February 22, 2012

Review: Ballet in the present tense in Amsterdam

Present/s 1 and 2
Chapters, Variations for two couples, Consequence, Duet, Raï / The nature of difference, Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Short time together, Day4
Choreography: Krzysztof Pastor, Hans Van Manen, Juanjo Arqués, Christopher Wheeldon, Ted Brandsen / Ton Simons, Alexei Ratmansky, Lightfoot León, David Dawson
Dutch National Ballet
Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam
February 18 & 19, 2012

New creations are the exception in the life of most ballet companies, not the norm, and Dutch National Ballet deserves an avalanche of bouquets for going against the grain, especially in the current context. For its 50th anniversary season, the Amsterdam-based company has chosen to present a festival of no fewer than nine premieres, and this almost unparalleled undertaking has paid off handsomely, with two varied and accomplished programmes.

Present/s was conceived as an examination of the current state of ballet, and on the basis of the first programme, the trend for hyperextensions and existential angst isn’t going anywhere. Two works deployed both with wild energy: Krzysztof Pastor’s Chapters, otherwise let down by a rather obscure love entanglement, and Juanjo Arqués’s Consequence. Arqués, a company member, brought Wayne McGregor to mind with his writhing, highly articulate style and minimalist design choices, but his work feels more human and, for such a young choreographer – he is 34 – is quite promising.

Present/s 1 also ran the gamut of gender representation, from traditional roles to cheeky subversion – the latter a welcome alternative for the art form. Company director Ted Brandsen epitomised it in Raï, with bright-coloured short dresses for men and women alike and upbeat ensemble scenes in which their differences seemed to blur as they danced side by side. Christopher Wheeldon’s Duet, on the other hand, is the modern pas de deux at its most sentimental: swooning girl meets strong man, he manipulates her into new positions, and both lovely images and awkward partnering moments ensue. (…)

» Read the full review in the Financial Times

Sasha Mukhamedov in David Dawson's Day4 © Angela Sterling

Sasha Mukhamedov in David Dawson's Day4 © Angela Sterling





February 15, 2012

20 ans de variations sur le hip-hop à Suresnes (HuffPost)

Un autre article pour le Huffington Post version française – cette fois sur un excellent programme présenté au festival Suresnes cités danse la semaine dernière…

Bye Bye Vénus/Passage/Elles/Quelque part par là/Standards
Chorégraphie : Jérémie Bélingard, Abou Lagraa, Sylvain Groud, Laura Scozzi, Pierre Rigal
Festival Suresnes cités danse
Théâtre Jean Vilar de Suresnes
Février 2012

Qu’on est loin, avec Suresnes cités danse, de la morosité sur fond de guerre des cultures qui berce en ce moment le discours politique. Ambiance bon enfant, salle jeune et enthousiaste : ce festival qui fêtait ses vingt ans avec l’édition 2012 vaut le déplacement, ne serait-ce que pour entrevoir la vitalité du hip-hop d’aujourd’hui en action. Le programme “Cités danse variations” célébrait pour l’occasion les collaborations entre danse contemporaine et hip-hop qui ont fait date au théâtre Jean Vilar, et sur cinq œuvres au programme, quatre au moins justifiaient largement de ne réintégrer la navette Suresnes-Paris que passé minuit.

Les festivités commençaient avec la reprise d’une création présentée au dernier festival, Bye Bye Vénus. Plusieurs étoiles en activité de l’Opéra de Paris se sont essayées ces dernières années à la chorégraphie avec des résultats globalement passables, et on n’attendait donc pas le dernier en date, Jérémie Bélingard, à pareille fête. Sa collaboration avec cinq danseurs de hip-hop a un air de joyeuse liberté : le métissage des techniques s’y fait sans tension, sans coup de force, avec des références glissées l’air de rien, au service de personnages qui ressemblent à une bande de copains. Trois hommes en costumes retombent ainsi en enfance le temps d’un morceau ; ailleurs, les duos évitent les principaux clichés du genre, tandis qu’une simple série de tours acquiert une luminosité rare. Les interprètes sont remarquables, et parmi eux se profile une déesse moderne digne du titre de l’œuvre : Lara Carvalho, débordante de vitalité avec ses épaulettes et ses longs cheveux lâchés.

La connexion avec l’Opéra de Paris ne s’arrêtait pas là : deux des autres chorégraphes programmés, Abou Lagraa et Laura Scozzi, avaient en leur temps été invités au Palais Garnier pour d’éphémères collaborations avec la compagnie. C’est pourtant à Suresnes qu’on les retrouve uniques et incisifs. Passage, créé il y a déjà douze ans au festival, nous montre Abou Lagraa en pleine expérimentation : trois danseurs entament tour à tour, dans leurs carrés de lumière bleu, rouge ou vert, un dialogue physique avec la musique électronique qui sert de bande-son. L’un tourne avec une facilité unique, l’autre joue au stop-start, comme éclairé par des néons clignotants de boîte de nuit. Le trio qui se forme peu à peu explore d’autres références, du music-hall aux danses de salon en passant par un bouddha aux mains liées, le tout avec un éventail technique et une fraîcheur qui tient facilement en haleine. (…)

» Lire l’article complet dans le Huffington Post





February 14, 2012

Review: Russian style on a bare stage

Serenade/Sleeping Beauty Act III/La Bayadère Act III
Perm Ballet
Maison de la Danse, Lyon
February 8, 2012

Dance has its brands, and “Russian ballet” may be the most ubiquitous of them all. Pick-up troupes performing dumbed-down versions of the classics under that banner have become a familiar sight in medium-sized European cities, with dubious effects on the reputation of the genre. The Perm Ballet, which was at Lyon’s Maison de la Danse last week, is nothing of the sort: this top-tier Russian company has its own illustrious history and school, and yet for a few years now it has been touring France in much the same way as its less renowned counterparts, cringe-inducing sets and taped music included. Suspend disbelief, however, and the dancing can redeem everything.

Serenade opened the troupe’s Tchaikovsky/Minkus triple bill on the wrong foot. This 1934 ballet is the first glimpse Balanchine gave New York of the journey he was about to take American ballet on, and while he himself was trained in the St Petersburg tradition, his works stretched technique in directions Russian training still doesn’t prepare dancers for. With the Perm Ballet, it makes for a stiff rendition: the emphasis is so firmly on leg and arm positions that the bigger picture, the boldness and kinetic flow Balanchine favoured, simply fades away. (…)

» Read the full review in the Financial Times

Perm Ballet dancers in La Bayadère © Anton Zavyalov

Perm Ballet dancers in La Bayadère © Anton Zavyalov





February 12, 2012

Review: A Bausch Tragedy at the Paris Opera

Orphée et Eurydice
Choreography: Pina Bausch
Paris Opera Ballet
Palais Garnier, Paris
February 4, 2012

A woman in black held aloft by a man among a chorus of mourners, a bare tree fallen to the ground, the lifeless bride Eurydice presiding over her own musical tombeau: as soon as the curtain rises on Pina Bausch’s 1975 Orphée et Eurydice, the scale and austere beauty of her take on the myth become apparent. A true Gesamtkunstwerk, this “dance opera” set to Gluck entered the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet in 2005, and the current revival does it complete justice.

Indeed, Bausch has seemed more and more part of Paris Opera Ballet’s DNA in recent years. Paris tours by her Tanztheater Wuppertal in the early 1990s sparked a fertile relationship with the company, which lasted until her death in 2009; last season POB paid tribute to her with harrowing, enthralling performances of her Rite of Spring.

Orphée is another apt homage, and much more. Influenced by modern dance, this early work divides each of the three main roles between an opera singer and a dancer, who have their own understated relationship on stage. The choreography is distilled down to seemingly simple phrases, low to the ground; the stark design, by Rolf Borzik, Bausch’s then partner, adds to the atmosphere, with white walls in most scenes and long, semi-transparent tunics for the women. Eurydice’s red dress in the last tableau stands out like a symbol of hubris among the palette of nude, black and white tones, a visual emblem of the feelings that will be her downfall. (…)

» Read the full article in the Financial Times

Stéphane Bullion and the corps de ballet in Orphée et Eurydice © Agathe Poupeney

Stéphane Bullion and the corps de ballet in Orphée et Eurydice © Agathe Poupeney





February 3, 2012

Review: All-Fresh Cedar Lake in France

Violet Kid / Tuplet / Grace Engine
Choreography: Hofesh Shechter, Alexander Ekman, Crystal Pite
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
Maison de la Danse, Lyon
January 31, 2012

As the only dance company founded and bankrolled by a Walmart heiress, the New York-based Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet was always going to be a maverick. Nine years after its birth, it has also proved a fruitful artistic venture, perhaps because of its very oddity: in a contemporary dance world where companies tend to exist only to serve a choreographer’s vision, Cedar Lake has no founding father or history to live up to. Fresh, hungry for new movement and blessed with the funds to make it happen, the 16-strong ensemble is the ultimate blank slate, and on the strength of the three new works it brought to Lyon this week, is right to aim high.

The UK-based Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter opened the evening with Violet Kid, his second creation for Cedar Lake. Premiered in 2011, it’s a trenchant piece, both attuned to its times and rewarding on an abstract level. The cumulative effect of the choreography as it builds is impressive, with Forsythe-like complexity throughout in the interlocking of structure and chaos. Shechter also composed the score, a dialogue of sorts between a live string trio and recorded percussion; the underlying rhythm drives the choreography forward relentlessly, with an urgency in ensemble work that has become typical of the Israeli dance scene. (…)

» Read the full article in the Financial Times

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in Ekman's Tuplet © Juliana Cervantes

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in Ekman's Tuplet © Juliana Cervantes





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