Incredible Dancer at 2:32

I watched this fellow, Ricardo Santos of Cuba, I presume, repeatedly both with and without the music and found him to be spectacular and so very beautiful! He has completely embodied and interpreted this piece or cor. and music IMO.

Music: not sure. Choreographer John Neumeier

Familiar Ballet Dancers in "Dirty Dancing" - Chicago, IL

To my surprise, I discovered what happened to Britta Lazenga, who I only recently noticed had disappeared from the Joffrey Ballet roster. She had moved on to play the role of the hot, leggy, Penny Johnson, in the first U.S. touring production of Dirty Dancing- The Classic Story on Stage as well as the North American premiere in Toronto. The role of Penny was a speaking and dancing one, so it was interesting to hear Britta as well as see her dance. The audience seemed quite taken by her attractiveness and talent; she fit the image of the character. In fact, Josef Brown, the Australian dancer/actor, who played the starring role of Johnny Castle, was an extremely hot looking man with his attractive, lean, chiseled body & face; I kept my binoculars trained on him for that reason even though I had a decent view of him already. He looked like he walked straight off the cover of a romance novel into the show so I could forgive him slipping in and out of his Australian accent. My friend, James, was like do you really need those? Uh, yeah! I needed them to see the hot guy better. They also helped me to spot, Samuel Pergande, another former Joffrey Dancer that I'd met previously but had never actually seen dance. He was enjoyable as were all of the dancers and dance sequences. 

This musical was all about the "dirty" dancing and not as much about the singing, which was fine with me. Some of the musical tracks may have been original recordings b/c the movie mainly used popular music and had few original songs. I couldn't tell the difference sometimes between live music and recorded unless the audience was shown the musicians, but everything sounded nice, including featured singer Ben Mingay, who sang the hits "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" with Karen Burthwright, "In the Still of the Night" and "She's Like the Wind"; Karen Burthwright and others, also, sang solo as well, but it's not clear which songs since the playbill doesn't specifically list who sang what or what may have been a recording. It didn't really matter anyway. 

The performance presented at the Cadillac Palace on Sat. Dec. 6th was overall very enjoyable for the most part but had no surprises for obvious reasons. My friend really enjoyed the scene changes, which for the most part involved a lot of video projection to create much of the background scenery and special effects. There were often multiple levels of staging used to create roads, walkways, or bridges, which often revolved around like a Lazy Susan to simulate movement and/or popped up and down from the floor as the actors moved across the stage throughout the entire performance. I hadn't seen this done before b/c usually scenes change behind a curtain or behind the actors not while their walking across the stage. The actors had to time their movements just so or risk injury. I, also, liked how this giant tree slowly lowered down from stage left and how there was a simulated lake/water scene that had everyone laughing. The production was really quite innovative and creative, and I've been to lots of live theater performances in dance, opera, symphony, plays, Cirque de Soleil and improv. I don't see that many musicals. In the past year, I've seen Wicked, Rent and now Dirty Dancing. Wicked has been my favorite of all musicals so far b/c it was just so well written, staged and performed. In the past 12 years, I've seen Phantom of the Opera (my 2nd favorite), Dream Girls (my 3rd favorite, starring Frenchy, from the very 1st American Idol t.v show), Chicago, Miss Saigon, & Les Miserables.

So I would say check out this production if you wanna see some cool dancing and listen to some popular tunes. You already know the story line from beginning to end including the famous statement, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner". Just be prepared for some folks in the audience to get ahead of themselves by clapping or screaming before all of those special moments occur. Also, actress Amanda Leigh Cobb gave a very credible and winsome performance as Francis "Baby" Houseman.

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company: 11/22/08

Dvorak Serenade

This performance was a brilliant example of virtue and virtuosity in modern dance at it's finest, IMHO! I was spellbound and wanted more, more, more. It's got to be rare to enjoy every single movement and every single dancer and not have one even slightly negative thing to say about anything that I saw or heard in a single night of dance; it was perfection. I mean, no one and nothing had a weakness. Sometimes, I just don't appreciate the cor., the music, the costumes or something like the venue itself. Sometimes, I feel like a dancer makes it [the cor.] look like work b/c I can see the effort behind the movement, or the movement looks odd on a certain body type, or a dancer is unable to move between shades of lightness/lyricism and darkness, or their line doesn't continue all the way through, which was not the case with this ensemble. Lest I sound like a complete and total, prejudiced, nit-picking ass, I'm just saying that in my heart and soul, this was one of the finest examples of modern dance to date that satisfied whatever it is inside of me that responded to whatever it was that was done at that performance; they possessed a level of refinement that is not always found in every performance.  

One thing that struck a chord within me was the cor. in Men's Stories. It was beautiful and flowing like water with lot's of circular movement being used to create the story. I'm saying that they literally and figuratively danced circles around each other or with each other throughout the entire piece versus the typical linear style of cor. Twyla Tharp has some cor. like that in parts of Duece Coupe but not as much as in this piece. The men kept creating these beautiful, repeating circles and shapes with their port des bras. I can't stop typing the word circle. 

What was unique about the cor. was that it was designed so that the movement from one dancer or groups of dancers to the next were contiguous. If one group or individual started a circle or other pattern with their arms, the next performer continued that shape or movement as their arms would duplicate or replicate that shape directly in front of or behind that dancer. It was fascinating to discover where this would occur and how many different dancers were going to continue the pattern before the cor. changed into something else. The point of all this seemed to be to show a connection between everything and everyone in the dance from past, present to future. It also made me think that Lar's is a genius choreographer.  

Men's Stories [male cast only] was probably 45+ minutes in length and after a while started to put me in a trance. It felt like I was being hypnotized by all of the gentle, swaying and circular arm movements and the dancer's hands. I believe the dancers were grouped together based on size, shape or length of their limbs, which had to have been wisely considered to create a look of symmetry. When these dancers purposely duplicated each other's movements, they were incredibly in sync and aligned, which was integral to the cor.

  

I haven't seen American Ballet Theater dance any contemporary or modern work as a company b/c they always present the classical ballets when in Chicago so I can't judge them; however, I have seen the San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Complexions, Alvin Ailey, several lesser known troupes, and the Martha Graham Dance Co. (aka mother of modern dance) perform modern dance in the last 13 months. Out of those performances, tonight's favorable critique is the result of a high degree of seemingly effortless technique combined with great artistry, musicality and kick-ass choreography, which put Lar Lubovitch's work and company at the top of my list. Clearly, emotions are transient, and I will continue to be blown away by various artists and/or performances in the future. It's never all black and white; there are shades of gray. But I'm gonna savor and store the memories of this night for awhile. After all, I couldn't have experiences like this if I hadn't seen every one of those previous company's performances.

I felt all of the cor. that night had a similar theme of being contiguous, harmonious, lyrical and flowing. Often times, I hear people complaining about how choreography is stolen from some other work, and I don't know if Mr Lubovitch did that, but what I saw was a fantastic revelation of artistry and symmetry. Hat's off to Lars Lubovitch and his wonderfully, talented company dancers: Jonathan E. Alsberry, Mucuy Bolles, Atilla J. Csiki, Kurt Douglas, Jay Franke, Susana Garcia, Charlaine M. Katsuyoshi, Brian McGinnis, Scott Rink, Kevin Scarpin, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, George Smallwood, Christopher Vo, & Katherine Wells.

Info below taken from Harris Theater Website:

One of America’s most acclaimed choreographers and Chicago native Lar Lubovitch returns home with his company's 40th Anniversary Tour. The Harris Theater will present Men’s Stories, Lubovitch’s powerful exploration of masculinity, biography and character, selected as a winner of a 2008 touring award by the National Dance Project. Lubovitch has described the work as “a dance that opens up, like a book, to reveal the story of the men inside the dance.” "...and Dvorak Serenade, a 2007 work praised by the Financial Times at its world premiere as “…one of Lubovitch’s big, sweeping ensemble works, the sort he does best.”

Info taken from here:

Lubovitch's "Jangle" has been receiving premiere performances on tour preceding the company's engagement this week at New York's City Center. In stark contrast to the white costumes and Classicism of the Mozart piece, "Jangle" - subtitled Four Hungarian Dances - finds company members dressed in casual street attire and responding to folk-tinged pieces by Bartok (Rhapsodies Nos. 1 and 2 for Violin and Piano).

The activity travels from communal earthiness - twirling figures and upheld arms not far from the world of "Fiddler on the Roof" - to muscular solos and a duet of unconventional lifts and turns. In the finale, the company performs beckoning gestures and wild flights, with the piece's nimble soloist, Jonathan E. Alsberry, landing in front at the curtain.

Jangle (2008): Four Hungarian Dances
Choreography: Lar Lubovitch

Men’s Stories (2000): A Concerto in Ruins
Choreography: Lar Lubovitch

Dvorák Serenade (2007)
Choreography: Lar Lubovitch

Joffrey Ballet @ Millennium Park 2008: A 9/11 Tribute

"Trinity" 9/11/08

(image obtained from Sun Times News Group website)

It seems I haven't quite run out of explicatives to describe the feelings of witnessing this company perform. Despite the haunting reminder of 9/11, the crowd was in good spirits as should be. All in attendance were no doubt thankful to be alive and to be attending such a wonderful night of dance on a cool, cloudy, slightly humid day in Chicago. My friend and I discussed that we had not cried this day about the victims of 9/11. What I discovered about myself after that event was that one can never take life for granted; I started living my life more fully as a result. No terrorist act was going to erase the fact that I live in one of the greatest countries in the world to be a Black woman in this millennium. It [USA] is by no means perfect, but name a country that is, yet I am grateful to be alive! I live on triumphantly b/c it is my God given right and responsibility to do so; therefore, the victim's of 9/11 did not die in vane!

The night began with Kettentanz, cor. by G. Arpino, music by Johann Strauss, Sr & Johann Mayer. The program stated this was Mr Arpino's salute to the Old Vienna balls and wein-gartens as depicted by polkas, gallops, and waltzes after a visit Vienna in 1969. I enjoyed this piece very much feat. Heather A., Derrick A., Jennifer G., Suzanne L., Kathleen T., Allison W., Jonathan D., John G., Calvin K., Temur S., and Mauro V. Mauro & Calvin and Heather & Suzanne performed duets, respectively, where their musicality, technique and timing (synchronicity) was superb and amazing. Kathleen performed a very nice solo of which a portion required her to do some floorwork. I was surprised by some of the positions she got into and out of while being on the floor; I hadn't seen anything quite like it before in ballet. The Gitana Gallop with the entire cast is just a really fun routine, where they are lined up with linked arms in boy girl fashion doing lots of what I call bouncing-at-the-knee-steps (kinda like the hopscotch only more graceful, elegant & difficult) with tons of joy and synchronicity. It was very nicely done and showcased what I refer to as the "cutie-patooty" expression, where everyone just looks happy; I think the Joffrey calls it "za za".

Since I didn't fully read the program, I was surprised to find myself watching students from the Exelon Strobel Step-Up Program dancing cor. by Joffrey's own, Michael Smith. The ballet called Happy Endings, named after the song by Mika, was quite uplifting and memorable and is . . . about love, loss, and finding the strength to carry on. We really liked how the piece ended with this powerful hand & arm movement started by 1st one dancer then followed by the ensemble.
The students did a very nice job.

My favorite Gerald Arpino ballet of the night, feat. the virtuoso artistry and partnership of Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels, was Round of Angels with music by Gustav Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony No. 5. The ballet was exquisite! This couple together is always fantabulous!! The supporting cast of Matthew Adamczyk, Jonathan Dummar, Brian McSween, Tian Shuai, & Michael Smith was excellent and amazing as well. This group performed together like a well oiled machine. I'm always up for a beautiful, emotion filled ballet with fluid movement and otherworldly-like quality. The program states that the ballet was partially inspired by an etching, found by Mr. Arpino in a flea market, entitled Ronde d'Anges by Cavaliere d'Arpino, which is about a couple destined to part, surrounded by 5 broken-winged male angels. The musical score alone is heavenly by itself- click here to listen it.

[Round of Angels exploited... feminine suppleness to an extraordinary degree as the dancer emerges from behind her partner and five supporting angel figures to be lifted, lowered, circled and swirled like wispy clouds blown by winds or waves swelling in the ocean against a starry-studded scrim and darkened lighting design. The five angels circle the couple when she is raised or lie on one side, one arm stretched like a wing...] -a review by Ballet Magazine, May 2005.

[The mixture of modern-dance floorwork and streamlined balletic line is used very sophisticatedly. The male angels collapse in pretzel shapes and curtsies on the ground, they help [male partner] hold [female partner] head-down in a split on his back and they rush to recline in a corner, packed tightly like sardines. The rest flows just as swimmingly] -a review by New York Times, Jan 1983.

After the intermission, we were presented with four works by Lar Lubovitch from ". . .smile with my heart" with music by Marvin Laird's "Fantasie on Themes by Richard Rodgers." This ballet feat. the only live music of the night with a pianist and cellist, whose names I didn't catch. I took pleasure from all of the pieces that incl. 1) Do I hear a Waltz? and It Might As Well Be Spring feat. Matthew A., April D., John G., Suzanne L., Thomas N., & Allison W.; 2) The Sweetest Sounds- a very nice duet by John & Allison; 3) I Didn't Know What Time It Was and Where Or When- also well done by Matthew & Suzanne ; and lastly 4) My Funny Valentine w/Thomas & April.

I had already warmed up to My Funny Valentine over the course of time, but now I can finally say the same about dancer Thomas Nicholas, who performed the duet quite nicely along with April. In the past, I had never felt much emotion radiating from Mr Nicholas despite his reliability as a partner. All that started to change after the arrival of Mr Wheater and during the Tudor Centennial, where Mr Nicholas performed the role of the artist in “Offenbach in the Underworld”. Last night, I felt his character was contemplative, somewhat distant but intense, and very much aware of and focused on his partner at all times. Truthfully, it was his level of intensity that I found appealing, attractive, and very sensual, which when combined with his dark looks and sweaty appearance worked. April was, also, able to convey emotion through body movement as well as facial expression very clearly.

The next ballet was Mobile, with cor. by Tomm Ruud and music by Mr Khachaturian's Gayne Ballet Suite, Adagio. This is the 2nd ballet this year feat. Michael Smith performing a balancing act and feat of strength as part of a trio. The man balances 2 women, Elizabeth H. and Erin M. in slowly evolving positions much like a child's mobile. Think a Cirque de Soleil-like show of strength that occurs slowly and fluidly as the trio rotates around. It was very nicely done, and the audience got quite a big kick out of it.

Lacrymosa, feat. Matthew A., was a short, intense, one man solo that's cor. is by former Joffrey dancer, Edward Stierle, with music by Mozart of the same title, which my friend absolutely loved. I loved Matthew in the role b/c it showed off his athleticism with huge, flying split leaps and spins, his musicality, and some of his contortionist-like flexibility in neck-stands and straddle splits (ouch) on the floor. An amazing piece of cor. if a dancer is capable of executing it.

Finally, the night ended with my 2nd favorite ballet of the evening, Trinity, w/amazing cor., not surprisingly, by Mr Arpino and music by Alan Raph and Lee Holdridge. The piece was created while the Joffrey was in Berkeley, CA during the Vietnam War and represents a time when America's youth was uniting through protests and celebrating a new sense of freedom and exhilaration. Trinity is a joyful tribute to youth, their passions and their rituals. The ballet begins with one dancer, Calvin K., strutting out to shake his groove thing, something that he does quite well, before the others follow with groovy dances of their own: Michael S., Patrick S., Derrick A., Anastacia H. & Mauro V. For the most part, this ballet feat. members of the larger Joffrey ensemble plus some promising new faces like Erin McAfee & Caitlin Meghan (both formerly JB apprentices) and newbies Raul Casasola, Brian Gephart, & Graham Maverick. Other members that were not on stage previously were John Mark G., David G., William H., Stacy Joy K., Emily P., Alexis P., Megan Q., Christine R., & Abigail S. The ballet is one big peace, loving dance fest, and the Joffrey always excels at creating a joyful mood for the audience at large.

After the last dancer exited the stage and candles remained flickering on stage in their stead, we took a collective moment of silence in remembrance of 9/11. Then a final curtain call was taken and a glorious night of dance ended.....until next time.

click here to read a recent review of this show by Hedy Weiss.

Chicago Dancing Fest 2008: A free 3-day event

Photo courtesy of the Joffrey Ballet/Millennium Park

It's been a while since I've written that the Joffrey Ballet is awesome!! I've been telling folks this ever since I first saw them back in Oct 2006, and they just keep getting better and better. Last season's 2007-2008 program of Giselle, the Tudor Centennial, and the American Moderns has brought the best out of every single company member. It could be that Ashley Wheater is one of the best things to have recently returned to Chicago and to the Joffrey, but I am concerned about there becoming a potential lack of older dancers (30+) within the company. So far things seem okay.

On another note, there were a few dancers whose contracts weren't renewed with the company. Without knowing any actual details about the matter, I can't comment, but I will say that I found out by surprise just before heading to my seat to view the American Moderns (AM) production this past May. I came upon dancer, Michael Levine, standing out in the lobby with at least 3 photo books that he'd created spread out across several tables before him. He explained why he was there, and I could feel his sadness. After I'd written in one of the books, my spirits were dampened, too. I could empathize with him at his personal loss and possible grief. Anyway, that news put a bit of a damper on the program so I was grateful this week when the Joffrey performed parts of 2 out of 3 pieces from AM (Cloven Kingdom & Waterbaby Bagatelles) during the CDF '08. I was able to view them with a whole new attitude.


Day 1 (8/18) of the CDF '08 took place at the Harris Theater and featured 20th century masters of choreography (cor.). The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company performed first, and they were excellent. I was familiar with Lubovitch but not his company, which performed Concerto Six Twenty-Two. In this short Youtube clip, it's the 1st & last cor. danced in all white that is a tiny bit remininscent of the JB's Sometimes it Snow in April ballet. The piece was very long (I was told 45min) but well choreographed, staged, and timed. It did bring back haunting memories from last year's "Dear Fredric," an excruciatingly long piece by the Complexion Ballet. Fortunately, in this Lubovitch piece, the musical choice matched the cor.; it was a light, lyrical, flowing piece for the entire ensemble that featured an allegro, adagio, rondo section plus several solos. I enjoyed the male pas de deux feat. Griff Braun & Jay Franke as well as Jonathan Alsberry b/c he was just awesome and athletic and Brian McGinnis, who looks a lot like the popular, bald, American actor, Stanley Tucci.

The Jose Limon Company danced a court dance called The Moor's Pavane that was awesome as it was based on themes from Othello. The dancers were Francisco Ruvalcaba (The Moor/Othello-like), Jonathan Fredrickson (awesome as His Friend/Iago-like), Kathryn Alter (Friend's wife), and Roxane D'Orleans Juste (awesome as Moor's wife).

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet danced a Balanchine piece entitled Tzigane (music by Ravel), which I just didn't appreciate since IMO the costumes were a terrible brown color and the music not helping the mediocre cor. at all. Most of the people I was with didn't like this one either, but it wasn't the dancers fault, who danced it respectably. It does make me wonder what was going through the mind of the Artistic Director when the piece was chosen for Chicago. It's like, you couldn't choose a happier or more lively production instead of this dark, intense piece. We don't see a lot of Balanchine in Chicago.

The Martha Graham Dance Company feat. Miki Orihara (a Winger blogger), Tadej Brdnik, Jennifer DePalo and Katherine Crockett performed Cave of the Heart respectably. B/c I found the piece boring, I fell asleep. I swear I tried to appreciate it, but the music by Samuel Barber was too intense for me so I tuned it out. The audience practically went mad when the piece ended; numerous standing ovations were given so clearly I was in the minority in my opinion. With no disrespect to Ms Graham as the so called "mother" of modern dance, the piece was not interesting to me since there was not enough actual dancing. I felt like my 10 y.o. cousin could have danced that ballet. It seemed to be mostly standing, laying around, or staring out into the audience, but, perhaps, someone who had bothered to stay awake the entire time might provide a better critique than I :D

The Oregon Ballet Theater performed, Rubies, a short pas de deux from Balanchine's full length Jewel's. The dancers were Yuka Iona & Ronnie Underwood and both were very enjoyable.

The evening ended with the Joffrey's Cloven Kingdom, cor. by Paul Taylor music by A. Corelli, Henry Cowell and Malloy Miller. The piece was well performed by the ensemble as it showcased their sense of humor, athleticism, artistry and musicality. The plot is basically about the dichotomy btw our civilized human nature and the beast that lies within us all. The ballet feat. the cast dressed for an evening of black ties w/tail and cocktail dresses which gets interrupted by outbursts of animalistic behavior among the guests. Out of nowhere come these women wearing shiny metal-looking objects on their heads, which I guess is meant to alter the dynamics of propriety throughout the piece. It's quirky, but well done IMO. They were awesome, and I could appreciate this piece much better the 2nd time. However, I thought the entire night of dancing belonged to the ladies of the Joffrey, who stole the whole show for me for all of the afore mentioned reasons, which included Valerie Robin, Suzanne Lopez, Erica Lynette Edwards, Elisabeth Hanson, Jennifer Goodman, Anastacia Holden, Emily Patterson and Allison Walsh.

Day 2 (8/19) took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art and feat. artistic director discussions, video graphics, and live demonstrations by both the Jose Limon & Martha Graham Companies. I did not attend b/c the website stated the event was sold out, but I later found out that only like 1/2 the guests bothered to show up to this very informative event. Pity b/c I would have gone. Point of fact, the show on 8/18 was, also, reportedly sold out, but if one didn't mind waiting standby a bit, one could have gotten a seat about 10 min prior to the show starting. The CDF needs to make that important fact known for the future.

Photo courtesy of the Joffrey Ballet/Millennium Park

Day 3 (8/20) culminated at Millennium Park with more guest companies.
Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago kicked off the show. I feel all the pride and joy that's connected to my African roots when this company performs. They were fantastic plus had live music- drumming and singing.

The Lar Lubovitch DC repeated their 8/18 performance, and I enjoyed it just as much the 2nd time around.

Ballet Tech Kids Dance performed a very sprite and youthful number called A Stair Dance, which is exactly where the action took place. I was tired just looking at them; but, hey, you can do that kinda stuff (going up & down stairs like a cajillion times) when you're under 15 y.o.

Again, the Joffrey Ballet brought their A game. I have never seen this company look better. Allison Walsh and Mauro Villaneuva have just been killin' it for the past year in solos; both have matured tremendously in their artistry. More than that, I think more dancers are now being featured so that we can appreciate all members of the company better. Everyone needs their chance in the limelight to sparkle sorta speak. And, where did this new guy, John Mark Giragosian, come from? He looks as young as some of those Chinese female gymnasts in Beijing and just like them, he, too, is clearly talented and kicking butt. He's already a featured dancer. Wow!!! My faves and company staples, Derrick Agnoletti and John Gluckman, also lit it up. Is it just me or does Derrick seem like he's going for that miniature bronze adonis look? He is quite possibly the tannest person in Chicago:D To view a clip of the JB performing an excerpt of Waterbaby Bagatelles by Twyla Tharp, click here; essentially, it's the same dancers but from an earlier gig.

American Ballet Theater brought back soloists, Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews, to perform the "Black Swan Pas de Deux" from the ballet Swan Lake. I was impressed with these two dancers. Yuriko pulled off 27 fouettes and Jared had no problems with his pirouettes a la seconde; aside from a minor slip or two from Yuriko, the piece went well for both. They have nice stage presence, and the crowd was really pumped-up like it was the Super Bowl or something with 2 standing ovations.

Battleworks Dance Company saw dancer, Kanji Segawa, perform, Takademe, a fun piece of cor. by Robert Battle. It required great musicality, stage presence, and stamina, which this guy had from start to finish.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performed a cool piece called, Pasomezzo, by dancers, Robyn Mineko Williams and Terence Marling with cor. by Ohad Naharin. [It] depicts the intimate dialogue between a man and a woman – the nature of relationships at their most raw and most tender. Naharin’s partnering mingles vulnerability with conflict, articulating a touching, true-to-life exchange. I feel like I've seen this piece before but probably didn't appreciate it. Tonight it was excellent and performed well. It had just enough quirkiness and unpredictibility to keep me guessing and thoroughly entertained. Click the highlighted link above for a video clip.

The Evidence, A Dance Company performed Upside Down from the evening length work Destiny by the ensemble cast, however, no names were listed. I thought this company was amazing and reminded me of Alvin Ailey when they performed Love Stories, which nicely combined African stylized dance with contemporary or modern movement. The cor. was by Ronald K. Brown, who is also the Founder and Artistic Director. It was the kind of performance that makes me want to get up and start dancing in the isles or find a local studio to take up African dance. This company featured live music (drums) and singing, too.

So that caps off 3 days of exciting and free dance in the fabulous city of Chicago.

For a list of all the dancers who performed, visit the CDF '08 website
The Joffrey has their own blog, the J pointe, where you can find good things like photos and video clips so check it out.

ABT's Sleeping Beauty- Chicago Apr 12 & 13, 2008

Ms Part & Mr Gomes (SB 2007)

So today concluded the last of 4 viewings of ABT's Sleeping Beauty. Normally, I hate to admit to enjoying foo foo, pretty ballets, where the corps does lots of pointe work wearing frilly tutus on elaborate sets. It just seems too cliche or like I'm being forced into someone's idea of a fairy tale. Wait a minute! Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale, and I'll be damned if I didn't fall for it hook, line and sinker. But I really did enjoy each "SB" performance, tutus and all.

The interesting thing about ABT's SB is that it got better and better looking the further away from the stage I sat. For today's Sunday matinee, I was sitting in the nosebleed section (6th Fl.) with my friend and (2) twelve-year-olds. We had an amazing time, and, yes, I had my binoculars. The staging for this ballet was especially pretty to see from so high up that I began to see things that I'd missed sitting on the main floor and in dress circle. There's the requisite Village dance sequence in Act I, where the dancers line up and follow each other under and through a hand-held floral lattice of sorts. Of course it was cheesy, but it still looked nice. Suffice it to say, I can be had by gloriously vivid costumes w/itty bitty wings, good choreography, fairies, fancy set decorations, nice music, and, of course, men in tights. There are pretty much 4 adjectives that describe this ballet: light, colorful, rich & sparkly.

The dancing throughout SB was nice. Sure, I have my favorites that just really stood out for one reason or another,but all of the artists were entertaining, which is what is most important. What I think really only matters to me b/c it's based on my personal needs and wants. That being said, Veronika Part was really wonderful as The Lilac Fairy. She wasn't always as light on her feet or soft in her landings as say Ms Maria Riccetto was, but Ms Part had a distinguished presence and confidence that explained everything clearly and that she would set things to right eventually. When Ms Riccetto danced that role, I had trouble feeling or connecting to her character. It was like, "Who is she?" or "What?" Unfortunately, Ms Riccetto had the same effect of invisibility for me in both of her Princess Florine performances with Mr Radetsky & Mr Hoven. There was nothing wrong with her dancing, she's lyrical but lacked a strong enough stage presence for those two roles.

Hee Seo as The Fairy of Sincerity

The other Fairies and Lilac Fairy attendants were danced equally well by members of the corps and soloists for all 4 shows. However, Ms Zhong-Jing Fang's emotional portrayal and musicality really captured my attention as The Fairy of Joy. I liked Ms Misty Copeland's Fairy of Valor; she has a different and stronger physical appearance than most classically trained ballerinas. Quite frankly, Ms Copeland brings a nice dimension to her roles and to ballet in general that I feel is mostly lacking overall. My favorite grouping of the five main Fairies was Ms Seo (Sincerity), Ms Fang, Ms Copeland, Ms Yuriko Kajiya (Fervor), and Ms Melissa Thomas (Charity). The synchronicity between the much larger pool of artists performing as The Lilac Fairy Attendants was oftentimes missing. The cor. was still beautifully danced but lacked that overall precision that I've seen danced by the Kirov Ballet's corps in Swan Lake back in Nov 2006, which was freakishly in sync and perfect.

The men of the corps and soloists helped keep this production from turning into a pool of estrogen. May I just say that Mr Cory Stearns is just too cute for words even though he did jump the gun or added in some extra steps on a couple of different occasions. I'm assuming they were "extra" b/c none of the others did them. Mr Blaine Hoven was all over this ballet as one of The Fairy Knights, The Russian Prince, The Prince's Friends, and The Bluebird. He is a very nice dancer and had good chemistry with the Princesses. It was very easy to believe he was in love with each of the Princess Auroras or would lay down his life is he had to. I am always impressed by the high quality and caliber of ABT's male corps de ballet mbrs & soloists: Mr Radetsky, Mr Salstein, Mr Matthews, Mr Lopez, Mr Hoven, Mr Hammoudi, Mr Stearns, Mr Tamm, Mr Easter, Mr Forster, Mr Mantei, Mr Piris-Nino, Mr Ogle, Mr Phillips, Mr Scott, Mr Davis, Mr Delong, Mr Ribagorda and Mr Stewart. These guys all danced as Fairy Knights and/or Prince's Friends and they were very elegant and mostly in sync with one another. It helped that the cor. was good if not too brief for my tastes. They should have been given more cor. to dance IMHO.

I saw 4 different couples perform The Princess Florine and The Bluebird Pdd, but the couple that really thrilled me was Ms Kristi Boone and Mr Carlos Lopez. They were the only couple that I felt had all 3 things: chemistry, artistry and technique. Ms Boone has a very beautiful line and presence while Mr Lopez practically floated, light as a feather as The Bluebird. He was extremely lyrical and the couple very much in sync. I just thought they were really beautiful together, and I wanted to see them again. Jared Matthews, though not quite as lyrical, did a very nice interpretation of The Bluebird. Mr Hoven appeared uncharacteristically uncomfortable in the role. It appeared that he may have struggled a bit controlling some of the jumps and landings b/c at one point I thought he was gonna fly into the orchestra pit. He didn't, but I wish I could have seen him perform the role a 2nd time.


As for the principal roles, I was a little disappointed that Ms Gillian Murphy and Mr Ethan Stiefel did not make the Saturday matinee as scheduled. I've never seen Mr Stiefel perform live, and he indirectly started me on all this ABT nonsense to begin with in the movie "Center Stage". However, Ms Paloma Herrera and Mr Angel Corella did not disappoint at Sunday's matinee. Both are wonderful artists and excellent technicians so there was no muss or fuss with any of the cor.; they eat that stuff for breakfast. All of the principals were a delight, but, man oh man, Ms Kent and Mr Gomes blew me away! So touching; so emotional. That is a couple to see if ever one has the chance.

I was reading a couple of reviews for Opening night and it's interesting to note how the mistakes I noticed were not the ones that were pointed out by the critics (review 1 and 2). Also, there's nothing actually wrong with a Broadway or a Vegas-like feel to a set as long as the costumes are made of good quality material and design. It's why that sort of stuff draws people to those venues or to ballet in the first place. People, esp. women, like vivid imagery. I don't know if any of these critics saw The State Ballet of Georgia perform Don Quixote feat. Nina Ananiashvili, as Kitri, back in March 2008, but that set definitely had a cheesy, low budget feel to it. Despite that, the dancing was nice (see review). One final criticism to mention was that Artistic Director, Mr McKenzie chose to cut out the lengthier versions of the Little Red Riding Hood & Big Bad Wolf Pdd as well as the popular Puss in Boots & the White Cat Pdd (see it here) b/c the musical score alone is famous, esp. to anyone who has seen this ballet or the movie Center Stage before; but, whatever, right? The ballet is definitely worth seeing if you like pretty and foo foo!!


I bid farewell to ABT and its vast array of talented artists. May we meet again in the future!

ABT's Sleeping Beauty- Chicago Apr 9th & 11th 2008

Ms Kent & Mr Gomes- Tudor Leaves are Fading

So last night I saw the 2nd of 4 shows I'm scheduled to see. If you are not a balletomane or someone that lives in NYC and sees ABT regularly then you will not understand the whys and wherefores. However, if you are a sports fan and have season tickets to watch the same team play again and again then you should know that ballet is no different. I go to the different shows to see different company members dance the principal roles. Even if I lived in NYC, where ABT resides, I'd still have to go to a lot of different shows just to see the various artists perform. It's a large company with a lot of principals and soloists, and they don't all perform on the same night.

Julie Kent is amazing and so much fun to watch! She danced the lead role of Princess Aurora along with principal, Marcelo Gomes last night. Together they were fantastic, and I feel so lucky to have been able to see them live! This year, unlike last year, I came prepared with mini binoculars just so I could see the expression and emotions cross Julie's face. Watching Ms. Kent perform without being able to see her facial expressions is like going all the way to Paris to see the Mona Lisa only to find that her face had been spray painted over. Yes, you'd be seeing the Mona Lisa, but you would not be seeing her as she was meant to be viewed.

Now, I'm fairly certain that Ms Kent is a fantastic technical dancer because she is a principal, but what makes her artistry special in my mind is how vulnerable and emotionally honest she appears in her characters. I fell in love with her acting in the movie "Center Stage" (BTW, if I had a dollar for every time I heard someone mention that movie while at the theater both nights, I could have bought front row seats). Last night Ms Kent was radiant, and I was not disappointed. There were several times where she clearly struggled to maintain her balance en pointe, particularly, during the famous "rose adagio", and it showed on her face. She literally fought to hold on.

Imagine trying to keep your balance while en pointe doing an Arabesque en attitude epaulee derriere. You've got one arm up in a fixed third position and with your opposite arm, you will need to keep your balance and body position in between placing your hand in one of four different gentlemen suitors as each approaches then turns you in a circle. This sounds simple enough, but it's difficult to execute because each time she switched male partners and/or was turned by them, it threw her balance off then she still had to raise that arm up into 3rd position briefly before grabbing the guys hand again. I personally felt that she should just skip trying to raise her balancing arm overhead, but I guess she felt she had to stick with the choreography. It was a bit painful (in sympathy) to watch because her balancing arm was rushed and shaky. Her body alignment remained unaffected though. You could actually see her mouth and face go "grrrhhh" as she fought for it. As I was watching her struggle, I held my breath and made little oohing sounds as I mentally gave her my support. The fact that she struggled, and let it show on her face made me love her artistry that much more. Everyone struggles in life, but we don't necessarily do it in front of an audience, our peers, or with an orchestra accompanying us. Julie Kent showed us "live" what perseverance looks like both emotionally and physically. I completely empathized with her. It was so sweet to see her and her male partners silently communicate with one another during the battle to keep her balanced; she even smiled at them like, "Yup, I'm struggling here, and your support is much appreciated!" I don't know; it had a touchingly, beautiful authenticity.

Marcelo Gomes was spectacular! His artistry, his technique, and his emotions were amazing to finally get to see live. I know someone, who practically thinks the sun rises and sets on him, and I can understand why she feels that way! He has a wonderful quality of presence or being in the moment about him that shines through whether it's a live performance or on DVD. He just owns the character. Oh yeah, he rocks that Latin machismo thing, too! He and Julie together were so effortless and emotionally and technically in sync with each other that I knew I was seeing something amazing! I am so glad that I saw that show!!

On Wednesday's opening night, I saw Xiomara Reyes as Pr. Aurora and Jose Manuel Carreno as Pr. Desire. They were wonderful together as well. Ms Reyes is a wonderful technician; there were absolutely no signs of struggle going on. Artistically, she dances with child-like wonder and abandon or like anything is possible if you can dream it. She's dances with lightness and a free-spirit. This was my first time seeing Mr Carreno live, and he, too, was definitely worth seeing. This wasn't the best technical performance of his that I've seen, but is was emotionally and artistically satisfying for me. Mr Carreno embodies the words cutey-patootie, and he exudes what appears to be a very pure spirit. I've seen him dance and in interviews before, and it feels like he is a real life Prince Charming and that everyone will be safe, in good spirits, and protected as long as he's around. In the psychiatric world, this would be called a transference issue, but in ballet the viewer is entitled to interpret the characters in anyway that provides personal meaning.

The rest of the ensemble was nice to see, but I'll discuss them in a later post. In particular, Sascha Radetsky as The Bluebird was a delight to see. He dances with such power and prowess in everything that I've seen him in. He dances like there's no tomorrow. When I compare Mr Radetsky to other's who've danced the same role, his moves are always bigger, faster, higher, have more rotations, more beatings, and more drama. The only other dancer I've seen like that is Derrick Agnoletti of the Joffrey Ballet. In other words, these dancers are technical standouts, and you'd like to see them in a principal role to see if their artistry can match.

Late entry dated Apr 14th: Here's what Principals, Ms Kent & Ms Murphy, & Artistic Director, Mr McKenzie, had to say beforehand about their upcoming Chicago Sleeping Beauty- revised version. I didn't know what the rose adagio was until I saw it on Wednesday's opening night.