Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Chicago Dancing Festival 2015


Recommended Posts

This is a five-day festival held at the Harris Theater, the Museum for Contemporary Art, and Grant Park, with ballet, modern, tap, jazz, Latin, and various other categories of dance presented on several varied programs, most of them free (with tickets obtained in advance) and one requiring no tickets (the one in Grant Park.)

Saw two performances so far this week: "Modern Women" at the MCA on Tuesday evening and "Dancing at the Harris" on Thursday night. "Modern Women" began with small works by Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham ("Valse Brilliante" and "Deep Song"), danced by the Isadora Duncan Dance Company and Blakeley White McGuire, a dancer from the Martha Graham company. Like all Graham solos, "Deep Song" (from 'cante jondo' in flamenco) is problematic because the astounding performer who created the role is not only inimitable but quite intimidating even after the passage of decades. McGuire is a fine dancer and appears to understand the context of a dance created in response to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, but she does not have the sacred-monster magnetism that all the Graham solos require in order to attain their effect. It is hard to imagine anyone who would possess that quality now. Crystal Pite's 'A Picture of You Falling' is a solo premiered by its choreographer and since danced by both women and men; here it was performed by two different men from Hubbard Street Dance Company. I saw Jesse Bechard, who is a strong dancer; he is at home with relatively simple movement such as this solo uses and is also clearly capable of considerable physical virtuosity. The solo is intriguing and no doubt would be different danced by a woman. The excerpt from 'Unstruck' by Kate Weare, danced by her eponymous company, was beautifully danced by Nicole DIaz, Julian De Leon, and Ryan Rouland Smith.

"Dancing at the Harris" began with a great curtain-raiser: Balanchine's 'Allegro Brilliante.' Unfortunately, Patricia Delgado is not equal to the formidable demands of this ballerina role made for Maria Tallchief; she is adequate but never dazzling, brilliant, or 'Russian' as the music and the choreography require (the piece is to the one-movement fragment of the Tchaikovsky Third Piano Concerto.) Delgado had visible tension in her neck and hands; she was off the music slightly but frequently; her pirouettes in the cadenza were neither secure nor fast enough, particularly the triples...With dancers like the breathtaking Jeanette Delgado and Mary Carmen Catoya and Tricia Albertson (all of whom have danced this role) on the MCB roster, one wonders why Lourdes Lopez casts Patricia Delgado in so many ballerina roles. The corps (demisolo roles all, as there are only five couples total) was good here and Renan Cerdeiro was an able principal male. 'In the Meantime' was an odd collaboration (there were several odd things on this program) between the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (tap), the Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theatre (flamenco and Latin), and the Trinity Irish Dance Company (Irish step dancing); each of the three couples did a number together and then there was a short coda involving all the dancers. Peter Dziak, the man from Trinity Irish Dance Company, was outstanding--buoyant, springy, effortless. Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak of ABT then gave the Wedding pas de deux from Sleeping Beauty; Gorak is one of the rising young lions of the company, but he like so many other fine male dancers cannot make this tedious male variation anything but a chore. He partnered attentively and sensitively. Lane was not at her best; the partnered side falls with quick arm movements looked mannered and contrived, and her footwork was not up to her usual clarity. Again like so many good ballerinas she cannot make this variation appear anything but trite. (The choreography and even the music certainly doesn't help here.) Lane and Gorak will be dancing Bluebird pas de deux, far more interesting and appropriate for a 'party piece,' tomorrow night, and I look forward to that.

After intermission, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performed a piece they premiered in March: 'I am Mister B.' As you might guess, Mister B here is Balanchine, and the schtick is that the score used is the Tchaikovsky 'Tema con Variazioni' (yes, THAT Theme and Variations.) The dancers, male and female, are in a ballroom with swags reminiscent of actual 'Theme' sets; they all wear costumes halfway between suits and tuxedos. A narrator talks over the Theme, the first two variations, and a later variation, speaking mostly quotes from Balanchine (I am not certain if it was all direct quotation or 'in the style of ' occasionally although I recognized quite a few of the quotes.) Choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansano clearly loves and admires Mr. B and this piece is in the nature of a pastiche/hommage/riff (for lack of a better word) on the Balanchine ballet. Knowing most of the steps in the Balanchine I had some trouble not wanting to see them, but the spiky movement was interesting. I don't think most of the movement was related to the grand, Tsarist score in any way, even tangentially or referentially, but it's an interesting idea. Last ballet of the evening was Stanton Welch's 'Maninyas' danced by the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. Though I'm not at all fond of Welch and this ballet has his usual tics, schticks, and mannerisms, the Joffrey dancers did the hell out of it. There are five solo couples in various permutations and listed by the color they wear (Dances at a Gathering, anyone?) ; everyone was excellent, but Amber Neumann's (brown) wonderful jump, Derrick Agnoletti's (brown) energy and fire, Anais Bueno's (green) sinuous elegance, Fabrice Calmels' (purple) partnering (he is superlative), and Mahallia Ward's (purple) opening solo were especially great. This was the most energetic, dazzling dancing of the evening, from everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...With dancers like the breathtaking Jeanette Delgado and Mary Carmen Catoya and Tricia Albertson (all of whom have danced this role) on the MCB roster, one wonders why Lourdes Lopez casts Patricia Delgado in so many ballerina roles.

I thought Catoya had been let go. That reported event was just one detail in the disappointing way MCB has been presenting Balanchine lately, when I've seen them on home ground in Florida the past two seasons: less fully realized, more just clearly demonstrated, to my eyes; that's why I didn't try harder to see this program, and didn't, in the end, even though I can sleep in my own bed here in Chicago.

Lopez seems to be more interested in dances by living choreographers, whose associates come in and stage them for the company, than in dances by dead ones, whose surviving "associates" - the originators of the roles - Villella used to have in to stage - at least that's my theory about the differences in how MCB's dancing looks now. For example, Wheeldon's Polyphonia, staged by one of his associates, looked very good in Ft. Lauderdale several months ago, more "present" than the Balanchine ballets flanking it on the program, and looking aptly cast to me.

It's Lopez's company now, of course, and it ought to realize her vision, or amount to little. Some of us who consider Balanchine's art greater than, say, Wheeldon's, and fear its continued loss through, let's say, indifferent performance, find cause for regret, in south Florida now as in New York for some decades. Reportedly, Balanchine himself would sometimes say, apropos the subject of revivals, "Ballets are like butterflies; I say last year's butterflies don't exist," though I think that many would agree with me that when Balanchine ran NYCB, he had one of the greatest butterfly collections I have ever seen...

I'll be interested in your reports of MCB's other appearances, in contemporary works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ouch! I had no idea Catoya had been let go. That's a shame. and you are absolutely right about Polyphonia, which looked almost as good as at NYCB with Somogyi etc. and the ballets bookending it (on another thread I talked about Nathalia Arja omitting and simplifying several things in 'Ballo della Regina,' which was demoralizing since she apparently was first cast...) I couldn't agree with you more about what Lopez seems to be interested in (Morphoses South), and of course one of the reasons MCB's Balanchine was superb was exactly that Villella would have Verdy, Paul, McBride, and Farrell for Jewels, for example. Anyone who has ever met or worked with Verdy loves her and says that she is an inspiration in every conceivable way (cf. what Louise Nadeau, Maria Chapman, and Carla Korbes of PNB said about working with her on 'Emeralds.' ) I'm sure you're aware of how Peter Martins has banned, fired, excluded, etc. most of the great past dancers of Balanchine roles from ever coaching those roles at NYCB; he was quoted in one interview along the lines of 'who cares how so and so used to do it?' The butterfly collection is still the world's greatest, but the question is--will the museum remain open much longer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that may have been Dance Chicago....so far as I know this particular festival has always had lots of out-of-town guests (from ABT, NYCB, MCB, PNB, SFB, and all the other Bs....) although it has also always featured Hubbard Street and Joffrey, among other Chicago based companies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not a fan of everything Lopez has done, but I do find the continued claim that she is trying to make MCB a 'Morphoses South' to be more than a little silly. The repertoire has been extremely faithful to everything Villella set up, with the choreographers of last season (Balanchine, Robbins, Tharp, Taylor, Cranko) all having been programmed by Villella in the past, and her addition of Justin Peck is hardly controversial.

At the same time Villella, for all of the wonderful and beautiful things he brought, has been lionized in a slightly excessive manner. It was a fabulous artistic coup (and publicity stunt) to bring in Farrell, Verdy and McBride to help coach Jewels, but none of those women worked with the company past the 90s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing about bringing in the ballerinas who originate roles and who worked intimately with the choreographer of those roles is a 'publicity stunt.' Many other companies, including SFB, PNB, and Carolina Ballet have brought in the original creators of roles to coach those roles, and continue to do so as long as those dancers are available. Since McBride and Farrell run their own companies among other things, and Verdy ran two large companies as well as a very large university dance department, it is quite likely that they are too busy to meet all the requests which they receive.

As Villella made MCB the company it now is by spending the entire second half of his life and career there, it is more than a little silly to say that he has been 'lionized' at all--much less 'in an excessive manner.' Villella said in an interview a few years ago that he spent ten hours a day at work, when the company was *not* dancing. Needless to say, it was considerably more during the season. He was usually present at the company's performances, and, far more than that, circulated in the audience during intermission; I had the pleasure of speaking with him many times during intermissions, twice for an extended period, and it is quite rare for a company artistic director to be so amenable and accessible to his balletgoers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

....so far as I know this particular festival has always had lots of out-of-town guests (from ABT, NYCB, MCB, PNB, SFB, and all the other Bs....) although it has also always featured Hubbard Street and Joffrey, among other Chicago based companies.

My recollection of it, too, and this Balanchine-addicted Chicagoan is glad for it: My best memories of the CDF over the years I've gotten in (you need to look sharp when the tickets become available) are of the Jose Limon Dance Company's rendition of The Moor's Pavane and two of the Martha Graham company's presentations.

(Though TSFB served Balanchine pretty well with their Tzigane, it was a notch below their usual standard, and another company another season - Ballet West? - offered a less effective Rubies.)

I thought the idea of the CDF was mainly to introduce the curious but inexperienced potential Chicago audience to the potential of dance watching through the variety - four companies on one program, for example - and free tickets. Local talent was certainly on view, but not exclusively.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing about bringing in the ballerinas who originate roles and who worked intimately with the choreographer of those roles is a 'publicity stunt.'

It may not be a "stunt" in that it's not really a contrived or artificial event, but it is indeed good publicity, and they'd be foolish not to recognize that.

He was usually present at the company's performances, and, far more than that, circulated in the audience during intermission; I had the pleasure of speaking with him many times during intermissions, twice for an extended period, and it is quite rare for a company artistic director to be so amenable and accessible to his balletgoers.

I don't know how often Martins or McKenzie watch their companies from in front of the curtain, but most of the artistic directors I see on a regular basis are in the house for performances, and often do a bit of politic-ing during the intervals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It may not be a "stunt" in that it's not really a contrived or artificial event, but it is indeed good publicity, and they'd be foolish not to recognize that.

I don't know how often Martins or McKenzie watch their companies from in front of the curtain, but most of the artistic directors I see on a regular basis are in the house for performances, and often do a bit of politic-ing during the intervals.

I disagree; ballerinas from the past are anything but household names, even to a subscriber audience for a ballet company now, and we are not in the midst of something like the ballet boom of the Seventies where a few dancers (Baryshnikov, Kirkland) might have been closer to that status. As I said, nothing about hiring those dancers has anything to do with publicity or stunts. Artistic directors stage lots and lots of things which fall into both categories, this not being one. This is done for the benefit of the company dancers and the ballets; it is as close to ars gratia artis as things get now.

Martins and McKenzie do not circulate, at least in my experience, and are said to be in the house sometimes but by no means for every performance. I do not see PNB or SFB regularly so don't know about them. Stanton Welch (Houston) also does not circulate. Robert Weiss (Carolina Ballet) attends most performances and sometimes mingles with the crowd. None of the ADs mentioned here do the sort of thing Villella did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While my local company (PNB) certainly doesn't open up all their rehearsals to the public, they usually have a few "coaching" or rehearsal sessions as part of their open education program. Last season they had coaching sessions with Jaques d'Amboise and Violette Verdy and promoted them to the general public. They also had a coaching session with William Forsythe. This year artistic director Peter Boal is coaching Prodigal Son in a couple weeks, Bart Cook is coming to coach Square Dance, and Boal will coach Coppelia -- these are all special evening sessions, not regular rehearsals. They are definitely part of the company's marketing strategy.

As far as access to the artistic staff is concerned, Boal hosts the majority of the post-show Q/A sessions, and will answer all kinds of questions. I know that's a bit more unusual, but it seems to work for this community.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how often Martins or McKenzie watch their companies from in front of the curtain, but most of the artistic directors I see on a regular basis are in the house for performances, and often do a bit of politic-ing during the intervals.

I go to both NYCB and ABT performances a lot. There are times I attend every night in a week. Martins is always there, sitting in row R of the orchestra every night. McKenzie also watches regularly. At the Koch he sits in the first ring, at the Met in the parterre. However, there was one night this spring, when Osipova performed with the Royal Ballet. I was very surprised to see McKenzie there, instead of at the Met (ABT was performing SL). But, in general, I believe both ADs see all the performances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...