{"id":1756,"date":"2013-06-21T15:58:56","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T19:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2013-06-22T10:23:52","modified_gmt":"2013-06-22T14:23:52","slug":"a-lark-ascends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/2013\/06\/a-lark-ascends\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lark Ascends"},"content":{"rendered":"

The revived Dance Theatre of Harlem performs at Jacob\u2019s Pillow, June 19 through 23.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Dance<\/a>

Dance Theatre of Harlem in Robert Garland’s Return<\/em>. Photo: Matthew Murphy<\/p><\/div>\n

If a repertory company starts its program with a performance of George Balanchine\u2019s Agon<\/i>, where can it possibly go from there?\u00a0 Higher?\u00a0 Don\u2019t make me laugh. But whatever follows, you can get a jolt of almost electric pleasure when Dance Theatre of Harlem begins its performance in Jacob\u2019s Pillow\u2019s Ted Shawn Theater by presenting an immaculately danced, sensitively directed performance of the 1957 Balanchine-Stravinsky masterwork.<\/p>\n

DTH\u2019s week at the 81-year-old dance festival is a homecoming of sorts. Many of us got our first look at the company at the Pillow. It was the summer of 1970, and the year before, in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, ex-New York City Ballet principal dancer Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook had founded a ballet school in Harlem that reached out to black children. And not only a school, but a company. In that assembly of African American classical dancers on the Jacob\u2019s Pillow stage was a beautiful, skinny girl with a modest afro who looked even younger than her 20 years.<\/p>\n

That girl, Virginia Johson\u2014whom you might remember best as the willowy heroine of DTH\u2019s 1984 Creole Giselle<\/i>, and\/or as the founding editor-in-chief of Pointe Magazine<\/i>\u2014is now the artistic director of the company. In 2004, after years of artistic success and worldwide touring, DTH\u00a0 was disbanded; funding problems had led to a massive debt. The company reappeared this year with a smaller, racially diverse ensemble of 18. Its New York City season in April was celebrated as a resurrection. Laveen Naidu, another former company dancer\u2014one with Harvard Business School creds\u2014has served as Executive Director since DTH folded, and, with Johnson, masterminded the plan that re-launched the performing group.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The second Pas de Trois from Balanchine’s Agon<\/em>. L to R: Anthony Savoy, Chrystyn Fentroy, and Francis Lawrence. Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/p><\/div>\n

Agon<\/i> has particular resonance for the company. Balanchine created its reserved, but powerfully sensual duet for Arthur Mitchell and Diana Adams, (The fact that one of these principal dancers in the New York City Ballet was white and the other black startled many in the 1957 audience.)<\/p>\n

The Ted Shawn\u2019s stage isn\u2019t as big as the one at New York\u2019s City Center, where Balanchine and Stravinsky premiered Agon<\/i>. But do the dancers hold back or make the stage appear too small?\u00a0 Not until they have to maneuver to take their bows do you get even a hint that this is a smaller stage than the ones on which NYCB performs the ballet now. The spaciousness of Agon<\/i>!\u00a0 Cool, crisp air surrounds it. And the dancers in their dark blue-gray and white practice clothes must combine large-scale gesture with stiletto precision. The four male athletes who open it with canonic moves stretch their limbs into space and swing themselves off balance to lunge out farther than you\u2019d have thought reasonable. When eight women join them to complete the cast, legs flash in all directions like spears. Three squads of four?\u00a0 No problem. And Richard Tanner, who staged the ballet, evidently hasn\u2019t allowed these dancers to forget that in ancient Greek, \u201cagon\u201d means a contest; their focus on one another and their intensity subtly underscore that atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/a>

Anthony Savoy and Francis Lawrence in the duet from Agon<\/em>‘s “Second Pas de Trois.” Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/p><\/div>\n

Just as Stravinsky referred to Baroque court dance in his exquisitely orchestrated fusion of diatonic procedures with twelve-tone ones, so Balanchine intermittently created images of elegance and decorum, even as he twisted and pushed movements askew and enlarged the classical vocabulary. Ashley Murphy, Jenelle Figgins, and Taurean Green dance the first Pas de Trois with aplomb, and Francis Lawrence and Anthony Savoy perform the male duet in the second Pas de Trois with the scissoring vigor it requires. This lightning-fast \u201cBransle Simple\u201d pits the two against each other in such a close canon that the second man to start always seems about to catch his opponent. Chrystyn Fentroy imbues the trio\u2019s solo with a soft sureness, making the movements breathe.<\/p>\n

The Pas de Deux is danced by Gabrielle Salvatto and Fredrick Davis\u2014he warmly attentive, she supple, feline, and responsive within the sharply looped and angled maneuvers in the choreography. Here the term \u201cagon\u201d might be translated as struggle, yet any effort is downplayed. Stravinsky\u2019s music makes you feel the hot stretch of the woman\u2019s muscles as her partner courteously and skillfully assists her, molding her into uncanny positions that court dancers of yore encountered\u00a0 only in their erotic fantasies.<\/p>\n

\"Michaela<\/a>

Michaela DePrince and Samuel Wilson in the duet from Swan Lake<\/em>, Act III. Photo: Karli Cadel.<\/p><\/div>\n

After that opener, DTH offers a look at the classicism that Balanchine and Stravinsky unsettled. There\u2019s nothing off-balance in Tchaikovsky\u2019s beautiful music for Swan Lake<\/i>, and in Marius Petipa\u2019s choreography pointework suggests stability, control, and power. The pas de deux from Act III was staged for DHT by Anna Marie Holmes via Nicholas Sergeyev, who learned Petipa\u2019s ballets in Russia toward the end of the choreographer\u2019s life. In this duet, the Swan Queen\u2019s evil double must lure Prince Siegfried to his downfall, and when Michaela DePrince danced the role at the Pillow\u2019s opening Gala, I thought that she was only trying to wow him with her rock-solid technique. But this vastly gifted dancer (born in Sierra Leone and raised in the U.S. from an early age) came alive during DTH\u2019s first night. Now we see how a balance on one toe can become a flirtatious taunt, a kind of purr, and how the ballerina\u2019s every move is aimed to deceive the prince into thinking her far sweeter than she is. No wonder DePrince\u2019s partner (the excellent Samuel Wilson) keeps pressing his hands to his heart and sighing in pleasure.<\/p>\n

Those 32 fouett\u00e9es that Odile whips off in the coda?\u00a0 DePrince aces that demonstration of killer virtuosity, and\u2014a fine touch\u2014she occasionally decorates one of the many revolutions with a little birdlike flap of her arms, as if to say to the hero, \u201creally, I\u2019m just the sweet little enchanted swan you love; I\u2019m only wearing black and diamonds because I couldn\u2019t find my white tutu.\u201d He falls for it big time.<\/p>\n

\"Gabrielle<\/a>

Gabrielle Salvatto and Fredrick Davis of DTH in Alivin Ailey’s The Lark Ascending<\/em>. Photo:
Christopher Duggan<\/p><\/div>\n

Alvin Ailey\u2019s 1972 The Lark Ascending<\/i> marks one of his first embraces of lyricism and balleticism. Its swirling patterns provide a contrast to the other pieces on the program. DTH\u2019s women perform it in pointe shoes, which works well enough, although it\u2019s not a compelling element of the choreography; the dancers just step up onto a toe when it seems appropriate\u2014say upon moving into an arabesque. Ailey set the work to Ralph Vaughan Williams\u2019s lovely Romance for Violin and Orchestra<\/i>, but it\u2019s more as if he set it beside<\/i> the music, heeding its overall mood but not the shape of its phrases. (It doesn\u2019t help that the recording is played at such a volume \u2014or was on opening night\u2014that it loses some of its windswept romanticism.)<\/p>\n

Thomas F. DeFrantz\u2019s admirable book Dancing Revelations:Alvin Ailey\u2019s Embodiment of African American Culture<\/i> notes that the principal female dancer personifies the lark that takes flight\u2014a symbol of the woman\u2019s awakening to love; her partner is the hunter as well as the pursuing lover. Another couple (Green and Figgins) echoes their relationship, as do four other pairs, the woman in filmy, pastel dresses by Bea Feitler. I don\u2019t quite catch that hunter-prey imagery in the sensitive staging by a former \u201clark,\u201d the beautiful Eizabeth Roxas-Dobrish; maybe I never did.<\/p>\n

Salvatto is as excellent in this as she is in Agon. <\/i>Her joyful buoyancy in the choreography\u2019s leaps and spins and fluid, ground-covering passages animates what seems like a very long, rambling solo that is strangely thin in terms of movement material. Davis is her ardent partner, and Green follows Figgins with equal devotion.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/a>

Ashley Murphy and Da’ Von Doane in John Alleyne’s Far But Close<\/em>. Photo: Rachel Neville<\/p><\/div>\n

No one could accuse John Alleyne of making dances that have a loose weave. In Far But Close<\/i>, Alleyne\u2014who, for a number of years, was the artistic director of Canada\u2019s Ballet BC\u2014works the dancers through an intricate, rarely stopping body language that mingles ballet steps with knottier moves. When Jehbreal Jackson coils and uncoils his limbs, dipping to the floor, and rising in some kind of marvelously complicated conversation with his own body, you can understand why Stephanie Rae Williams stands watching him for so long. They are not the only splendid performers in Far But Close. <\/i>Occasionally, Murphy and Da\u2019 Von Doane stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them, telling us. . .what? That the four are friends? That the second two are the others\u2019 alter egos?\u00a0 The a man and woman who periodically talk to each other in a recorded text by Daniel Beaty sometimes use Black English Vernacular, sometimes not; sometimes they speak in rhymed poetry, sometimes in blunt prose.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/a>

Ashley Murphy and Da’ Von Doane in Far But Close<\/em>, Photo: Rachel Neville<\/p><\/div>\n

Oh that text! It intermittently interrupts Daniel Bernard Roumain\u2019s very expressive music.\u00a0 The first line, \u201cPretty little black girl. . . ,\u201d introduces a flirtatious pick-up on a subway, moves onto casual sex\u00a0 (don\u2019t bring in \u201cthat love shit,\u201d the woman says). But, along the way, love does enter, along with allusions to the man being in prison and questions like \u201cWould you believe in love again?\u201d There\u2019s even a brief, hard-to-assimilate reference to the Middle Passage and bodies accustomed to being packed together.<\/p>\n

Beaty\u2019s words effectively set place and mood, but it\u2019s heavy, complicated freight for the often very interesting dancing\u2014\u2014to bear. And the choreography goes its own way, only occasionally and very obliquely relating to what we hear.<\/p>\n

\"L<\/a>

L to R: Francis Lawrence, Da’ Von Doan, Chrystyn Fentroy, and Dustin James in Robert Garland’s Return<\/em>. Photo: Matthew Murphy<\/p><\/div>\n

A program like this needs a closing number, and choreographer Robert Garland (who danced with DTH for 13 years) has couched his 1999 Return<\/i> in what he calls \u201cpost-modern urban neoclassicism.\u201d Translate that as \u201calmost anything goes\u201d and \u201cbe prepared: ballet dancers getting down.\u201d The music is great: James Brown opens with \u201cPopcorn,\u201d and Aretha Franklin follows with \u201cBaby, Baby, Baby;\u201d he sings three songs, she two).\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s a party dance, with the whole company eventually on view (hello there, Ingrid Silva, Alexandra Jacob, Emiko Flanagan, Lindsey Pitts, Dustin James).\u00a0 But I\u2019ll bet you never saw a bunch of strutting, hip-swinging women and cool guys segue into five-part counterpoint.<\/p>\n

In the closing \u201cSuperbad,\u201d led by Green (a Pillow alum), brief, ebullient solos and show-off stunts emerge from the crowd. Garland must have tailored it to DTH\u2019s individuals. A mean back flip, Savoy!<\/p>\n

From what I hear and intuit, the dancers have come a distance since DTH\u2019s April performances in New York in terms of confidence and clarity. They have technique to burn; they can run with it. I hope Johnson builds a new repertory wisely\u2014one with choreography that will challenge them in every way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The revived Dance Theatre of Harlem performs at Jacob\u2019s Pillow, June 19 through 23. If a repertory company starts its program with a performance of George Balanchine\u2019s Agon, where can it possibly go from there?\u00a0 Higher?\u00a0 Don\u2019t make me laugh. But whatever follows, you can get a jolt of almost electric pleasure when Dance Theatre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[845,219,844,841,354,116,842,847,843,846,840],"class_list":{"0":"post-1756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ballet","7":"tag-agon","8":"tag-alvin-ailey","9":"tag-arthur-mitchell","10":"tag-dance-theatre-of-harlem","11":"tag-george-balanchine","12":"tag-jacobs-pillow","13":"tag-john-alleyne","14":"tag-michaela-deprince","15":"tag-robert-garland","16":"tag-the-lark-ascending","17":"tag-virginia-johnson","18":"entry","19":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}