Archive for festival
June 20, 2008 at 6:54 pm · Filed under ballet, dance, kennedy center, pacific northwest ballet, life, festival, NOE
My last few weeks at PNB were exciting and emotional, as expected. What’s so incredible about the past season is the rep that the dancers acquired, and the people that came along with it. I’ve never had a season so demanding and fulfilling. To end the 2007-2008 season we had a gala performance called 8 Encores. It’s quite a ride to put together an evening full of works from the past season, but what a great way to celebrate works new to PNB, and its dancers. Heck, what a great way to celebrate the dancers! Anyhow, it was nice for me to be able to look back and see har far we’ve come.
PNB dancers in rehearsal for Ulysses Dove’s Vespers.
In my very last week of work I was fortunate enough to perform at the Kennedy Center, and be a part of “Ballet Across America”. I realized during class the first day that my journey with PNB had come full circle. The very room where I had my last class with Peter Boal in the Kennedy Center, was the very same room where I did my first audition for PNB, when I was 13. I began and ended my journey with PNB in that studio. Strange!! The wrting was literally on the wall in the studio!
Septime Webre, Director of Washington Ballet taught our last class. Pictured are dancers from Kansas City Ballet, Washington Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Another season has come and gone at Pacific Northwest Ballet. What’s hard to believe is that I won’t be returning. It’s difficult to speak openly about my new venture in Monte-Carlo, because I find that people don’t quite understand what’s really going on, or they question my move. Most think something went wrong, be it my marriage or work at PNB. That’s not the case at all, and I guess I should just set the record straight. To put it simply, I want to try something new, and I have been fortunate enough to find new inspiration. I think there is a time in every person’s life where you have to make bold moves. I truly believe that you can’t get anywhere unless risks are taken. It was Mark Twain who said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” That said, I do still want to reflect on my years at PNB. I think what stands out the most in my mind is the sense of belonging and community that I had at PNB. Great things happen with team work and support. And quite honestly, one can’t do it alone. There was always a wonderful, collective energy from my colleagues. The picture below is one of the many group shots taken in one of my last weeks of work at PNB. Although it’s a scan of the photo, Angela Sterling should be credited for capturing a moment that we’ll never get back. Thank you Angela, and of course, thank you PNB.
Recent Posts by noelani pantastico
June 14, 2008 at 8:10 pm · Filed under dance, video, festival, DEBORAH, israel, video dance
After seeing probably 50+ dances in the last week (I’m serious - besides the Machol Bamidbar extravaganza in the desert, I went to several end-of-year school performances and concerts back in the Tel Aviv area), I couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open this weekend to see anything else. It’s too bad that I’m on dance overload, since the 3rd annual International VideoDance Festival had three days of programming at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Ah well . . . next year, I suppose!
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
June 10, 2008 at 10:59 pm · Filed under dance, choreographer, festival, DEBORAH, israel, Adama, choreographers society
After catching one of two buses chartered from Tel Aviv at 7 a.m. on Friday morning, we were met with this sign welcoming us to the Machol Bamidbar festival.
I think I have a sense of what heaven (or at least dance heaven) looks like.
From Friday through Sunday, I joined a few hundred wonderful people for Machol Bamidbar (Dance in the Desert) at Adama’s incredible space in Mizpe Ramon. Coordinated by the Amuta (Choreographers Society), the festival brought together many of Israel’s independent choreographers who work outside of the long-established troupes like Batsheva and the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. Over 3 days, these choreographers presented 17 concerts featuring over 40 dances and improvisational works. The festival was also filled with more than 50 classes ranging from contemporary technique, improvisation, and repertory to Afro-Cuban dance, Gaga, flamenco, aerial dance, acrobalance, tai chi, yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais, juggling, and special children’s classes. After the last performance of each evening, open dance jams stretched late into the night. It was definitely a weekend to remember!
Here’s a taste of what the festival looked like:
To camping! Signs were everywhere at Adama, directing attendees to studios, sleeping spaces, and makeshift cafes.
While some people came only for a day or returned to their homes each night, many people stayed at Adama for the entire festival. Some people brought their own tents and set up outside, while others slept in sleeping bags on mattresses spread out inside Adama’s hangar. It felt like an instant village!
Relaxing from the desert heat and sun. In between workshops and performances, we lounged here and ate yummy vegetarian fare. People caught up with old friends and made new ones.
Along with Adama’s usual arty decor, a dance photography exhibit lined the building’s hallways.
Dancers in one of many workshops. I myself took several classes: Liat Dror’s morning class; repertory classes with choreographers Niv Sheinfeld and Sahar Azimi; and a rep class with material by Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal, taught by dancer extraordinaire Ran Ben-Dror. Since there were 7 classes in each workshop slot, it was often hard to choose which one to attend - they all looked great!
Dancers gather around at the start of a workshop in aerial dance.
Aerial dance students in action!
A crowd starts to gather before one of many performances. Besides the main stage, a more intimate space in the hangar next door hosted additional performances (again making it hard to choose . . .), and there were also showings of video dance. Before each concert, a pair of acrobats raced through the hangar, playfully announcing what would be happening in each concert space.
Dancing with a visiting troupe of drummers and dancers from Africa on Saturday night. One of the dancers was celebrating a birthday, and the company and crowd surprised her with a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” after their first dance. Besides this group from Ghana, a company of dancers from Japan (KAYM) was invited by Israeli choreographer Nimrod Freed, and they performed on Sunday.
It does seem like a taste of heaven, doesn’t it?
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
October 9, 2007 at 5:05 am · Filed under dance, SUSAN, abt, performances, california, festival, american ballet theatre, so you think you can dance
Performance Artist Mia Kio(?)
The annual Laguna Dance Festival returned to Laguna Beach this past weekend for the third year in a row. Just as in years past, I joined the motley crew of varied casts and characters in my usual capacity, helping out where help was–or, as was more often the case, hands were–needed.
The festival is proving itself to be an increasingly successful endeavour organized and presented by caDance, the brainchild of Artistic Director Jodie Gates. (Apologies to all who find me to be at all presumptuous for my last statement; I feel somehow qualified to judge because I’ve been involved (in the periphery, at least) since the first Festival two years ago.) Every year, the process becomes smoother and more streamlined. And, every year, the guest artists and dancers seem to create groups that are more and more diverse not only in origin, but also in choreography and dancing.
This year, I found myself in the audience during two performances. The first was the Gala Performance, which opened with surprise guests Heidi Groskreutz and Benji Schwimmer (both of So You Think You Can Dance fame). As can only be expected by what we saw of them on television, their performance turned out to be a flashy compilation of what must have been every single one of the partnering tricks featured on the show in the past two years. (Yes, Heidi grabbed her ankles and slid down Benji’s body, donut-style, just as Sabra did down Neil’s.)
Without intending to be at all mean, I am going to be a harsh critic: Except for one or two exceptionally inspiring pieces in the program, the Gala Performance was, for me, thoroughly disappointing. My heart nearly stopped (with sorry sorrow) multiple times during the program. (At times, I found myself willing it not to beat ever again, so that it might have to bear the torment that was most of that night’s performance.) Did I imagine it? Or did Stella Abrera–one of my favourite dancers–forget Odile’s choreography during her White Swan pas with husband Sascha Radetsky? Why on earth would Yuka Iino choose to perform a pas de deux from Stowell’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” without tights to cover her legs (which, like everyone’s tend to do, would undoubtedly become splotchy from exercise)? Why could not the Complexions dancers, with their amazing extensions and exceptional musicality not keep in synch in “Lux,” a piece otherwise rightly a luxurious work of art? And, God bless Gerry Arpino (whose “Light Rain,” when I last saw an excerpt from it, blew my mind out of its usually foggy haze and up above the clouds), but… well, what happened in the pas de deux?
Altea Nunez in Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated”
(courtesy of the Royal Ballet of Flanders)
The night was far from being a complete loss. Sascha and Stella more than redeemed themselves post-White Swan with a phenomenal rendition of Weir’s Jabula. And, simply seeing Desmond Richardson walk onto the stage is always a welcome sight for sore eyes. For me, however, that evening’s true saviours came in the form of the three guests from the Royal Ballet of Flanders: Altea Nunez, Alain Honorez and Wim Vanlessen. Together, they performed first the solo and the pas de deux from Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated.” Mmm… It was phenomenal. The first “real” (I hope that makes sense?) moment of the night.
Following the performance, there was a Gala Reception at Le Club Fantastique (a costumed Laguna Art Museum).
A (guiltily snapped) peek at the star-studded guest list.
The true star of the evening: A drag artist who took control of the catwalk in the various and distinct forms of Linda Eder’s character in “Jekyll & Hyde” and Catherine Zeta-Jones’s charcter in “Chicago.”
(I apologize for the disgraceful quality of these snapshots. My unreliable camera battery gave out on me early in the evening and so I was left to my sole remaining resource: my mobile phone.)
The next day (Sunday) Sascha Radetsky taught a master class at a local space in Laguna Beach. It’s been years since his days as being Charlie of “Center Stage,” but it’s quite obvious that he still holds the title of ballet celebrity/heartthrob in the hearts of the younger ballerinas (and, also, ballerinos?). Certainly I got the nagging feeling that many of the students were far less interested in taking class than they were in taking class from Sascha Radetsky. (I suppose, though, that that’s always part of the mentality in most master classes…?)
Sascha signs autographs for the delighted students.
Another performance followed the class. It’s a good thing I went to this one. (I was so tempted to skip it after the disappointment I had suffered the evening before.) Everything seemed to be just as it should be (and, thankfully, not as they had been on Saturday night). I of course found fault (as I always seem to) with the music being much too loud and off balance for what the speakers could handle, but the dancing was practically perfect in every way; all the glitches that I saw the night before were no longer. And what had been excellent the evening before was only better.
Rubinald Pronk and Sabra Perry of Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
On a side note, the dancers from Flanders joked that “Complexions” could perhaps change their company name to “Extensions,” as it would suit them just as well (if not better?).
Recent Posts by susan kim
September 30, 2007 at 6:54 pm · Filed under dance, modern dance, miki orihara, MIKI, martha graham dance company, festival
After our Joyce Theater Season, I went to see “Fall for Dance”, and Matthew and Kristin already have some entries . Wow they are so up-to-date…
and here I am writing about our end of August tour to the Britt Festival in Oregon. It is a pretty famous self organized Music festival. People bring blankets and folding chairs.
Of course wine and cheese and more, I think.
In this area, I was walking around before the show, and I encountered…
He(?) was very close.
Recent Posts by miki orihara
August 17, 2007 at 2:59 am · Filed under dance, dance event, article, dance and technology, theatre, new york city, critics, festival, TAYLOR
Posted by Taylor Gordon
For the past week I have been assigned to review dance performances at the 11th Annual New York International Fringe Festival for this off-Broadway website called OffOffOnline.com. Not only do I get to attend any number of free shows at my will but I get to voice my opinion and get paid for it! This week has given me a glimpse into the arts critic’s life I aspire to have (I even received my first official “press pass”!) See my published reviews here and here.
(my 1st press pass with the many brochures I received with it)
Being a ballet fanatic, the only performances I’ve been to since coming to the city have been strictly ballet. Of course I’ve been to Broadway shows and even a couple of modern performances, but after seeing the avante-garde kind of performances at the Fringe Festival it is clear how limited my, and perhaps that of much of the ballet world, exposure to the broad realm of dance theater really is.
The shows I’ve seen have been extremely out of the ordinary. One major difference between these and traditional dance performances is the use of multi-media and technology. Of the 3 productions I reviewed, all of them made extensive use of video and 2 used computer generated images. I think this epitomizes what’s coming in dance in the 21st century.
Sometimes, unfortunately, the special effects and loud visuals distract from the actual dancing. No matter how talented they are the dancers can get lost in the flashiness, especially if they are positioned against or beside a film screen in a way that forces the audience to decide to watch only one or the other.
In a world where audiences for dance, especially ballet and modern, are already dwindling it makes sense to attract newer, younger crowds to performances with different media. But since our society is constantly drowning in media it seems a shame to overshadow something as precious as dance.
These kinds of audiences are exactly what the Fringe Festival invites, with $15 tickets and downtown location and atmosphere. The venues (including 19 off- and off-off-Broadway theaters) are small, and the number of attendees even smaller. It was interesting, though, to get a glimpse of the community that appreciates these kinds of performances.
After each of the shows I attended I was surprised to hear fellow viewers discussing the work in depth, as if they were close friends rather than complete strangers as they actually were. People were far more open to opinion than conversations I’ve overheard at other ballet performances. I suppose these pieces leave more to the imagination.
All in all my experiences with the Fringe Festival have been really amusing. I’ve really enjoyed my new exposure to various companies and types of dance (Japanese hiphop, anyone?) and what’s even better is that I’ve been given the opportunity to challenge myself and write about them in a critical format. Just another day in the life of an aspiring dance writer!
(FringeCENTRAL - headquarters of the Fringe Festival downtown)
If you’re located here in the city I strongly encourage you to attend one of these shows - any show! - as part of the NY Fringe Festival! You really haven’t seen anything ‘til you’ve been to the Fringe. It runs through August 26 at various theaters, with its home base at FringeCENTRAL, located in the Village on Carmine Street at Varick. See Fringe website for show times and descriptions. Also see NY Times coverage here.
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
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