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the 2009 DANCE MAGAZINE

DPMC QC AWARDS We love giving out awards because it’s an opportunity to honor some of the greats in our field. Each of the recipients has made a contribution to dance that is both unique and outsized: Jason Samuels Smith, the hard-hitting tapper who cares about community; , a legendary ballerina who now teaches, coaches, and writes; Ohad Naharin, who revolutionized international dance; and Sara Rudner, who gave postmodernism a spiritual, ecstatic element. Please join us on Nov. 9 for the Awards ceremony (see page 52 for details).

100 96 Jason Samuels Smith 75

50 He moves like bolts of lightning, spewing Hatchett’s Professional Children’s rhythms from his feet like African talking Program at Broadway Dance Center. His 25 drums. His peers call him Iron Man, for mother, Sue Samuels, was a jazz dancer 15 the hard-and-fastness of his taps and and master teacher; his father, Joseph “Jo steeliness of his convictions. Others call Jo” Benjamin Smith, was a jazz dancer 5 him irrepressible, rambunctious, and bru- and choreographer who was a consultant tally charming. Hammering his piston- for the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever.

driven rhythms as if delivering his beats Jo Jo and Sue were co-directors of Jo Jo’s Jayme Thornton for Dance Teacher to freedom, Jason Samuels Smith is the Dance Factory, predecessor to BDC. A John Henry of tap. He has helped to more serious interest in tap was ignited in forge rhythm tap as a cutting-edge dance Samuels Smith when Savion Glover form on the American stage. began teaching master classes at BDC. It Growing up in the Hell’s Kitchen burst into flame in 1996 when, at the age section of Manhattan, Samuels Smith of 15, Smith joined the cast of Glover’s studied jazz, tap, and in Frank Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk.

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Jason Samuels Smith

He was part of a fresh young crew of In 2003, he DPMC male dancers who brought the raucous- choreographed QC ness of rhythm tap to blasting proportion the opening num- with a flat-footed, emphatic style. ber on the Jerry Samuels Smith at the time may have Lewis Muscular looked like Glover (his hair dreaded, his Dystrophy Association pants baggy) and sounded like him, but Telethon—with three gen- he soon began to distinguish himself. He erations of dancers ending in became an avid collector of film clips of a salute to the late Gregory rhythm tap masters (“Peg Leg” Bates, Hines—winning both an Emmy Bunny Briggs, Chuck Green, Gregory Award and an American Hines, Jimmy Slyde, Dianne Walker), Choreography Award for out- which he stored in his iPod and viewed at standing choreography. He every waking moment. He also began lis- starred in the film Tap Heat tening to the music of jazzmen Art (2004) along with tap elder Tatum, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Arthur Duncan. In 2005 Smith Gillespie. In 2003, he co-organized the collaborated with Indian kathak first annual L.A. Tap Fest with Chloe guru Pandit Chitresh Das in an Arnold. Dance critic Jane Goldberg exploration of the affinities between wrote of his performance that year, “He tap and kathak. has invented a whole new vocabulary of Appearing with his company

rapid fire heels and toes.” It was a strik- A.C.G.I. (Anybody Can Get It) at 100 ingly aggressive style that was full of Jacob’s Pillow last summer, Samuels complex syncopations and stabbing stac- Smith brought a crew of fresh marvels, 96 cato phrases. mostly women, and attracted sold-out 75

Samuels Smith had also begun an audiences. His solos of astonishing 50 investigation into his roots as a socially speed and power and remarkable ensem- conscious African American performance ble numbers built excitement. Dancers 25 artist. Tap’s tradition could never be sepa- packed his classes at Jacob’s Pillow—as 15 rated from a long history of hardship, they do in workshops around the world. 5 from slavery to blackface. “Being a tap Thus, it is for being ferociously pas- dancer represents all of those struggles,” sionate; for “re-sounding” the rhythmic

Jayme Thornton for Dance Teacher he says, “and I feel a commitment, per- cadences of the elders; for bringing tap sonally, to the title ‘tap dancer.’ ” Seeking back to the jazz beat; for influencing the to balance the artistic and social integrity next generation of rhythm dancers; for of the form with its commercial viability, celebrating the power of women in tap; Samuels Smith pushed to expand tap’s and for investigating the spiritual terrain possibilities and emerged as a leader in of the art form that Jason Samuels Smith the art form—as performer, choreogra- is deserving of a 2009 Dance Magazine pher, and director. Award. —Constance Valis Hill

DANCE MAGAZINE 33

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2009 DMAWARDS 20 Allegra Kent

In 1953, when Allegra Kent joined the , she was 15, it was 5, and I was 22—a Balanchine addict ever since the company was born. From the start there was no overlooking her. Yes, there were only about 50 dancers then, and, yes, City Center was relatively inti- mate (although not from the second bal- cony, where people like me perched until we could infiltrate the orchestra at inter- mission). But Allegra would have stood out in Yankee Stadium. There was no one like her: no one with her unique combi- nation of delicate allure, total resolve, and passionate way of propelling herself through space. Obviously, Balanchine thought so, too. By 1954 he had created his first role on her: the enigmatic girl in the DPMC QC “Unanswered Question” section of , clothed in a stark white leotard, barefoot, her hair floating downward, held aloft by four men, never touching the ground. She was the object of intense desire, yet she was pure innocence: with- holding, spellbinding, unaware, yet some- how intensely complicit in the mysteries she represented. This would be the pattern for most of Allegra Kent and the great roles Balanchine fashioned or in refashioned for her: She embodied all in 1963 seven of the Brecht-Weill Seven Deadly Sins (Lotte Lenya was her vocal alter ego), yet again she was innocent, vibrantly nal casts of Dances at a Gathering, Stars the three children she was determined to part of the action yet outside it—and and Stripes, Divertimento No. 15, have, eventually choosing to perform again in white. In her most famous role— , Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. only once or twice a season. the Sleepwalker in La Sonnambula, end- Both Balanchine and Robbins happily In her brilliant autobiography, Once lessly bourréeing across the stage in her exploited her amazing range. a Dancer…, she wrote, “Ballet was the floating white nightdress, holding her Allegra always appeared to be frag- magic and exhilarating force in my life.

100 candle straight before her—she was not ile, delicate, but like all ballerinas, she Natural laws were held in abeyance. The only untouchable, she was asleep; both was as strong as steel. Her flexibility floating laws of clouds and the gyro- 96 unaware and aware, once again a roman- was astonishing, her extensions stunning scopic laws of tops took over, stretching 75 tic object that’s unobtainable. in those pre-Guillem days, her jump the limits. The body could do wonderful

50 When Balanchine created Bugaku for huge—it was her jump that first thrilled things. Some of these marvels were her and Edward Villella, the most sexually her two early teachers, Bronislava achieved by technique, but there was 25 explicit of all his yet the most rigidly Nijinska and Carmelita Maracci (both of something else….” It was that unique 15 formal, he revealed the tension in her that whom she has written about in these “something else” that compelled he understood stemmed from a profound pages). It was her charm and spirit that Balanchine’s attention and devotion for 5 but repressed eroticism. This was the role endeared her to her favorite teacher at 30 years, and that her audience so loved. that prompted Tanaquil Le Clercq to iden- the School of American Ballet, Felia She was enchanting. Yet with her ©Bert Stern, Courtesy NYCB Archives tify her as a “rubber orchid.” Doubrovska. But it was her raw talent, unearthly beauty, demonic energy, goofy She triumphed in most of the great her sheer dance ability, her total com- humor, and uncanny aloofness, she also Balanchine roles—Terpsichore, Odette, mitment to movement that captured Mr. appeared to be enchanted—under a spell, Sugar Plum; the leads in Concerto B. No other dancer could have retained and vulnerable. Even toward the end of Barocco, , and the second movement his loyalty and love through the erratic, her career, watching her in Scotch of . She was ravishing in almost perverse, course of her career— Symphony made me want to rush up Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun and hilari- leaving the company at 18 to go to col- onto the stage to protect those fragile

ous in The Concert. She was in the origi- lege, leaving three more times to bear wrists. —Robert Gottlieb Batsheva Courtesy Greenfield, Lois Bottom: Batsheva. Courtesy Dagon, Gadi Top:

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2009 DMAWARDS

Ohad Naharin

In the center of the studio, Ohad Naharin slowly, smoothly, starts grooving. Waves of energy course through his body, gently Leading a session sending his joints into rolling curves. As of the Batsheva the students around him follow suit, Ensemble, the Naharin breaks into a smile and cautions second company, them, “Don’t take yourselves too seri- 2009 ously, people.” Once a ripple of laughter dies down, he offers his next instruction: “Connect to pleasure.” The 57-year-old Naharin has a knack Company, Naharin returned to New unconventional seating arrangement for for connecting people to pleasure, York and turned his creative energies Mamootot to the audacious use of accu- whether they are taking classes in Gaga— towards choreography. In 1980, he mulations in both MAX and “Ehad Mi his movement language—or drinking in started the Ohad Naharin Dance Yodea,” from Anaphaza, in which the the rich sights and sounds of his choreo- Company, pouring his signature fluidity dancers systematically shed their clothes graphic works. The artistic director of and dynamic sensitivity into his move- to the driving chant of a traditional Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company has ment invention. Naharin’s blossoming Passover song. Featuring a section in DPMC always had a passion for movement him- talents as a dancemaker garnered him which performers pull audience members QC self, but it was not until after his compul- commissions from companies including onto the stage, Zachacha proves that his sory military service that Naharin trained Batsheva and the Kibbutz Contem- choreography can be as crowd-pleasing seriously in modern dance. He began his porary Dance Company, and in 1987, Jirí as it is rule-breaking. Yet Naharin’s training with Batsheva. He soon became Kylián appointed him as guest choreog- repertory also probes the darker side of the troupe’s newest member and was rapher for the Nederlands Dans Theater. the human situation, conjuring up com- quickly plucked from the ranks by An invitation to lead the Batsheva plex emotions with disturbing images. Martha Graham to dance Esau in her Dance Company lured Naharin back to Regardless of their tone, all of 1974 Jacob’s Dream. his native country in 1990. Steered by Naharin’s works are colored by a seem- Fueled by his extraordinary natural his artistic vision and propelled by his ingly endless palette of vibrantly textured aptitude, Naharin’s dance career took choreography, Israel’s leading dance movement, which stretches from razor off. Graham invited him to join her troupe embarked on a bold new direc- sharp to silky smooth with everything in company in New York, where he also tion and soared into the top tier of inter- between. It is Gaga, with its emphasis on studied at the Juilliard School. After per- national companies. sensation and availability for movement, forming abroad with Maurice Béjart’s Intriguing provocations abound in which enables Batsheva’s dancers to bring company and Israel’s Bat-Dor Dance Naharin’s works for Batsheva, from the such captivating qualities to their per- formances. Not only has Naharin imple- mented this innovative system in the company’s training, but he has opened Naharin, midair, public classes, which draw dancers and in his work nondancers alike. 100 Innostress (1986) During the last two decades, Naharin’s pioneering approach and 96 unforgettable choreography injected a 75

catalyzing, invigorating force into Israel’s 50 rising dance scene. Meanwhile, the choreographer’s influence can be felt 25 abroad, where there is a growing clamor 15 for Gaga classes and an insatiable 5 appetite for his creations. Popular com- panies, including Hubbard Street Dance ©Bert Stern, Courtesy NYCB Archives Chicago, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, have performed Naharin’s work to rave reviews, and when Batsheva is on tour, it regularly packs the house with enthusiastic audiences. It seems the world has gone gaga for

Top: Gadi Dagon, Courtesy Batsheva. Bottom: Lois Greenfield, Courtesy Batsheva Courtesy Greenfield, Lois Bottom: Batsheva. Courtesy Dagon, Gadi Top: Naharin. —Deborah Friedes Galili

DANCE MAGAZINE 35

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2009 DMAWARDS

day, she showed 33 Dances, a series of 33 Sara Rudner solos in a loft that left her visibly exhausted, after which she threw a glass Simply put, Sara Rudner is one of the of water over her head. Her small, all- greatest dancers of her generation. Also a woman group, the Sara Rudner choreographer and educator, she has Performance Ensemble, danced in energized the New York dance scene and unorthodox venues like the U.S. revitalized the dance program at Sarah Customs House and a discotheque in Lawrence College. Paris from 1976–1982. Rudner began her career as a found- Rudner has also collaborated with ing member of Twyla Tharp’s first com- Dana Reitz, Wendy Rogers, Douglas pany from 1965 to 1985. Highly physical, Dunn, Patricia Hoffbauer, Jodi Melnick, ment practice—be it Feldenkrais, with a luscious sense of style, she could and Baryshnikov. Her choreography for improvisation, or a breathing technique. make any pedestrian move or casual ges- theater and opera includes working with Rudner has motivated students by giving ture look as fascinating as a leap or turn. directors Mark Wing-Davy, Gregory them the tools to explore and define Not that Tharp was doing leaps and turns Boyd, and Peter Sellars, and several themselves as individuals. As she said in in the mid-1960s; she was stringing projects for the Santa Fe Opera. After a “Teacher’s Wisdom” (Feb. 2009), “I felt together disparate movements and chal- 30-year career based in New York, she we should be cultivating the dancer as a lenging each dancer to find her own sense completed her MFA at Bennington whole human being.” of continuity. In her quest for a new kind College in 1998, and the following year Recently Rudner has been gathering DPMC of coordination, she found a gold mine in became the director of dance at Sarah intergenerational groups of dancers to QC Sara Rudner. Sara could create a flow no Lawrence College. present her work. At Baryshnikov Art matter how disjunctive the movements As an educator she has opened up the Center in 2007, her large work were. The idea of “movement for move- curriculum at Sarah Lawrence, bringing Dancing-on-View: Preview/Hindsight, ment’s sake” reached a peak with her. It in somatic practices, cross-training, tai revealed a powerful sisterhood of move- was not only her blazing clarity and brac- chi, and world dance. One of her innova- ment. It also showed that Rudner has ing intelligence, but also a kind of wide- tions is that faculty meetings, which are lost none of her energy, eloquence, or awake dreaminess that compelled you to held in the studio, begin with a move- charisma. —Wendy Perron watch her. As Mikhail Baryshnikov said in an interview, “Her eyes, they take you somewhere—very hypnotic.” Her spon- taneous style, which gave the illusion that Rudner in she was inventing movement on the spot, the 1970s was integral to the formation of the Tharp aesthetic. Growing up in Brooklyn, Rudner studied interpretive dance at a neighbor- hood music school and later ballet with Bella Malinka, who was on faculty at the High School of Performing Arts. (She

did not attend the famous school 100 because, she says, she was afraid of audi- tioning.) She graduated from Barnard 96 College, where she majored in Russian 75

studies, and danced briefly with Paul 50 Sanasardo before joining Tharp’s group. She created many roles in early Tharp 25 Top: Colin Fowler. Archives Bottom: Nathaniel Tileson, DM classics including The Fugue, Eight 15 Jellyrolls, Deuce Coupe, Nine Sinatra 5 Songs, Baker’s Dozen, and Fait Accompli (the precursor to In the Upper Room). She also appeared in the films Amadeus, , and Hair, all directed by Milos Forman and choreographed by Tharp. In her own choreography she sought to stretch the conventions of perfor- mance. In Dancing on View (1975), she had the four dancers going for five hours (I was one of them). On her 33rd birth-

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