Four Ballets by New Chamber Ballet

[Caesariatus]

On Saturday I went to see the New Chamber Ballet dance at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn (in NYC).  This is a small venue.  The dance area was a square marked out on the floor, and the audience was one line of 12 people for each side of the square.  At times I was literally only five feet from a dancer.

There were four dances, all choreographed by Milo Magloire.  Five dancers total, all women, danced in groups of two, three, and four.  The first three, Gravity, Deep Breath, and Mandragore, were all modern dance.  Magloire likes to twist his dancers around and over each other.  My favorite of these was Deep Breath, during most of which two dancers grasped each others hands and danced around each other without losing that connection.

The final dance, Nocturne, was my favorite of the night.  It had four dancers in exuberant and joyful interaction.  This was an excerpt from a longer dance which I had seen a video of previously, and which can be found here: https://www.newchamberballet.com/nocturne.

This is the second time I've seen NCB, not counting their pandemic videos.  It's a much different experience than City Ballet and such; much more intimate and immersive.  I'm not sure how they make money, though.  I saw one of only two performances, and at 48 people a night at $42 a ticket that's only around $4000 revenue.  

I come into the city periodically to visit my dad, and I like to see some ballet when I do, and I'm glad to have found this company to add to my options.

[Amy Reusch]

Glad to hear Magloire is still creating.  His performance model of a chamber ballet is so perfect for these times... who knew what was ahead back when he started...