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ABT in Columbus, Ohio


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Hello, all, from the boondocks. ABT is coming to town next Tuesday. Here's the bill: Theme and Variations featuring (according to the ABT site) Murphy and Corella; Kylian's "Sinfonietta"; and Forsythe's "workwithinwork."

What can we expect? What do we look for?

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Hello, all, from the boondocks.  ABT is coming to town next Tuesday.  Here's the bill:  Theme and Variations featuring (according to the ABT site) Murphy and Corella; Kylian's "Sinfonietta"; and Forsythe's "workwithinwork."

What can we expect?  What do we look for?

Chauffeur,

I'm a bit predjudiced here, T&V is one of my favorite of all one acters.

I saw this twice last Fall, with Murphy and Gomes and then with Wiles and Hallberg.

Both did fine, although I thought Gomes was better at partnering Murphy than Hallberg was with Wiles.

Sinfonietta. Almost everyone I talk to likes this less than I do. It's a very showy piece, especially for the guys, it's basically an ensemble piece. Maybe one of the real attractions for me was the Janacek music. I'm a real Janacek lover.

I didn't see the Forsythe so I'll leave that up to others, but I'd be real happy with a program with at least those first two.

Richard

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Sinfonietta. Almost everyone I talk to likes this less than I do. It's a very showy piece, especially for the guys, it's basically an ensemble piece. Maybe one of the real attractions for me was the Janacek music. I'm a real Janacek lover.

I love this piece; it's the only one of Kylian's that I do.

I agree that the music is great. When Nederlands Dans Theatre performed this piece at the Metropolitan Opera house in the early 80's, two sets of trumpeters played the opening and closing fanfare from the front boxes on one of the upper tiers from both sides of the house, and the effect was spine-tingling.

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I agree that the music is great.  When Nederlands Dans Theatre performed this piece at the Metropolitan Opera house in the early 80's, two sets of trumpeters played the opening and closing fanfare from the front boxes on one of the upper tiers from both sides of the house, and the effect was spine-tingling.

I had horrible seats at City Center (are there any GOOd seats there?) so I can't be sure, but I think I saw brass along the lip of the stage. In any event, Janacek does great stuff with brass.

Richard

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Yes, Sinfonietta does feature on-stage horn players for the fanfares, Richard. This work is an example of Contemporary Dance, chauffeur -- neither Modern nor Ballet but a hybrid. The women wear soft ballet slippers instead of pointe shoes. It is a very attractive work, and there are moments (such as the closing moments -- you'll see what I mean) that are sheer exhiliration. However, after repeated viewings, one begins to see how hollow it is. Not a problem for your first time out, though.

I only saw the Forsythe once. It is edgy, dense and cerebral. This one probably requires repeated viewings to begin to appreciate it, at least for me.

Theme and Variations is one of Balanchine's tributes to the majesty of the Imperial Ballet. Pointe shoes, tutus and even . . . tiaras! As it progresses, you can track various aspects of ballet technique, from the elementary tendu combination that opens the work, through the virtuoso passages for the principles, to the pas de deux and the final procession in the finale. When Balanchine said his ballets were "about dancing," I think this is what he meant.

I hope you enjoy the program and will report your reactions, chauffeur!

I had horrible seats at City Center (are there any GOOd seats there?)

Yes, but I'm not telling which ones :shhh: . If I order early enough and request them by specific numbers, I usually get them! :)
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Thanks, all! These are very helpful comments, especially for prepping the student dancers who will be with us. I'll be sure to report back, though it will be several days -- I'll be away from a computer til the following weekend, but I will report in, I promise.

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Chauffeur, you are very lucky - ABT is bringing a wonderful program to Columbus. Despite La Sylve's conquest of New York (in the T&V segment of Tchai Suite #3 with NYCB), Murphy is still my favorite in the ballerina role. It suits her perfectly, and I think she is perfectly suited to Balanchine' s choreography. Corella's style may be a little too showy for Balanchine but his technique is fierce & I'm sure he will be great with Murphy.

Sinfonetta is not deep but it's great fun. There are many wonderful moments in it & Kilian presses all the right buttons here. There is one segment where 2 male dancers circle the stage (in tours jetes?) and with the right dancers the imagery is amazing.

The Forsythe piece is very dense & abstract, I really liked it but there was way too much going on for me to take it all in during one viewing. Fortunately I was able to go back & see it several times. If you are interested in reading about it there is thread that discusses it on page 4 of the ABT forum. It's titled "New Forsythe?" & dated 11/12/03. Sorry, but I don't know how to post links. Enjoy!

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I attended ABT last night. Here are some impressions...

Theme and Variations was a terible choice for the size of the Wexner Center stage. The outside rows of dancers were constantly hitting the wings, and in the finale where the lines of male and female corps are constantly passing through each other - it was like rush hour traffic.... :)

Because of this, the dancing in Theme was (at best) reserved. Gillian has such beautiful technique, but in most of the sections she was adjusting her spacing and movements to work around the crowded conditions. It is hard for me to really access the dancing because they were not able to perform full out - and its not fair to think that was the best performance they could offer.

Workwithinwork was fabulous. (and much more suited to the Wexner stage.) I am a HUGE fan of Forsythe, so the choreography always draws me in. I am curious to know who the tall girl was in the dark blue halter top dancing primarily with Misty Copeland. I particularly liked her use of feet and legs. She was tall and leggy, and let this work for her within the isolated movements. I think sometimes tall dancers cannot express the agility required of the isolations and twisting, and seem to stretch themselves out of control - but she was quite the opposite, making the distortions beautiful and contained within her tall body. On the other hand, I had trouble with Misty in this dance because her body type is completely ill suited for the costume (or lack of costume). I hope that is a "legal" statement... I will edit if needed.

The Kylian was an audience hit. All of the people seated around me were raving. Of course Sinfonietta is so beautiful. The costumes and the backdrop scene alone create such a stunning "picture". I think the Wexner stage lends more beauty to this piece because of the way the stage set back against the stark black walls of the theater. I was happy that the group was truly an ensemble, and developed the harmony that is required of the piece. The men were great. Of course, it is a piece more for the men. Yet, during the two segments where two men chase eachother across the stage doing consecutive grand saut de chats, then change to repeat them in a cannon - I was literally holding my breath that they wouldn't kick each other. Again, a problem with the size of the stage.

Overall, I think it is interesting that ABT hasn't been to Columbus in 35 years. I talked to a woman who was in attendance at the performance long ago, and she was noting how "Barishnikov was a part of Ballet Theatre.... etc." She was obviously an avid ballet goer and attended every show that came into town... and expressed that she planned to see ABT again in 35 years (she was about 80).... but really... what a strange glimpse at the company and of the state of ballet. Imagine if you only had the opportunity to see ABT once during the Barishnikov years, once during the MacKenzie years, and once in another 35 years. I spent the second intermission musing over the difference between the regular ballet goer in New York and this woman who will see them 3 times in one lifetime. It's so much different then a long distance sports fan who loves the Cowboy's football team, and will never see a game in real life, but still can watch them every weekend from his couch..... This really shows the seperation of art as a higher calling in life. Something that people can love and relate to, even if it's three times in one lifetime. What a gift.

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"art as a higher calling in life. Something that people can love and relate to, even if it's three times in one lifetime. What a gift."

What a lovely way to phrase it....and it gave me something to think about this morning. Thank you.

I enjoyed reading your impressions--agree that T & V was an odd choice for the venue, but glad that you could grasp something of the spectacle even in rush hour!

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The ABT show at the Wexner Center was interesting, though not transcendent. Now granted, if you don't visit a town for 37 years, expectations can get a little out-of-hand, but I think BalletIsLife hit upon a big reason why ABT's appearance in Columbus was problematic. That stage at the Wexner is just too small, arguably even for the more intimate pieces presented. And I got the impression the company did not get to do much rehearsing on the stage, because there was a definite under-rehearsed feel to any piece where large numbers of dancers were on stage at once. The Ohio Theatre would have been a much better choice.

That said, here are my thoughts on what I saw: "Theme and Variations" is, for me, almost a comedic number because it feels like Balanchine is saying to his audience, "A plot? You don't need a plot. You want a princess? Here's a princess. Want a prince? Here, take him. Feel like you need a chorus of sycophants? Here you go, live it up. You want a plot? You make one up." So the structure of the piece is amusing, though in a vaguely hostile way.

As for the dancing, there were very few parts where the dancers seemed to find the soul of the matter (such as it is). I think it was only when Gillian Murphy got to her solo in the middle of it, that I found myself relaxing and thinking, "Ah, yes, now there's a soul to go with the steps." Angel Corella never really got to that level for me, and I think he and Murphy are not a great physical pairing because his arms proved too short a couple times to support her as he would walk around her as she stood in arabesque en pointe. The hurried way he let go, then grabbed her hand again at the far end of each walkaround felt like he wasn't intending to let go, and that was distracting.

Forsythe's "workwithinwork" was the highlight of this program for me. I fear I may be turning into a contemporary ballet enthusiast! The thoughts I gleaned from people here on the board beforehand were very helpful in preparing for this one, but this piece honestly grabbed me from the start and didn't let go. And I had a very odd, interpretive experience a few minutes into this one. I realized that as I was blinking my eyes, I would see the negative image of the dancers against the black backdrop. And it seemed to fill in the blanks created onstage. The polarity was there, for me at least, throughout the whole number, and it added something unexpected to my experience of the dancing. I felt like the whole thing was about negative image and energy, especially because so much of the movement was backward and/or deconstructed movement. The only times the dancers moved forward in a natural manner was when they literally walked out of a patch of formally choreographed movement.

Yet after the emotional distance I felt from T&V, it was strangely rewarding to find so much emotional depth in this very abstract piece. There was one pas de deux -- and forgive me, I have no idea who the two dancers were -- but it was heart wrenching. It felt like a Harold Pinter play, watching a relationship evolve from end to beginning. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

For me, Misty Copeland was the star of the piece. She does have a very unusual body, but I can't tell you the number of audience members I heard exclaiming how great it was to see a body like hers in a setting like that. Maybe some people find her body type distracting (the hyperextension did make me wince a few times), but she's a very powerful and dramatic performer who transcends the confines of strict classical dancing, and I salute that. Paloma Herrara never really seemed to catch fire, but I felt like Marcelo Gomes did. He had a very real emotional rawness to his dancing.

Last piece: Sinfonietta. Yup, it was eye and ear candy, though candy of a better sort. Sort of like the difference between scarfing down Ghiardelli and Hershey chocolate bars. The standout dancer for me was (I believe) Stella Abrera. Her fluidity and elegance really stood out in the movements in which she appeared.

Final thought: Stillness. Because the types of companies we get to see, living where we do and traveling where we do, vary so widely in quality, I've come to realize that if I had to pick one aspect of the dancing which consistently demarcates companies, it's the dancers' abilities to be still. With the best ones we've seen live, like Australian Ballet and ABT, stillness is just as important as precision, speed, fitness and all the other kinetic or observable elements of the dance. With the lesser companies, stillness seems to be merely the absence of movement and a real road bump in the performance. Whatever flaws there may have been in ABT's Columbus performance, their stillness was exquisite.

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Wow! Thanks a lot for that great review, chauffeur!

I hope that next time (if there is a next time) I see workwithinwork, I will remember to blink. I also enjoyed Misty enormously in this piece. In fact, I have always liked her dancing, but she came into her own here.

Your take on T&V is very original. I absolutely see your point, and I'll have to let it stew for a while. I keep coming back, though, to the difference between our sensibilities in 2005 vs. 1947.

I'm sorry the ballets didn't fit well on the stage. I've seen all three works on City Center's small stage, and they made them work there. In fact, T&V premiered there. I don't know the dimensions of either Wexner Center's or City Center's stages, but I would be surprised if WC's (forgive the unfortunate abbreviation) was smaller than CC's. I would assume that the problems of near collisions were due to inadequate rehearsal there, which I agree is an insult to the Columbus audience.

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The Wexner stage must be smaller than City Center's because as soon as the curtain went up on T&V, I knew there was no way we'd be seeing a trumpet fanfare for Sinfonietta. And we didn't! Such a loss because the orchestra pit there didn't yield the best acoustics. An all-around bust of a venue.

Re: T&V, I can easily see, canbro, where a newcomer to the piece in 2005 is going to have a different reaction than in 1947. I'm sure there's a doctoral dissertation out there somewhere in how enough time has passed to change audience's first time reactions to Balanchine! Where a "storyless" story ballet may have seemed radical in 1947, it strikes me as coolly ironic now. I'm just thrilled I got to see it live. There's so much more to scoop up from it live than on a tape.

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