Silver Slippers: Musings on Dance in Houston (and now Atlanta)

Just because

2008-07-23T17:34:00.005-04:00

In response to my being tagged at something shiny disorder, here is a random sample of information about me:

What I Was Doing 10 Years Ago
Graduate school at Cornell, I believe working on time of flight Monte Carlo.

Five Snacks I Enjoy
cookies
apples and peanut butter
cheese and crackers
nuts
applesauce

Five Things On My To-Do List Today
pick up Gretchen's medicine
fill car up with gas
gestate
determine ionospheric structure functions
write a thank-you note

Five Favorite Recipes
Corn Potato Chowder
Cranberry Orange Apricot Bread
Crusty Chicken Breast Topped with Salad
Apple Betty Pie
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies

Five Jobs I've Had
teaching assistant at a summer science program
modern dancer
nuclear physicist
ballet teacher
senior research scientist

Five Bad Habits
cookies
staying up late
leaving my shoes all over the house
not emptying the dehumidifier when I think of it (hey, it's in the basement)
paying bills late

All the Places I've Lived
Texas
California
New York (upstate)
Georgia

Five Random Things About Me
I enjoy Willie Nelson's music
I'm right handed, but my left eye is dominant and my left foot is bigger
I spend a significant fraction of my income on health care for my dog
I secretly long to work in movies
I'm allergic to cats (that means you, Mr. Bigglesworth)

Jon Stewart, May 10, 2008, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

2008-07-01T17:07:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's been almost two months since I saw this standup performance by the host extraodinaire of The Daily Show. What with Mr. Silvershoes starting a new job that requires him to be out of town a great deal AND with a baby on the way, blogging just hasn't risen to the top of the list lately, so I have a few things to catch up on. Don't expect much; I simply didn't want to leave this performance off the list.

What can I say? Jon Stewart is a funny man. While some of this routine was lifted from The Daily Show, most of it was new to me. Of course the joke lineup included several pointed political observations, but the funniest part was when Mr. Stewart started talking about his pets. I nearly rolled into the aisle when he went on a riff about his dog getting sick, having experienced something similar with Gretchen in the not-too-distant past. Isn't it funny (peculiar) that something so disgusting can turn funny (ha ha) in retrospect?

Atlanta Ballet, March 14, 2008, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

2008-05-08T17:20:00.000-04:00

The Atlanta Ballet has a new home. Much as I liked the Fox Theater, their former home, it isn't the best venue for ballet performances. There's also the fact that parking was a pain and I didn't always feel safe walking to my car at night. The shiny, new Cobb Energy Center offers improvement on all fronts, plus it's closer to my house! It's not quite as chichi as the Wortham Center or even the Hobby Center, but it's still quite nice. I have hopes that the move will elevate Atlanta Ballet's stature and ambitions.

But enough about that. AB's first production in its new home was a mixed rep of pieces by George Balanchine, Diane Coburn Bruning, and Twyla Tharp. The first piece was Balanchine's "Serenade," which was performed for the most part rather sloppily. I also simply CANNOT get over the fact that the dancers use rosin on a Marley floor and, as a result, squeak like rusty huinges whenever they move, something that's particularly unappealing against the exquisite calmness of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. While dancers must feel secure for their comfort and safety, other professional companies routinely find a quiet way to achieve this goal. I mean, come on!

Fortunately squeaky shoes were not a distraction in the rousing "Ramlin' Suite" by Diane Coburn Bruning. Set to music by the Red Clay Ramblers, the piece was a lighthearted fusion of contemporary ballet and Appalachian charm.

Tharp's "In the Upper Room" closed out the show and, frankly, left me stunned at the choreographic accomplishment of the piece. As far as I can tell, the music was written by Philip Glass specifically for this piece. It reminded me of the music for the film Koyaanisqatsi, which was also written by Mr. Glass at about the same period. Or at least I think it did; it's been a reeaallly long time since I've seen that movie. The music contrived to have a beat without having a rhythm; the driving sounds evolved from one place to another but did not develop. Going on for a continuous 40 minutes, it had the drawn out qualities of Ravel's "Bolero" without the repetition or crescendo (a plus, in my blog). Tharp's choreography was divided into sections, and there was some development as the costumes lost layers to go from black-and-white with red highlights to red with black-and-white highlights. This helped things from becoming monotonous. The set was two stories, but the dancers stayed on the floor, dancing underneath an ever-present fog that added mystery to the proceedings.

I confess that it has been long enough since I saw the piece that I am unable to characterize the movement beyond saying that it was athletic but clearly ballet. The dancers largely directed their attention out to the audience rather than towards each other. The entire experience was mesmerizing and rather like watching a particularly fascinating screen saver. The dancers gave it their all and received a well deserved standing ovation at the end.

Houston, we have a problem (but it could be worse)

2008-04-25T17:11:00.003-04:00

I've always thought of Stanton Welch as a competent but not great choreographer, so I was interested to see a reviewer's opinion of his latest work, which premiered last night as part of the San Francisco Ballet's New Works Festival. Writing in today's New York Times, Alastair Macaulay was not shy about saying what he thought of the four works on the program. Mark Morris's piece fared the best with adjectives including "awkward," "tepid," and "static." At least (for Welch's sake) Welch's piece didn't come out at the bottom of the "ghastly" pile.

Welch's new work was title "Naked" and set to Poulenc's "Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos." Macaulay's main criticism was lack of dynamics: fast music got fast movement and slow music got slow movement.

Macaulay's comments on James Kudelka's "The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful" fall in the "no, tell us what you really think" category:

[It] lasts no more than 30 minutes, but only by clock time. While you watch, you begin to feel that Bill Clinton probably eloped with Michelle Obama long ago, that the problems of Palestine and Iraq and Afghanistan must have all been sorted by now, that whole generations of human life have passed and aliens have surely taken over the planet and then departed, all while you are stuck there in the theater trying to find the least interest in watching the same tepid floozies doing the same limp steps.

Wow.

The other piece on the program was by Julia Adam, who choreographed "Ketubah" for Houston Ballet in 2004.

Maybe you should use a mug?

2008-02-07T17:25:00.000-05:00

Here's some sophomoric (maybe even grade school) humor for you. While I understand the image the author is trying to convey in these lyrics to The Shin's "Those to Come," I can't help but giggle every time I hear them:

Eyeless in the morning sun you were
pale and mild,a modern girl.
Taken with thought still prone to care
making tea in your underwear.

Nutcracker memories

2007-12-30T17:43:00.002-05:00

As someone who has been a Party Mother, Grandmother, Rat Queen, Snowflake, Snow Queen, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Mirliton, Flower, Bug (don't ask), Dewdrop, and Sugar Plum Fairy in various productions of the Nutcracker over the years, I can really identify with this quote from a December 21, 2007, article in the New York Times by Alastair Macaulay:

And so the changeover of roles goes on from one “Nutcracker” to another. Every performance is attended by ballet mothers who know more about it than anyone else in the audience. When the bed travels magically around the stage, they know there is a little boy underneath. My favorite piece of insider knowledge was uttered years ago by one such mother to another. Watching a young man making his debut as the Sugar Plum’s Cavalier, she whispered, “I remember him when he was the bed.”

Moving Forward, November 3, 2007, Rialto Center for the Performing Arts

2007-11-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

This show was a benefit for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Sadly, it reminded me of the Illumination Project, in that there was really good dancing and no one came to watch it. This is only the second time this benefit has been produced, so maybe word is still getting around. The participating companies were Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre, Northeast Atlanta Ballet, Moving in the Spirit, CityDance Ensemble, The Georgia Ballet, the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra, CORE Performance Company, Atlanta Ballet, and Giwayen Mata. Kudos to all of them for participating.

Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre presented "Birthday Variations", a lighthearted piece set to orchestral variations of the song "Happy Birthday to You." (Sadly, music and choreography were not credited in the program.) The choreography reminded me of a silly-in-a-good-way piece I saw last year by Sam Watson, "Hi Jinks,"and I later discovered that he was also responsible for "Birthday Variations."

City Dance Ensemble presented three numbers, one of them being "Forbidden," described in the program as "a Polynesian-inspired love story involving a forbidden attraction and a jealous husband's rage." Choreography was by Saroya Corbett. Also presented was the ballet classic "The Dying Swan," danced by Christen Edwards. Ms. Edwards displayed a rare understanding of the classical styling of this piece, and watching her was a real treat.

Also a real treat was seeing Ben Stevenson's "Three Preludes" performed by Tara Lee and Jonah Hooper of the Atlanta Ballet. The first time I saw this piece was at Houston Ballet's tribute to Mr. Stevenson on the occasion of his retirement as director of the company. I don't recall offhand the dancers in that performance, but I do recall the program notes saying that Mr. Stevenson choreographed this piece for Roberts Scevers and his partner(?), who were students with the Harkness Youth Ballet. I used to take the occasional ballet class from Mr. Scevers, which I enjoyed a great deal, and remember thinking during the HB performance that the choreography suited his movement style. In the Atlanta production, while Mr. Hooper danced well, he was emotionally reserved, especially in contrast with Ms. Lee, whose emotion and beautiful lines brought out the beauty of the choreography.

Closing the program was an energetic and enthusiastic display of dances from the Susu people of Guinea, West Africa by the all-female group Giwayen Mata.

Make no mistake

2007-10-31T17:27:00.000-04:00

From today's New York Times in an article by Roslyn Sulcas reviewing a production by choreographer and artistic director John Jasperse:

It will come as no shock to many in the audience that some of the best dancers in one of the world’s cultural capitals earn less money in a year than unskilled workers. But some of the other numbers Mr. Jasperse cites may be more surprising: his own annual salary ($26,000) as artistic director of the John Jasperse Company; Judge Judy’s annual earnings ($26 million more than the combined annual salaries of all nine United States Supreme Court justices); and the daily cost of the war in Iraq, $720 million, versus the $160 million projected annual budget of the National Endowment for the Arts in 2008. (Read that again and marvel: The words daily and annual are not mistakes.)

(Emphasis added, not that it really needed it.)

Margot, October 16, 2007, my living room

2007-10-24T17:36:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've been bad about posting here. I really have no excuse. I can promise that I have not failed to post about any performances I've seen. I just haven't seen any lately!

There has been plenty of time to sit on the couch lately, though, and watch documentaries, including this rather thorough one about Dame Margot Fonteyn. Coming in at over 2 hours, it traces Dame Fonteyn's life from her birth into an Anglo-Brazilian family (as Margaret Hookham) to her death as a pauper in Panama.

Fonteyn is one of my style idols and the famous dancer I believe I most resemble stylistically, so it was fascinating to take a closer look at her training and career. (For the record, my other style idol is Audrey Hepburn.) I have always been inspired by how Fonteyn could do so much with what, by today's standards, would be considered so little. She doesn't have high extension, turn a lot, or jump high, and she had terrible feet. What she did have was precision, line, grace, passion, and musicality. As one of her former partners put it, refering to her technique, "The young dancers looking at it, they probably wouldn't be able to spot it because it was so amazingly disguised." (Unfortunately I was too lazy to identify the speaker, who was not shown on screen at the time he said this.)

I knew Fonteyn performed to quite an old age (60, to be exact) and that she was married to Roberto de Arias, a Panamanian diplomat, but I didn't know the two facts were related. Her husband turned out to be a real piece of... work. He used Fonteyn's fame and money for his own ends while cheating on her. He allowed her to be arrested for running guns into Panama. He was paralyzed from the neck down by a bullet shot by the husband of one of his mistresses. Fonteyn was on the verge of divorcing him when this happened, but ended up supporting him financially for the rest of his life. She kept dancing for so long because she had to. Even as a quadraplegic, Arias ran off with his physical therapist!

Keith Money, Fonteyn's assistant during the later years of her life, was extremely bitter at the way she was treated by, well, everyone. As he says, "These people [dance stars] are sacrificied. They are really sacrificial victims. They're put on the stone, and they're pulverized." Later in life, she was, according to him, forced to travel to London while fighting the cancer that ended her life and appear onstage (presumably a curtain call) during a concert given for her benefit. He argues that if these people were solely interested in helping her, they should have just sent her the money rather than making her do the dog-and-pony thing. It's hard to disagree with that and heartbreaking to see how such a talented woman gave so much and had so little for herself.

For that reason, it's even more important to remember just what a marvel Fonteyn was and how much of an inspiration to the dancers that came after her (myself included). What comes across most strongly in this story of her life is her enormous discipline and commitment to her dancing. Combined with her talent, it's no wonder she became a household name worldwide.

"So there are people that transcend...their life on Earth. They become like highlights of humanity." - Ana Cristina Alvarado, "friend in Panama"

It's a man's world

2007-08-05T17:14:00.000-04:00

In an article in Today's New York Times titled "Often on Point But Rarely In Charge," dance critic Claudia la Rocco explores the reasons behind the fact that the vast majority of major ballet companies are run by men. This is something I've noticed before; after all, given the overwhelming majority of girls in ballet schools, why do the men float to the top?

The situation bears some resemblance to that of women in physics, vis. self-perpetuation. Men hold the authority positions because they had them in the past. As Emily Coates is quoted as saying, "You think: 'What is the 20-year-old soloist going to think? What will she be looking at?' She'll be seeing the men advance and the women retire, often into teaching positions. And there's another generation that will not know that it can aspire, even aspire, to rise into that." Hmm, sound familiar? (Well, ok, maybe not to you dance readers, but it sure as heck sounds familiar to me.)

There is, however, one tiny difference. Women are minorities in physics; men are minorities in ballet. You can run a lab without a woman, but you can't put on Swan Lake without a man. So young male dancers are given special attention, face less competition, have lighter workloads, etc. The result? "Such embedded pathways function like 'glass escalators,' speeding men's ascension in female-dominated professions," says sociology professor Christine L. Williams. And here's the rub: "'Consequently you have this bizarre thing, really the opposite of when women enter predominately male jobs' and face glass ceilings." In other words, in male-dominated professions, men rise to the top. In female-dominated professions, men ALSO rise to the top. Isn't that special.

Emergence-See!, July 28, 2007, Woodruff Arts Center

2007-07-31T17:10:00.000-04:00

I had the good fortune to hear Daniel Beaty, the writer and actor for this one-man show, be interviewed on NPR a few days before he came to Atlanta to perform. How often does that happen? Anyway, the show sounded so fascinating, I bought tickets as soon as I could.

The story revolves around a slave ship that mysteriously appears in the water next to the Statue of Liberty in the present day. The ship is deserted, but people are drawn to the island to take a closer look. The cast of characters include a TV reporter, a man suffering from schizophrenia after the death of his wife, the man's two sons, a homeless man, and a transvestite. The show explores the questions (as stated on Mr. Beaty's website) "What does centuries of slavery do to the psyche of humanity? And how free are we really at the dawn of the 21st Century?"

Mr. Beaty does an excellent job infusing each character with a distinct personality. He switches from one to another in a heartbeat, but the viewer is never left behind. Part of the action is a poetry slam, and we heard four amazing poems. Oh yeah, and he's also an opera singer.

Sleeping Beauty, May 5, 2007, Fox Theatre

2007-06-12T17:26:00.000-04:00

It's been over a month since I saw this performance, so my memory of it has become somewhat sketchy; however, here's what stuck with me. This was a competent production by Atlanta Ballet. The dancing was solid but lacked dazzle. Naomi-Jane Dixon was sweet as Aurora, and was supported ably by her prince, Tamila. Her balances in the Rose adagio were evanescent, and, though no fault of her own, her arms just aren't long enough to form the grand poses required by this role. Of the fairies, two stood out: Kelsey Yip as Violente (the "finger fairy," as my mom and I call it), and apprentice Rachel Van Buskirk as one of the (pleasantly) highest-strung Canari's I've seen. Also nice were Jacob Bush, Nadia Mara, Christine Necessary, and Joshua Reynolds, listed as Gems (Silver, Gold, and Sapphire) rather than fairies and performing a dual pas de deux.

A complaint about the music: Atlanta Ballet can't afford to hire live musicians and so uses recorded music for most of their performances. I don't have a problem with this; it's not ideal, but it's reality for many companies. But what tone-deaf (style-deaf?) person picked the soundtrack? The adagio of the wedding pas de deux between Aurora and her prince is accented by typical Tchaikovsky runs and add a graceful counterpoint. Unless, that is, they are performed by squirrels running across a piano, jarring one out of the lovely reverie that is the music. I mean, come on!

It's elementary

2007-05-21T17:36:00.000-04:00

I've been going through some old papers of mine from grade school, and I recently ran across some "stories" I wrote in second grade. Since these represent my nascence as a writer, I thought I'd post of few of them here. Here they are, without corrections:

If I Were a Hostage in Iran

If I were a Hostage I would collect bugs on Sunday. On Monday I would get exercise. On Tuesday I would write to my family. Wednesday I would collect frogs. Thursday I would catch worms. Friday I would go fishing. Saturday I would play with my friends. I would sleep on the floor every night. I would drink milk and eat the same thing every night I would eat tacos.

If I Were a Stamp

If I were a stamp on an envelope this is what I would do. I would go into the mailbox intill the mailman came to pick me up. I visited the post office. I visited Mississippi. I visited the dump. Then I was burned up. And that was end of me. Never be a stamp on an envelope.

My brother comments, "Sounds like being a hostage is WAY better than being a postage stamp - although that may not be true depending on what Iranian tacos taste like."

Love's Labour's Lost, March 31, 2007, The Shakespeare Tavern

2007-04-02T17:52:00.000-04:00

Cool. Way cool. Atlanta has a theater company (The Atlanta Shakespeare Company) dedicated to presenting the works of Shakespeare in the "Original Practice," or shows produced the way the Bard would have done it himself. Not only that, they have their own building that resembles The Globe. Uber cool.

Mr. Silvershoes and I went early to sample the British pub fair served in the theater before the show. True to billing, it was a bit bland and overcooked. Happily, the same could not be said of the production.

Love's Labour's Lost is one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, which I mention for no reason whatsoever. It centers on four men who have just vowed a 3-year stint of reclusive celibacy in order to further their studies. Naturally, shortly thereafter a beautiful princess (did I mention one of the men is a king?) and her three attendants appear at court on a business call. Romance ensues. Confusion reigns. Someone dies. In other words, a typical Shakespeare play.

While the actors were all good, some stood out - none more than Jeff McKerley, who played the nominal lead, Lord Berwone (and has his own web page). He looks a bit like Steve Martin and is equally hilarious. Able to switch from sarcasm to tender longing at the flip of a sixpence, the audience was eager to follow. Jeff Watkins, the artistic director, played a daffy but engaging Don Adriano de Armado. His Spanish accent, while certainly adding to the comedy, was sometimes a bit hard to understand. Matthew Felten, as Armado's page Moth, and Troy Willis, as the princess's attendant Boyet, were sly comedic observers.

This play includes what may be the most ridiculous love letter ever written, that written by Armado to the village wench Jaquenetta. Because to excerpt it is not enough, here it is in its entirety:

By heaven, that thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that thou art beauteous; truth itself, that thou art lovely. More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer than truth itself, have commiseration on thy heroical vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly say, Veni, vidi, vici; which to annothanize in the vulgar,--O base and obscure vulgar!--videlicet, He came, saw, and overcame: he came, one; saw two; overcame, three. Who came? the king: why did he come? to see: why did he see? to overcome: to whom came he? to the beggar: what saw he? the beggar: who overcame he? the beggar. The conclusion is victory: on whose side? the king's. The captive is enriched: on whose side? the beggar's. The catastrophe is a nuptial: on whose side? the king's: no, on both in one, or one in both. I am the king; for so stands the comparison: thou the beggar; for so witnesseth thy lowliness. Shall I command thy love? I may: shall I enforce thy love? I could: shall I entreat thy love? I will. What shalt thou exchange for rags? robes; for tittles? titles; for thyself? me. Thus, expecting thy reply, I profane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy picture. and my heart on thy every part. Thine, in the dearest design of industry, DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO

It's Shakespeare, so I could go on, but I shan't.

Cinderella, March 23, 2007, Cobb Civic Center

2007-03-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

I've never been crazy about the music to Cinderella. It was written by Sergei Prokofiev, whose music I like in general, and to be sure there are some parts of the music that I enjoy. For the most part, though, I find it a bit boring, and I think that colors my perception of the ballet. So going in to this performance by the Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre, my expectations were modest.

Before the curtain came up, a woman came on stage and spoke for a few minutes about how expensive it was to put on the show. As an example, she had one of the dancers model a costume which she said cost $700. (Costume mistress daughter's note: $700, and it's made on a leotard?) She also told the story of how the choreographer, Tom Pazic, originally set this ballet on the Atlanta Ballet in the 70's, and how it had only been performed once since, by the Sacramento Ballet. This immediately made me wonder if perhaps the reason it hadn't been staged many times was that it wasn't a knock-out. This turned out to be the case.

Unfortunately, the quality of the dancing turned out to be at about the same level as the music and choreography. Ericka Shannon, as Cinderella, was a happy exception. While her line could be a touch more defined, she portrayed the character's innocence and sweetness with a natural charm. Also notable was Ashleigh Whitworth as the Autumn Fairy. Vincas Greene and Dean Williams were hilarious as the Stepsisters, and even danced on pointe in their size-12 shoes.

Wicked, March 13, 2007, Pantages Theater

2007-03-21T15:56:00.000-04:00

I was in Los Angeles recently and went to see a show at the beautiful Pantages Theatre with a friend of mine whom I'll call Ivy Hamwich (she knows why). We saw the musical Wicked, which fills in the backstory of how the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch came to be who they are in The Wizard of Oz The lead roles were filled by Megan Hilty (Glinda) and Eden Espinosa (Elphaba), who were both excellent. The role of Fiyero was played by understudy Adam Lambert, whose hairstyle made him look like Ashton Kutcher. Carol Kane, recognizable from roles in The Princess Bride and My Blue Heaven, was magic teacher Madame Morrible.

In short, the acting was excellent, the book and music were OK, and the story was fantastic. See it if you get a chance - but don't buy the soundtrack.

Paul Taylor Dance Company, February 10, 2007, Eisemann Center's Hill Performance Hall

2007-03-01T17:56:00.000-05:00

I'm all for letting audiences think for themself. There's an important difference, however, between letting audience members think for themselves and leaving them in the dark. That's how I felt at this performance, and I'm pretty sure that's also how the two women in the row behind me felt as they left before the end of the show.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed a lot about the show, and not just the fact that I got to take my mom. The company dancers are exquisitely trained and delightfully expressive. The choreography (all by Mr. Taylor) is thoughtful and well crafted. This show was just not audience friendly, and definitely not the right show to present in the dance hinterlands of Richardson, Texas.

I for one would have found much benefit in knowing when each piece was created. There were four pieces on the program, and they seemed to have been created at different points in Mr. Taylor's career. Profiles, a piece with two couples dancing like they stepped out of a Grecian frieze, felt like it came from further back in time, while Syzygy, for twelve dancers and a soloist, felt recent. Banquet of Vultures was clearly anti-war, but which war? And whom did the suits represent? Troilus and Cressida (reduced) was easily the most likeable, with its bumbling heroine and hero and gold-wigged, tripartite Cupid, and could have come from any time.

Profiles, Banquet of Vultures, and Syzygy all used music that could be considered non-Classical, either because of amorphous rhythms, discordant themes, or the non-natural sounds wrenched from instruments. (All of the music was taped.) Any one of these pieces would have been fine on the program by itself, but together they created a desert for those of us who enjoy watching dance set to a nice melody. I'm not suggesting that Mr. Taylor pander to audiences by only choreographing to Bach and Handel. But his biography makes a point of how he has found synergy with such composers, so it shouldn't be too onerous to include more of that sort of music in any given program. We're not in New York any more, Toto, and the audiences aren't as experienced.

Kvetching aside, here are a few higlights. An effective device in Profiles was having the dancers fold their fingers into their palms, so that their hands appeared stubby and their lines clipped. It also made it particularly poignant when, at the end, one of the dancers reached out to another and unfolded her fingers as the very last movement of the dance. Banquet of Vultures was so dark and obscure that I didn't realize there were two men in suits until the bows. It was powerful, though, and I couldn't help but feel anguish for Julie Tice as the soldier killed by Michael Trusnovec, the man in the suit. And how fun (and cathartic) for Julie Tice, Parisa Khobdeh, and Eran Bugge to wear little wings and curly gold wigs as Cupid. Lisa Viola was charming and hilarious as Cressida, and she was bright and adroit as the lead in Syzygy.

For the record, here are the actual dates for these pieces: Profiles - 1979; Troilus and Cressida (reduced) - 2006; Banquet of Vultures - 2005; Syzygy - 1987.

Momix, January 27, 2007, Ferst Center for the Arts

2007-02-19T17:29:00.000-05:00

Momix was founded by former Pilobolus member Moses Pendleton, and in case you should forget it, the Momix webpage is www.mosespendleton.com. The company's stock-in-trade is performance that inhabits the space somewhere between dance and Cirque du Soleil. The show presented at the Ferst Center, called Lunar Sea, alternated between otherworldly beauty and tedium.

The show opened with eight dancers on the stage in full-body unitards that were black and white, bifurcating the body into one visible and one "invisible" half. The dancers were lit solely with black lights and set behind a scrim to enhance the illusion. Abstract videos played on the scrim for the entire performance, setting an eerie mood. The half-dancers performed moves that seemingly defied the laws of physics, combining at times to make full dancers that floated above the floor or tilted at crazy angles. The illusion was striking, at least for the first 20 minutes. After that, it lost its novelty, except for the occasional new formation.

There were other sections in the show, but they didn't seem connected in any way. A man and a woman in flesh-colored skimpies performed a sensual duet in red light. Four women in bright green cavorted on clear Pilates balls. The dancers, now completely invisible, put on a short puppet show with spider-like sea creatures that pranced and ate one another. It was skillfully done, but overall it had the sophistication and curiosity of graphics created for an Atari 2600.

Dance with Me, January 23, 2007, my living room

2007-01-31T17:43:00.000-05:00

Just when I happened to be homesick for Houston, this movie appeared in my mailbox (thanks, NetFlix!). Unbeknownst to me, the movie was both set and filmed in Houston, although there wasn't much of Houston to see in the film except the bus station downtown and the skyline from the west. It was left unexplained how the main character managed to travel to Houston from Cuba on a bus....

The plot in a nutshell: Rafael, played by the very tasty Chayanne, travels to Houston to meet his father John (Kris Kristofferson), who runs a foundering ballroom dance studio and has no idea of Rafael's existence. At the studio, Rafael meets professional Latin dancer Ruby (Vanessa Williams), with predicable results.

Ms. Williams does not quite dance up to professional standards, but she does a far more creditable job than JLo did in Shall We Dance. She dances in a competition with her former partner (played by Rick Valenzuela), and we get to see them do all the Latin dances except Jive, which would be understandably confusing as a Latin dance to the uninitiated. Again I notice it in the shoulders. I think perhaps what separates amateurs from professionals, stylistically speaking, is the ability to relax into the movement and let it flow.

This isn't a great movie, but it has its moments, many of which are supplied by the supporting actresses. Chayanne and actress Jane Krakowski dance a charming Cabaret number (as amateurs) that actually looks more professional than Ruby's dancing. Joan Plowright and Beth Grant add quite a bit of local color to the dance studio. And of course "that guy from ballroom on PBS" (Tony Meredith) added authenticity.

The Nutcracker, December 15, 2006, War Memorial Opera House

2006-12-29T18:06:00.000-05:00

This production by the San Francisco Ballet was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. The show, choreographed by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, was new back in 2004, and the sets and costumes still sparkle. Of course the dancing was lovely, but I left my cast list at the theater, so I can't tell you who I saw, with the exception of Frances Chung as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Muriel Maffre (I think) as the grown-up Clara. (In a change from other productions, the Sugar Plum Fairy served as Dewdrop in Waltz of the Flowers, while grown-up Clara dances with the Nutcracker Prince in the Grand Pas. You can read the story here.)

What I loved so much about the production was the way it drew on the art and culture of San Francisco. The story itself was set there some time in the 1910's, with the Stahlbaums living in one of those typical San Francisco row houses. The costumes and sets of the second act reminded me of the Palace of Fine Arts, which was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Watercolor pastels abounded, and the act opened with the Sugar Plum Fairy entering her garden full of flowers, butterflies, and the most adorable ladybugs.

The variations were the usual Spanish, Arabian, etc., except for Mother Ginger, who wore a Big Top tent hiding a trained bear. The Chinese variation included a stunning dragon in the style of Chinese parades, although I was disappointed to see a white guy as the main character, given that the company has so many Asian dancers. (Sorry, white guy, it's not personal.) The three Mirlitons (one blonde, one redhead, and one brunette - I'm not sure if they had on wigs or not) were dressed as dance hall girls from the Gold Rush era and had the coquetry down pat.

Ballets Russes, November 2006, my living room

2006-11-19T17:07:00.000-05:00

I knew I would enjoy this documentary discussing the rise and fall of the "Ballets Russes" dance companies, but I was unprepared to have such a personal attachment to it. I mean, what do I have in common with one (or two) of the most famous dance companies of the 1930's and 1940's? Turns out, much more than I thought.

There I was, curled up on the couch with the dog, not 5 minutes into the film, when I recognized one of the dancers and flashed back to when I was 12. My first "real" ballet teacher (i.e. non-Dolly Dinkles) was of the old school of ballet, when upper body ruled over lower body; essentially pre-Balanchine. She would occasionally take us to the studio of a woman whom I knew to have danced with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, which at the time was pretty much only a name to me. That woman was Nathalie Krassovska, who, it turns out, was one of the most important dancers for that company and with it from begining to end. This documentary was made maybe 20 years after I last saw her, but she hadn't changed a bit.

Let me back up a little. This film chronicles the company known as Ballets Russes from when it was reborn after the death of its founder, Sergei Diaghilev, through the breakup of that company into the "Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo" and the "Original Ballet Russes" until the dissolution of both companies. It tells the story using the recollections of surviving company members and archival footage and photographs. A good deal of the commentary is provided by Krassovska (as I call her).

Krassovska's parents fled Russia for Paris when she was a small child. As both her mother and grandmother were ballerinas, it is no big surprise that she followed in their footsteps (no pun intended). Several other Russian families in Paris also took their daughters to the school of Olga Preobrajenska, a former star of the Russian Imperial Ballet. Dancers from this school made up most of the re-formed company after Diaghilev's death.

Seeing Krassovska from the perpective of adulthood (mine) rather than as a young student, I was newly able to appreciate her ebulliant love of ballet and her charming manner. In one of my favorite parts of the film, she discusses her experience with the company as it sheltered in Hollywood during World War II:

I receive a letter from David Selznick giving me 7-year contract. I just did not know what to do. Talked to my family, to my friends, but I didn't sign. I didn't like to be in Hollywood too much at that time. I have trouble with men. (laughs) I always get in love!

If you go to the film's website and look at her picture, it's easy to see why she garnered attention from Charlie Chaplin and other stars. Immediately after this clip, her fellow dancers tell the story of her ill-fated, short-lived marriage to the company's first violinist. Her veil caught fire during the ceremony, and they were divorced not six weeks afterwards, but Krassovska only giggles (as did I) as she remembers the follies of her youth.

I think I got the best of both worlds in my training, having been exposed to ballet style as a young student and rigorous ballet technique once in high school. As Nini Theilade says in the film,

The legacy of the Ballet Russes, the young ones, the young pupils, I don't know if it's the way of living nowadays or their mentality is different. For them it is more important to do 12, 14, 16 pirouettes. But there's more to it than that. It's very very difficult to make them warm. "Be warm," as I always say. "Tell me something." But what can we do, except try to make them understand. These things were taught to us, born with us, and never left us. And the young ones, where should they know it from? Now tell me, where? Where? Whom?

I studied with Krassovska at a summer program at the Legat School in Mark Cross, England. I remember doing "Four Big Swans" from Swan Lake as well as one of the Sylphides (Les or La, I can't keep it straight). So it seems the answer, to some extent, is me.

Giselle, October 27, 2006, The Fabulous Fox Theatre

2006-11-14T17:42:00.000-05:00

Atlanta Ballet showed some surprising strengths as well as a few weaknesses in this production. With only 20 full company members and 6 apprentices, the company can't match the depth of Houston Ballet, which has almost as many dancers in its corps alone. Still, it was an enjoyable performance, with much good dancing to be seen.

The title role was danced by Kristine Necessary, and the role of Albrecht was danced by Christian Clark. As in most story ballets, the main characters make an entrance, usually allowing an opportunity for the audience to applaud. Ms. Necessary received a warm welcome from the audience, which made me feel somewhat bad for Mr. Clark, who had entered earlier to silence. It was easy to see why; although Mr. Clark is a skillful dancer, his didn't have as much charm and emotion as Ms. Necessary. That said, the two of them worked well together and presented believable characters. The same cannot be said for Jonah Hooper in the role of Hilarion, who was flat-footed and one-dimensional.

The role of Giselle is demanding both technically and emotionally, and Ms. Necessary carried it with apparent ease, mostly. There were a few wobbles, but no hesitance. An interesting note: even though the company did not have to dance until warmup class that evening, Ms. Necessary, nervous about the performance, attended the adult class that morning.

A particular part of the second act always makes me think of my brother, who noticed with me a faintly ridiculous part of the choreography for Giselle and Albrecht as I watched a video. In it, Albrecht lifts Giselle straight up and down, piston-like, as she lifts her legs in the splits to one side and then the other. Seen closeup rather than on a TV screen, the move was somewhat more likeable.

Other supporting roles were filled by Sarah Hillmer (Myrtha), Toni Doctor (Moyna), and Kelly Tipton (Zulma). Ms. Hillmer was merciless as the Queen of the Wilis, and Ms. Doctor and Ms. Tipton performed well. The real star of the second act, however, was the corps, which showed a unity and uniformity unusual even for the best companies.

Etoiles: Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, early October, my living room

2006-10-28T17:23:00.000-04:00

So I finally got around to watching this documentary after finally having broken down and joined Netflix. Other than the postal service sometimes taking more than a week to get a movie from Netflix to me, it's been great to have access to a much broader selection of dance videos than are availble at the local rental store. (It doesn't take much, does it?)

The movie explores the daily lives and careers of dancers in all five levels of the company: quadrille (sort of a permanenet understudy), coryphée (member of the corps), sujet (solists), premier danseur (principal), and étoile (prima ballerina and whatever they call the male equivalent). I'm sure some of this is fascinating to the general public, but it's actually not that interesting if you've trained in an intense ballet program and performed with a company, professional or not. After all, I know that ballet dancers start young, that the competition is extreme, and that dancers' careers are short.

There were a few interesting things along the way, though, including the discussion of how the view of motherhood has changed over the years. As in other professions, it seems to have gone from "once you get married/pregnant you're out" to "parenthood makes you a better dancer." There were also a few dancers whose parents had been Etoiles, which surely must give you a leg up (so to speak) on advancement in the associated school. After all, the teachers probably see someone's potential more clearly if they're familiar with her mother's dancing.

There was a lot of discussion of particular choreography and what it was like to dance it, but disappointingly short snippets of the dances themselves. If there wasn't time for it in the film, they might have at least included excerpts on the DVD.

The film was, naturally enough, in French. I took French in high school and can read it fairly well, but I could only follow what people were saying by reading the subtitles. It was amusing, then, when the film would switch to a classroom shot and the teachers were calling out ballet steps - all of a sudden, I could understand what they were saying. Mon dieu! C'est un miracle!

Uninterrupted, Saturday, September 30, 2006, Cobb Civic Center

2006-10-24T17:16:00.000-04:00

I finally made it to a performance by a local group other than Atlanta Ballet. The Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre is based in Marietta, on the Square and a bit west of a local landmark, the Big Chicken. (Honestly, you have to see it to believe it.) RMDT is itself a local landmark, having been established 50 years ago.

The program consisted of 10 dances, a mix of ballet and modern performed by a mix of professional and student dancers. I was surprised to see that, coming from a studio that is primarily a ballet studio (at least to appearances), the modern pieces were actually stronger. The show ran a bit long (more than 2 1/2 hours), which makes for more than one reason a few numbers should have been cut. Also, as Mr. Silvershoes asked should a show called "Uninterrupted" really have an intermission?

I'll stick with the highlights. Hair (with a twist), choreographed by the current Artistic Director Lisa Toups, was a modern piece set to music by Digital Empire. (Which Digital Empire, I couldn't say.) Performed by a gaggle of teenagers, hair was indeed the star; the movement of the dancers served to propel their hair in amusing and rhythmic fashions.

Guest modern troup Zoetic performed Forever in 3 Days, choreographed by Candess Giyan. I loved this piece, partly for the dancing, which was skillful, but mostly I think because it was so similar to dances created by the modern community in Houston. There was a little too much "forever," but only a little.

The highest point of the night came, appropriately enough, with Hi Jinks. This high-spirited dance was choreographed by Sam Watson. With its 60's-theme-song-like music by Esquivel and Martin Denny, it reminded me of Mark Morris's lightheatered Sandpaper Ballet. The five couples gave it their all, making the campy choreography shine. It even had a surpise ending, with beehive wigs that glowed after the blackout.

One piece deserves mention because it shouldn't have been part of the show. Sinfonia Concertante was danced well, but it featured six girls who looked like they couldn't have been taking pointe for too long. The choreography was necessarily simple. It would have been a lovely recital piece, but didn't belong in show by a company that, in their words, "is committed to presentation of professional quality, varied, dance programs."

paragraph, uninterrupted

2006-09-16T17:13:00.000-04:00

For whatever reason, the formatting requirements for this blog have changed such that all my paragraphs have become one; the line breaks have disappeared. I plan to go back and insert HTML for line breaks, but it will likely be a while before I get all posts done. In the mean time, comsider it a game to figure out where the new paragraph begins.