| | Posted by Anne Marie

So far so good…

It’s been a long hard week but we’re all having a blast at the Paramount Theatre. The Paramount is the smaller of two venues Ballet Austin regularly performs at — but it’s historic, intimate, and right in the heart of downtown Austin. I think there’s still a hole in the ceiling made by Harry Houdini while performing one of his magic tricks, like I said — historic!

One of the things that’s always fun about being at the Paramount is the smaller dressing room space. I know this doesn’t sound like fun, and luckily it’s only for a week. But generally all the company women are spread out amongst 4 dressing rooms. There are only 10 women in the company, and so when we’re all at the Paramount we cram into one dressing room. It’s crowded, but the energy is amazing and so much fun.

I’m finally going to post a picture that I’m actually in! Here’s Jim Stein & I in Gina Patterson’s “Red Line”…

Photo by: Amitava Sarkar

And here’s a review of our opening night…

Ballet Austin’s ‘Golden’ explosion

By Clare Croft | Friday, February 16, 2007, 08:50 AM

By Clare Croft, special to the American-Statesman

Jane Fonda has nothing on Twyla Tharp. With a sense of early ’80s aerobic energy, Ballet Austin’s dancers exploded in Tharp’s “Golden Section” Thursday, part of the company’s “Director’s Choice” program at the Paramount Theatre.

The cast of 12 found the fullest range of movement in the athletic ballet, a particular feat given that many also danced in the evening’s previous works by artistic director Stephen Mills and company member Gina Patterson.

“Golden Section,” formerly part of Tharp’s evening length “The Catherine Wheel,” suits Ballet Austin’s contemporary flair. The dancers brought extreme liveliness to the electronic score by Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Though the performance hails a benchmark for the entire cast, dancers Michelle Thompson, Aara Krumpe and Christopher Swaim had particular breakthroughs. Thompson and Krumpe pushed through their entire bodies; Tharp seemed to sing from their fingertips. Swaim appeared newly mature, rousing laughter in a hip-wiggling solo. Paul Michael Bloodgood also looked at home in Tharp.

In “Red Line” Patterson deepens her choreographic craft. Dancers begin with high drama lunges and long faces— a bit over the top. Yet, as Michael Nyman’s soundtrack from “The Piano” continues, the melodrama points to its opposite, moments of quiet intimacy. Most refreshing are the couplings of women: two touch softly in a pas de deux and the final passage features another female couple.

Mills brought a lighter note. The bouncy “Five Flights Up” swings to Squirrel Nut Zippers’ music. The piece sets up a vaudevillian flair; the dancers often slink in as though pulled by an unseen cane. But hesitation cedes to desire; this crew can’t help but dance.

Two more to Go!