It takes four or five to tango
The first time I fell in love with tango it was at City Center in New York, arguably a hyper-stylized somewhat lyricized version danced by Julio Bocca and his Ballet Argentino - a sexy and whirlwind two hours called BoccaTango in which Julio partnered women, ladders, men and tables, all with equal eroticism.
The second time I fell in love with tango it was at Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, the legendary coffee house on Avenida de Mayo with an intimate theater space toward the back where waiters seduce you with Piazzolla and cocktails as you watch a tango show at all hours of the night.
The third time I fell in love with tango it was in Vail, Colorado when I walked in on Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse rehearsing an intense pas at two in the morning during a late-night lighting rehearsal onstage at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater.
Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse dance as Damian Woetzel watches on during UpClose: The Art of Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
All were dressed in black - though sometimes you saw a snatch of black tulle or fuschia chiffon in the wings - and the strains of accordion, piano and bandoneon seemed haunted in the deserted theater, during that strange and lonely part of the night when it’s neither evening nor morning. The effect was heightened by the pitch-black sky, illuminated by thousands of stars the likes of which seemed, in that moment, unique to the mountain. It was magic.
Along with their band and their troupe of dancers, all rehearsing for the next day’s premiere of Romper el Piso, they went until three in the morning even though they had an 11am call the next morning. These Argentinians are absolutely restless! That day, they had participated in UpClose: The Art of Tango, which was moderated by Damian. Other participants included SAB faculty member Suki Schorer - who has been in love with ‘Mr. Tango’ for 15 years, as Damian duly noted - and even Carla Korbes, who was in the audience and did an impromptu promenade with both Damian and Gabriel.
Suki Schorer, Damian Woetzel, Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse speak at UpClose: The Art of Tango as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erica Sheftman.
Both Suki and Damian spoke of the differences between ballet and tango lying largely in the control of musicality and in the dynamic between the female and the male; Suki talked about the many years it had taken her to be okay with allowing the man to steer her and Damian observed that it was a good skill for any man to actually learn how to lead a woman. Natalia spoke - through a translator - of the passion and freedom of expression that tango intensifies, as well as of the closeness and trust that must exist between partners.
Romper el Piso dancers during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Click here to watch Damian, Suki, Natalia, Gabriel and Carla at UpClose.
Vail audiences were so lucky to get an early insider’s glimpse at the world premiere of Romper el Piso. Some of it was excerpted at last year’s Fall for Dance at City Center, but the two-hour show was largely created for this year’s festival and featured Hills and Misse, as well as other duets, quartets, and sextets, endless costume changes and interludes like the hypnotizing live performance of Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteno.
Alastair Macaulay boldly announced in the New York Times that as evidenced in Vail, the partnership between Gabriel and Natalia is the most spellbinding in dance today… it seems our leading critic himself has been seduced.
Watch some of the premiere of Romper el Piso here, as well as an excerpt of Natalia and Gabriel here.
Damian Woetzel and Natalia Hills during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
A very lengthy recap post
The dance festival has sadly come to a close… luckily the Winger lives on. Today I walked to the theater along a winding path through the Rockies; birds were singing, I was listening to a mixture of Norah Jones, Minkus, and the Beatles, and already feeling nostalgic. The day before yesterday was the big departure day; all the International Evenings of Dance couples as well as most of the staff, and today the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater feels eerily quiet.
On Thursday night, Damian and Heather Watts (Damian’s wife and legendary NYCB ballerina) led Up Close: International Evenings of Dance. Up first were Carla Korbes and Royal Ballet soloist Eric Underwood in the central pas de deux from Balanchine’s Agon. Heather – or Professor Watts, as she is sometimes called after a too brief interlude on the Harvard faculty several years back when Damian was getting his degree at the Kennedy School – spoke not only about Balanchine’s personal history from the Ballets Russes to the New York City Ballet, but also about the origins of Agon.
Heather Watts and Albert Evans rehearse Carla Körbes of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Eric Underwood of The Royal Ballet in Agon. Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Balanchine famously said that when you put a man and a woman on stage you already have a story; but what is not always acknowledged is the narrative power of putting a black man and a white woman together on stage in one of dance history’s most abstractly erotic dances during a time in America when racial separation, rather than symbiosis, was the rule. Thus Agon may be one of the abstract ballets but it is undoubtedly informed by the cultural politics of the time it was choreographed in – not only by the hyper-frenetic New York City of the Beat generation but also by the events at Little Rock and across the nation. The original casting of Arthur Mitchell and Diana Adams suggests the influence of this era on the ballet, if not in direct and purposeful rebellion than at least in some sort of subtle irony. So the pairing of Eric and Carla, with this knowledge, becomes even more striking; not to mention they are two of the most gorgeous people in ballet.
Carla Körbes of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Eric Underwood of The Royal Ballet rehearse Agon with Wendy Whelan and Albert Evans. Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust.
Damian spoke of the format of UpClose as conducive to creating footholds for the audience members, some of whom maybe be wholly unfamiliar with not just the history but also much of the choreography; it is so much more enjoyable to watch a performance and recognize musical and choreographical moments with more understanding and intelligent perspective. Heather, Carla and Eric worked on the famous sequence in which Carla is in a penchee and Eric drops to the ground on his back and promenades her as he lays on the floor; undoubtedly the public loved seeing it again on Saturday night and felt like privileged insiders when they got to see if Heather’s advice worked out for Carla and Eric…if it didn’t that might have been awkward but of course it did and Carla and Eric were nothing less than stunning in performance.
Carla Körbes of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Eric Underwood of The Royal Ballet rehearse the penchee from Agon. Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
The audience also got to see Joaquin and Daniil rehearse the Chopins/Robbins duet that was last danced by Damian and ABT principal Ethan Stiefel at the Bolshoi years ago, and before that, never since 1979…Then Herman and Misa came on for some Don Quixote and the open rehearsal version of the Keigwin world premiere, Rock Steady - with Tiler, Joaquin, Robbie and Sokvanarra - closed the evening.
Misa Kuranaga of Boston Ballet and Herman Cornejo of American Ballet Theater rehearse Don Quixote Pas de Deux as part of UpClose: Stars of International Evenings of Dance.
The gala on Saturday night had been sold out for weeks and was a huge success. In the New York Times, Alastair Macaulay likened the two international programs to a mini UN of dance and there is probably no more apt way to describe it. Countries represented on stage included Argentina, Japan, Russia, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Spain, Cambodia, Brazil and the United States; companies represented included American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Keigwin + Company, Tangueros del Sur, the Royal Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet. I will never forget the rousing standing ovation for the three Ailey men- Clifton Brown, Jamar Roberts, and Matthew Rushing - at the end of Sinner Man; three such powerful guys with so much intensity and ferocity, even, in their movement…yet that same movement is also so warm and organic and provides moments of calm freedom in an otherwise feverish dance.
Clifton Brown of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival as Tiler Peck, Joaquin De Luz and Daniil Simkin watch on. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Don Quixote with Herman and Misa of course brought the house down as did Daniil in his gala fare solo, Les Bourgeois. He’s young and cute and that’s what makes his parody of cynical French nonchalance charming; of course the solo is also inflected with ridiculous virtuoso tricks that no one can match Daniil in. Here is a an excerpt from the performance.
Also, some footage of Sarah Lamb and Eric Underwood in rehearsal for International Evenings of Dance; on Friday night they danced Wayne McGregor’s Limen and on Saturday night they danced Christopher Wheeldon’s Tryst. The two of them are capable of such lyrical plasticity and have gorgeous physical chemistry together; she is so angelic and frail, and he is quite the opposite- dark and powerful - and when they are together they are otherwordly.
Eric Underwood and Sarah Lamb of The Royal Ballet rehearse Tryst Pas de Deux. Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
After the performance, patrons and dancers danced and mingled until midnight at a tent flowing with champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries, set up at the Betty Ford gardens. Memorable moments included Sarah sliding across the floor in her platforms Jackson-style, Keigwin/New York City Ballet dancers freestyling, and tango star Gabriel Misse leading a train through the tent, seducing men and women, and being the general Argentinian life of the party.
Saturday night’s international evenings of dance was punctuated by the special brand of live theatrical spontaneity that isn’t easily produced or replicated. Nothing has stopped festival performances this summer. Audiences huddle in parkas through thunderstorms, assembled together in bunches under rare umbrellas; dancers perform way above sea-level in the midst of the mountains, with oxygen masks resting on benches in the wings for use in rare pauses during pas de deuxs. On Saturday, Herman and Misa were to close the first half of the show with the second act pas de deux from Giselle; after a breathtaking opening pas de deux, Herman came on for his solo and was greeted instead with the closing coda music. He smoothly walked off but upon his return it was the same coda music. So the coda music played for a bit, and then Damian, who had run like I didn’t think was possible backstage after Herman’s first entrance, came onstage and announced that due to a technical mishap we would break for intermission. The whole thing was handled so smoothly and graciously that most of the audience weren’t positive anything was amiss. After the intermission, we saw Wendy in the Ratmansky solo, Fandango – the ending is unforgettable, a deep backbend on her knees with her arms flat on the ground behind her, chest upward to her band of seven as the flamenco reaches a climax (watch for footage soon). Then Damian came back on to announce that Herman and Misa have generously insisted on dancing the opening pas de deux of Giselle once more to lead into Herman’s solo and ultimately, the coda. I was imagining this happening at the MET Opera House and concluded that NYC balletomanes would die happy if they got to see a Giselle encore and after reading this would probably pay off stagehands to pull a Tonya Harding and injure the forearm of the first violin or something to that effect. Herman and Misa are both so amiable and giving; all smiles, they kept repeating “It’s okay, it happens!” I was blown away by their artistic and tenchnical consistency; their second time around they were better than the first, and when Herman flew on with his unparalleled cabrioles everyone went wild. All were so poised and composed, especially Damian, ever the hero, who brilliantly turned the malfunction into a real dance event that the balletomanes would kill for.
Herman Cornejo of American Ballet Theatre and Misa Kuranaga of Boston Ballet rehearse Giselle at the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Misa Kuranaga of Boston Ballet and Herman Cornejo of American Ballet Theater perform Giselle. Photo by Erin Baiano.
And then Misa, as though she hadn’t just danced the Giselle pas de deux twice along with all its other constituents, came on with Daniil to deliver the most sensational Le Corsaire pas de deux I’ve seen since Noche Latina at ABT; thirty-two spot on fouettes with doubles and triples casually thrown in…it was unbelievable. Daniil as the slave is something I am sure we will be seeing for many years to come; he may be blond (cough cough) but is he fierce… I would say I’m well-versed in ballet vocabulary but I doubt if there are names for half the things he effortlessly throws in there.
Misa Kuranaga of Boston Ballet and Daniil Simkin of American Ballet Theater perform Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Other highlights of Night Two included Carla and Robbie Fairchild in the White Swan Pas de Deux, Sarah Lamb in the Dying Swan, Tiler and Joaquin in 3 Chopin Dances and an always ethereal Wendy with a fresh out of retirement Albert Evans in Wheeldon’s After the Rain. I loved this when Rachel Foster and Jeffrey Stanton danced it last week but there is nothing like Wendy in that soft pink leotard, her blonde hair keeping pace with the wind and the piano and her famously sculpted legs carving out the heartbeat of the music.
Carla Körbes of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Robert Fairchild of New York City Ballet in a White Swan lighting rehearsal during the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Wendy Whelan of New York City Ballet rehearses Fandango, the new Alexei Ratmansky ballet at the Vail International Dance Festival. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Afterwards, the entire cast gathered at Pazzo’s restaurant in Vail Village for pizza, pasta, salads and for some, shots. Lots of photos were taken, toasts were made, numbers exchanged. Around midnight most were shuttled back to the hotel to get some rest for their early flights; Herman, for example, was due to dance with Angel Corella’s company in Spain in the following forty-eight hours, and Daniil was soon en route to Japan where he is guesting with Tokyo Ballet.
Curtain call at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Heroes all around.
Stay tuned for more about closing night, with Gabriel and Natalia leading Romper el Piso, as well as more video and photo footage/reportage from International Evenings of Dance and UpClose: Tango with Damian, Natalia, Gabriel and Suki Schorer. And don’t forget about the hundreds of photos on the Vail Valley Foundation Flickr.
Erica
Gearing up for premiere next week!
Hi Wingers!!
It’s been a long time now! I promise it’s not because I have been lazy!! We have been SOOOOOOOOO busy making this new work that I became totally saturated! It is just about finished now after nearly a year (WOW!). The title of the piece is “Toward Home” and it involves the 8 dancers of SYREN, and 7 musicians of Steeplechase Arts & Productions who are playing a completely original score composed by Damon Ferrante. It’s been a wild journey to say the least, but I am thrilled, and a bit in awe, of how it’s all coming together!
Here is a little video about the process: click here!
The show goes up for it’s premiere on Wednesday August 18th at the beautiful Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY. It’s interesting to be performing in the Hamptons! We will be back to NYC very soon, but we are enjoying getting ready to share the work with the great, enthusiastic crowd out there!
Below are some pictures from an open rehearsal we did at Ballet Tech a couple months back when we were still in the thick of creating this baby. It was a fun day where we shared a bunch of the piece and had a Q&A after with the students and faculty.
Hope to see you all soon!
If you are near the Hamptons, come join us for the premiere!
“Toward Home”
Wednesday August 18th at 8pm
www.smarttix.com
And all about SYREN news and events here:
www.syrendance.org
Thanks so much! Hope you are all doing great during this busy summer season!
The Half-way Point
It’s officially past the exact middle of the festival and as I’m sitting on the lawn overlooking the stage, tech crew is sanitizing the marley and setting up barres for Damian’s 10am company class onstage. Damian and Suki Schorer have been trading off teaching in the mornings; the Vail Mountain School and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater have been overflowing with starpower as Whelans trade off rehearsal space with Simkins to better accomodate their respective Ratmansky and Robbins dances.
- Carla Korbes, Daniil Simkin and Joaquin de Luz in class with Artistic Director Damian Woetzel for the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival on 8.2.10. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Herman Cornejo arrived late last night from Madrid, directly from a performance with Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon, and was greeted with a hot dinner, chocolate and a Heineken. Today he will rehearse with Boston Ballet principal dancer Misa Kuranaga; other than a week of rehearsal at the ABT studios at 890 Broadway in NYC, they have never danced together before but have always had the one degree of separation in Herman’s sister, Boston Ballet principal dancer Erica Cornejo. They are so perfectly matched physically and stylistically and I am so excited to see them dance the Act Two Pas de Deux from Giselle as well as the Wedding Pas de Deux from Don Quixote. Yesterday, Misa was in the studios choosing between three different versions of Kitri’s solo music; that opening with the pique arabesque into the glissade and saute de chat is intense if the music is too fast but she chose to stick with it as she’s done it in the past. Daniil and Joaquin rehearsed their Robbins/Chopin duet; I think they bring out the best in each other, a very thrilling sort of competitiveness and comraderie. Daniil and Misa will also dance the Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire; they are both two of the most ridiculous virtuosos today and are also dancing together for the first time. It’s been too fun watching all the guys outdoing each other and fooling around at the back of the stage… where else can you see all of them share a stage performing works from Bournonville and Petipa to Wheeldon and MacGregor?
Yesterday I also got a chance to see the two huge world premieres slated for International Evenings of Dance. The solo choreographed for Wendy by American Ballet Theatre Resident Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is set to a brilliant flamenco score that brings out Wendy’s earthy fluidity. I remember Ratmansky’s last ballerina piece d’occasion- a tour de force for ABT ballerina Nina Ananiashvili in her farewell season set to Khachaturian’s “Waltz Masquerade” in which she jeteed back and forth across the stage and tempted each of her former star partners at ABT. That was something I will never forget and I am so excited to see a special partnership with another brilliant ballerina come to fruition again. I also got to see Tiler, Joaquin, Robbie and Sy Sar rehearse Larry Keigwin’s Aretha Franklin ballet, now called Rock Steady. There is so much chemistry between Tiler and those three guys and its such a sassy, sexy romp; I hope it will have a long life beyond the festival because it’s hard to imagine having more fun watching a piece.
Joaquin de Luz and Tiler Peck in rehearsals for Larry Keigwin's Rock Steady at the Vail International Dance Festival on 8.2.10. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Stay tuned for video of Daniil, Misa, Wendy, Joaquin, Robbie, Sy, Tiler and Royal Ballet dancers Eric Underwood and Sarah Lamb in rehearsal.
Tuesday night was one of the most exciting nights at the Amphitheater, Dance for $20.10; every Pavillion seat was $20 and every Lawn seat was $10. One thing that I have really admired about this festival is the emphasis on education and outreach that has been instituted. Before each performance Damian speaks to the audience about each of the works to be performed. Tuesday evening featured a kaleidescopic array of dance from Balanchine’s Who Cares?, danced effervescently by Tiler and Robbie, to Black Swan Pas de Deux danced by Carla and PNB Principal Karel Cruz, to Larry Keigwin himself and partner Ashley Browne in an excerpt from Love Songs and a surprise appearance by tango stars Gabriel Misse and Natalia Hills. We were taken from New York to Buenos Aires, from Imperial Russia to contemporary US of A and provided context for each shift.
- Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild rehearsing with Artistic Director Damian Woetzel for George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, as part of the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival on 8.2.10. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Speaking of geographical shifts, BeijingDance/LTDX, led by Artistic Director Willy Tsao, took the stage on Wednesday night; the company became, in 2005, China’s first professional dance company founded independently from the government and has quickly grown into a pioneer of cutting edge choreography. Artist in Residence Sang Jijia created the world premiere of Solitude in Numbers for the festival. The program note read, “You don’t need to be alone to be lonely” and Damian seized the moment to make the apt observation that this was the first visit to America for most BeijingDance/LTDX members. Liu Bin and Song Tingting’s piece October, set to Tchaikovsky’s emotional piece of the same name, was very moving, but I think the heart of the evening was All River Red, set to Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Having studied the 1913 premiere at the Theatre Chatelet in Paris in a Russian Avant-Garde class at school, it was really fascinating to see this music employed to suggest not historical Slavic ritual and pagan sacrifice but rather violent oppression in 20th century China, through largely parallel patterns of narrative progression and similarly primitive, earthy and primal movement. And that incredible music in that setting…you feel it in your bones in a way that maybe only the Parisians did when they rioted inside the theater in 1913.
BeijingDance/LTDX rehearses as part of Vail International Dance Festival. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
I’ve now been transported to the Vail Mountain School where the Argentinian imports playing in the band for Romper el Piso are rehearsing my favorite tango in the world, “Invierno Porteno” by Astor Piazzolla. I can sit here and listen to this forever…there is nothing as seductive as the bandoneon….but in two hours we will be taking Natalia and Gabriel to a radio interview at the theater, after which the first Up Close (Stars of International Evenings of Dance) will commence.And finally, a video montage of Pacific Northwest Ballet - with some surprise guests - in class and in rehearsal for Benjamin Millepied’s 3 Movements and Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels:
Until later,
Erica
The Beginnings of a Whiplash Week Two
I don’t think I will ever forget the afternoon of Sunday, August 1.
I knew that the weather would be somewhat menacing and I was a bit concerned about how the Celebrate the Beat kids would fare that night, opening for Pacific Northwest Ballet in their Broadway tribute. The festival had provided each child with two vouchers for lawn seating, and I was terrified that all those parents who had waited weeks to see their kids perform for the first time would drown in a torrential downpour and swear off dance forever (…ultimately quite the opposite). So a bit apprehensively I went on my way to the amphitheater on Sunday and resolved to spend as much time inside as possible, getting everything ready for the children.
I was going backstage when I heard the strains of a violin playing Arvo Part’s “Spiegel im Spiegel.” There are a few pieces of music that always make me cry; this is one. Of course I dropped everything and ran to the stage. There, PNB Soloist Rachel Foster and Principal Jeffrey Stanton had just begun to rehearse Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain Pas de Deux. Before my eyes the wind grew more and more forceful, the trees behind the two swayed with the rhythm of the breeze, and every strain of the violin was suddenly complemented with this haunting swoosh. Rachel’s hair billowed in the wind every time Jeffrey rocked her in his arms in those carousel-like spinwheels. There were about twenty people in the audience and you could hear a pin drop. As Rachel and Jeffrey stood facing each other motionlessly, Jeffrey gave her a silent kiss on the forehead and I heard the first bolt of lightning. Then the thunder came. No one dared move. The downpour had instantaneously become so strong that it was hard to hear the violin, but magically and very naturally it became a necessary extension of the music. As they lay on the floor at the end, a final clap of thunder resounded in the mountains, and all I could make out on the faces around me was otherwordly awe.
Rachel Foster and Jeffrey Stanton of Pacific Northwest Ballet rehearse After The Rain during the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival. Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Here is a video I compiled of those unforgettable moments:
PNB Rehearses ‘After the Rain’ in a Thunderstorm
In summary: weather hasn’t stopped the dance. Yesterday at the performance of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, all audience members with lawn tickets were upgraded to regular seats. I would even venture to say that the thunder only heightened the drama. A ballet needn’t have a name like After the Rain to benefit from some precipitation; Paul Taylor’s Promethean Fire is a lesson in atmospheric dance. Dancers shot up into the sky to Bach’s “Prelude” and it was as though thunder was written into the score. What an exhilirating and passionate performance by all the Paul Taylor dancers; it was justly rewarded by one of the most instantaneous standing ovations I’ve observed here yet. Promethean Fire was preceded by Company B and Piazzolla Caldera - lucky for me as The Andrews Sisters’ “Bei Mir Bist Du Schein” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Michelangelo 70″ top ninety percent of my On-the-Go playlists. Company B evokes the vibrations of the 1940s as America was drawn into the Second World War; my favorite section is still “Rum and Coca-Cola” which was danced with so much instinctual charm. Piazzolla Caldera got me really excited for the tango program next week, Romper el Piso, brought here by Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse from Buenos Aires. When I was 16 I traveled to Buenos Aires with my parents and fell in love with the tango- my mom and I spent 6 nights straight at tango clubs then, so I am very excited for the public milonga in the Betty Ford Gardens on Saturday, led by Natalia and Gabriel.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company performs "Promethean Fire" at the Vail International Dance Festival. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Several PNB dancers are still in the house for either International Evenings of Dance or Tuesday’s $20.10 program, which will feature a range of dances from Black Swan Pas de Deux to Balanchine’s Who Cares? PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal has remained in Vail with his six dancers who will perform this week; this morning he taught company class on stage, which was joined by several of the dancers who have already arrived to prepare for the gala, including American Ballet Theatre Soloist Daniil Simkin. PNB had a fantastic residency; I loved watching Damian coach PNB Principal Lucien Postlewaite as Riff in ‘Cool’ from West Side Story Suite and I could watch millions of interpretations of Tharp’s ‘That’s Life’ section from Nina Sinatra Songs. Corps dancer Carli Samuelson’s fuschia tulle dress in “Forget Domani” was gorgeous and I’ve been listening to “One for my Baby (and One More for the Road)” on repeat for the past two days. I’m beginning to think that all ballet should be seen only in the mountains.
Damian Woetzel coaches Lucien Postlewaite of Pacific Northwest Ballet in "Cool" from West Side Story Suite. Choreography by Jerome Robbins. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Check back for a video montage of PNB in class and in rehearsal.
Olivier Wevers and Carla Körbes of Pacific Northwest Ballet rehearse Duo Concertant during the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival. Choreography by George Balanchine. © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo by Caitlin Kakigi.
Lastly, School of American Ballet (SAB) Faculty Member Suki Schorer arrived on Sunday and taught two morning master classes for dancers in the Vail area. Suki was my teacher at SAB for five years and I never in a million years could have believed that I would take her class once more.The dancers loved Suki’s Mr. B anecdotes- i.e. the $10 note in between a dancer’s thighs to ensure that the fifth position stayed nice and compact back in the days when a $10 bill actually amounted to something - and now there’s word Suki might teach company class this week. She’s also been dancing the tango - in New York and in Buenos Aires - for over a decade and will be joining Natalia and Gabriel at the Up Close: Tango rehearsal this Saturday.
Oh yes- Wendy Whelan, officially landed and checked-in. So looking forward to seeing her in After the Rain again…
That’s all for now, check back soon! Remember to check the Vail Valley Foundation YouTube Channel/Vail Internation Dance Festival Playlist for lots more performance footage, as well as the Flickr channel for photos from the resident photographers, Caitlin Kakigi and Erin Baiano.
Erica
So You Think You Can Dance!
Hey Wingers!!
I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post in such a long time. With a tv show, there are a lot of things we’re not allowed to do, and any sort of interactions on the internet are one of them! But now that I’m off the show, I can somewhat resume to a normal daily life.
Just thought I would update you all on what has happened since I last posted! SO - I auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance again (season 7) and after a long and grueling process, I made it to the top 10! (Top 11 this year). I had such an amazing journey on the show and I learned SO much and I am so grateful for everything. I spent 5 weeks on the show, and during that 5 weeks I had the most life changing experience. I know it sounds crazy that something can really drastically change your life in 5 weeks, but this definitely does! With the crazy schedule, how much we learn and the amazing people that you get to work with AND live with, it just completely betters you as a person.
I’ll update everyone later on my specific experience through the whole process but I just wanted to check in first and let everyone know how I am doing. On my 5th week, I suffered an injury the night before show day during a rehearsal of my Bollywood piece on stage. I completely snapped my right Achilles tendon in half, and that has forced me to withdraw from the competition.
I’m just waiting here in LA for my surgery tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 13th) and hoping that it all goes well so I can start my long journey to recovery!
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey and that I am so grateful for even being here in the first place.
If you’d like to follow me closely I will be keeping my facebook page and my twitter page constantly updated. You can follow me on twitter here:
http://www.twitter.com/alexdwong
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/alexwongdance
Here is the Sonya Tayeh contemporary piece that I danced with Allison Holker:
And here is the Tabitha & Napoleon Hip Hop piece that I danced with Twitch! :
Enjoy!
Counting My Blessings!
During Sunday’s matinee performance, I celebrated my 200th performance in the 1st National Touring Company of Wicked!
My 200th Anniversary Cake! (Red Velvet...my favorite!)
“What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it - would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.”
-Ralph Marston
People often wonder why I keep count of how many performances of Wicked I’ve completed. The reason why I count is because performing in Wicked was a dream of mine that I never in a million years actually knew if it was going to come true or what that experience would be like. When I was in college, auditioning for Wicked so many times a year, I constantly prayed that I would have the opportunity to even just perform in the show once and even that would be enough memories to last me a lifetime. So when I go into work, some times having to deal with various challenges and obstacles, I continue to count my blessings and each performance that I’ve been given to perform in the show of my dreams. Doing this helps keep me grounded and thankful for each day, each performance, each person I experience in the land of Oz. I realize that the universe didn’t have to give me this opportunity at all… but it has. I’ve been very blessed to have been able to perform the show many times and have a wide range of memories and challenges that I’ve been able to experience. I am, and shall continue to be, forever greatful for this opportunity to be able to share my passion and this amazing story of Oz with audiences across the country.
So, in true Broadway fashion, I celebrated with a cake! I treated myself to a yummy cake and lit candles after the performance to sit back and bask in having completed 200 performances!
McQueen as the Ribbon Dancer in the Emerald City
The Importance of Ballet Training
Jeremy McQueen
Someone recently asked me what I felt was the single most important key to having a successful career as a dancer, especially transitioning back and forth between concert dance and theater. Often young dancers feel pressured to focus on one very specific career path. Whenever I teach on the road, I always stress the importance of ballet training and technique. At a very young age, my dance teachers instilled in me the importance of having a strong ballet foundation. At the time when I started training in both theater and dance, I had no idea which direction I would gravitate towards, as I got older. I actually had my first interaction with the arts training in music before I started dance or theater. Performing in general was always something that I loved. Just being on stage and having an audience to perform for, whether it may be theater, concert dance or music recitals, I was a ‘ham’ and loved being in the limelight.
My dance teachers taught me early on that in order to have a strong foundation in any career, ballet training would help me. Not necessarily because I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but they felt that ballet would give me the discipline, focus and structure I needed in order to take those training experiences and apply them to my day-to-day life as a young adult/professional. From the moment you step at the barre there is a sense of structure and etiquette, which provides the foundation for everything you do. You’re taught at a very young age a sense of professionalism and discipline. You learn that it’s disrespectful to look at the clock to check the time while the teacher is teaching. You also learn that it’s rude to put your elbows on or hang on the barre, as it shows that you are disinterested or have an unwillingness to do what the teacher is teaching. Even the simplest things of how you are never supposed to turn away from the barre when you switch sides, you always turn towards the barre help create a strong sense of discipline. The littlest things about ballet helped me have focus on the task that I was doing and making sure that my brain was connected on what my body should be trying to execute.
Ballet also set the foundation for my strong technical ability. With strong ballet technique, it is easier to transition between all of the dance styles, thus making yourself highly marketable as a performer. In an economy when times are slow and in such a competitive industry it’s better to be in a position to have versatility and a wider range of abilities to find work.
In concert dance you don’t have to sing, but you are still telling a story with your body and your technical ability. Acting training is vital in both fields as well. However, singing comes more into play in theater. I’ve seen many dancers attempt to transition back and forth through theater and concert dance but a lot of times its the lack of vocal training that inhibits their ability to work in theater. In theater you really have to be able to sing, dance and act well if you want to have a career that flourishes. We call this the “triple threat” complex. In dance you only need to be able to do two of the three. And at that, acting for dance is a little different, as you don’t have to speak with your voice. If you are a young dancer that wants to have options I say take lots of ballet and vocal lessons. Eventually supplement your training with acting classes and technique classes in other disciplines like jazz, modern, hip hop, etc and you will see how quickly you can flourish having been in a situation where you have slowly built upon your foundation. Both fields of the arts require a strong interest, perseverance and patience. I encourage all of the students I teach to be fully invested in learning as much as they can about the fields of study that they are interested. Learn the ins and outs of both businesses early and you’ll find ways to be able to fluctuate between both. Have patience and go see all different kinds of performance. Get to know what shows and choreographers work you like. Take master classes, and occasionally in other disciplines to help keep you well rounded and you will find that strong ballet technique and discipline will just help your career flourish.
-Jeremy McQueen
Catching Up!
Hi Wingers!
Yikes - it’s been *how long* since I posted on here? Months? That’s insane…and what an insane time it has been! (I haven’t been blogging much even on my own blog, but I’ve been busy on Twitter at least…)
I figure it’s finally time for an update. I’ve had lots of performances the past few months and there are a few exciting things in the works right now…but here’s a quick rundown of all I’ve been up to!
For starters, I did the Radio City Christmas Spectacular once again, and year 2 was even better than year 1! We had a really fun cast this year…lots of laughs offstage and on.
(my friend and I after opening night)
(the infamous ballerina bears without heads 
)
(being silly in the wings)
(gold cast ensemble at our closing night party)
After 100+ shows I thought things would slow down come January but…I was wrong! Right away I started rehearsals for a showcase at The Ailey Extension that I help direct, and in late January I performed in a benefit for the Haiti earthquake tragedy. I loved dancing for a cause, and I got to perform one of my favorite variations: Kitri Act III from Don Q
(my teacher and I before the benefit performance…sadly I didn’t get many good pictures of this one…camera was dead, haha)
Next up was some work with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, including a fun fashion show and then her spring season performances in April.
(Rebecca Kelly’s piece, “Travelers” photo by Adrian Buckmaster)
Somewhere in between there I branched away from ballet and worked with a small jazz company called Push Factor Dance Company. It was definitely a step out of my comfort zone and a challenge to my aching body, but it was fun! We performed the new piece “Women’s Strength” at the beginning of April.
(Push Factor Dance Company)
I’ve also started working with a little company called Exit 12 Dance Company, and last month we performed excerpts from “La Bayadere” out in Connecticut. This one was nice because it got me out of the city for a bit…I’ve been dying to travel and even though it was just…Connecticut…at least it was something, haha. I also did “Tea with a Ballerina” with two little girls who won a raffle, and it was so sweet! I love talking to mini ballerinas and seeing their excitement. It reminds me so much of myself when I was little…how magical tutus and pointe shoes were…then…haha
This past weekend I danced excerpts of “Swan Lake” and ”Sleeping Beauty” with New American Youth Ballet - and that was an experience mostly because we had live orchestra. Unless you’re at ABT or NYCB, live music at performances nowadays in this city is rare. We had a very limited rehearsal period, but the two days we rehearsed in the studio with the musicians were amazing. To be so close to such gorgeous music…I was almost in tears when they began to play the overture to “Swan Lake.” It’s different even dancing onstage with orchestra than dancing in rehearsal literally feet away from them. How beautiful to watch the strings…you definitely hear more nuance in familiar music by watching…
Anyway that’s the quick rundown…I have a few more projects coming up and in the works…I just found out I’ll be dancing in the Latin Choreographers Festival with Exit 12 in July, and we have another showcase at Ailey coming in August…and more TBA
Hope everyone has a lovely summer!
24: A Year of New Beginnings
Hi readers! Please forgive me for not posting as frequently has I had promised. I have been very busy out here on the road but am determined to do more blogging!
I’ve recently celebrated my birthday! Two weeks ago I turned 24 years ‘mature’, as I like to say. Birthdays and New Years Eve are two very sentimental days for me, filled with lots of reflection, prayer of thanksgiving for life and all of its obstacles, moments to rejoice and blessings while also praying with thanksgiving for the future. I had the wonderful opportunity of being able to celebrate my “Year of New Beginnings” (as I’ve been calling this year as a 24 year old) with close friends in New York City in-between tour stops. Thinking about all of the wonderful and also challenging obstacles I’ve had to overcome in the past year, I can’t help but think of where I was just one year prior. On my 23rd Birthday I was still having issues overcoming an ankle injury I had sustained earlier that year, was unemployed and broke. Emotionally, I was in a rough place, especially because on that very day, only one year prior (my 22nd Birthday), I had just graduated from college and was headed to start my professional life, performing in Susan Stroman’s Contact with North Shore Musical Theater in MA. At the time, it was hard to reflect on how different the two Birthdays had been experienced.
McQueen as a child
Within my first year out of college I had basically jumped from job to job, back to back. I was truly living the life as what we call in theater, a Gypsy! I performed in Contact, took a mini vacation at home in California and went straight into working with a ballet company in Texas as a guest artist. While finishing up my job in Texas, I found out I was offered another job traveling to Germany dancing for Panasonic Electronics, which started literally weeks after the Texas gig. Then, while in rehearsals for the job I was just about to do in Germany, the day before I departed for Germany, I received a phone call informing me that I had been hired to dance on tour with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Rehearsals began literally weeks after I returned from Germany. It doesn’t end there! Once I was back from the Christmas season on tour, I went to one audition and booked it! In about a month of my returning from being on tour I was back out on the road again performing in a regional production of Disney’s High School Musical. Looking at it on paper, I worked consistently for 10 months with very few breaks. I was thrilled that my hard work and perseverance was paying off but I knew it wouldn’t last always. In any event, I proceeded to “hustle” my way through auditions (as I like to call it) while on short breaks or just before leaving to start the jobs. I was looking everywhere for potential opportunities for work and build my career not only as a performer but also as a choreographer and keep myself busy. I must say, I auditioned like no other to get my face out there, going to as many auditions I could a week, but in the end, I truly felt like things were all falling into place. In a sense, the hard work and lack of rest was paying off. I was “on a roll” so to speak and the more I rolled…the more I kept trying to keep that ball rolling and the harder I pushed and worked, often not getting enough sleep at night.
On my 23rd Birthday I had not been onstage in what felt like forever (which was actually only a couple months) and was itching for something to do. I was having the hardest time getting a job. I would go into tons of auditions and come out feeling great, but none of them resorted in a job offer. I had fully been a part of what I like to call the “Roller Coaster Complex”. This is where you have stints of just doing really well, getting job offers after job offers in a row and always being busy, and then all of the sudden are left anxiously wondering what’s going to happen next and having difficulty even getting a callback. You know that feeling when your stomach drops from beneath you as you are coming down from a roller coaster really fast? The one where you’re left feeling uneasy, apprehensive, scared and vulnerable as if the ride is going to break? This Roller Coaster Complex, which hit me hard on my birthday last year and left me with much anxiety as I felt I was coming down the hill really fast. I knew in my heart that I just needed to remain faithful and focused that my situation wouldn’t be like the way it was, forever. I was off to a bumpy start of my 23rd year of life but I knew that I had to just continue keeping myself disciplined and continue “hustling” at auditions and the right opportunities that were meant for me would at some point appear. For the first three months of my year as a 23 year-old, I had a lot of time to really think and reflect on life and what it meant to me and what I hoped to obtain out of it. Through this unemployment slump, I was able to really reflect on my mission in life and focused a lot of my attention on volunteer work and giving back. In my heart, as much as I didn’t want to accept it at the time, I knew this was a time in my life that I knew I needed to have to a one-on-one conversation with myself about my life and my goals. Not to mention, I really needed the rest and time to rejuvenate my spirit. Through this period of reflection, I was able to discover whom Jeremy McQueen is and how he wants to leave his mark on the world.
McQueen (second from right) as a Flying Monkey in Wicked!
Fast forward to the preset day, only a year later, I cannot believe how much my life has changed. I have had so many wonderful blessings in such a short period of time! I finally got my “Equity” card touring with the 1st National Tour of The Color Purple, performed onstage at Radio City Music Hall, continued to make progress as a choreographer and now I am employed (On my Birthday!), performing in another Broadway national tour in a show that I’ve longed to do for so long, I am forever grateful for all of the challenges and moments of reflection I have had and will continue to have at points in my life. I truly believe that those moments help not only enhance your character but also prepare you for the challenges and blessings that lie ahead.
As I look forward to embracing whatever the universe has in store for me this “Year of New Beginnings” I have promised myself to be more faithful. I’ve devoted myself to really embracing my favorite quote that “Everything happens for a reason”. Even though we may not know how things will transform in our lives, I’ve dedicated myself to be more relaxed this year knowing that what is meant to be for me will be for me, when the timing is right. Until then, I will continue to be diligent in honing my craft and enjoying every little bump, fall, twist, curve, dip and climb that the roller coaster of life has to offer.
