Winter 2014-2015 Ballet Review 4Barbara Palfy – George Dorris 5Birmingham – David Mead 7Berlin – Darrell Wilkins 10 Sarasota/Miami – Leigh Witchel 13 New York – Susanna Sloat 14 Toronto – Gary Smith 15 New York – Karen Greenspan 17 Stu!gart – Gary Smith 18 Boston – Jeffrey Gantz 20 Toronto – Gary Smith 22 Boston – Jeffrey Gantz 78 24 Isle of Wight – Gary Smith 26 New York – Karen Greenspan BalletReview42.4 28 Washington, D.C. – Lisa Traiger Winter 2014-15 29 Zurich – Renée E. D’Aoust Editor and Designer: 31 Le!er to the Editor – Edward Villella Marvin Hoshino Joel Lobenthal Managing Editor: Roberta Hellman 32 A Conversation with Vida Brown Senior Editor: Robert Withers Don Daniels 85 42 Flamenco New York Associate Editor: Henry Danton Joel Lobenthal 50 In Defense of Petipa Associate Editor: Larry Kaplan Sophie Flack 59 Boston at Fi-y Webmaster: David S. Weiss Susanna Sloat Copy Editors: 64 From Morocco to Armenia Barbara Palfy* Robert Greskovic Naomi Mindlin 66 Elizaveta Pavlovna Gerdt Photographers: 94 Tom Brazil Joseph Houseal Costas 74 A Conversation with Molissa Fenley Associates: Jay Rogoff Peter Anastos 78 City Ballet Summer Robert Greskovic George Jackson Alexandra Villarreal Elizabeth Kendall 85 YAGP 2014 Paul Parish Nancy Reynolds Photographs by Tom Brazil James Su!on 87 Danspace Project 2013-2014 David Vaughan Susanna Sloat Edward Willinger 87 Sarah C. Woodcock 94 Inside Out Cover Photograph Jay Rogoff by Damir Yusupov, 102 Hot Diggity Bolshoi Ballet: Maria Alexandrova and 106 London Reporter – Clement Crisp Vladislav Lantratov 109 Margot Fonteyn – George Jackson in Don Quixote. 110 Music on Disc – George Dorris makes no sense to the story. The Queen (Ale- longed for the Freudian connection that Erik jandra Perez-Gomez) and her retinue descend Bruhn provided in his 1965 version for NBC. aricketysetofstepshoistinguplongandheavy It had a through line that worked. Not every- skirts. Their entrance becomes a worry as we one liked it, especially the London critics. Theylongedforsomethingmoreclassical,like Anthony Dowell’s staging for The Royal Bal- let. Perhaps Kudelka’s vision would work better if it were presented as an entirely dif- ferent ballet. That’s what Les Ballets de Mon- te Carlo did with their LAC. Even Cranko’s version, with its rearranged score and inter- polated music from The Sleeping Beauty, works Photo: Aleksandar Antonijevic, National Ballet ofbetterthanthisdark-heartedproduction.The Canada ugliness of the storytelling is exacerbated by Santo Loquasto’s dreary sets and unflattering costumes. None of this criticism is intended to be- smirch the dancing of The National’s vital, energized corps. They dance as if their very lives depend on it. Their synchronized move- ment and passionate togetherness is exem- plary. It has to be said the entire company dances with commitment. And the principal Swan Lake: Svetlana Lunkina and Evan McKie. dancers are superb at doing what they have wait for someone to topple into the ugly land- been asked to perform. Evan McKie and Svet- scape below. Even Siegfried’s solo, made im- lana Lunkina are beautiful figures of sculpt- portant in versions by Rudolf Nureyev and ed movement. What they aren’t, and can’t be Erik Bruhn, has been weakened. The intro- in Kudelka’s ragbag scenario, are committed spection and yearning these great choreogra- lovers. They move as one, but alas their hearts phers saw in this important solo has been never connect. For that we need to blame not wasted. the dancers, but the dance. The choreography from Kudelka is deliber- ately perverse. If the music suggests soft and New York lyric arms Kudelka substitutes an aggressive, Karen Greenspan spikey look that makes the corps of swans darker and more malevolent than the story ZviDance’s local 2014 season at New York Live would suggest. Although the White Swan pas Arts showcased Surveillance, a collaborative de deux has been exempted from the most work reflecting on how pervasive, embedded annoying reimagining there is still a lack of surveillance has altered our society. Some of connection between Siegfried and Odette. Ku- the issues the piece raises are how a society delka insists Odette is not a woman trapped changes when it submits to constant moni- as a swan – merely a bird. That notion just toring, how those empowered with the task of doesn’t work. No wonder the courtiers and screening are transformed, what happens to theirladieslookaskancewhenabigblackbird the mountains of data collected on each of appears at their palace later on. us. And why doesn’t Siegfried have that im- This hour-long, poignant, and mindful re- portant moment of recognition when he real- flectionontheenormous,unseensurveillance izes he has sworn love to the wrong swan? I network that underpins life in America today ©2014KarenGreenspan 15 is a collaborative effort of Zvi Gotheiner and effective means to engage the audience mem- his dancers along with frequent co-creator bers and pull them into the piece. Scott Killian, who composed a high energy, Once the initial tableau dissolves, the danc- original score for the piece. Hertog Nadler’s ers reenter the stage with everyday clothing evocative visual projections, animations by throughwhichwecanseetheundergarments. Uri Hallel, and media programming by Jon DesignedbyMaryJoMecca,thecostumesserve Bremmer provide a technological presence the dance and the dancers well, reinforcing that was essential to the dance. the theme of what must be revealed versus Gotheiner shared with me that the piece what may remain private. had been brewing for four years. However, The piece is punctuated by three separate raising the funds to produce a work requir- “search”sequences.Duringthe“FirstSearch,” ingthisleveloftechnologyprovedtobeachal- the dancers line up and undergo a prodding lenge. Gotheiner remarked that the interna- and manipulating body search routine per- tional collaboration that enabled the creation formed by a screener. Each dancer has his/her of the piece involving Amsterdam-based vi- own idiosyncratic response to submitting to sual artists, an Israel-based animator, and a this inconvenient invasion of personal priva- media programmer in New York City could cy. During the “Second Search,” the screener not have even happened ten years ago because is entirely naked and blind (blindfolded), per- the technology for sending such large elec- versely attempting to search the fully clothed, tronic files did not yet exist. seeing (yet still submissive) subject. In the Thanks to a grant from the New York State “Third Search,” the dancers line up and pro- Council on the Arts, artistic resi- denciesatKaatsbaanInternation- al Dance Center and the Catskill Mountain Foundation provided a necessary incubation period and the space to break ground – gen- erating concepts, material, and Photo: Stephen Delas Heras, ZviDance movement that would eventually be shaped into Surveillance. The dance opens as the eight dancers,provocativelycladinvar- ious undergarment combinations and black dress socks, each per- form very sensual and personal movement explorations standing downstage in a row that stretch- Zvi Gotheiner’s Surveillance. es across the stage. At various points in their ceed to perform the screening ritual on them- phrases, they retreat backward while chok- selves. The sequence provides a well-drawn ing and gasping for air. Then they return to statement on how the system has insidiously the front of the stage and resume their indi- reformedoursociety’sthinking,expectations, vidual movement sequences. It is as if the au- and behavior. dience is the surveillance camera with visual A memorable scene includes a colorful grid access to material that should be private. filled with descriptive words, or labels, pro- Gotheiner revealed that this opening progres- jected on the screen that served as the back- sion was a warm-up ritual they performed to drop of the stage. The dancers individually begin each rehearsal. Dubbed “the red-light walk forward announcing one or more labels, line,” by the dancers, Gotheiner used it as an as if categorizing themselves, in this theatri- 16 ballet review cal example of how the surveillance bureau- piece, after the dancers have exited the stage, cracy, obsessed with data collection, sorts hu- the dancers’ shadows lined up in a row are mans into sometimes absurd categories. projected onto the white floor in a subtle ref- In several sections, some of the onstage erence to the permanent residue of collected dancers use cameras to record the other information that remains even after we are dancers who are performing with the video- gone. recorded images of their dancing projected on Zvi Gotheiner’s Surveillance is a thoughtful, the screen behind them. At times the cameras challenging, provocative dance with height- are turned on the audience, causing images of ened visual, musical, and kinetic qualities the audience to be projected on the screen. that grab and hold you from start to finish. It The recording theme is explored until finally doesn’t get better than that, and I wouldn’t Tyner Dumortier performs a pitiful and chill- miss an opportunity to see ZviDance perform ing solo wearing a metal frame with four Gotheiner’s work – for the world. spokes, or arms, each holding a camera at the end. The dancer appears imprisoned in this Stuttgart camera contraption while his exquisite hu- Gary Smith manformisreshapedintoastrange,deformed mutation. Two important works premiered, with a dark A stunning duet performed by Alex Biegel- and dramatic piece of dance history sand- son and Tyner Dumortier, with their well- wiched in between. matched muscular physicality,explores beau- EdwardClug’sNoMen’sLandisagender-spe- tiful lines and rhythmic weight shifts while cific, large-scale work for twenty-one male displaying powerful control as the dancers dancers. I doubt any other company around accepted each other’s weight. This cool and couldfieldsuchhandsomeones.Inmanyways, haunting beauty is followed by and contrast- this reliance on masculine beauty is part of ed with Chelsea Ainsworth and Todd Allen the ballet’s fabric.