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FILM PREVIEW: First Position
Outsiders of the dance world often marvel at the discipline, commitment and sheer tenacity of those trying to be professionals in the business.
Dancers however, never think twice about what it takes to make it. Raised on the mantra “no pain, no gain,” they often thrive under high pressure and high expectations. To them, all this effort is common sense. If you really want it, you are singularly-focused on the pursuit of a career in dance. If you lack the passion, you quit early. It is simple.
Pontus Lidberg’s Labyrinth Within at Baryshnikov Arts Center
Swedish choreographer and dancer Pontus Lindberg’s Labyrinth Within is a series of pas de deux on film that explores the lines between reality and perception. The majority of the 28 minute film, with a score created by David Lang (and recorded in 2009 by The Symphony Orchestra of Sweden’s Norrlands Operan) takes place in Giovanni Bucchieri and Wendy Whelan’s apartment. The two main characters are in the later years of a now stale marriage.
Why Does Dance Matter?
We want to know why you dance, why you support dance or simply why you think art is crucial to life. Tell us your experiences of how dance has affected your community. Tell us your concerns related to arts funding. Tell us how you support the artists and companies you love the most and what you think should be done to bring appreciation to not only dance, but all art forms.
My Pools of Inspiration
At this point in my career, after ten years as a professional ballet dancer, I find myself being asked these three questions quite often: How do I stay inspired, what do I strive for now, and how do I deal with the struggles that come with ballet stardom? Sometimes I don’t know how to answer. It’s not like I think about these topics all the time; I just do them. After several inadequate attempts to answer, I’ve decided to consider these important inquiries. I’ve discovered that their answers are more important to me than I thought, and even more so if I am hoping to still keep reaching for my peak. I certainly hope I’m not there yet. In this blog I’ll tackle inspiration, and I’ll follow up with two additional blogs to complete the answers to these questions.
Ballet Meets Pop
One of our favorite topics is ballet’s potential for crossover with other art forms. Just as with fashion and photography ballet also naturally lends itself to collaborations with pop music as a means to captivate new, younger audiences and break with conventions. One of the most successful “indie rock ballets” of all time, Wayne McGregor’s “Chroma”, is so closely associated with its score that it has been nicknamed the “White Stripes ballet”.
Cedar Lake Finally Dances in New York
For a year and a half, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet has performed almost everywhere but New York City. But from May 15-27 they are back at the Joyce Theater with two programs. They’ll feature six pieces by six different choreographers, five NYC premieres, and one world premiere.
Ana-Maria Lucaciu, one of Cedar Lake’s sixteen dancers says, “Finally we can show the city what we have been working on.”
Program A shows “Violet Kid” by London-based Hofesh Schecter, “Annonciation” by French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, and “Grace Engine” by Canadian Crystal Pite. “[Violet Kid] has a lot of sustained aggression. It is under this constant boiling lid and is never allowed to come out.” Lucaciu says. Schecter works with images of being scolded as a child and the feeling of repressed anger, and the dancers, who are on stage for the duration, must use restraint and power simultaneously in their movement.
REVIEW: Introdans at the Joyce Theater
Ballet has always held itself in a different genre, treasuring technique and choreographic innovation within that aesthetically clean framework. Prestigious visionaries like George Balanchine and Jiří Kylián found their own unique ways of transforming the classical to the contemporary, historically breaking new ground and allowing a next generation of creativity to progress and discover new ways to enrapture audiences. One of the national dance companies of the Netherlands, Introdans was met with high expectations for their US debut at the Joyce Theater. Ballet desperately needs new flag-bearers. The result this week was disappointing in its transparency.
Roel Voorintholt, artistic director of Introdans, opened with Heavenly, featuring divinity-themed revivals from three different choreographers. The first work, Fünf Gedichte (five poems), was choreographed by Nils Christe and premiered in 1996.
PREVIEW: Igal Perry’s Peridance Contemporary Dance Company
It was 1983 when Igal Perry first opened the Peridance Capezio Center and began a ballet company, the Peridance Ensemble. Since it’s formation, Perry’s ensemble has performed 50 works around the world and has seen very active seasons and some less rigorous. This coming weekend, 29 years later, the company now dances at the Salvatore Capezio Theater under a new name: Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. With the Center running like a well-oiled machine, with both established and new talents in the dance community teaching daily, Perry feels he now has the space to concentrate on PCDC and its promising members.
FILM PREVIEW: First Position
Outsiders of the dance world often marvel at the discipline, commitment and sheer tenacity of those trying to be professionals in the business.
Dancers however, never think twice about what it takes to make it. Raised on the mantra “no pain, no gain,” they often thrive under high pressure and high expectations. To them, all this effort is common sense. If you really want it, you are singularly-focused on the pursuit of a career in dance. If you lack the passion, you quit early. It is simple.
REVIEW: Ballet Hispanico Program A at the Joyce Theater
Ballet Hispanico holds a great luxury in their diverse and vibrant company members. Known for a colorful blending of classical and contemporary vocabularies with the grounded and passionate traditions of Latin dance, the company moves to further stretch boundaries with the works presented in their current season. The key to success for the evolving company lies in presenting their dancers as the athletic movers they are without losing the subtlety that draws audiences in. This balance was achieved to various degrees in program A of their current Joyce season.
