In Philippe Decoufle’s “Tricodex” a wheeled wooden frame creates a proscenium evoking stages of yore; in and around it old-fashioned feats of balance and flying seem to be caught in gaslight illuminating the dark. Village Voice 5/4/04
BALLET GALORE: WEEK #1
New York City Ballet / New York State Theater, NYC / April 27 – June 29, 2004 Following are some comments on the highlights of the opening week in the New York City Ballet’s spring season, Part II of the company’s Balanchine 100: The Centennial Celebration. LA VALSE: I come to Balanchine’s La Valse laden […]
Sharing the Honors
Balanchine, Graham, Ailey, and De Mille appear, separated by perforation lines of course, on the United States Postal Service’s new 37-cent commemorative–American Choreographers. Issue date: May 4, 2004. Village Voice 4/28/04
TEMPTING FATE
Martha Graham Dance Company / City Center, NYC / April 14-25, 2004 If a long winter—meteorological or psychological—has scuttled your courage, you might want to check out a couple of terrific Martha Graham dances now being performed in repertory at the City Center. Cave of the Heart and Hérodiade are part of the Greek cycle […]
BAFFLED IN NEW YORK
North Carolina Dance Theatre / Joyce Theater, NYC / April 13-18, 2004 “It’s a puzzlement,” says the monarch in The King and I. Having witnessed one of North Carolina Dance Theatre’s rare New York performances, I can only agree with the king. The company is led by a pair of former New York City Ballet […]
Ailey II; ABT Studio Company
They deliver physical wonders with a modesty so profound, it looks like our era’s most endangered commodity—innocence. (Ailey) Their rendering of Ashton’s sublime matched trios, Monotones I and II, which aimed, rightly, for immaculate classicism and calm repose, was infinitely poignant. (ABT) Village Voice 4/13/04
LIVING DANGEROUSLY
Compagnie Maguy Marin / Joyce Theater, NYC / April 6-11, 2004 A curtain of flexible strips in carnival colors screens the three walls of the stage like a vertical Venetian blind. Nine dancers—first one, then several—emerge from behind this pliant barrier, then, just as mysteriously, vanish back into the corridors it shields. Suddenly revealed, then […]
Maureen Fleming
When she swathes her nude body in miles of gauze animated by a wind machine and lit to look like fire, you cave right in to her theatrical know-how. Village Voice 4/5/04
TOYS R’NT US
Stephen Petronio Company / Joyce Theater, NYC / March 23-28, 2004 The press release for Stephen Petronio’s latest creation, The Island of Misfit Toys, being given its first New York showings at the Joyce, promised “themes that include obsession, guilt, insatiable desire and the mundane details of life.” The night I went, the crowd seemed […]
DARK VICTORY
Johannes Wieland / 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project at The Duke on 42nd Street, NYC / March 10-14, 2004 When Johannes Wieland operates in his signature style, he makes dances that are immaculately pared down and aggressive to the point of violence. Adamantly abstract on its surface, the work is haunted by subtle currents […]