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writers on dancing

Volume 5, Number 7 - February 12, 2007

this week's reviews

Neumeier in Venice
Hamburg Ballet's "Death in Venice"

by Lisa Rinehart

Panache
Birmingham Royal Ballet's "Cyrano"

by John Percival

Second Thoughts
Armitage Gone! Dance

by Leigh Witchel

Soul Rocking
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

by Lisa Traiger

Letters and Commentary

San Francisco Letter No. 20
by Rita Felciano

Letter from New York
Lincoln Center Festival: A Tale of Two Beowulfs

by Nancy Dalva

Letter from New York
Lincoln Center Festival: San Francisco Ballet

by Nancy Dalva

Back to Bangkok —
A Letter about Puppets and People

by George Jackson

did you miss any of these?

New York City Ballet's Winter Season continues:
Personality

by Leigh Witchel

The Return of the Dybbuk
by Susan Reiter

San Francisco Letter 21
San Francisco Ballet, Programs I and II
by Rita Felciano

Trisha Brown: "Déjà vu all over again"
by Paul Parish

NYCB's New Beauties; the "Sleeping Beauty" Seminar
by Dale Brauner

Washington Ballet's ¡Noche Latina!
by Alexandra Tomalonis

Susan Marshall: Still "Cloudless"
by Susan Reiter

Opera Dancing: “Journey to Reims” and “Falstaff”
Kirov Opera and Orchestra of the Maryinsky Theater
by George Jackson

San Francisco Ballet's Opening Night Gala:
Shining Evening at the Ballet
by Paul Parish

Royal Ballet of Flanders
Balanchine-Forsythe-Shimazaki

by Marc Haegeman

 



Neumeier in Venice
Hamburg Ballet's "Death in Venice"
by Lisa Rinehart

John Neumeier is known for making ballets from meaty chunks of psychodrama, and the stew doesn't come much richer than the decline and fall of Gustav von Auschenbach in Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice." Neumeier's balletic version is described as a "free adaptation" of Mann's novella, and von Auschenbach is tweaked from renowned writer to great choreographer whose ideas, memories and unraveling inhibitions are a swirl of danced characters. Using a hefty collage of Bach and Wagner, and a gorgeous set of operatic proportions by Peter Schmidt, Neumeier deftly plumbs von Auschenbach's willing descent. The costuming, a collaboration between Schmidt and Neumeier, is delicious, particularly in the Venetian society scenes throughout which the women waft about in aquatic hues of shimmering chiffon. There's only one hitch — Neumeier, in what I suspect is an attempt to emulate von Auschenbach's tossing off of all restraint, loses his way in the second act and throws in some cheap tricks meant to signify our protagonist's surrender to depravity. They are less than successful. But more about that later. READ MORE


Panache
Birmingham Royal Ballet's "Cyrano"
by John Percival

I am ashamed to say I did not realise that Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person until I read Cormac Rigby's fascinating programme note for David Bintley's new ballet about him. He was (forgive me if you already know all this) a seventeenth century cavalier who had a short military career followed by fifteen years devoted to writing, followed by an early death. It was Theophile Gautier, poet and balletomane, who rediscovered him after two centuries, and Edmond Rostand, dramatist, who immortalised him in a famous play. And that amazing nose, cause of all his problems? Was it really so prodigious in size? The idea apparently comes from a quirky remark in Cyrano's novel “L'Autre Monde” that a person's merits can be measured by the length of his nose ... READ MORE


Second Thoughts
Armitage Gone! Dance

by Leigh Witchel

First drafts usually come in two flavors — too much and too little. Some artists begin with a bare skeleton; subsequent drafts are devoted to fleshing out the bones. Other artists put everything and the kitchen sink into the first draft; after deciding what the creature wants to become, they revise to pull out the extraneous material. Karole Armitage presented two main works at the Joyce Theater, one premiere and one revision of a work from 2004.  She overchoreographs, then pares down. READ MORE


Soul Rocking
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

by Lisa Traiger

The opening night Opera House crowd — dressed to the nines in stilettos, velvet and brocade, classic tuxedos — knew exactly what they wanted from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: legs up to ears, quicksilver leaps and displays of stunning physiques. These days the Ailey dancers can put to shame those diamond-cut models from Bally’s Fitness Centers. It’s a wonder modern dance and ballet classes aren’t bursting out the doors: if dance can make you look like Ailey dancers, why isn’t everyone doing it? The gala ticket buyers certainly got what they paid for: honed bodies plus Sunday-morning inspiration for the soul from the company’s signature work, “Revelations.”

And the dancing? That wasn’t so bad either. READ MORE

 

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