NEW
YORK THEATRE BALLET
presented
LEGENDS
& VISIONARIES
NYTB
2016 Premiere of Jerome Robbins' Antique
Epigraphs set to Debussy's "6 Epigraphes Antiques" staged by Krya Nichols
Melissa
Payne Bradley's Chemical Bond set to
"Serenade Op. 98 Après un Rêve" by Gabriel Fauré
Richard
Altson's Such Longing set to "Mazurkas" by Frédéric
Chopin, restaged by Martin Lawrence
Philip
Glass' Song Before Spring, Piano
Etudes Nos. 1-10 choreographed by Zhong-Jing Fang and Steven Melendez,
featuring NYU Steel Drum Ensemble led by Director Josh Quillen and his
colleague, Jonathan Haas, Director Percussion Studies at NYU Steinhardt
New
York Live Arts
219 West 19th Street, New York City
219 West 19th Street, New York City
The New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) presented four
ballets by acclaimed choreographers staged by emerging choreographers. The
programming represented revivals of masterworks (Philip Glass and Richard Altson),
a new work, Chemical Bond, by Melissa
Payne Bradley that originally premiered in San Francisco, and of course, Kyra
Nichols who staged NYBT 2016 premiere of Antiques
Epigraphs (Jerome Robbins). NYBT's repertory programming maintains
fidelity to the original movements, gestures, costumes and props, according to
historical documents when it's based on a revival. As for new programming, it's
a combination of dynamic movement, storytelling, and wit.
The ballet troupe performed as individuals, duos,
trios, quartets, divided into subunits, all with creative costume designs to
depict the scenes whether classical or contemporary (Costume Design: Sylvia
Taalson Nolan and Florence Klotz). The dancers soared, jumped, pirouetted,
fell elegantly to the floor, demonstrated excellent footwork, intertwined with
one another in melodious movements sometimes sensual, other times flippant--all
in all, it felt like harmony between the music and movement (Dancers: Steven
Melendez, Amanda Treiber, Michael Wells, Elena Zahlmann, Joshua Andino-Nieto,
Carmella Lauer, Mayu Oguri, Alexis Branagan, Guilia Faria, Chloe Slade, Amanda
Smith and the rest of the company).
The four ballets were performed to live music. The
musicians were superb (Piano: Michael Scales, Zheng Ma. Cello: Amy
Kang. Flute: Mira Magrill). The last piece Song Before Spring with music originally composed by Philip Glass
and arranged by Josh Quillen, NYU Steel Drum Director, turned out to be
mesmerizing and surreal. I liked all the ballets but this one impressed me the
most.
I think it's a pity it had such a short run but I
would highly recommend to go to NYBT's other performances throughout the year.
They also perform one hour storybook ballets for families which is tailored to
the short attention span of children.
NYBT, Founder and Artistic Director: Diana Byer
By
-
Laura Thompson -
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