Since the Mariinsky Ballet's performance was cancelled in April, it had been months since I had seen a dance performance at the Kennedy Center! I am bummed that I'm missing the New York City Ballet's performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream (my favorite Shakespeare play), but I did get to see their "Visionary Voices" repertoire last night, which was very good!
Emanon - in Two Movements
Image found here
The first piece featured eight dancers: four women and four men. The choreography came from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, so I was a little worried that the piece would be too modern for me (think of people writhing on the floor, having epileptic fits, etc.). But it wasn't like that at all! I will admit that I dozed off a few times while watching (not because I didn't like it! I had woken up before 6:00 a.m. that day and was just so tired...), but what I saw was very pretty (although repetitive at times; it seemed like each time I woke up I was watching the same dance moves again and again). I thought the dancers did a great job, although I think Alexa Maxwell was dancing with Victor Abreu, and she wasn't great at connecting with him as a partner; I felt like she was paying more attention to the audience than to him. But otherwise, I liked what I saw.
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| Jermaine Terry, a dancer with Alvin Ailey, designed the purple costumes. Image found here |
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| The dresses with their pleated skirts were so pretty! I would have worn all of them! Image found here |
Here's a video featuring some of this dance, along with an interview with Jamar Roberts, the resident choreographer for Alvin Ailey:
SUSPENDED ANIMATION
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| Image found here |
This piece was like watching a fashion show! The costumes were created by fashion designer Christopher John Rogers, and they were works of art (and featured at the NYCB 2021 Fall Fashion Gala)! While the costumes certainly made an impact, I am not sure if they added or took away from the dance. I was so focused on the clothes instead! The costumes were so colorful, which did not match the slow, somber music. Perhaps this was done on purpose: if the music had been light and fun, perhaps we as an audience wouldn't have taken the costumes or the dancing seriously. I wonder which came first: the choreography or the costumes? Did the costumes truly lend themselves to the dancing? Or did they obstruct the movement of the dancers?
There were four separate parts to this piece, choreographed by Sidra Bell, who has her own dance company in New York.
i. the object is to slip: This is the part that really felt like a runway. As each of the dancers came on stage, you were more enamored with the latest costume than the last. There were big sleeves full of ruffles, hats that looked like lampshades, a green poof that reminded me of a mushroom... each one was special and unique, and what vibrant colors! It was actually quite a challenge to tell the men and women apart because they were all wearing these over-the-top, flamboyant designs. Who was who?
ii. communion: When the dancers returned to the stage, gone were the poofy sleeves and the exaggerated skirts. Now they were only wearing leotards that had been at the base of the extravagant outfits, leaving them looking more like acrobats than ballerinas. The bright colors and rhinestones remained, and the men's butts actually looked better in the tight onesies! Some of the movements were a bit too robotic for my taste, but it's all for the sake of art, right?
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| Even the men's outfits featured corset-like pieces and garter belts. Image found here |
iii. protrusion: This was a pas de deux between Emily Kikta and Peter Walker. I have to admit that I don't even remember this part... Maybe I was still thinking about all the colors! But if I'm right about the distinction between the parts, I think this one started off with no music, which was quite jarring. Any time I hear a pointe shoe hit the stage too hard, I cringe a little...
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| Image found here |
iv. Gatherings of the Future: When all of the dancers stood in a line creating a rainbow, it finally hit me: was this piece shown in June to align with Pride Month? That would explain some of the gender bending, not only with the costumes, but also with some of the movements, like men lifting other men during the dance. I also noticed that some of the moves almost felt like the dancers were on balance beams, doing gymnastics instead of ballet.
When we went to intermission after this piece, the man in front of me said to his wife, "Not what I would want to wear." It's so annoying when older generations can't understand that everyone should be able to wear what they want, and that fashion isn't (shouldn't be?) binary. I always think of the Hunger Games Capitol, where the men and women all wear make-up, fun colors, big hair, etc. Why does this only have to be the case in fiction?
Partita
Image found here
This one was very different, and a far cry from traditional ballet, but I really liked it! It was choreographed by Justin Peck, the NYCB's resident choreographer and one of the company's former dancers. The dancers wore athletic clothes, including white sneakers, which emphasized the true athleticism of dance. Such energy! And the ballerinas didn't look so sickly-thin with real clothes on! The music, called Partita for 8 Voices, was composed by Caroline Shaw, and seemed to be a mix of a capella and choir singing; it makes sense that there were eight dancers featured in this piece. Sometimes the dancers would even move as a group, which reminded me of a capella performances in college.
I think my favorite part was the female pas de deux featuring India Bradley and Claire Kretzschmar. I felt like I was watching an extended CoverGirl commercial or something!
The set was also beautiful. Eva LeWitt created the ribbon circles that fell from the ceiling:
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| Image found here |
Having not seen this dance company for nearly three years due to COVID-19, I am so glad I got to see this performance! Read my past blog posts about when I saw the New York City Ballet perform at the Kennedy Center in previous years:
You can still buy tickets to see this dance company later this week! Purchase tickets here.
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