Kathleen O'Connell

6 hours ago, abatt said:

Thanks California.  FYI, for New Yorkers hoping to go the box office for any reason today, the Koch box office is closed because there was a massive water main break right near  Lincoln Center.  No word on when it will reopen.

Wow - Looks like Venice up there! https://gothamist.com/news/photos/photos-water-main-break-near-lincoln-center?image=5

Melissa Harris, currently editor-at-large at Aperture, has written a thoughtful essay about Merce Cunningham: Redux, a redesigned, expanded, and updated version of James Klosty's 1975 book of photographs of Cunningham, his dancers, and his collaborators, which has been re-issued as part of the Cunningham centennial. In addition to Klosty's photos—including an additional 140 pages of photos not published before—there are texts by a number of Cunningham's associates, including Carolyn Brown, John Cage, Yvonne Rainer, Lincoln Kerstein, Jasper Johns, Gordon Mumma, Paul Taylor, and Edwin Denby. It's a big, beautiful book—and Harris' essay is worth a read if you have any interest at all in Cunnigham, or, more to the point, dance / performance photography.

From Harris' essay, ‘That Single Fleeting Moment’: Merce Cunningham in Images:

Performance photographs are rarely thought of as having the interpretive, authorial voice of powerful reportage, portraiture, or other photographic genres. They are often deemed important only as a historical record of another artist’s work, work that is by nature ephemeral. But this is short-sighted. An insightful photographer like Klosty who has viewed the same dance repeatedly, is able to impart a sense of the piece, to translate its very essence into still images, through the phrases he chooses to capture, and the way he chooses to render them. Ultimately, the staying power of any photographic project depends on the photographer’s vision, persistence, and ability to portray the subject with clarity, integrity, and ingenuity. Klosty achieved all three when, over the course of five years, and with unprecedented access, he photographed not just the performances of the Merce Cunningham Company, but also the more intimate, spontaneous, and sometimes goofy moments shared among the dancers and other collaborating artists offstage.

3 minutes ago, sandik said:

I'm told it's a lot like the mister that you find in the produce section of the grocery store.

When I first read this, I thought "the mister" was like "The Mister" who's been dispatched to the grocery store by "The Little Woman" and is on a quest for kiwi fruit. 😉

21 hours ago, On Pointe said:

In his conception of WSS,  Van Hove has integrated the Jets.  Dharon Jones is black.  The idea that there would be a mixed street gang betrays a profound ignorance of American racial dynamics.  Van Hove has said that he wanted to make a statement about Americans being anti-immigrant.  But in the original concept of the show,  the Jets were made up of white kids of recent immigrant origin.

One of my eyebrows shot way, way up when I read about Van Hove's plan to integrate the Jets. It betrays his ignorance about New York City, too—one of the most diverse places on earth that still manages to be profoundly segregated along racial, ethnic, cultural, socio-economic and religious lines. 

It's also not a prime locus of anti-immigrant sentiment: in 2006, 37% of the city's population was foreign born. U.S. Anti-immigrant sentiment is strongest in locations where there aren't many immigrants. There are tensions between NYC's various racial, ethnic, and religious communities, but they aren't "anti-immigrant" in the classic sense.

And, in case it wasn't mentioned anywhere above, Puerto Ricans are natural-born American citizens; they aren't immigrants anymore than someone who moves from a dying rust-belt town to a coastal metropolis looking for better opportunities is an immigrant.

ETA: There are important and compelling stories that could and should be told about race and ethnicity in America and about gang culture, too—but it doesn't sound like Van Hove is interested in telling one of those stories. And more to the point, I'm not convinced that WSS is, could be, or should be the vehicle to tell it in the first place. I'm concerned that out-of-town visitors will leave the theater convinced that they're somehow getting the straight skinny on race in America and gang culture in NYC.

Shades of Vollmund!

Honestly, 40 minutes of onstage rain sounds like an effect intended to wow the audience rather than tell the story. It doesn't even sound interesting as theater (although like On Pointe, I do want to know how it works).

From the New York Times:

"The choreographer and entrepreneur Gina Gibney announced on Wednesday that her dance company is the recipient of a $2 million gift, which is to be used for its reinvention as a commission-based repertory group. The money, which comes from Andrew A. Davis, a trustee of the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, makes it possible for her company to double in size, to 12 dancers from six. Gibney Company, formerly Gibney Dance Company, will make its official debut at the Joyce Theater in November 2021."

Two things strike me as particularly interesting about the new Gibney Company:

1) As the NYT points out, Cedar Lake, which closed down in 2015,  was the "last major contemporary repertory company in New York not grounded in the aesthetic of a founding choreographer," so the new Gibney Company will be filling a perceived vacuum in the NYC dance world. Per the NYT article, Gina Gibney "was inspired by troupes like Nederlands Dans Theater and Ballet BC in Canada, repertory groups that she views as having outstanding dancers and world-class repertory." 

2) But this paragraph from the press release really caught my eye: 

"By 2021, the expanded Gibney Company will offer 52-week contracts, health insurance, on-site physical therapy, an annual artistic sabbatical, and paid vacation to approximately 12 Artistic Associates*. Over the next year and half, Gibney Company will gradually grow, adding new Associates at annual auditions. Experienced dancers with strong technical and artistic abilities are invited to apply for the Company’s upcoming auditions, to be held February 29 through March 1, 2020." [emphasis mine]

* The company refers to its dancers as "Artistic Associates"

52-week contracts and health insurance! The number of US dancers with 52-week contracts must be vanishingly small - I'm not sure even the mighty Ailey company can make that kind of commitment to its dancers. 

Gina Gibney is probably most well-known for the two non-profit dance centers she operates in lower Manhattan that offer affordable class, rehearsal, and performance space as well as a number of artist and community services. I hope this new venture is successful, too.

31 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

Needless to say, we left early.  

But this comical approach seems to be the best incarnation of the work.😁

Like I said, there's no shame in not liking Merce, and life's too short to sit through something you don't like. 

I happen to think The Trock's take on Swan Lake is the best incarnation of that particular work, so we're even. 😉 (Yes, I'm the one ballet goer in the universe who loathes Swan Lake with the heat of a thousand burning suns.)

9 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

Could Alvin Ailey be a proper repository...? They have a very well established, loyal following.

I know that some Ailey company members participated in "Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event," but I don't know if there are any plans to incorporate what those dancers performed into the Ailey repertory. The list of choreographers Ailey has drawn upon for its repertory is long and distinguished, but they tend to be positioned along very different branches of the modern dance tree—the ones that are more theatrically kinetic and forward-facing than Cunningham often is. I could see them adding a "MinEvent" (a sequence of excerpts from Cunningham works) to their rep, but not their acting as a true repository. Two French companies, CNDC/Angers and Lyon Opera Ballet seem to be at the forefront of Cunningham preservation. A lot of dance schools and university-based dance programs do license Cunningham's work for educational purposes. You can find a list of professional and educational licensees here.

We all know it's not really great if The Trocks haven't blessed it with a send-up, and Cage/Cunningham is no exception. Patterns in Space is a hoot, although the on stage musicians never fail to steal the show. (Choreography after Merce Cunningham / live music after John Cage per the credits.)

4 hours ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

I really can't see his works staged "regularly", and even less "for decades and decades", I'm afraid. His style is one that might not attract the big bucks for a ballet company, nor the proper amount of ballet lovers enough to make it a staple for a company.

I wouldn't expect Cunningham to be a ballet company staple. But ballet companies aren't the only dance companies out there, nor is the audience for dance limited to those who only like ballet.  

There are Cunningham works that a ballet company might tackle with some reasonable expectation of success, e.g. Duets, Summerspace, Septet, maybe Antic Meet. But frankly, I think his work would be better served by companies and organizations that make their home in other dance forms. 

1 hour ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

I have the feeling Cunningham knew his work would work for a specific audience/fashion within a specific time frame, and that after that it would be seen as a vintage rarity. Hence his desire for a troupe dissolution at a specific time. 

I think it's more than OK if Cunningham's work just doesn't work for someone (it doesn't work for Robert Gottlieb for example), but I for one hope that it will continue to be taught, staged, and performed regularly for many, many decades to come. It deserves to be more than a vintage rarity, although one could make that claim for any number works that have unjustly slipped into obscurity—and that, unfortunately, applies to many art forms, not just dance. (We almost lost Herman Melville, for instance. By 1876 all of his work was out of print and he was considered a minor writer until the 1920s-30s, when there was a major revival of interest in and critical appreciation of his work.)

Cunningham didn't want his work to die with him. He may have dissolved his company, but he did create a very active and robust trust to "actively share his legacy and offer it to future generations." In addition to maintaining the materials and licensing structure necessary to restage Cunningham's works, the Trust also offers "classes and workshops in Cunningham's technique, repertory, and choreographic methods to dancers and the public, keeping interest and practice alive," which is equally important. Thirteen bucks will get you into a daily class taught by a former Cunningham company member. 

Many Cunningham dancers are now choreographers in their own right, and while they aren't, by and large, "mini-Merces," his art lives on in theirs. (Pam Tanowitz didn't dance with Cunningham, but she did study with Viola Farber, one of Cunningham's original dancers. The throughline to Cunningham is evident in her work, even though she definitely has her own voice.) 

One of the side benefits of the Cunningham Centennial was putting Cunningham's choreography into the bodies of dancers who never worked with him—including Sara Mearns, who appears to have embraced the opportunity to dance his work with fearlessness and joy:

"After performing her third solo, Ms. Mearns went into the hallway and cried. (She isn’t the type to hide her emotions on or off the stage.) “It was out of pure joy,” she said. “I put everything I could into it and I took chances, and I couldn’t believe it when I came off. I haven’t had that feeling in a very long time.”

Will ADs, dancers, and audiences hold on to their Centennial enthusiasm for another decade or another century? Who knows? But for the moment, at least, he lives on.

13 hours ago, sandik said:

If you're new to Cunningham's work, you might also appreciate the documentary "When the Dancer Dances." 

Along similar lines, Elliot Caplan documented the creation of and rehearsals for Cunningham's 1993 work CRWDSPCR. Cunningham used the choreographic software program LifeForms to create the dance. From the notes to Caplan's film:

At age seventy, Cunningham became the first choreographer of international renown to create work in dialogue with software technologies, when he was forced to explore the limitations that severe arthritis imposed upon his own freedom of movement. Cunningham's use of the computer has been described as an extension of his interest in integrating vernacular movement into the context of the dance. In CRWDSPCR, dancers aim at exact angles with their arms and feet, changing phrases quickly and methodically, as though transitioning from one keyframe to the next. These movements seem directly influenced by the shapes and rhythms of the LifeForms figures.

You can find the complete film in the CRWDSPCR dance capsule.

Here's a brief CRWDSPCR performance clip: 

And here's about a half hour of rehearsal footage:

I would like NYCB to keep on performing Cunningham's Summerspace and not just dust it off once a decade for special occasions. While they're at it they can add Paul Taylor's solo back to Episodes. 

7 hours ago, miliosr said:

I would like to see a sustained recommitment to the Antony Tudor repertory including (but not limited) to Continuo, Dark Elegies, Dim Lustre, Gala Performance, Jardin aux Lilas, The Judgment of Paris, The Leaves Are Fading, Pillar of Fire, Undertow and -- above all others - the complete Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

Yes indeedy. We're going to forget how to watch Tudor if no one dances him anymore. 

Here's a longer extract from Beach Birds for Camera* You can access the full length version in the Merce Cunningham Trust's Beach Birds dance capsule. (You can also access videos of many of Cunningham's notable works in their respective dance capsules. Biped is among them. The Trust's capsules are an amazing resource.)

* Beach Birds for Camera is a variant of Beach Birds. It was filmed in two different settings. The first portion of the film is in black and white; the second is in color. You can read more about the film here. 

Cards on the table: I adore Beach Birds—the movement, the stillness, the music, the costumes, the whole thing. I think it is very beautiful, even when it's not conventionally pretty. But then I'm a Cunningham and Cage fangirl, and consider it a privilege to have been alive when both of these great artists were creating new work. 

Dance goers who are new to Cunningham—especially those whose primary lens for dance-watching has been fine-tuned for ballet—might find a work like Duets an easier point of entry into the Merce canon. (Duets is in ABT's rep, and I believe, in Washington Ballet's as well.) 

OK - I took dive into some videos and I think I've figured out what bugs me about hops on pointe: the persistent and unresolved bend in the leg and the backward tilt of the foot behind the pointe. It just never looks right somehow: I think of ballet's basic energy trajectory as being up-and-out and there's something about hops on pointe that seems to violate that expectation.  That, and they look painful.

13 minutes ago, nanushka said:

I think the ones in Ballo Della Regina, at least, have tremendous aesthetic benefit, but that’s of course a subjective opinion. (And I suppose hops on both pointes may not be quite as painful.) Also the corps ones in final movement of Concerto Barocco.

Sigh. I don't really like those either, but I was thinking mostly of poor Giselle having to do a whole diagonal of them. The hops in Ballo do seem to fit into the just-shy-of-a-circus trick flavor of much of the ballerina's choreography. 

1 hour ago, BalanchineFan said:

This made me laugh. Having been on pointe, I ALWAYS think "Ow, ow, ow" in rhythm to any hops on pointe.

Well, that's my response too, and the closest I've ever come to being on pointe is four-inch heels. It's hard to enjoy watching someone do something that looks so painful, and for so little aesthetic benefit to boot. Like traveling arabesques, they flatter no one IMO.

Odile's 32 fouettés. If I could go back in time and erase them from ballet history, I would. 

Bonus: Any variation in any ballet by any choreographer that showcases hops on point. 

3 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

Peter Martins dances with Heather Watts (originally Kay Mazzo, I believe).

If I'm not mistaken, Watts originated the role. Leland replaced Mazzo.

3 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

When I look on the NYCB website Davidsbundlertanze is not even listed as part of the repertory. Does anyone have an idea why?

Believe it or not, you have to look under Robert Schumann's "Davidsbündlertänze."

19 hours ago, dirac said:

Yes. That's what I assumed when I read what Macaulay wrote. I'm sure he meant no harm, and it's just a social media post, but it's not as cute as he thinks it is.

I'm going to hazard a guess that Macaulay's social media posts have more reach than his reviews, which may well have been locked behind a paywall for much of his presumed audience, and will likely remain there. But IG's algorithm, in its relentless quest for user engagement, will happily give his careless attempt at cuteness more prominence than it deserves. 

Congratulations!

I know you're looking for classical music, but Talking Heads' "Naive Melody" — the tenderest little "we're spending our lives together" pop love song ever (yes! from Talking Heads)— might be nice for the party:

On 11/4/2019 at 10:13 PM, vipa said:

Even though I've seen the ballet [T&V] many, many times there are sections in which I'm so focused on the principal that I don't pay a lot of attention to the demi-soloists. This gave me a new appreciation for how much dancing they do, and how difficult it is. 

Many, many years ago I read an interview with Heather Watts in which she discussed the (to her mind at least) lackluster first five years or so of her career. She approached Balanchine for guidance and he recommended that she go watch (if I recall correctly) Gelsey Kirkland in T&V. "I wasn't even good enough to be in the corps of Theme!" she remarked to the interviewer. 

13 hours ago, Leah said:

Oh no, she was great in Summerspace.

She was indeed! But then she was great in everything. I could never understand why her career didn't get more traction—to my eyes, she was a more interesting dancer than some who made it to the soloist (and even principal) ranks. Not just technically strong—actually interesting. She was in my fantasy cast for a lot of things. I will miss her.

51 minutes ago, abatt said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/arts/dance/review-abt-american-ballet-theater-swan-lake-isabella-boylston-alban-lendorf.html

Maybe, but the issues with her torso and neck have been noticed, at least by the NY Times, as a negative limitation on her success in certain roles.

I'm not disagreeing, but it wouldn't be the first time a company's artistic leadership (and not just ABT's) appeared to be unfazed by something that looks less than ideal (at the very least) to the audience.