Satellite Collective presents Dig Dance

SATELLITE COLLECTIVE

presented

DIG DANCE

Performed at 92Y Harkness Dance Center, Home of Dance Education Laboratory, NYC

June 10-12, 2016

still from "Gran Jericho"
directed by Lora Robertson
presented by Satellite Collective
92Y; Dig Dance

Artistic Director Kevin Draper gave a lovely introduction of the various genres of works to be performed by emerging artists from New York City Ballet and Juilliard and more seasoned artists who recently retired from Alvin Ailey. The program opened up with the spoken word, followed by four works of contemporary ballet, modern dance, a short film and a live string quartet. The multidisciplinary approach proved to be an interesting paradigm with some collaboration between the musicians and dancers.

The dancers were beautiful, the musicians talented, although the music was not for everyone's ears. The short film by Lora Robertson with the protagonist dancing around a steeple seemed a bit long. Satellite Collective brought the steeple physically to the space so it would have been more creative to have had the dancers dance around the real steeple as a surprise for the audience after the short film ended or during the short film.

The last dance was about kindred spirits or lovers who portrayed a relationship that was appreciated, then spurned with retreat, to turn back into the embrace of one another resembling a typical sequence to most types of relationships. Or was the story about the beginning, maturation, and death of a relationship, to be reborn again?

 Overall, the interdisciplinary program showcased new works but it needs fine tuning.

By

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA

Ballet Hispanico at The Joyce Theater

BALLET HISPANICO

Performed its 45th Anniversary New York Season at The Joyce Theater from April 5-10, 2016

New York Premiere of Flabbergast by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano

Bury Me Standing by Ramon Oller

Club Havana by Pedro Ruiz

The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue  (at 19th Street), New York City

www.joyce.org

Ballet Hispanico is touring the world, please visit their website for more information.

www.ballethispanico.org

Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro commented that the program this year reflected the "breadth and range of the company over the past 45 years of artistic reflection" and the works of the choreographers honor Ballet Hispanico's ballet legacy fused with eclectic contemporary dance that portrays America's diversity.

Ballet Hispanico, the nation's premier Latino dance organization, presented three programs. It began with Choreographer's Gustavo Ramirez Sansono's Flabbergast, a story about immigrants with preconceived notions concerning a new and foreign land and it was done with humor and fast-moving, stylistic modern dance set to the music of Juan Garcia Esquival.

The second program was Bury Me Standing choreographed by Ramon Oller with traditional gypsy melodies and flamenco music by Lole y Manuel. Oller created this piece based on the culture of the Gypsy or "Roma" people that reflected their strong communal bonds, sensuality, feelings of oppression and longing and strength. The sensual music was felt in the heart and soul of audience members who were moving their bodies rhythmically in their seats. It felt like a Latino counterpart to Alvin Ailey, the dance troupe that celebrates African-American ethnic traditions.

The third and last program was Club Havana choreographed by Pedro Ruiz set to Latino dance music like the Mambo, Cha Cha Cha, Bolero, Rhumba and Conga. It was a fusion of modern dance and ballet with Latin dances. It's a portrait of glamorous Havana of the 1950s during the heyday of Cuban music, dance, and nightlife. It ended with a Latin social dance under confetti which was magical.

Overall, the Ballet Hispanico dancers are wonderful to watch and they portray their characters so the stories are understood. The dancers can bend in every direction, leap, strut, and engage in inventive partnering moves. At the end of the entire program, one feels real joy.

I would highly recommend to go to Ballet Hispanico's other performances throughout the year whether in the United States or around the world.

By

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA

New York Theatre Ballet Legends & Visionaries

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

Call 212-691-6500 or visit http://newyorklivearts.org/event/nytb_2016
February 24-27, 2016

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.

For more information, visit www.nytb.org

NYBT, Founder and Artistic Director: Diana Byer

By

- Laura Thompson -

http://www.loralia.com   @LORALIA