All Tharp: News, Casting, Reviews

[Helene]

PNB has just published the (too short) "All Tharp" trailer, with excerpts from "Afternoon Ball", "Opus 111", and "Waterbaby Bagatelles":

Jodie Thomas (now at Royal Danish Ballet) is wonderful in the final clip. I think the clips from "Opus 111" look much better to Martynov's music for "Afternoon Ball" than they do to the Brahms.

[sandik]

And an all too brief clip of the waterbabies themselves!

[sandik]

The full press release is out.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET PRESENTS SPECIAL EVENTS IN CONJUNCTION WITH ALL THARP

SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet continues its 2010-2011 season with a program of works by American dance icon Twyla Tharp. PNB offers a series of free or affordable events for audiences to learn more about the legendary choreographer and the works being presented during ALL THARP.

ALL THARP runs November 5 - 14 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $27 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer St.

SPECIAL EVENTS

FRIDAY PREVIEWS

Friday, October 29, 6:00 pm

The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer Street, Seattle

Join us for an hour-long dance preview led by Artistic Director Peter Boal and featuring PNB dancers performing excerpts from ALL THARP. PNB Friday Previews offer an upbeat and up-close view of the Company preparing to put dance on stage. Tickets are only $10, and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street. This event will sell out in advance. Friday Previews are sponsored by U.S. Bank.

CONVERSATIONS WITH PNB — FREE

Sunday, October 31, 2:00 pm

Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Avenue on Capitol Hill, Seattle

PNB's Sunday afternoon series features an hour-long discussion about ALL THARP with PNB principal dancer Jonathan Porretta and soloist Chalnessa Eames in the casual atmosphere of the Elliott Bay Book Company reading room. All Conversations with PNB are FREE of charge.

BALLET PREVIEW — FREE

Tuesday, November 2, 12:00 noon

Central Seattle Public Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle

Join PNB for a free lunch-hour preview lecture at the Central Seattle Public Library. Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington will offer insights about ALL THARP, complete with video excerpts. FREE of charge.

PNB LECTURE SERIES & DRESS REHEARSAL

Thursday, November 4

Lecture 6:00 pm, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street, Seattle

Dress Rehearsal 7:00 pm, McCaw Hall

Join PNB artistic director Peter Boal and Waterbaby Bagatelles stager Shelley Washington during the hour preceding the dress rehearsal of ALL THARP. Attend the lecture only or stay for the dress rehearsal. Tickets are $12 for the lecture, or $25 for the lecture and dress rehearsal. Tickets may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at pnb.org or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street.

Shelley Washington studied with Twyla Tharp at Wolftrap Academy, American University, prior to being invited to join Twyla Tharp Dance Company in 1975. She had previously danced as a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Ms. Washington furthered her training at the Juilliard School. She performed in the 1977 film Hair and served as dance captain for the 1985 Broadway production of Singing in the Rain. In 1987, she was honored with a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award. >From 1988 to 1992, Ms. Washington worked with American Ballet Theatre as soloist and rehearsal director in association with Ms. Tharp. In 1993, she was rehearsal director for Ms. Tharp’s Cutting Up tour, starring Ms. Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Twyla Tharp and Dancers’ City Center season in New York, and Tharp Dances’ international tour. Ms. Washington continues to work with Ms. Tharp as rehearsal director by setting, staging, and directing Ms. Tharp’s ballets for many companies internationally.

PRE-PERFORMANCE LECTURES

Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall

Join Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington for a 30-minute introduction to each performance, including discussions of choreography, music, history, design and the process of bringing ballet to the stage. One hour before performances. FREE for ticketholders.

POST-PERFORMANCE Q&A

Skip the post-show traffic and enjoy a post-performance Q&A with Artistic Director Peter Boal and PNB dancers. Immediately following each performance in the Norcliffe Room at McCaw Hall. FREE for ticketholders.

PNB BOX OFFICE

Phone: 206.441.2424 (M-F 9am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm)

In Person: 301 Mercer Street (M-F 10am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm)

Online: PNB.org (24 hours a day, seven days a week)

# # #

Schedule and programming subject to change. For further information, please visit www.pnb.org.

[Helene]

PNB has published a entitled "Tharp's Opus 111-The Restaging":

and one of Chalnessa Eames, Jonathan Porretta, and Olivier Wevers rehearsing "Afternoon Ball" with commentary:

Casting for the first week in on the site:

Friday, 5 Nov 7:30pm

Opus 111:

Carla Körbes

Batkhurel Bold

Lindsi Dec

Seth Orza*

Carrie Imler

Josh Spell*

Rachel Foster

Kiyon Gaines

Chalnessa Eames

James Moore

Sarah Ricard Orza

Lucien Postlewaite


Afternoon Ball:

Jonathan Porretta

Olivier Wevers

Chalnessa Eames

Ariana Lallone

Jeffrey Stanton


Waterbaby Bagatelles:

Batkhurel Bold

Carla Körbes

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Rachel Foster*

Lucien Postlewaite

Benjamin Griffiths

Saturday, 6 Nov 2pm

Opus 111:

Carla Körbes

Batkhurel Bold

Ariana Lallone

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Josh Spell

Kylee Kitchens

Barry Kerollis

Chalnessa Eames

James Moore

Sarah Ricard Orza

Lucien Postlewaite

Afternoon Ball:

Benjamin Griffiths*

Andrew Bartee*

Maria Chapman*

Laura Gilbreath*

Jerome Tisserand

Waterbaby Bagatelles:

Batkhurel Bold

Lesley Rausch*

Olivier Wevers*

Lindsi Dec*

Chalnessa Eames*

Jerome Tisserand*

James Moore*

Saturday, 6 Nov 7:30pm

Opus 111:

Maria Chapman*

William Lin-Yee*

Ariana Lallone

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Josh Spell

Rachel Foster

Kiyon Gaines

Lesley Rausch

Jerome Tisserand

Leah O'Connor*

Benjamin Griffiths*

Afternoon Ball:

Jonathan Porretta

Olivier Wevers

Chalnessa Eames

Ariana Lallone

Jeffrey Stanton

Waterbaby Bagatelles:

Batkhurel Bold

Carla Körbes

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Rachel Foster*

Lucien Postlewaite

Benjamin Griffiths

I was most interested to see the second cast for "Afternoon Ball", and the trio will be danced by Benjamin Griffiths, Andrew Bartee, and Maria Chapman. When the ballet was first performed, Chapman was in the couple from the past with Jerome Tisserand; in this run we'll see her in the role danced by Kaori Nakamura and Chalnessa Eames in the first run, with Laura Gilbreath taking her original part in the same cast.

The Saturday afternoon cast of "Waterbaby Bagatelles" is almost entirely new, and that will be interesting to see, too.

[sandik]

I was most interested to see the second cast for "Afternoon Ball", and the trio will be danced by Benjamin Griffiths, Andrew Bartee, and Maria Chapman. When the ballet was first performed, Chapman was in the couple from the past with Jerome Tisserand; in this run we'll see her in the role danced by Kaori Nakamura and Chalnessa Eames in the first run, with Laura Gilbreath taking her original part in the same cast.

The Saturday afternoon cast of "Waterbaby Bagatelles" is almost entirely new, and that will be interesting to see, too.

I agree, shifting Chapman to Nakamura's part is an interesting maneuver, as is casting Bartee in Wever's role. I've been watching him in rehearsals for Wever's January show, and there is a certain structural resemblance, but I'm curious to see what he makes with the part.

[bart]

You all speak so often about Olivier Wevers, it's good to see him in the Afternoon Ball clip. He seems a natural comic dancer.

Question: who is the young man doing the entrechats (while basking in the admiration of the 3 bathing beauties) in Water Babies?

The range of PNB's pre-performance activities is really impressive. I wish more companies did them. Are they well-attended? Do they have, in your opinion, a pay-off at the box-office?

P.S. I don't know Afternoon Ball. Does the Wever character actually have an imaginary partner throughout? or are these invisible presences just people he keeps bumping (sic.) into.

If the former, companies with budget problems might adopt the technique. Swan Lake with Siegfried relating to an Odette who is invisible to the audience, or Albrecht dancing with and responding to an imaginary Giselle (grief and remorse have driven him mad ), could be quite eery AND quite thrifty.

[Helene]

You all speak so often about Olivier Wevers, it's good to see him in the Afternoon Ball clip. He seems a natural comic dancer.

He is, and humor is a fresh aspect of his own choreography, but he's more than that, and he shows it in this role: there's always a complexity behind his comic roles that gives them power and often (depending on the character) pathos.

Question: who is the young man doing the entrechats (while basking in the admiration of the 3 bathing beauties) in Water Babies?

Argh, I watched that clip so many times to figure it out, and I can't, even full screen and freezing the frame. I dug up the old programs, and it's possible that the dancer was in the cast I didn't see, but the only three dancers that have hair that dark are Batkhurel Bold, James Moore, and Sakvannara Sar. I don't remember Bold's hair every being that floppy, and the dancer doesn't look tall and leggy enough to be Bold. Proportionally, it looks more like Sar to me, which would mean a breakout solo from the corps, which I think this part was.

The range of PNB's pre-performance activities is really impressive. I wish more companies did them. Are they well-attended? Do they have, in your opinion, a pay-off at the box-office?

I've heard that the $5 studio rehearsals have been sell-outs. I've only been to a couple of the pre-performance lectures, and they were nicely attended, as were all of the dancer/choreographer discussions at Elliot Bay. There was a wonderful afternoon-long lecture, demo, discussion for "Coppelia", and a good number of seats were taken, and I don't remember any empty seats for either of Doug Fullington's "Balanchine's Petipa" presentations. These are all relatively small-venues, though, the largest being the 300-400 seat Lecture Hall where the pre-performance presentations are held. For these the tickets to the performances have been sold already.

I'm not sure how measurable the programs' influence at the box office is. When there are cheap tickets, people show up for them based on the lobby-blocking rush ticket lines, and I see far more people younger than I at the ballet than at the opera. I don't think the economy can sustain even subscription prices, and it is depressing to see empty seats at great performances. I know not all subscribers and full-price ticket-buyers feel this way, but I'd rather see butts in seats, if people have paid a small fee. However, performing arts institutions can't afford to alienate their long-time subscribers, who are often donors, to bring in new audiences whose long-time loyalty is not proven.

Since there is so much time for people's dollars and time, I suspect these programs are a way to encourage loyalty to the organization and to help arts "customers" to focus on their product. (Sorry to sound like a direct marketing person: once in the blood, it's never out.)

[bbh]

The guy is Le Yin in the Waterbaby's section with the four girls.

[Helene]

The guy is Le Yin in the Waterbaby's section with the four girls.

Excellent -- thank you! I didn't see the cast he was in; the casts for the two performances I saw were identical.

That makes it highly unlikely that it was a breakout solo

[Helene]

Here's the video for "Waterbaby Bagatelles" -- my favorite Tharp, yay!:

There are some lovely short segments of Carla Korbes and Karel Cruz.

The music is by William Lin-Yee.

[Helene]

Casting for Week 2:

Thursday, 11 Nov, 7:30pm:

Opus 111

Maria Chapman

William Lin-Yee

Lindsi Dec

Seth Orza

Carrie Imler

Josh Spell

Kylee Kitchens

Barry Kerollis

Lesley Rausch

Jerome Tisserand

Leah O'Connor

Benjamin Griffiths

Afternoon Ball

James Moore

Lucien Postlewaite

Rachel Foster

Laura Gilbreath

Jerome Tisserand

Waterbaby Bagatelles

Jonathan Porretta

Maria Chapman

Jeffrey Stanton

Carrie Imler

Chalnessa Eames

Lucien Postlewaite

Benjamin Griffiths

Friday, 12 Nov, 7:30pm:

Opus 111

Maria Chapman

William Lin-Yee

Lindsi Dec

Seth Orza

Carrie Imler

Josh Spell

Rachel Foster

Kiyon Gaines

Chalnessa Eames

James Moore

Sarah Ricard Orza

Lucien Postlewaite

Afternoon Ball

Jonathan Porretta

Olivier Wevers

Chalnessa Eames

Maria Chapman

Jerome Tisserand

Waterbaby Bagatelles

Seth Orza

Maria Chapman

Jeffrey Stanton

Lindsi Dec

Rachel Foster

Jerome Tisserand

James Moore

Saturday, 13 Nov, 7:30pm:

Opus 111

Carla Körbes

Batkhurel Bold

Ariana Lallone

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Jonathan Porretta

Kylee Kitchens

Barry Kerollis

Lesley Rausch

Jerome Tisserand

Leah O'Connor

Benjamin Griffiths

Afternoon Ball

James Moore

Lucien Postlewaite

Rachel Foster

Maria Chapman

Jerome Tisserand

Waterbaby Bagatelles

Jonathan Porretta

Carla Körbes

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Chalnessa Eames

Lucien Postlewaite

Benjamin Griffiths

Sunday, 14 Nov 1pm

Opus 111

Carla Körbes

Batkhurel Bold

Ariana Lallone

Karel Cruz

Carrie Imler

Jonathan Porretta

Rachel Foster

Kiyon Gaines

Chalnessa Eames

James Moore

Sarah Ricard Orza

Lucien Postlewaite

Afternoon Ball

Benjamin Griffiths

Andrew Bartee

Maria Chapman

Ariana Lallone

Jeffrey Stanton

Waterbaby Bagatelles

Seth Orza

Lesley Rausch

Olivier Wevers

Lindsi Dec

Rachel Foster

Jerome Tisserand

James Moore

[Helene]

Here's a video with clips from all three ballets and freeze-frame shots of Angela Sterling photos:

[sandik]

Sorry to be so tardy with this, but life got lifelike there for a bit. Some additional thoughts about the program

Opus 111 - It’s pretty easy to catch the folk dance quotations, introduced bit by bit until the finale which is almost as Americana as an Agnes deMille hoedown, but like the sly woman she is, Tharp has salted references to lots of other movement styles throughout the work. There are gymnastic somersaults and cartwheels, and old-time jazzy balances that make everyone look like they’re following along with Bill Robinson. And then there’s the classic playground trick where you dive into the arms of a friend, who catches you under your chest and hips, turning you around like Superman flying over Metropolis. We’re in the gym and the speakeasy and the playground, but it’s still a pastorale – just in an urban setting.

Tharp has given many performers fun stuff to do, and they respond by having fun doing it. Kiyon Gaines and Rachel Foster had a great playfulness with each other and a kind of throwaway energy. She sometimes pushes a bit too hard, and comes off tense, but that calmed down here. Barry Kerolis has a great jaunty walk toward the end of the work – he would fit right into a production of Music Man. Arianna Lallone and Karel Cruz are each tall dancers by themselves, but when they perform together they seem even taller, so that they can fold their arms and legs into beautiful bent shapes, and still read as long-limbed. Carrie Imler, who will just knock everyone flat at the end of the program in Waterbaby Bagatelles, starts out with a powerful strength in all kinds of off-center tricks – like a Weeble, she might be supposed to wobble, but she won’t fall down. And Lucien Postelwaite is having a fabulous time. Last year, after a beautiful performance of Square Dance with Imler, Postelwaite joked during the post-show Q/A that Imler was such a strong performer than he was just there to “put the cherry on the top.” That may be the case, but he is approaching that kind of strength and reliability himself. Throughout this repertory, Postlewaite throws himself with abandon into all kinds of physical challenges, and triumphs with each challenge.

As well as quotations from almost everywhere in the dance world, Tharp includes references to herself as well – the flat-footed reverance at the end of the work is from her own drunken solo in Eight Jelly Rolls.

Afternoon Ball – This feels even more complicated than it did on its opening, with the relationships between the three street kids shifting back and forth continually. Last time around Charlie Hodges’ tour-de-force performance made the Wevers character a little more backgroundy – Hodges was on speed and Wevers was on downers. This time around it’s easier to see what Wevers is doing, a whole catalog of twitches as he continually follows something that only he can see. Eames is a tough cookie in ¾ time with very eccentric accents, but the real surprise in that part is Maria Chapman. I almost didn’t recognize her at first with the frazzled wig and ragged tights – I didn’t know she could look that trashed. Andrew Bartee did some excellent work in the Wevers role, on the wafty side. (in the post-shop Q&A he said his character isn’t sure that the other characters even exist)

The repetitive nature of the score is exhausting, possibly like the repetition of homelessness.

Jeffrey Stanton and Lallone were very settled and refined as Biedermeir couple – Laura Gilbreath and Jerome Tisserand looked a bit younger, in part because they seemed a bit mismatched. Poretta starts to shift his posture/gesture to emulate them, but are they actually there?

Waterbaby Bagatelles - Bold is looking quite buff here, leading his entourage. I know he often dances Theseus in Midsummer, but seeing him here I’m wondering what he’d look like as Oberon. In the meantime, Postlewaite (in a kilt) has a little head bobble going while his feet are all fast and crisp, rather like patting your head while you’re rubbing your stomach. Tisserand drops everything to check on his nails – he’s developing a nice comic timing.

Korbes and Cruz are just as lush as their velour costumes in the duet. Lots of over-the-shoulder flirting and sequential spines. Korbes very carefully rocks back and forth on her belly when Cruz tips her forward – Leslie Rausch (dancing with Wevers) very carefully does not. He hops backward each time to miss getting hit by her leg in a supported turn, the mechanics of partnering made transparent. The big “number” for the men to the Mickey Hart excerpt just builds and builds like a Broadway finale, and we could go home happy if it did end here. This is the section that keeps Peter Boal repeating “Twyla likes her men” and they get a huge catalog of fun things to do. Wevers does a great drunk bit, Gaines puts up his dukes as a boxer, Kerollis makes a sweet slide into home, and Josh Spell looks like he’s channeling Tommy Tune’s “gee, shucks” virtuosity. Bold is like Charles Atlas flexing his muscles, but fleet-footed and tricky. His solo might easily be related to the John Selya part in Surfer on the River Styx. This is like the Golden Section from Catherine Wheel, one of the only dances I know where a pair of gold lame briefs seem perfectly in place. But then Tharp shifts to a John Adams score, and everything is kicked up exponentially. Everyone charges through the space, but soon it’s Imler who takes the lead, summoning people from the wings and gathering them all to her. This is like the second act of Giselle in Valhalla, only Myrtha is a valiant force for good and surges from strength to strength.