Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – DANCING WITH GLASS at The Joyce: An episodic evening of dance where the music emerges as the star

• By drediman
• November 29, 2023
• No Comments

Last night marked the opening of Dancing With Glass: The Piano Etudes at The Joyce Theater (the program runs two weeks through December 10). Co-presented by Van Cleef & Arpels’ ongoing Dance Reflections Festival, the evening of dance and music features eleven of esteemed composer Philip Glass’s iconic piano etudes (in total, twenty of them were composed). For this enticing compilation at The Joyce, five dances — comprised primarily of solos and duets — were created, each emerging from and floating atop Glass’s mesmerizing minimalist piano compositions.

Of the five short dances, two stood out from the pack — duets by the duo of Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, as well as Lucinda Childs. Smith and Schraiber’s dance was an articulate creation, moving to Etude #8 with dexterity and pregnant meaning. Meanwhile, the elegant piece choreographed to Etude #18 was vintage Childs (gently calling to mind the choreographer’s trailblazing 1979 Dance, which opened the expansive festival earlier in the fall), expressing the music with integrity and appealing serenity. Justin Peck and Chanon Judson’s solos fared less successfully — with Peck (Etude #6) relying on his tried and true choreographic stylings, and Judson (Etude #11) delivering a somewhat underdeveloped solo (Judson also performed the piece). The opener by Leonardo Sandoval was an interesting experiment, to say the least — a jovial tap number for five dancers, whose percussive contributions ultimately failed to add much texture of Etude #13.

The star of the night was undoubtedly Glass himself (the legendary composer’s brief appearance during the curtain call was met by enthusiastic applause), whose piano etudes — performed by Maki Namekawa with confidence (if a touch short on poetry) — cast a spell over the enraptured audience during the program’s 80 intermission-less minutes as the evening unfolded. But in terms of framing the dance, a predictably episodic quality crept in that at times seemed at odds with the entrancing, fluid nature of Greg etudes. That being said, I’d still recommend Dancing With Glass based on the strength of the music alone.

RECOMMENDED

DANCING WITH GLASS: THE PIANO ETUDES
Dance
The Joyce Theater / Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 10