Children’s Review: Crumb & the Pirates

On a special day at my preschool, at the university, we wore our theater clothes. We went to see dance and every one was my favorite because I liked all of them. The seagulls did the seagull dance, the pirates did the pirate dance, the fog did the fog dance. The noodle did the noodle dance, the fish did the fish dance, the dog did the dog dance. The dog’s name was Max. The seagull dance was the silliest because they did this *shows some sort of wiggly movement while laughing*. Pirates were swinging on ropes and I want to dance like that one day. But, I have to be older.

Zachary Womack is enrolled in the Fine Arts Preschool at the Tanner Dance Program.

LINES at Eccles in PC

It was a cold, rainy evening in Park City, but the Park City Institute’s George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Center was abuzz for the evening’s performance by Alonzo King LINES Ballet. LINES was founded in 1982 by eponymous choreographer Alonzo King and creative director/designer Robert Rosenwasser, and has contributed greatly to the form of contemporary ballet in its Bay Area home, as well as nationally and internationally. In addition to influencing the form through his own choreography, King is also noted for his teaching style and school, whose faculty who imbue critical thinking and freedom to make choices in their approach to ballet as an ever-evolving, relevant art form.

LINES presented three of King’s works on the evening’s program: Concerto for Two Violins (music by Johann Sebastian Bach);Men’s Quintet (music by Edgar Meyers and Pharaoh Sanders); and Biophony (music/soundscape by Bernie Krause and Richard Blackford). All three works exist in the same movement oeuvre: classical balletic forms with modern sensibilities and more turns, balances, twists, and flourishes than would seem humanly possible. King’s dancers, known for being exceptionally long-limbed, execute choreography at breakneck speed and with a coolness that belies the work’s intense physicality. Most notably in Concerto for Two Violins, the dancers radiate the music of Bach from their whirling appendages; an internal focus is common in their approach to choreography, and as each note appears generated by their instrumental bodies, external presentation is almost rendered unnecessary.

All three of the evening’s works are choreographically intricate and each dancer’s virtuoso is individually captivating. But concept appears to have stagnated at LINES: Biophony is King’s latest work and a collaboration with bio-acoustician Dr. Bernie Krause, but it feels less innovative and less interesting than the two older works. Biophony relies heavily on its sound score of animal and nature noises in an attempt to provide a different take on King’s signature style.

To be fair, Biophony’s soundscape does inspire some different, quirkier movement choices, such as a contorted crab walk or twisted, pecking arms. But while the dancers hone in on movements of the animal kingdom convincingly, these choices appear heavy-handed when presented in tandem with a sound score of chirps, squawks, and screeches and as after-thoughts amidst King’s complex choreography. A lecture demonstration on animal habitats comes to mind.

Park City Institute executive director Terri Orr, in her pre-curtain welcoming speech, recalled an anecdote from her conversation with the LINES booking agent. The agent expressed concern (perhaps feigned, but still mentioned) that the company was too “urban” and “edgy” for Utah dance audiences. I am now unsure whether to be insulted as an educated audience member, or concerned about the way the company is being billed to presenters.

LINES’ prominence in the contemporary dance world is indisputable, but in order to be billed as anything close to “urban” or “edgy”, the work presented must be more than digestible contemporary ballet, animalian soundscape or not.

Amy Falls is a choreographer, performer, and the Mudson coordinator for loveDANCEmore. This review, and others by loveDANCEmore are in collaboration with 15 BYTES.

RDT’s Reunion

Repertory Dance Theatre put on a fantastic reunion show this past Thursday April 23 to welcome their 50th Anniversary Season in the coming year. The show opened with an ensemble piece, Bill Evans’ For Betty, which highlighted a regal, vibrant quality with the beautiful tangerine body suits and dresses the dancers rocked fiercely.

Intimate moments of solos and duets charged the space with an intense soundscape spanning jubilant, romantic and tragic emotions. The company’s partnerships were stunningly precise and jubilantly playful.

Schubert Impromptu by Francisco Gella offered a darker scenic design with blue lighting and all black costumes. Aggressive partnering created an electrically intimate sense of belonging amongst the dancers. The movement qualities moved beyond the romantic, into a sense of “lover/savior” companionship.

Brent Schneider’s Alone was a piece that revealed the inner-life of 1 male dancer, dealing with an internal struggle, and how to physicalize a soft-intimate violence onto one’s own body. This piece was the most impactful, for its use of vulnerability and how the dancer offered a glimpse into the world he was conjuring up. It’s keen sense of eye contact and smooth transitions allowed a deeper glimpse into the deep work. It was a cherished reminder of the beautiful interwoven nature that can happen between a choreographer and dancer.

Snack Pack, choreographed by Artistic Director Linda C. Smith, was a playful, ironic and charismatic piece that was performed to an entire Dance Instructional Video soundtrack. A giant ice-cream cone was thrown around and worked into the choreography. The dancers gave veracious versatility in how they attacked the movement, within the realm of preserving a sense of classical modern dance.

RDT values the historical significance of preserving repertory work, while also maintaining a charming, witty attitude that enlivens the work and keeps it relevant. This show was a great example of the beauty in bridging the two worlds of repertory work and contemporary dance together.

Yasin Fairley is an MFA candidate at the University of Utah. He dances and choreographs locally and has performed with several groups including Porridge for Goldilocks and Performing Dance Company.

Classics Shine in Ballet West’s Triple Bill

Ballet West’s annual mixed bill presents the work of neoclassical icon George Balanchine (Square Dance), Ballet West’s resident choreographer Nicolo Fonte (Almost Tango), and contemporary ballet pioneer William Forsythe (In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated). While the evening’s program is titled Almost Tango after Fonte’s newest Utah premiere, the choreography of Balanchine and Forsythe retain a timeless luster that outshines the new, many decades later.

While the ballet premiered almost 60 years ago, Balanchine’s Square Dancecontinues to challenge the technically supercharged dancers of present-day with its swift, demanding choreography. Ballet West chose to reinstate the caller, of American Contra dancing tradition, though the ballet has been performed without a caller since the 1970s. The role of the caller is taken on by artistic director Adam Sklute, who puts his own delightful and whimsical spin on this movement-centric ballet. Aside from evoking giggles from an otherwise serious audience, Sklute’s clever rhymes and references, often calling out the dancers by name, add an accessible window into the onstage world. As Sklute calls out “Here comes Rex [Tilton] to dance with Katherine [Lawrence],” the dancers are introduced as humans, rather than anonymous moving objects on the stage. Sklute’s rhymes about cowhides and his onomatopoeia-like descriptions of steps give the dancers a true reason to sustain smiles through Balanchine’s quick petite allegros and fast pirouettes. As Sklute chants to the dancers, “the more you dance, the better you feel”, they all appear to have taken this line to heart. A slow, brooding solo midway through the ballet danced by Rex Tilton provides a palate cleanser between upbeat sections. The solo is a refreshing take on the usual showy male bravura, coupling emotional expression with physical prowess.

Fonte’s Almost Tango, while a company premiere for Ballet West and the program’s namesake, provides some disappointment. The ballet opens with an all-male tableau. As they begin to move, soft yet strong arms and torsos and male-on-male partnering exhibit often underexplored possibilities for male ballet dancers. Adrian Fry stands out amongst the men of the ballet; his lusciously extensive yet grounded limbs possess an innate musicality, and he successfully melds softer, more effeminate nuances into moments of  strong, sweeping virtuoso. Alex MacFarlan also shows an ability to perform on a qualitative spectrum, as his duet with Jordan Veit toggles between support and surrender. While the all-male sections of Almost Tango feel like new ideas, the introductions of female soloists throughout the ballet are typical and uninteresting. Clad in low-backed leotards with chokers, the women are hoisted around by the men, flex their pointe-shoe clad feet a few too many times, and generally feel like a tired trope sprinkled into a new all-male ballet with potential unto itself. Fonte’s intricate partnering work can often appear dangerous, and that is exciting; however, the use of women in this ballet feels merely like a choreographic obligation to show off favored female soloists.

The ordering of the evening’s triple bill proves to be a relief, and the program ends on a high note with Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. The company appears more sure-footed than ever in this 1987 ballet. The dancers of In the Middleexude a newfound contemporary confidence and pelvic mobility that exhales to allow visceral engagement with the choreography. Perhaps it is the crashing, pulsing Thom Willems score that drives the dancers to this new place, perhaps it is the invigorating sensation of performing one of the single-most renowned contemporary ballets; perhaps, both. Regardless, the dancers reach an emboldened climax through a sense of urgency in this ballet that Ballet West does not always achieve in its contemporary explorations. Forsythe’s subverted balletic forms accelerate into attack mode and indulge in the extreme positions of the extremities; simple green leotards and sheer black tights emphasize the sinews and contours of the dancers’ bodies. It is this brazen fascination with the potential of the body’s mechanics that allows Forsythe’s ballet, which is not so new these days, to feel fresher and more audacious than, say, Fonte’s Almost Tango.

The program, overall, is one that Ballet West excels in, perhaps more than in mixed bills of the past. However, it is disheartening when ballets of past eras exhibit more modernity and innovation than ballets of the present. Balanchine’s Square Dance, from 1957, provides the audience with a still-unconventional light-hearted and human window into the lives of the dancers onstage. Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, from 1987, continues to push modern ballet dancers to the limits of their physical beings, despite an increase in athleticism of the dancer’s body between then and now. But Fonte’sAlmost Tango, originally staged in 2002, seems to only glance along the surface of contemporary ballet tropes explored in the period of time between Balanchine and the present day. A future investigation of this all-male scenario introduced in Almost Tango could be an opportunity for deeper exploration of dancers’ roles and purposes in the landscape of the contemporary ballet. And as exhibited by this program, the dancers of Ballet West are ready to tackle any contemporary challenge the future may present.

Amy Falls is a choreographer, performer, and the Mudson coordinator for loveDANCEmore. This review, and others by loveDANCEmore are in collaboration with 15 BYTES.

Photo by Luke Isley

Spring Season in review

Ririe Woodbury’s “Spring Season” was a challenging program exploring abstraction as a method for viewing as well as moving. Artistic Director Daniel Charon’s program note suggested a hope for his premiere to be taken as an experience without a need for definition while visiting artist Netta Yerushalmy suggested that her work would be cumulative as well as contradictory. In that way, each artist met their own measure if still finding a predictably uneven audience response.

Daniel Charon’s premiere carefully explored the 53 musical phrases inside of Terry Riley’s highly structured musical score, “In C,” performed live by the Salt Lake Electric Ensemble. Modern dance is no stranger to looping electronic music accompanying contemplative moving systems, but hearing the score live was a welcome addition. SLEE’s presence generated an enthusiastic musical audience to whom the dancing was purely new while serving as a reminder of how many elements go into ultimately ambient sounds.

“53 Rooms” highlighted the six company members within various framing created by thirteen dancers from the University of Utah. The dancing develops organically alongside the musical composition and, in that way it reminded me of “Water Study,” another dance which only unfolds as its given concept allows. When I first saw “Water Study” (albeit in 6th grade) I thought was the most boring dance of all, and now, it’s one of my favorites. I suspect that “53 Rooms” is another piece that may continue to offer ideas from within itself, and, as anything which sticks clearly to its idea, will be something you either take or leave.

“NORWEGIA” a premiere by Netta Yerushalmy, is an interesting companion to “53 Rooms” as it utilizes a seemingly more arbitrary set of circumstances. Dancers are as likely to appear doing a gestural duet in leggings as they are diving blindly into space wearing fairy wings or a Shakespearean blouse. And, after several sections featuring divergent scenarios, viewing an ending of sparse (and articulate) duets and solos amplifies the quiet presence of each dancer — Yebel Gallegos and Melissa Younker in particular — as each finds footing and explores extension.

Tension emerges throughout the work as the decision making of earlier scenarios appears artificial but bumps against social truths. For instance, Mary Lyn Graves begins the dance sloppily sneaking around the orchestra pit in a black hoodie and later transitions into more virtuosic sequencing in cherry red underwear. Her performing body is able to move between these identities swiftly and even comically. However this imagery interfaces with a larger cultural context: consider that Trayvon Martin was killed while wearing a black hoodie containing a cherry red bag of Skittles, his physical identity less mutable.

In a different section, a visual pseudo-forest emerges from the ceiling and the cyc and the physical decision making appears on some level whimsical, and on another, out of control. The dancers perform affected mannerisms of inwardly turned wrists and unstable yet fixed joints. Within their new environment, it appears again that the performing body is free to move between identities with fluency, behaviors shifting from manically impulsive to technically stable. Again, when positioned in a larger context the material serves as a reminder that these postures aren’t so much quirky as they are referential to physical and intellectual disability and its frequent invisibility in concert dance. While the tension in limbs and abject expressions of the performers are handily replaced by a lift or balletic posture in the ever shifting utopia that is “NORWEGIA,” many people you see publicly moving this way have a profound longing for control of their face and limbs but may only see slight shifts over the course of their lifetime.

I can’t say that these cultural signifiers registered for all, if any, other audience members. But they remind me that to challenge how meaning is attributed is also to learn that meanings are not only multiple and layered but also competitive.

Ashley Anderson directs loveDANCEmore projects as part of her 501c3, ashley anderson dances.  This review, and others by loveDANCEmore are in collaboration with 15 BYTES.

Photo by Stuart Ruckman Photography and featuring Melissa Younker and Yebel Gallegos in NORWEGIA by Netta Yerushalmy.