Chunky Move: Mortal Engine / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House / December 9-12, 2009 Chunky Move, founded in 1995 and still led by Gideon Obarzanek, comes to us from Down Under, or Oz, as some people call Australia. Chunky Move in Mortal Engine Photo: Julieta Cervantes The troupe's name indicates its original purpose--to invent dance productions that contrast with the rarefied artifice and elegance of ballet. (Originally trained in that classical genre, Obarzanek, who masterminds the group's works, is decidedly in recovery.) Of … [Read more...]
A Tale of Two Nutcrackers
December 12, 2009 by 10 Comments
By Christopher Caines, guest contributor Imagine that Sol Hurok had telephoned the director of a slightly down-at-heel, raggle-taggle, time-traveling vaudeville troupe one day and said, "Parker! Listen: I need a Christmas show! A Nutcracker! Pronto! My Russians canceled. I can get you a couple weeks of one-nights. If you deliver, maybe we can make it an annual thing. Can you do it?" Members of the Bang Group in Nut/Cracked Parker looks around the studio. The troupe has a ragbag assortment of old props--some beat-up top hats and … [Read more...]
You Are What You Wore: Personal Indulgences No.16
December 4, 2009 by 16 Comments
It isn't easy, trying to buy clothes now that the years have beset the body with flaws. You can't find garments that cover all of them except, of course, a shroud. But not yet. Sometimes I think I should wear one of those Asian or African or Indian outfits that simply swathe you in fabulous fabric. Then all I'd have to do is develop an undulating walk for allure. The clothes of my childhood were a different matter. Some of them were memorable for the pleasure they gave me, others because they--I really mean this--left permanent aesthetic … [Read more...]
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Very well thought out and well written, as usual, Tobi. Many thanks.Daniel Benton on Youth in Bloom
Very nice! You manage to capture the spirit of the performance and give us a larger context in which to...Michael Noga on Keeping Count
I saw this performance and enjoyed it. I have seen three of Justin Peck's works and noticed that he...Leo Greenbaum on Dvorovenko Moves On
Superb Classical technique. Beautiful woman. Will miss her.Richard Chang on Keeping Count
I so agree with you, Tobi: "... dance is not made of ideas but rather of people moving to music...Martha Ullman West on Keeping Count
"frosty abstraction that offers very little to see..." does seem to be the order of the day for a lot...Mary Cargill on Dvorovenko Moves On
"Enigma Variations", certainly, would count for married love in a ballet.Jann Parry on Dvorovenko Moves On
Apropos Onegin's mature love pas de deux: can you think of any other ballets in which a married couple express...Shelley KOLIN on Dvorovenko Moves On
I was introduced to Irina and Maxim during the Southern Ballet Theatre days with Vadim Fedotov and Irina Depler. We...Alice Helpern on Dvorovenko Moves On
I've seen a number of performances with Irina and Maxim and each of them with other partners but in the...