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There’s No Problem Like Maria

August 25, 2012 by 2 Comments
Love at last! Meghan Merrill as Maria and Daniel Charon as von Trapp. Photo: Taylor Crichton, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

So long, Fräulein Maria. Also farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye. Not au revoir, but (gulp) adieu.  I’m not talking about the heroine played by Julie Andrews in the film based on the Broadway show, The Sound of Music; I refer to Doug Elkins’s fabulously funny and adorable, gender-corkscrewing take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved creation.  Fräulein Maria’s touring days are done. It will disappear after its last performance (Sunday, September  26th) during the final week of Jacob’s Pillow’s 80th Anniversary Season … [Read more...]

08/25/12 10:41 AM | filed under: dance theater |

Listen Well, Children

August 19, 2012 by 4 Comments
Ryan Redmond and Travis Walker upend Benjamin Behrends in McIntyre's Ladies and Gentlemen. Photo: Taylor Crichton, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow

When Trey McIntyre Project unveiled its new Ladies and Gentlemen in Jacob’s Pillow’s Ted Shawn Theater (August 8-12), you could feel a sunny haze of nostalgia settle over the audience. I’m betting that a good percentage of the spectators could have raised their voices along with the recorded score—songs from the epochal 1972 album Free to Be. . .You and Me, instigated by Marlo Thomas. Maybe—as parents strong on feminism—they’d played it for their kids (the proceeds from the LP went to the new organization that Gloria Steinem, … [Read more...]

08/19/12 8:59 PM | filed under: contemporary dance |

Stepping Into Dreams

August 18, 2012 by 2 Comments
Adele Nickel in Liz Gerring's she dreams in code. Photo: Taylor Crichton, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow Dance

The six dancers in Liz Gerring’s she dreams in code move as if tracking along known paths—or maybe it’s the animals being tracked that they resemble in their supple physicality and intent focus. Premiering last fall at the Baryshnikov Center and shown in Jacob’s Pillow’s Doris Duke Studio Theater August 15 through 19, Gerring’s wonderfully poetic work creates an ambiance through stage design, sound score, dimly heard words, and choreography; together, they make you think of dreamscapes. Movement patterns recur in fragments, canonic … [Read more...]

08/18/12 5:15 PM | filed under: Postmodern New York |

Shadow Presences, Tangible Absences

August 9, 2012 by 3 Comments
Jonah Bokaer in his Curtain. Photo: Liza Voll, courtesy Jacob's Pillow Dance

The back story:  Jonah Bokaer and David Hallberg were working together on a duet—the postmodern dancer-choreographer and the adventurous ballet virtuoso, the dark-haired guy and the blond one. Hallberg broke his foot shortly before the piece was to premiere at the Avignon Festival. Steps were taken. The show went on. Now I’ll shut up and talk about Curtain as it was at Jacob’s Pillow, August 1 through 5. Bokaer’s brief program note encourages viewers to engage with what’s there before them, rather than what’s not there. This … [Read more...]

08/9/12 3:34 PM | filed under: postmodern views |

Making Ballet New

August 1, 2012 by 5 Comments
Julie Fiorenza and Kirk Henning in From Foreign Lands and People. Photo: Christopher Duggan

While works of talented choreographers whose heritage is in modern dance pop up in parks, churches, lofts, barns, and theater like mushrooms after a good storm, gifted new choreographers working in the ballet idiom are rarer and therefore get a lot more attention. Remember the fuss surrounding Eliot Feld when he began choreographing in 1967 while still performing in American Ballet Theatre?  Remember the excitement aroused by Christopher Wheeldon’s debut? Or Benjamin Millepied’s first ballets? These days, ballet companies commission … [Read more...]

08/1/12 5:01 PM | filed under: new ballet |

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