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| CriticalDance NWF-C |
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| New Works Festival
SF BALLET 2008 75TH ANNIVERSARY Program C |
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| information for research and entertainment and is a collection of thing s that anyone can find using Google. |
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| The logistics for the festival have been complex. He requested that the choreographers stay away from piano and chamber accompaniments, �so that we can show off our wonderful orchestra.� There were a few ground rules: no pas de deux, running times between 15 and 30 minutes, and casts that ranged between 7 and 16 dancers. / Dance Magazine - April 2008 |
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| Thread, made for 13 dancers, can be a disorienting experience. When the curtain rises on Alexander Nichols� handsome conceptualization of the labyrinth, it is Ariadne (Pauli Magierek, a study in charisma), rather than Theseus (Damian Smith) who is wandering in the maze at the rear of the stage. A thematically relevant Michael Palmer poem is read; Paul Dresher�s lush score boils over the orchestra pit. But, as we proceed, the piece blurs. Smith, who will journey through the labyrinth at one point, may be the darker side of Ariadne. ..The remaining 11 dancers serve as a kind of Greek Chorus, commenting and reflecting on the events happening around them...She has asked them to perform without conventional counts, to find a rhythm through their own breathing, to yield to the joys of improvisation within a defined structure and the performers in Beaver Bauer�s striped gray Grecian-inspired outfits have thrown caution to the wind in this dense, gestural universe that Jenkins conjures.
Caniparoli�s Ibsen�s House delivers us to the psyches of five protagonists from the famed Norwegian playwright�s oeuvre...Lorena Feijoo as Hedda Gabler, ... her strongly accented solo, fists clutched to breasts, rising defiantly on pointe, is certainly convincing. Molly Smolen�s fidgety Nora Helmer, Dana Genshaft�s Mrs. Alving, Courtney Elizabeth�s airy, mystical Ellida Wangel, Nicole Grand�s introverted Rebecca West provide contrasts.The five, buttoned-up males (including David Arce, Tiit Helimets, Garen Scribner, Pierre-Fran�ois Vilanoba, and Anthony Spaulding) project auras of neediness, condescension and quiet despair in deft strokes during the Tudoresque duets. Double Evil, which attempts to question the very nature of ballet, is ...successful introduction to the popular Finnish choreographer. The four women (Altman, Magierek, Sarah Van Patten, Vanessa Zahorian) sport stiff, elaborate tutus by Holly Hynes, the men are in blue outfits. Throughout the first part, the men (Pascal Molat, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Rory Hohenstein and the ubiquitous Vilanoba) treat their ballerinas as objects, toying with their balances, scrutinizing their limbs. Molat hoists Van Patton on his back in a way that makes you question the architecture of partnering. This is all witty and revealing, and Vladimir Martynov�s "Come In!" engages the ear./..The dancers, at least, appeared to enjoy themselves immensely. But now that SFB boasts its own Elo ballet, the company can perhaps rest on both its haunches and its laurels. VOD Review |
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| "Thread" should have been a breakout moment for Margaret Jenkins, making her first ballet commission, and I believe that for the postmodern doyenne's longtime local supporters, it was. I liked the urgent music by Paul Dresher --Unquestionably, though, Nicolas Blanc leapt off the stage among "Thread's" 13 dancers, his soaring jump a startling new foil to Jenkins' gestural intensity.
Ballet veteran Val Caniparoli made a winning choreographic return with "Ibsen's Hous."...Dana Genshaft, as Mrs. Alving from "Ghosts," has an arm-pinned-behind-the-back motif; Molly Smolen as Nora Helmer from "A Doll's House" smoothes her skirts; Lorena Feijoo as Hedda Gabler crosses her arms. The men are less interesting, and I thought Caniparoli missed an opportunity to take the drama a step further when the characters come together, but Sandra Woodall's period costumes look lovely, and "Ibsen's House" draws from the plays without getting hamstrung in the literal...You could field a whole second company of soloists from the corps members who look promotion-ready: Genshaft, Garen Scribner and Anthony Spaulding. "Double Evil" proved the unqualified hit of San Francisco Ballet's New Works Festival... a ballet so effortlessly innovative, fresh and blood-pumping"...Sarah Van Patten takes a slightly skewed tendu in "Double Evil," she looks just as 21st century as when she's standing turned-in, winding down like some "Coppelia" doll-cum-street-princess. When Pierre-Fran�ois Vilanoba begins squiring Elana Altman in attitude position and then walks away, as though through a revolving door, it doesn't read so much as a joke but rather as a questioning of the logic in traditional ballet partnering. The eight dancers relished every moment, corps member Pauli Magierek holding her own technically, Rory Hohenstein cracking his body like a whip, Jaime Garcia Castilla and Pascal Molat amping up the male contingent. I get the feeling that "Double Evil" is only the start of what Elo could do with them.Sarah Van Patten takes a slightly skewed tendu in "Double Evil," she looks just as 21st century as when she's standing turned-in, winding down like some "Coppelia" doll-cum-street-princess. When Pierre-Fran�ois Vilanoba begins squiring Elana Altman in attitude position and then walks away, as though through a revolving door, it doesn't read so much as a joke but rather as a questioning of the logic in traditional ballet partnering. The eight dancers relished every moment, corps member Pauli Magierek holding her own technically, Rory Hohenstein cracking his body like a whip, Jaime Garcia Castilla and Pascal Molat amping up the male contingent. I get the feeling that "Double Evil" is only the start of what Elo could do with them. /YKW Review |