Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company: Story/Time

 “Raise your hand when you think one minute has passed,” requested Bill T. Jones of the audience at Zellerbach Hall in his pre-performance speech for his company’s new work Story/Time.  Jones brought out the stage manager with stopwatch in hand and the audience fell silent as they tried to determine the length of one minute as timed by the stage manager.  Hands progressively rose until the stage manager said, “Time,” and the audience chuckled and shifted, and Jones said, “That’s all you need to know about tonight’s performance.”  Story/Time performed the weekend of February 24-25 by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company consisted of 70 one minute stories told live on-stage by Jones, while the company of dancers performed choreography around the storyteller and a musician electronically distorted the sound of Jones’s voice and periodically created accompanying soundscapes.   The work was inspired by John Cage's Indeterminacy, the stories told and the choreography dances are chosen randomly before the performance and paired by chance.  As satisfying as the idea sounds, knowing the length of one minute was not all that was needed to know the performance. 

The 70 one minute stories that made it by chance into the night’s performance can be easily categorized as cultural and political.  These two categories are a very kind euphemism for name-dropping.  The majority of what Jones had to say dealt with dining, drinking, and socializing with other rich and famous people who hold incredible clout in the worlds of art and intelligentsia.  Whether it was intended or not, the innate political nature of money, art, access, and privilege within the stories were projected onto the bodies of the dancers.  Regardless of the movement changing from performance to performance, the implicit and explicit meaning of the sixty-second sound bytes became integral to the nature of the movement, even if its creation was without textual support.  When Jones was not discussing the livelihoods of wealthy artists, he often discussed the destitute poverty and institutional racism as experienced by himself and his family (prior to his success).  Once again the cultural politics of race, class, gender, and access are imbued onto the dancers via the storytelling.  This relationship was explicitly apparent in the one story that was told twice verbatim and then inverted to a scenario involving the dancers.  The story dealt with a poor family being evicted from their home while an evil landlord and his goons rape and pillage.  Along with the repetition, this story seemed decidedly removed from chance operations as the choreography very much acted out the story and the props were assembled in the semblance of a living room.

Contextual and theoretical critiques aside, I believe the company is one of the strongest modern dance companies currently performing and touring.  The dancers perform beautifully as an ensemble and each offer a unique movement quality to Jones's choreographic style--a mixture of release technique, ballet, and yoga.  Also, although the stories themselves were markedly exclusive, Jones has one of the best voices for storytelling.

SF Ballet: Trio, Francesca da Rimini, Les Carnaval des Animaux

Last Saturday night I attended SF Ballet's 3rd Program of the season, a triple bill that featured Trio by Helgi Tomasson (the artistic director), the world premiere of Francesca da Rimini by Yuri Possokhov (the resident choreographer), and Les Carnaval des Animaux by Alexei Ratmansky, which was made for the company several years ago.

SIDE NOTE:  There is a very generous alum of the Mills College Dance Department who keeps a box at the ballet and donates tickets to every program to current Mills students.  I had the extreme privilege of using one of those tickets last night, and, whoa dang, if I never had to sit anywhere else that would be fine by me.  First of all each box has its own door that leads to a small powder room with a mirror and very comfortable chair, a place for you to hang you jacket and accoutrements, as well as menus for dessert and champagne should you feel so inclined.  Then you pull back a curtain, and blamo! you have your very own box with six seats, and this one was right in the center.  The most perfect place in the whole theatre to view dance.  Everything is gilded with gold leaf and the seats look very Rococo.  I felt like I was in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, and let me tell you it was awesome.  My apologies for the tangent, but I felt it was necessary to explain my superb vantage point in viewing these ballets.  And back to the ballet....

Tomasson's Trio set to Tchaikovsky's string sextet Souvenir de Florence is a three part ballet that sandwiches a partnering heavy pas de trois with the classical style pas de deuxs with male and female variations and corps de ballet.  The set and costumes were stunning.  The ballet was very strong in structure and drive, but choreographically thin.  Neither of the pas de deuxs had discernibly interesting or novel partnering, and though the pas de trois was danced beautifully, the way that the woman was constantly being tossed back and forth between the two men left me wishing the men would partner each other and mix it up a bit, also I couldn't stop thinking about a very similar part of Cooper Nielsen's ballet in Center Stage.

Francesca da Rimini by Yuri Possokhov

This ballet was a world premiere by choreographer in residence Yuri Possokhov based on the story of Francesca da Rimini as told by Dante.  In the story Francesca cheats on her husband with his brother, they are caught, the husband kills both of them, and they all spend eternity in hell.  Very Dante.  Set to a Tchaikovsky symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini: Symphonic Fantasy after Dante, Op. 32, the ballet was a one act drama that brought the house down.  The title character was danced by Maria Kotchetkova, one of my new favorite primas, who technical ability and grace was equally matched by acting and musicality.  In addition to the love triangle the ballet featured three denizens of the underworld, making their presence sporadically known by sliding in and out of the set with undulating choreography, and seven ladies-in-waiting who served as a sort of Greek chorus, either mimicking the actions of the main characters or continuing the plot with transitions.  It was stunning and the reaction from the audience was as passionate as the ballet itself.

Les Carnaval des Animaux by Alexei Ratmansky

The program ended with a ballet as comical and cheerful as Francesca da Rimini was dramatic.  Ratmansky's Les Carnaval des Animaux was created for the company in 2003, and features inventive and smile-inducing choreography to each of Saint-Saen's animal-character sketches.  Particularly satisfying was the "Aquarium" section with Sofiane Sylve as a jellyfish, and the elephant section danced by a young ballerina in a pink tutu.

SF Ballet: Chroma, Beaux, Number Nine

My good friend and fellow balletomane Nataly accompanied me to the SF Ballet's second program of their season tonight.  It was a very mixed bag, featuring Chroma by Wayne McGregor (above), Beaux a world-premiere by Mark Morris, and Number Nine by Christopher Wheeldon.  Each work was abstract and non-narrative and each work had a unique relationship with their prospective musical accompaniment.

I have never had such an immediate feeling of dislike about a ballet as I did about Chroma.  I use the word "hate" sparingly, but I almost want to use it about this ballet.  It was rife with cliches and lacked any strong structure or sound transitions.  Any worthwhile moments felt like watching super-lite Jiri Kylian work from the '90s.  Half of the musical accompaniment was orchestrated versions of White Stripes songs which seemed completely arbitrary and reinforced the lack of cohesion.  McGregor stated that he wanted the work to feature physical extremes.  When I first read this in the program I was hoping for something akin to Balanchine's Agon, instead it was like watching a ballet made for Las Vegas, no artistry, just lots of hyper-extension and bombastic partnering that offers the audience no genuine connections.  I was shocked and disappointed to find out that this ballet has won many accolades and is the work that landed McGregor the resident choreographer position at the Royal Ballet!  This made me think that this is choreography that the patriarchs and matriarchs that hold administrative positions in ballet companies believe to be new and edgy when really it's just crap ( similar to how all the old Broadway critics thought Spring Awakening was reinventing the musical for my generation when really it was a 19th century story about adolescent sex with underwhelming top 40-esque pop music).

Mark Morris's world premiere Beaux got everything right that Chroma got wrong.  With a cast of nine incredibly talented men, Morris successfully blended gesture with ballet, created character and personality in an abstract, non-narrative ballet, and utilized the beauty of understated movement to complement the bravado of men in ballet.  It was wonderful to see the personalities of the dancers in the movement, a quality that is usually reserved for modern dance.  Isaac Mizrahi's set and costumes were the only unfortunate contribution to the production.  The non-set was a large floating screen hovering in front of the cyc that was pink and brown army camouflage print.  The unitards the men wore were a similar pattern.

I originally saw the ballet Number Nine in January at the SF Ballet Gala and had very mixed feelings about the choreography.  I immediately loved the score by Michael Torke, but I felt the ballet needed editing.  Also at the Gala the dancers looked insecure in the movement, like perhaps they needed more rehearsals.  Tonight, however, I was completely won over.  I think the key was my place in the audience.  At the Gala I sat in the orchestra whereas tonight I sat in the balcony; the balcony offered a far superior view to appreciate the patterns and mathematical precision of the choreography.  Also the dancing was strengthened by having a more skillful and seasoned cast.  As always Yuan Yuan Tan was absolutely stunning in the "blue couple's" choreography.

Martha Graham Dance Company: Dance is a Weapon

Saturday night I was fortunate enough to see the Martha Graham Dance Company perform at the SF Jewish Community Center.  I had never seen the Graham Company perform until last Saturday night, and before then I had only seen a performance of Lamentation.  The program was titled Dance is a Weapon, featuring work that dealt with choreography as a means to give agency to the oppressed or to act out against oppression.  The evening began with three solos from three different choreographers: Isadora Duncan, Eva Gentry, and Sophie Maslow.  Interspersed between these solos the audience was shown archival footage of the time of the creation of the work, primarily of the Great Depression and the New Dance Group.  The Duncan piece was the antithesis of the airy, ethereal quality that has come to define how she is remembered.  Instead it was intensely grounded and sharp, beautifully danced by Katherine Crockett, who looked statuesque in her red dress.  The Gentry and Maslow solos, the former created for a woman, the latter a man, were perfect foils for each other.  Gentry's Tenant of the Street depicted a female character completely disenfranchised of her identity.  She rarely lifts her head high enough to allow the audience to meet her gaze as she slowly carves her path through the heavily weighted stage.  Maslow's solo set to the music of Woody Guthrie, reminded me of the song "I Got Plenty o' Nothin'" from Porgy and Bess.  It was a man who has lost, and perhaps is lost, but is determined not to lose his voice.  

The first half of the program ended with Graham's Chronicle.  A show-stopping, jaw-dropping work that caused my friend Nataly to exclaim, "that melted my face," when it was over.  The ballet was influenced by the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War and focuses on depression and isolation.  It opens with a stunning solo (above image) that uses the costume in inventive and dramatic ways comparable to Lamentation.  The following two sections are ensemble pieces that are incredibly demanding musically, technically, and I would guess, psychologically.  The work is as strong in form and structure as it is in emotional depth.

The second half of the program moved away from the theme of dance as a weapon to offer two works from very different times in Graham's career.  The first El Penitente from 1940 and the second Acts of Light from 1981.  El Penitente (above image)  tells the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection within the context of Native American inspired dance and storytelling.  The ballet is presented as if three actors have entered a community and are sharing a story.  It is an interesting and enjoyable take on the most famous story of Western civilization.  I was particularly touched by the idea of offering the story in such a folkloric manner, making it akin to the creation stories of Native American cultures.

The program ended with Acts of Light or as I've come to think of it, "All Things Graham" (or maybe the Grahamathon).  It is a celebration of the rituals dancers go through to become dancers ( a la the beginning of Balanchine's Serenade) told through Graham technique and exercises with the dancers in gold unitards.  It was very enjoyable to watch especially as a Graham novice.  In San Francisco, release technique reigns supreme, so it was genuinely refreshing to see modern dance technique performed with a specific port de bras and placement.  The dancers seemed inhibited by the shallowness of the stage, and those unitards reveal every inaccuracy, but overall it was a handsome ending to a wonderful evening.

SwInG dAnCe

After reading this recent article in the New York Times about this decade's swing dance revival happening around New York City, I was reminded of one of the greatest (swing) dance scenes in film--the backstage swing dance party in the film Hellzapoppin' from 1941.  It's a very entertaining movie, featuring one scene in particular that will knock your bobby-socks off.

This incredible scene showcases some of the most vivacious, exhilarating, and virtuosic partnering that, in my experience, makes every viewer want to get up and dance.  I can watch this clip over and over again and continue to feel excited.  I love partnering in any style of dance and this clip really feeds into those kinesthetic feelings of trust and generosity that is required when dancing with a partner.

Hands On/Off

This piece was my final for my group choreography class this past semester at Mills College.  In celebration of finishing my first semester of graduate school, and the stressful nature of the end of the semester, I wanted to create something that was fun and that dealt with things I love.  I started with the music--Otis Redding, Betty Harris, and Shirley Ellis--these are three of my favorite artists in one of my favorite musical genres, soul music of the 1950s and 1960s.  This work was also created out of the love I have for the people I dance with, specifically in this work, Jeanette Male, Elizabeth Morales, and Judene Small.  We had a lot of fun creating this and I hope you enjoy it.  Unfortunately the lighting was pretty low and at times it is difficult to see details.

Dream Roles

My birthday was this past Wednesday and in light of the celebration and introspection that comes with birthdays, I would like to share some of my dream roles.  The various roles in dances already created that I would love to dance.

The Bluebird Pas de Deux from Sleeping Beauty

Neither the choreography nor the role are particularly interesting in terms of great pas de deuxs in the classical ballet canon, but there is something about this role that attracts me.  Maybe it's the pure classicism of the choreography or perhaps the iconographic status of the pas de deux, either way it is a part I want to dance.

Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven by Ulysses Dove

I think Dove is one of the greatest under-rated choreographers.  His work is incredibly technically demanding and aesthetically stunning while still containing honest and interesting emotions and relationships, a challenge that very few contemporary ballet choreographers have been able to meet.  Danced to an evocative score by Arvo Part, Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven is one of my favorite ballets.

The Bronze Idol from La Bayadere

This is one of my all time favorite male variations.  The music, the costume, the choreography, I love it all.  It is difficult to believe that it's less than two minutes because every second packs a punch that makes it feel wholly realized and complete.

Afternoon of the Faun by Jerome Robbins

I think this is one of the best re-conceptualizations of an already famous ballet.  Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes made this ballet famous in 1912 in Paris, and Jerome Robbins created his own version in 1952 in NYC, changing the roles from Ancient Greece to the contemporary and having the dancers play dancers acting as though the fourth wall of the audience were a mirror in a dance studio.  It's brilliant.

Emeralds by George Balanchine

Emeralds (George Balanchine) from Ryan Wenzel on Vimeo.

Jewels is one of Balanchine's masterpieces, a non-narrative evening length work.  Emeralds is my favorite section of the ballet and I would be thrilled to dance any part in it.

Le sacre de printemps by Pina Bausch

I have a slight obsession with the history and continuing life of The Rite of Spring (more on that later), and this version is tied for first as my favorite choreography to match Stravinsky's beast of a score.  Bausch is known for using wild and at times outlandish sets in her work, and the simplicity of using soil in this work is so brilliant in its effectiveness and visibility in complementing the choreography.

In The Upper Room by Twyla Tharp

This is another one of my all time favorite works that I would relish the opportunity to dance.  This year marks the 25th anniversary of its creation and it has continued to maintain in repertory in companies all over the world.  I once read an interview with Ethan Stiefel who said that dancing this ballet was one of the greatest endurance tests of any ballet he has ever danced.  Bring it on.