Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Catching up with some marquee dance companies: New works by the Royal Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and Mark Morris Dance Group

• By drediman
• November 20, 2020
• No Comments

This week, I streamed a couple of relatively new works from a trio of marquee dance companies. Here are my thoughts.

THE ROYAL BALLET

One of the dance-makers I’ve gradually taken to over the past few years is Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite. She first came to my attention in a City Center performance of her monumental 2013 Polaris, a striking piece of “architectural” choreography and one of the largest-scaled dances I’ve ever seen. Then in March of last year, Chicago’s Hubbard Street Dance set up shop at the Joyce with an appetizing all-Pite program, which demonstrated her knack for depicting psychological nuance through movement. During the pandemic, I was very impressed by the evening-length Betroffenheit, Ms. Pite’s spiky 2015 dance theater piece about loss. And just recently, I streamed the Royal Ballet perform Flight Pattern (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which she choreographed for the company in 2017. In my mind, the work — which tackles the global refugee crisis — is a brilliant culmination of her craft to date. By combining panoramic spectacle with the specificity of individual human stories, Ms. Pite powerfully portrays the full spectrum of the refugee experience. Also, by reflecting the refugees’ untethered dreams (via poetic choreographic depictions of birds in flight), as well as the harsh realities of their voyage, the work manages to be much more than simply a one-note downer.

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY

I also recently had a chance to stream – via WNET’s excellent All Arts platform – Martha Graham Dance Company perform, from Montclair State University, an eclectic pair of ballets (RECOMMENDED). First on the bill was Appalachian Spring, one of its namesake choreographer’s most recognizable creations. Set to Aaron Copland’s stirring score and featuring the streamlined design work of renowned Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, the ballet has classic written all over it. In depicting American pioneer life, Ms. Graham’s choreography exudes satisfied contentment despite its formality (perhaps an homage of this country’s puritanical origins). It was a treat to revisit this iconic piece, which was wonderfully rendered by a young company of dancers. The program then pivoted from classic to world premiere, in this case Troy Schumacher’s newly-commissioned The Auditions. Set to a composition by Augusta Read Thomas, the work aims to explore the ephemeral vis-a-vis the eternal. Although striking in its juxtaposition of the two concepts, the overall effect was only moderately successful (the spirited choreography of the “ephemeral” segments were the highlights). Throughout, the live music was provided by the excellent International Contemporary Ensemble, as conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni.

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP

Then we have Mark Morris Dance Group, which recently launched its 40th anniversary. To commemorate the landmark season during the pandemic, Mr. Morris has assembled a collection of compact virtual teasers of old and new works (RECOMMENDED). Translated from the stage, the excerpts from the ravishing dance opera Layla and Majnun and the rarely performed solo Offertorium (masterfully performed by longtime Mark Morris muse Lauren Grant) generally but didn’t always benefit from the additional layer of cinematography. Although the camera work was consistently interesting, it sometimes unnecessarily muddled the unadorned elegance of Mr. Morris’s choreography. A more successful marriage between dance and film was established by the new works of the bunch. Despite Allegro Molto’s brief length, the experience of watching the work’s parade of collapsing bodies was dizzying and disorienting; a general feeling that’s reflective of pandemic life. Promenade Sentimentale, which is boldly set to Debussy’s overexposed “Clair de Lune”, takes the opposite approach by depicting de-activated bodies against a physical world that continues to turn; once again, a potent visual metaphor for our times. The program was annotated between pieces by a generous and often times amusing Q&A with Mr. Morris and his team.