Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Dance recap: MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY celebrates its centennial, and SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY returns to The Joyce

• By drediman
• April 19, 2024
• No Comments

In terms of dance, this week’s highlights included the return of Sydney Dance Company to The Joyce Theater, as well as a celebration of Martha Graham Dance Company’s centennial at New York City Center. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY
The Joyce Theater
Through April 21

This week at The Joyce Theater, Sydney Dance Company returned with an evening length piece entitled ab [intra] (which translates to “from within” in Latin) (RECOMMENDED). Choreographed by the company’s artistic director Rafael Bonachela, the piece is in essence a stylized depiction of the contrasting states of connection and isolation — in other words, being. Set to an evocative score by Australian composer Nick Wales — which seamlessly melds expressive cellos with driving electronic beats — the dance is a dreamlike affair, floating from one striking tableau to the next. The most haunting of these are from the work’s knotted, coiled pas de deux, which undulate and crawl about the stage like organisms unto themselves, in the process creating arresting images that demonstrates the intense intimacy of true human connection. Otherwise, the company spends much of the time physically apart, starkly highlighting the alternative state. At just over an hour long, the work at times devolves into a certain vagueness, but it’s all nonetheless very easy on the eyes. Indeed, the Sydney Dance Company are a wonderfully trained bunch and are well-suited to Bonachela’s choreography, exhibiting stamina and natural fluidity as they navigate through the work’s physically taxing progression of states of being.

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
New York City Center
Through April 20

Then over at New York City Center, the iconic Martha Graham Dance Company is celebrating its centennial in style with a series of beautifully curated programs (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (the company is slated to continue celebrating its landmark 100th year for the next few seasons). As America’s oldest dance company and a pioneer in contemporary dance, it’s only fitting that the focus is on Americana and Modernism. On opening night, the bill was comprised of a trio of superbly contrasting works, commencing with Agnes de Mille’s 1942 ballet Rodeo, which was performed with athleticism and contained exuberance. For this outing, Aaron Copland’s beloved score has been gorgeously re-orchestrated for a live bluegrass ensemble, which lends a more contemporary bent to the much-performed work. Then came the New York premiere of Jamar Roberts’ rageful We The People, one of the choreographer’s most striking works to date, and a fascinating companion piece — musically, thematically — to the de Mille classic that came before it. It’s a powerful, defiant, and thrilling piece of dance-as-protest that features incisive, punchy choreography, accenting Rhiannon Giddens’ driving banjo score with emotion and verve. To conclude the evening, the company performed Graham’s final ballet Maple Leaf Rag, a whimsical, witty, piece that pokes fun at contemporary dance — Graham, in particular, is not spared. Throughout, the MGDC dancers performed in their singular style — their potent expressiveness arising from their physical rigor rather than attempts at broad acting.