Archive for performances
June 29, 2008 at 8:29 am · Filed under dance, performance, performances, performance art, BENNY, bennyroyce royon, montreal, peformance
Hello guys,
I just wanted to share some photos and the press release of a show I put up last week-and-a-few here in Montreal with Kyra Jean Green, my friend and collaborator who graduated with me from the Juilliard School in 2006. This was my first evening show… ever! The evening was composed of little dances that we both choreographed individually. We linked them all with interesting transitions and made it a cohesive program lasting less than an hour. We received lots of compliments and great comments. We plan to do the show again sometime soon because of the enthusiastic demand for the show to happen again. Both Kyra and I were very happy and thankful for all who made the show possible. The dancers, volunteers, and the audience. Merci!
“Seamless” choreography Bennyroyce Royon, dancer Roxane Duchesne-Roy, photography Franco Nieto
“Seamless” choreography Bennyroyce Royon, dancer Roxane Duchesne-Roy, photography Franco Nieto
(Kyra, Kyle, Roxane, Franco, Benny)
(Kyra Jean Green and the cushion seats.)
We performed at a studio loft for the first night and ran into the problem of figuring out how to seat the audience. So Kyra decided that we should buy blow up mini-inner-tubes and have the audience use them as seat cushions. The audience loved it! They particularly loved the blown up dolphin and Dalmatian dog. It was a really fun evening!
PRESS RELEASE
—-
Kyra Jean Green and Bennyroyce Royon present MUSIC DANCE FUN WOW !, an exciting collaborative dance show between two talented choreographers. Both graduated from the Juilliard School and currently dance with Cas Public. The event will be presented on Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 9PM at STUDIO SPACE and on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 9PM at THE POUND. They have enlisted a stunning group of Montréal-based dancers. The program, which is a little less than an hour, includes several new works by both choreographers. Musical selections include music by Dani Siciliano, Cocoa Rosie, Archive, Venetian Snares, Ellen Alien, Autechre, and Animal Collective. Ms. Green’s talents have been praised by The Washington Times stating that “CityDance Ensemble is impressive. [One of] its greatest strength[s] is new dancer Kyra Jean Green…” She has also been acclaimed by Lisa Traiger a member of the Dance Critics Association, Carmel Morgan of “Ballet Dance Magazine, and by DC dance blogger Amanda Abrams who expressed that “Kyra Jean Green was terrific… clean movements, beautiful and a compelling presence.” Likewise, Mr. Royon’s dance and choreographic talents have been applauded by the Boston Globe, the Berkshire Eagle, and by Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times who expressed that Mr. Royon’s “keenly focused, succinct way with movement” was a pleasure to watch. Kyra Jean Green was born in France and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. She received her B.F.A. in dance from Juilliard in May 2006. Upon leaving Juilliard she danced and choreographed for City Dance Ensemble of Washington, D.C. Ms. Green was one of three winners selected from a pool of 114 applicants to participate in a one-week residency to create an original work for Hubbard Street II. She has also choreographed for Bosma Dance of Washington, D.C. and had an evening of her work presented at the Kennedy Center. In September, Ms. Green will be choreographing a new piece for the Michigan based company Eisenhower Dance Ensemble. Mr. Royon was born in the Philippines. He started professional dance training at age 16 with the Evergreen City Ballet Academy and received his BFA degree at the Juilliard School in 2006. Mr. Royon joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet for its 2006/2007 season where he performed in the new production of Madama Butterfly, choreographed by Carolyn Choa and directed by Anthony Minghella. He also appeared in other MET Opera productions. In summer of 2007, he joined Rasta Thomas’ new all male company “Bad Boys of Dance” with a debut performance at Jacob’s Pillow as part of its 75th anniversary season. Mr. Royon’s choreographic works have been presented in Montréal, Maryland, Seattle, New York City, and at Jacob’s Pillow in Beckett, Massachussetts.
(Happy to tell friends about the successful evening!)
Recent Posts by bennyroyce royon
May 15, 2008 at 6:44 pm · Filed under dance, MEGAN, performances, contemporary dance
Hello!
So, the last time I wrote, I mentioned a performance I was getting ready for, but didn’t actually say much about what we were doing. That was because I didn’t know! When my friend called to see if I’d be interested in a “dance theater” piece that was about sleep and dreams and possibly involved screaming, I thought: well, that seems a bit weird, but it could be fun. There are three of us who are only in the one piece, so it wasn’t until our first performance that we actually grasped what the whole evening is about, whether it would be good or bizarre or awkward.
So… it’s really good. If you’re in SF and have time this weekend or next, head to CELLspace (this weekend) or Yerba Buena (next) and check out Dandelion Dancetheater.
Dandelion is hosting three weeks of physically integrated dance, joined by several artists from Madrid, Montreal, and the (completely awesome) local company, AXIS. The programs are different each weekend, so I’ll only talk about the program I’m in, but I’m sure the Yerba Buena shows will be equally fantastic.
The piece I’m in is called DORS. It’s an excerpt from a longer work by Jacques Poulin-Denis. Here’s a picture of Jacques:
Hm. He looks a bit stern there, but he’s very nice, very funny, and a very, very good dancer. The piece begins with Jacques standing in the dark, holding a small light, and talking about a dream. Quiet disturbances break out and escalate until people are leaping out of the audience, yelling and running through the space, acting out dreams and nightmares. I’m one of three dancers who float across the space like detached sleepwalkers (we improvise with our eyes closed—very exciting when you feel someone race past you at high speed).
Dandelion does this fantastic piece called oust. What blows my mind is how many talents everyone has. People sing and dance and play instruments and speak. It’s like watching some bizarre, slightly cracked, circus that lures you in with a strange spectacle and then suddenly starts talking about all the things that make you uncomfortable.
photo: Hiroki Saito
And a fabulous picture of Eric Kupers, who choreographed the piece (and plays a drum in it…):
photo: Luiza Silva
Nadia Adame does this wonderful duet in a chair in oust. She also dances in and choreographed a piece for her own company called 9 dias y 20 horas a la deriva.
photo: Paloma Parra
My favorite piece though, the one I’m really excited to talk about and really, really want everyone to see, is Les Angles Morts. It’s a duet for Jacques and Melanie Demers. I’m not even sure how to describe it, except to say that it made me cry. It says something to you, but without being literal, without pointing out or explaining. It goes from the eye straight through to a place that recognizes it as both familiar and strange. Melanie and Jacques are both so extraordinary, so committed and honest in their movement, that they shook me all over. Melanie does this solo that ends with her walking backwards with a paper bag over her head, gesturing with her arms, and you are hypnotized by every small move that she makes because they are all so carefully considered… Such wonderfulness!
So, if you’re in SF, come see our show. Or keep a lookout for Dandelion, Melanie, Jacques, and Nadia, and if you get the chance, go see them!
Recent Posts by megan kurashige
May 1, 2008 at 7:02 am · Filed under dance, MEGAN, san francisco ballet, performances
Hello all!
Just back from seeing program C of San Francisco Ballet’s New Works Festival. As you can see in my (rather hopeless… my camera and I haven’t yet come to a friendly understanding about nighttime pictures) photos, the opera house is all decked out for the occasion. In celebration of the company’s 75th anniversary, SFB is presenting ten NEW ballets in two weeks. Exciting! Program C has three pieces: “Thread” by Margaret Jenkins, “Ibsen’s House” by Val Caniparoli, and “Double Evil” by Jorma Elo. (If you go to SFB’s website, there are all sorts of interesting goodies: videos, podcasts, interviews, etc.)
There was a surfeit of great dancing in all three pieces, but I had the strangest reaction to the last piece (“Double Evil”). I’m absolutely perplexed by it; I honestly don’t know what I think of it. Watching it made me feel like two separate parts of my brain were colliding. The closest thing I can come up with for a description of the movement is a classical, but abstract ballet given to amazing dancers who also happen to be interesting improvisers. They’re told to go wild with it, to take movements to their logical, but extreme and quirky conclusions, to follow whatever whims and ideas they might have. It’s a ballet fractured apart and pulled inside out, and, for some reason, it really confused me. I enjoyed it, there was so much bright energy and technique flooding the stage; but my brain is pinwheeling over it. I think this might be a good thing. Also, for the first time, realized what weird architecture tutus have. They halve the body onto two separate planes so you consider legs as one thing and upper body as another. Weird.
I think that’s what I like best about seeing new work. Any new piece might make you look at something and consider it from an entirely different angle. Always exciting! Plus, everything is shiny and new.
Now to bed. Good night!
Recent Posts by megan kurashige
April 28, 2008 at 5:26 pm · Filed under dance, writing, reviews, performances, TAYLOR, dance criticism
(Cedar Lake’s “Glassy Essence” - Since my camera wasn’t working I borrowed one of Matt’s photos already posted on the Winger here.)
Over the past week I have been at the theater every single night – not performing, but watching, and writing.
With my second career (dance being the first…ideally…) starting to blossom, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of dance writing lately, both for print and for the web, and both features and criticism. I’ve been lucky enough to see a LOT of great performances with my pen at hand recently, where before I would never have even considered looking for entertainment. Most of my life I was trained to believe that ballet was the only option, the ideal option, in the dance world. But now that I’ve joined the New York City dance scene from a position besides “student” – now being professional and a writer – I’ve had my eyes open to a slew of other opportunities just as exciting as pure ballet.
Here’s just a sampling of some of the works I’ve been to over the past week…I go through spurts of time where I hardly make it out of the studio or away from my laptop to see anything, and then I have periods where I can’t get my hands on enough tickets to the theater…like now!
There are so many performances I could include here…Ballet Tech,The Kirov, Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Yasuko Yokoshi, and more…but here are a few in detail…
*Cedar Lake’s Glassy Essence was very cool. I missed the Blogger Preview fellow Winger Matt and others posted about, but got to see it last weekend. You can see other blogger reviews here from Matt, Evan, Philip, and Tonya. And the Times review here.
An excerpt from MY review on ExploreDance.com:
As the dances come out and step off the dance floor into the crowd it’s like they purge from a magic mirror. Suddenly an idolized image becomes real. The dancer is a person, not a fixture on an untouchable stage. And yet they remain in their own reflective world, refusing to make eye contact but sifting through the audience with high sensitivity. The audience revokes as if the dancers’ auras cast them aside…
(Petronio’s “Beauty and the Brut” photo by Chris Woltmann)
*Stephen Petronio’s Company at the Joyce a few weeks ago was also great, in a different way.
My review excerpt (full review here):
His style changes throughout the evening, keeping the eye intrigued. A common theme is his juxtaposition of movement versus stillness, where a single dancer holds a pose as if anchoring down the nearby storm of legs and arms. His dancers often cringe and repulse as if a weighted marble were traveling through their bodies. It falls out of nowhere, slips through the path of their veins, gains momentum, and rolls out a fingernail or toe for eternity.
(Take’s “Looking for Water” photo by Phil Echo)
*I also went to a blogger preview of Take Dance, a company founded by former Paul Taylor dancer Takehiro Ueyama. Their performances will be at the Miller Theater at Columbia University May 15-17 at 8pm. He also has a piece in The New School’s spring performance at Ailey next weekend.
It was such a nice morning. Take’s choreography is very free and released, with lots of swinging and throwing of the body. All the dancers looked like they were enjoying themselves so much. It seemed so natural for them, almost to the point that they were so comfortable it seemed they good be improvising just from their own internal impulses of movement. I wanted to get up and move! Everyone was extremely gracious, and we even got pieces of bamboo symbolizing good luck as a departing gift.
It was interesting to see the process as well, as they worked through lifts and tough spots in between running the pieces. Being that close to the dancers was cool too, because you could share their energy entirely, feeling the landing of their jumps through the floor of the Duke studios.
With the obsession of our culture with behind the scenes action (“the making of…” special features on DVD’s, outtakes, blogs, etc) it seems so right that dance companies reach out like this and expose their process. Through open rehearsals like Take’s or online outreach like Cedar Lake’s glassyessence.com, the creative internal processes of the dance world are starting to spread. Isn’t it what happens behind the curtain what makes life interesting for us artists?
Writing about dance has given me new ways of accessing performances and thinking about these issues surrounding dance. Does anyone else find it easier to understand abstract movement when translating to words? I’d be interested to hear about other people’s opinions and experiences at these and other performances!
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
April 21, 2008 at 1:24 am · Filed under dance, performances, process, TAYLOR
As I’ve mentioned before, recently I’ve been dancing as an apprentice/understudy with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, a small contemporary company here in NYC. Their performances are this weekend at the Gerald Lynch Theater at John Jay College, so if you’re in the city try to swing by and see them! I’m not performing, but it’s sure to be a great program.
I wrote a full preview article for ExploreDance.com that should be up soon, but here’s a taste of what to expect from the thematic ballets…
(Therese Wendler in “Adirondack Elemental”)
“I always have much to say about what is on my mind that generates the energy for creation,” says choreographer Rebecca Kelly, whose 27-year old contemporary ballet company will present its theme driven spring performances April 24-26. “But my words are usually directed to the dancers to encourage them to go deep to understand the motivation behind the piece, to find something that rings true to them, or to find what they have to bring to the idea.” Rebecca Kelly Ballet distinguishes itself with a force of culturally significant issues behind the dancing. “Or just to help them be courageous,” she adds, “because it takes great courage to be a dancer.”
This courage is explored in the first ballet on the program, the premiere of “Writing in Water.” A metaphor for the ephemeral nature of dance, the work features 5 dancers intertwining in various combinations and phrases to music from Beethoven’s “Grosse Fugue.” The concept motivating the piece is that a performance is a moment in time you can never get back. Like trying to write in water, it is fleeting, transient, and gone almost quicker than it came. That feeling when you surface into the spotlight, out of the shadows of the darkness drowning you and into a state where no thought occurs but being alive – it can never be felt the same again. And if someone missed seeing you dance, that moment can never be returned. You are back in the endless stream of dancers in New York City wading desperately through to reach your dreams, resisting the tide of failure and rarely coming up for air.
This is the piece I have been understudying, and from my (admittedly biased) point of view it is amazing. The process was fascinating to be a part of, observing the development of relationships amongst the dancers onstage and their reactions to space and movement within context. If you’re a dancer you’d definitely be able to appreciate its message.
(”Long Time Passing” photo by Adrian Buckmaster)
Passionate about issues outside the world of dance, Rebecca will also present a heart rending work relating to the Iraq War, called “Long Time Passing.” Exhibiting particular cultural and emotional depth today, it is based on a series of letters received from Iraq from First Lieutenant Nolan Albarelli, brother of company dancer Kate Albarelli. “It was his words and his eyes, his bravery and despair, and his humanity that he was able to share with me that caused this dance to come into being,” says Rebecca, “back here, safely in the U.S.”
(”Tear of the Clouds” photo by Todd Bissonette)
The ideas behind her choreography are what she stresses most, and it is quite obvious from her extensive repertoire that environmental concerns are also at the top of her agenda. Timed for the celebration of Earth Week, the season’s program includes two ballets reflecting earthly themes. “Adirondack Elemental” is a ballet in three sections: Water, Earth (see excerpt here), and Air. Together the segments, through meaningful movement, bring awareness to nature’s beauty. “Tear of the Clouds,” her first environmental ballet choreographed in 1989 returns to complete the 2008 program, depicting the slow death of a forest from acid rain.
The program is ambitious in its tackling of such a range of hot topics, but Rebecca’s enthusiasm and the great dancers should make for an evening of deep thought within dance, an effective medium for expression of such important themes.
I’ve learned so much from understudying and working with them, and I’m looking forward to seeing the final result of all the work in rehearsals this weekend.
The details: The Gerald Lynch Theater of John Jay College (899 10th Avenue at 58th St, NYC.) April 24-26 Thursday at 7:30pm, & Friday and Saturday, at 8pm. For tickets call Ticket Central: 212-279-4200. (416 W 42nd St., 12-8pm) or click here. Student and Senior discounts are available, and student rush tickets - so take the time to go!
More Winger updates from my crazy life coming soon…
For now you can see some recent reviews I’ve written for ExploreDance here (Ballet Tech’s Mandance) and here (Stephen Petronio).
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
November 30, 2007 at 7:43 pm · Filed under ballet, dance, press, Nutcracker, VERONICA, the STUDIO, performances
Just want to share with all of you our feature in the South Magazine’s Dec/Jan issue. You have to buy the magazine to get the whole article, but here is their teaser.
Swingin’ at Club Sweets
By Lindsey Eibergen
Dec/Jan 2007-2008
Slicing yourself a piece of cake for a show that promises to be both the bee’s knees and the cat’s meow? If you’re a little lost in the lingo then brace yourself for a new twist on a time-tested holiday classic. The Studio, Savannah’s premier dance school, presents “Swinging at Club Sweets” an inventive flapper-era rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite.”
Studio director and lead choreographer Veronica Moretti Niebuhr explains her inspiration for the festive parody. “When I opened the school I wanted to do a December performance, and I noticed that there were about 5 or 6 Nutcrackers playing around town,” she says. “I just thought we needed something fresh that hadn’t been done before. I also wanted to showcase the incredible local talents that we have here in Savannah.”
Recent Posts by veronica moretti niebuhr
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