3/7/15 O&A REVIEW: Ronald K Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company 2015 New York City Season

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Ronald K Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company presented their 2015 New York City season February 24 through March 1 at the Joyce Theater. To celebrate the 30th anniversary the company offered two programs, a total of seven works. The season was a joyous retrospective of Brown’s artistry.

Brown’s signature choreographic style is a combination of West African, urban vernacular, and contemporary modern dance. The one thing that became quickly apparent is Brown’s finite movement vocabulary. Almost every work featured stag jumps en tourant, passé in parallel, turned out or ouvert, petite allegro that consolidated all the styles, walking that varied from pedestrian crossings to spirited struts and open West African inspired port de bras.

The collection of dances reminded me of a Jackson Pollack exhibition. At first glance the similarities outweighed the differences, but the longer you experienced the work the more the textural nuances began to emerge. The vocabulary allowed Brown to communicate to the audience through his own dance language, but more important the movement became secondary to his choreographic structure.

The works presented ranged from 1995 when his style became salient to 2014. Instead of producing a new work(s) Brown wisely chose to concentrate on material that had been properly developed. This provided the audience with a clean and concise overview of the evolution of both Brown and the company.

The season opened with The Subtle One (2014) featuring live accompaniment by composer Jason Moran and the Bandwagon. The works amalgam of styles captured the feeling of Moran’s jazz composition. Brown created a visual rendering of the music, which also was a western art form with African roots.

Excerpts from Lessons: Exotica & March (1995) were two excerpts- a duet and ensemble section. The first movement was set to a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. and performed by Annique Roberts and Coral Dolphin. The duet was the most theatrical of all the works presented during the season. Roberts circled a more stationary and centered Dolphin in a protective orbit. The partnering developed into supportive solidarity, and empowerment.

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Dolphin has a quality that transcends technique. Her presence and attack was a combination of amazon power and female fatale attraction. Throughout the entire evening she was able to make you look at her.

The transition from the inviting abstract narrative first section to the pure movement second excerpt was a little jarring. The second section was an early rendering of Brown’s pairing of house infused music with movement. It is amazing how well his vocabulary works at 130 plus beat per minute. The ensemble section contained small groups moving simultaneously and overlapping. This allowed Brown to create a rich tapestry with a focused multiplicity of rhythms.

Grace and Gateway were both choreographed in 1999 for other companies. Gateway choreographed for Philadanco, took the audience on an impassioned excursion. Set on the road to heaven; if this is any indication of what to expect from eternality don’t worry about hot sauce, the “here after” will be a very soulful place.

Grace, designed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, also has an ethereal feeling. The reconstruction of this work was not as successful as Gateway and was probably the weakest link of all the works presented. Clarice Young carried the lead well, this role has become synonymous with two dance Goddesses Renee Robinson (Hera) and Linda Celeste Sims (Aphrodite). The individual performances were all good and the female ensemble delivered an impressive interpretation. The male ensemble, however, lacked the verve and unison required to do this work justice.

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The two solos presented Through Time and Culture (2014) and One Shot (2007, excerpt from Bellows) were both engaging works with different prospective. In Through Time and Culture Brown danced with a ceremonial spirit, as if he was giving thanks. With arms reaching upward and tight yet light footwork we followed Brown until he disappeared into the wings.

Shayla Caldwell entered the space walking backwards around the parameter of the space. First from stage left to right, then from upstage to downstage, she turns and continues stage right to left. When she walked upstage her body and face were finally revealed. Her movement was introverted and contained. Eventually she moves to  center stage; and throughout the solo Caldwell remained regal but vulnerable. Drawing the audience to her until she is finally covered in darkness.

Why You Follow/Por Que Signes, created in 2014 for MalPaso Dance Company, is a testament to Brown’s choreographic and structural prowess. The work is imagery and texturally rich. The subtle transitions, group development, and musicality created true visual excitement. The most commendable quality was the ease Brown was able to build the work into a movement crescendo through the choreographic structure instead of relying on the performer’s bravura.

The Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company 2015 New York City season was a fitting celebration. The company continues to do what it has done for 30 years, to share the gift of dance. This milestone is just one more in a long line of accomplishments; and one thing we do know that the future holds for Brown and the Company is that they will keep making dances.

3/6/15 O&A Shall We Dance Friday: Promethean Fire- Paul Taylor Dance Company

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Promethean Fire (2002) is danced to the music of three of Leopold Stokowski’s famous Bach transcriptions (Opus 116). The ensemble work is one of Paul Taylor’s six ballets set to the music of the baroque master. This excerpt is the first movement choreographed to the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor.   Continue reading

3/4/15 O&A Happy Birthday Swan Lake! : Excerpts from Bolshoi Ballet

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Swan Lake premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on 4 March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the music in 1875–76.  

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The première was not well-received, with near unanimous criticism concerning the dancers, orchestra, and stage sets. Unfortunately Tchaikovsky’s masterful score was lost in the debacle of the poor production, and though there were a few critics who recognised its virtues, most considered it to be far too complicated for ballet. Most of the critics were not themselves familiar with ballet or music but rather with spoken melodrama. Critics considered Tchaikovsky’s music “too noisy, too ‘Wagnerian’ and too symphonic.” The critics also found fault with Reisinger’s choreography which they thought was “unimaginative and altogether unmemorable.

Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin in Act II Grand Pas-de-Deux

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During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Petipa and Vsevolozhsky considered reviving Swan Lake and were in talks with Tchaikovsky about doing so.  Tchaikovsky died on 6 November 1893, just when plans to revive Swan Lake were beginning to come to fruition. Italian composer Riccardo Eugenio Drigo was forced to revise the score himself, but not before receiving approval from Tchaikovsky’s younger brother, Modest.

Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin in Black Pas de Deux

 The revival premièred Friday, 27 January 1895. Although the Petipa/Ivanov/Drigo version was a success, it was given only sixteen performances between the première and the 1895–1896 season and no performances in the 1897 season.

2/28/15 O&A Dance Theatre of Harlem Honors Jessye Norman (repost)

By Walter Rutledge

Jessye Norman and DTH Students Photo Joseph Rodman

The Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) held their 4th annual Vision Gala on Tuesday, February 24 at Cipriani, 110 East 42nd Street. The fundraiser honored opera diva Jessye Norman with the Arthur Mitchell Vision Award. Theodore Bartwink was honored posthumously with the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Family Foundation Medal. For over three decades Bartwink was the Director of the Harness Center for Dance. The Virtuoso Award Honorees were Mario Baeza and Under Armour, Inc. Continue reading

2/27/15 O&A Dance Theatre of Harlem Honors Jessye Norman

By Walter Rutledge

Jessye Norman and DTH Students Photo Joseph Rodman

The Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) held their 4th annual Vision Gala on Tuesday, February 24 at Cipriani, 110 East 42nd Street. The fundraiser honored opera diva Jessye Norman with the Arthur Mitchell Vision Award. Theodore Bartwink was honored posthumously with the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Family Foundation Medal. For over three decades Bartwink was the Director of the Harness Center for Dance. The Virtuoso Award Honorees were Mario Baeza and Under Armour, Inc. Continue reading

2/27/15 Shall We Dance Friday: Diana Vishneva in Moses Pendleton’s F.L.O.W. I, II and III

Shall We Dance

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Diana Vishneva is a Russian ballet dancer who performs as a principal dancer with both the Mariinsky Ballet (formerly the Kirov Ballet) and the American Ballet Theatre. Vishneva’s repertoire includes Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadère, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Firebird and Giselle. She also performs the works of modern choreographers, especially those of George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Martha Graham, Roland Petit and Moses Pendleton. Continue reading

2/24/15 O&A Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center Begins Spring 2015 Season (revised)

By Walter Rutledge 

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Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) begins their 2015 performance /presenting season with its on-the-edge PEEKS-Works in progress choreographers showcase February 26, 7:30pm at The Actors Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn. This on-going, year-round program presents works-in-progress by emerging New York City-based choreographers and dance companies, with a special emphasis on artists of color, women and the LGBT community. The performance is free to the public; of course donations at the door are always welcomed. Continue reading

2/24/15 O&A Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center Begin Spring 2015 Season

By Walter Rutledge 

Feb-26-promo

Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) begins their 2015 performance /presenting season with its on-the-edge PEEKS-Works in progress choreographers showcase February 26, 7:30pm at The Actors Fund Arts Center, 160 Schermerhorn Street in downtown Brooklyn. This on-going, year-round program presents works-in-progress by emerging New York City-based choreographers and dance companies, with a special emphasis on artists of color, women and the LGBT community. The performance is free to the public; of course donations at the door are always welcomed. Continue reading

2/22/15 O&A Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company Begin New York City Season at the Joyce

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Ronald K. Brown and Evidence, A Dance Company begin a one week New York City season Tuesday, February 24 through Sunday, March 1 at the Joyce Theater. The season will mark the 30th anniversary of the company. To commemorate this milestone the company will present two programs of Brown’s signature work.  Continue reading

2/20/15 O&A Shall We Dance Friday: Dances From The Cotton Club

Shall We Dance

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Out and About NYC Magazine is proud to present three dance and music clips from the legendary Cotton Club. Opened in 1923, the Cotton Club on 142nd St & Lenox Ave in the heart of Harlem, New York. The Cotton Club was operated by white New York gangster Owney Madden who used the club as an outlet to sell his alcohol to the prohibition crowd. 

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The Cotton Club at first excluded all but white patrons although the entertainers and most of staff were African-American.  Dancers at the Cotton Club were held to strict standards; they had to be at least 5’6” tall, light-skinned with only a slight tan, and under twenty-one years of age.

The Apollo Dancer sat the Cotton Club Revue in 1938.

Shows at the Cotton Club were musical reviews that featured dancers, singers, comedians, and variety acts, as well as a house band. Duke Ellington led that band from 1927 to 1930, and sporadically throughout the next eight years. The Cotton Club and Ellington’s Orchestra gained national notoriety through weekly broadcasts on radio station WHN some of which were recorded and released on albums. In this clip Duke Ellington and his orchestra perform  Rockin in Rhythm & Bugle Call Rag with dancers Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill from 1933.

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Cotton Club Dancers Bessie Dudley and Florence Hill

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The entertainers who played at the Cotton Club were some of the most widely known blues and jazz performers of their time including Cab Calloway. This is one of Cab’s broadcasts from The Cotton Club in the 30’s after Duke Ellington took to touring on the road. They later became co- house bands at the club.

Cab ( Cotton Club) Calloway 1934 Zaz Zuh Zaz

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Elegant black show girls ditch Opera for Jazz as they get seduced by a hot jazz tune in Red Hot. You’ve never seen this kind of action from the 1930s main stream Hollywood before, it was cut by the Hays Code. Red Hot stars Dorothy Salter and Maurice Rocco.

Red Hot 1930s Cotton Club Show

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The Silver Belles of Harlem are dancers who performed at the Cotton Club during its heyday era. Group members include Marion Coles, Elaine Ellis, Cleo Ellis, Fay Ray, and Bertye Lou Wood were featured in the 2006 documentary directed by Heather Lyn MacDonald, entitled Been Rich All My Life.

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