flipsy Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 (edited) The tail end of Hurricane Jeanne was lashing New York City last night, but it didn't daunt the dance-hungry fans who packed City Center (at $10 a seat) to see the opening night of the new Fall for Dance Festival. The crowd was a scene in itself, so antsy for dance that they whooped when the curtain went up, and didn't quiet down until after the Dance Theatre of Harlem had finished the opening section of Agon. The program was a mixed bag of ballet and modern, new and nostalgic. Agon was a solid opener, first performed in 1957 on this same City Center stage, by New York City Ballet. DTH's version of Balanchine brings out the jazzy parts. Outstanding were Duncan Cooper in a sinewy Sarabande, and Akua Parker twisting herself around two men in the second pas de trois. She has the "almost angry" body that Balanchine asked for, and a fierce game face to match, but she also let in a little irony to match Stravinsky's neo-renaissance gentility. The biggest ovation of the night went to the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, which put on a communal version of Continuous Replay. This started out in 1978 as a solo, based on a sequence of 45 hand and arm gestures. Last night the gestures were repeated by more than 50 members, alumni and friends of the company, who gradually filled up the stage, most entering naked and coming back later with clothes on. They started out in silence, and ended up with a raucous rock score. If you liked the 70's, or wish you had been around for them, it was a celebration. The rest of the program fell a bit flat, literally in the case of STREB, a company that specializes in circus-type horsing around. Their first piece consisted of dancers bouncing off a trampoline and landing flat on their faces on a mat below. The second featured the same six dancers slamming themselves against a transparent barrier and landing flat on their backs, like hockey players. They all kept smiling, so it must not have hurt too badly. To me, this was what TV producers call "eye candy." The finale was a re-creation of Merce Cunningham's 1965 opus, How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run. It's a lovely exhibit of Cunningham's refined everyday movement and ironic, friendly relations between dancers. The dancers were as alert and exact as ever. But the same could not be said for John Cage's sound score, which consists of slightly smug Zen-type jokes and parables, read at a meditative largo by Cunningham himself and David Vaughan. This was oh so 60s. Cunningham's work depends on a dynamic interaction between sound and sight, and in 2004 this looked like a mismatch. Edited September 29, 2004 by flipsy Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 flipsy - I'm so glad you got in to see it! By the time I tried to get tickets last week, they were gone. How much of Agon did they do? Was it the full ballet? Well, starting out naked and getting dressed is the reverse of the usual process on stage, at least! As I recall the first dance of Bill T. Jones I saw, it was a lot o' naked people as well, including a few I wished weren't naked. Link to comment
Helene Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Your review was a wonderful read! Link to comment
sandik Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 It sounds like a great program -- I wish I could have gone, but am so glad you went, and were willing to talk about it here. Link to comment
nysusan Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Those tickets really did sell out fast, so much for the theory that there is no audience for dance. Just make it cheap enough & they will come. I have 2 tickets for tomorrow night that I can't use. If anyone wants them please PM me. Peter Boal is scheduled for Episodes Susan The tickets have been taken... Link to comment
Nanatchka Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 . The finale was a re-creation of Merce Cunningham's 1965 opus, How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run. It's a lovely exhibit of Cunningham's refined everyday movement and ironic, friendly relations between dancers. The dancers were as alert and exact as ever. But the same could not be said for John Cage's sound score, which consists of slightly smug Zen-type jokes and parables, read at a meditative largo by Cunningham himself and David Vaughan. This was oh so 60s. Cunningham's work depends on a dynamic interaction between sound and sight, and in 2004 this looked like a mismatch. Wonderful to read your report! Though if I might just mildly disagree with one of your points, for the interest of the discussion, I hope you won't mind--I don't think Cunnigham's work DEPENDS on an interaction of any kind with dance and music. That can happen, and if it does it's great, but the work is made in silence, and is fantastic to see in silence. I do agree completely that How To is very much of a place and time. If there's an imbalance in the current rendition, it might have to do with a really split focus--I keep watching the narrators , and having to pull my attention back to the dance. If Cunningham were not the narrator, that might not happen--but it's divine that he is the narrator, isn't it? Are you going to the festival again??? If so, please post again! Link to comment
flipsy Posted September 29, 2004 Author Share Posted September 29, 2004 (edited) They were sold out by the time I got there, too, but I went anyway and found a nice lady who GAVE me an extra ticket. There was also a scalper selling them for $20 on the sidewalk... so if you really want to get in this week, you probably can. Edited September 29, 2004 by flipsy Link to comment
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