dream ballet, stylish and clean, with steps so sleek it lets bodies — Kens, Kens and more Kens — sing. Unofficially known as the Ken dance, it’s like entering a portal to another world, where moving bodies etch trails of rotating circles and diamonds onto a gleaming surface. But the jazzy gist of the “I’m Just Ken” dance isn’t just about staggering patterns or nostalgia for old Hollywood. Plopped into Greta Gerwig’s Barbie universe, the dance is more than a dance: It’s an emotional release.
Persons: “ Barbie, , Ken, Busby Berkeley, Ken ”, Plopped, Greta Gerwig’s, Gene Kelly, Margot Robbie, Barbie Organizations: Hollywood
Pilobolus has been pushing bodies to their limits in unusual shapes and precarious balances since 1971, when its founding members met at Dartmouth College. The company’s leadership has shifted and changed over the years, but what remains is the group’s collaborative approach. The group also possesses commercial appeal despite the origins of its name: Pilobolus is a genus of fungi that grows on herbivore dung. Now under the leadership of Renée Jaworski and Matt Kent — two former company members — Pilobolus, after a pandemic delay, concludes its 50th anniversary tour with a three-week season at the Joyce Theater. Its title, the “Big Five-OH!,” has much in common with aspects of the group’s choreography, which can veer into the painfully cute.
Persons: Pilobolus, Renée Jaworski, Matt Kent —, — Pilobolus, , Derion Loman, Madison Olandt, Jaworski, Jad, “ Mary Poppins, Marlon Feliz, Hannah Klinkman Organizations: Dartmouth College, Joyce Theater, Kent Locations: York,
There was a point, during Cassandra Trenary’s debut as Juliet last summer at American Ballet Theater, when it became easy to forget that she was performing the role at all. She just was Juliet: furious, despondent, at her wit’s end. It was wildly raw and vulnerably human. Typically, in Kenneth MacMillan’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” that moment is drawn out, with Juliet deeply arching her back in a cambré derrière over the tomb. Trenary, a 29-year-old principal dancer with Ballet Theater, is on a mission to be authentic — to make it seem as though, as she said, “life is unfolding in front of you through this vocabulary that is very not humanlike.”
Persons: Cassandra Trenary’s, Juliet, Kenneth MacMillan’s, Romeo, Trenary, Organizations: Ballet Theater, Ballet
In “Ouroboros: Gs," the flood mitigation system at the Whitney Museum of American Art became the subject for her movement research; “Heads/Tails,” her first exhibition without people, focused on elements related to traffic flow. And for “Hydro Parade,” she attended classes for tour guides to learn about the history of water in New York City. Certain galleries were off limits, but “Hydro Parade” surges around many of the museum’s water features in uninterrupted movement. At times the dancers slow down; at others, it’s as if they were on water skis. Last Saturday, on June 10, some viewers lost sight of the dancers, prompting one to say, “They should have flags like at Trader Joe’s.”
Persons: ” Hollander, Organizations: Whitney Museum of American Art, “ Hydro Locations: Bronx, New York, New York City, Dendur
The refreshing part of being one on one, Brooks said, is that it takes the preciousness away from performance. At the same time, “I feel like there’s so much fear in public,” they said. These kinds of art projects could be interventions, happenings that open up ways to just be a little bit more courageous in public — and caring. “We actually have to work our capacity to be with the needs of others,” Bakst said. I feel like this frame can be an invitation to work that muscle.”
Persons: Brooks, , , Julia Gladstone —, It’s, Bakst, Lauren Berlant’s, Gladstone, ” Bakst Locations: York
A Surprising Stage for Dance: The Subway Platform
  + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Gia Kourlas | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
“I get real hyped, and then the audience gets real hyped, and then I lay back a little bit and the audience gets a little quiet,” he said. “It’s like a tennis match going back and forth.”His improvs often start slowly. Ja’Bowen knows audiences love it when he dances fast, but his preference is to sit back in the pocket, to swing. His internal focus — the way he listens and reacts in this unprotected space of strangers — is a vulnerable display of deep body-mind awareness. He likes to play with the levels and emotions in music.
Persons: , , Ja’Bowen,
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