Nazareth College Arts Center: Critics' Blog

Bones in Place, Finishing Touches Soon to Come / Lindsay Reading Korth, Arts Center Director

Sometimes I think moving in is so close I can touch it.  The whole back stage is painted that lovely, rich, mysterious black that theatre people love so well. I spent some time a couple of weeks ago chatting with the guys installing the fly system.  They are from all over the country and spend their lives moving from theatre to theatre installing these pulley systems over proscenium stages. Like most back stage guys they are "techies,"  -- down to earth and capable.  They looked out over the stage and foretold -- "This is going to be a great space for you,  a great improvement."  And I had to agree.  Not long before that I had our farewell dinner with our theatre seniors in Medaille Formal Lounge.  I got so sad -- thinking about saying goodbye --  I had to leave for  a moment.  So I took a walk through the theatre construction.  I just stood on the stage and looked from side to side at our wonderful new wings behind each proscenium   -- so crucial for stage lighting and set changes and so missing before.  And then I breathed in the depth of the stage and out over the emptiness soon to be filled with seats.  I miss our space so much.  And standing there I felt so much hope, and so much reassurance. It really is going to be wonderful. 

So where are we?  Well we have a new entryway!  -- but no front stairs yet.  We have a seating chart and fabric being stretched over new seats -- but nothing yet in installed for the audience.  We have sweeping walls for both the new gallery (it's enormous inside) and the new Lipson Patron's Lounge that kind of hug the Wegman Family Sculpture Garden -- which is all open -- a blank slate for the next step of creation.  So most of the bones are in place -- and the fabric and the wall treatment and the carpet and floors are to come.

And us?

We're getting ansty in our temporary digs --

We're framing the new season, programing the new seating chart into the box office computers, packing up boxes and raring to move -- all the while delighted as we see this incredible gala opening week unfold.

So mostly where we are is at --  WE CAN'T WAIT!

"Fire & Light" - Courageous Contemporary Steps from Rochester City Ballet / Thomas Warfield, Performing Artist and Assistant Professor of Dance, NTID/RIT

Nearly every seat was filled last night at the Canandaigua Academy Theatre where the Rochester City Ballet stepped out in contemporary and neo-classical styled dance. The room was abuzz with anticipation – young kids, young adults, mid-aged and seniors (we could do a better job of outreach to even more diverse groups) all anxious to be swept up by the music and lights and dancers. The mysteriously haunting opening dance an excerpt from “An Intimate Portrait” – Don’t Explain – began with a young woman seated at table with a lamp on it. The interplay of the lamp light and the theatrical lighting was very effective. The dancer Tara Lally danced with graceful conviction. The setting was reminiscent of Michal Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose, the 1911 ballet based on a poem by Théophile Gautier about a young girl who falls asleep and dreams of dancing with a rose. Unlike the Ballet Russes version the woman danced alone (except for the very end when a young man brings her a rose) and instead of von Weber’s music the audience was mesmerized by the distinct vocal delivery of Billie Holiday. The multiuse of the chair and the minimalist movement gave the choreography a real edge and proved to be a good opener. The next dance an excerpt from “Untitled” to music of J.S. Bach didn’t quite reveal a contemporary style, in part, I surmise because the temptation to have the movement phrases coincide with the cadences of the music was irresistible. Bach pulls us in and leads us to where he is going musically so skillfully and persuasively that neither the dance nor the audience can barely resist to follow.

A hand motif pervaded throughout the 3^rd offering of the evening “Bravo Colorado” with exceptional music composed by RPO Pops conductor Jeff Tyzik. Though the dancers all performed with a maturity beyond their young years it is challenging for ballet dancers to move effortlessly in a more contemporary vernacular. The groundedness and the organic use of the back and floor work required in modern dance movement is in a sense in opposition to balletic training which emphasizes an elevated posture and balance. These dancers and the choreographer tonight took up the challenge, took the risk courageously and fully.  A surprisingly harmonious effect was the lime green costumes against the light blue costumes designed by Jamey Leverett, and the equally compelling was the subtle lighting design by Gordon J. Estey.

The first half concluded with an audience favorite “Luma Voce” music by local composer Stephen Kennedy using voices in a symphonic sound collage much the way Bobby McFerrin’s group vocestra does or in the modern dance arena much like the work of Meredith Monk. Some of the vocalists appeared on stage improvising a cappella over their prerecorded music. Woven with the dance it was impressive. This work was the most innovative from choreographer Jamey Leverett, artistic director of the company, who choreographed all the dances of the evening. Dancers were at their most provocative and exquisite during this dance. It was evident they truly embraced what they were dancing. Whether intricately manipulating small flashlight-like lights or the tiny strobe hand held lights while rolling on the floor or leaping through the air the dancers, fully committed, moved throughout the space solid and focused with amazing agility and breadth of meaning. In both this dance and the final “Firebird” They danced not merely steps but truly became vibrant and at times magical. The blue costumed dragonflies/butterflies were especially beautiful in “Firebird” which also had some inconsistent acting at times. Adam Kittelberger, Britany Shinay, Brandon Alexander and Kaitlin Fitzgerald all gave strong, engaging performances. So often when watching dance there are perfectly executed steps, extraordinary feats of physical expertise but an absence of any connection beyond the visceral. Dance is not merely the steps, nor the music with the steps, and not really even the presentation. Dance is what happens in between the steps; the space of meaning after the jeté leap lands and before the preparation for the pirouette turn begins. When dancers can connect every moment to every other moment dance happens.

 

Swan Lake - not quite a bravo! / By Thomas Warfield, Performing Artist and Assistant Professor of Dance, National Technical Institute for the Deaf/Rochester Institute of Technology

I was 15 years old when I first saw the ballet Swan Lake. It was the Bolshoi Ballet Company from Russia performing in Tokyo, Japan. In 1978 I was an exchange student there in Japan and was mesmerized by the story, the dancers, the sets and costumes, Tchaikovsky’s thrilling melodies…  Bravo to Nazareth College Arts Center for championing dance performance in this community. A city of our size and culturally perspicacious deserves to see the best and newest dance; and Nazareth continues to bring it!

Last night’s performance of Swan Lake by the Russian National Ballet Theatre at Pittsford Sutherland High School was very good but not great. It didn’t quite have the same mastery as I remember from the Bolshoi, nor did it present the psychological and enhanced male roles of Nureyev’s 1984 version for the Paris Opera . It wasn’t the one act truncated kaleidoscopic version Balanchine crafted for New York City Ballet in 1951. And it didn’t have the bare-chested male swans in Mathew Bourne’s 1995 boundlessly innovative rendition. This production brought us close to the original revised Marius Petipa and his assistant Lev Ivanov’s  choreography. Originally staged for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia 1895 this version of the ballet is the one that has remained and brought Swan Lake its universal appeal.

What is most evident throughout is Petipa’s choreographic structure, the intricate in sync ensemble work, the lifts, athletic jumps and fast fouettes and chaine turns. As I watched the spacial patterns I couldn’t help but think Busby Berkeley must have studied Marius Petipa’s style of placing dancers in space. The geometric arrangements were wonderful to watch evolve and change.  Much of the corps de ballet were all quite young dancers and in this particular circumstance youth was somewhat detrimental; especially the male dancers whose technique was at times not as secure as their female counterpoints. There were moments of real sustained enchantment however. The dancer who portrayed the jester supplied satisfying comic relief and his a la seconde turns were spectacular! The Hungarian Bride, Italian Bride and Polish Bride were all pleasant though at times there was an inability to soften the chest for more expressive communication.  The swan maidens were beautiful and much of the time danced as a unison ensemble but still lacked genuine expressiveness.

The ballet really took on true artistry with the entrance of Odette (the queen of the swans). Her dancing was fluid with clear lines, precise and stellar movements.   And although the dancing and acting up to that point had been uneven the ballerina redeemed the entire company. The corps danced better in the second half as did Prince Siegfried – there was a more maturity incorporated into his acting and his dancing. This is a alluring ballet and perhaps the most famous of the romantic ballets. Swan Lake has an innate beauty that sweeps us up in the mere aesthetic s but it is also the story – the promise of love and its fleeting grasp that speaks to us. Yes it is classical dance and it’s imperative the choreography is executed with precision and grace but the steps are not enough the characters must also reveal their internal condition so we can recognize our own. This was not often achieved in last night’s performance but was a valiant effort in reaching that artistic transference.

The audience was sold out and the electricity and excitement of the evening was definitely in the air. That collective experience of live dance is impossible to describe you must be there, see it, feel it, be part of it in order to comprehend the transcendence that takes place within.  We forget just how fortunate we are in this community with the professionalism and creativity of Garth Fagan Dance and the Rochester City Ballet and all the other dance performances. They open new horizons and sharpen and challenge our thinking. Whenever the opportunity arises go see dance! Support dance!

The Birds and the Ballerinas / By Sofia Tokar, Nazareth College Marketing Assistant

I do not consider myself particularly well versed in the art of classical ballet. In fact, my experience is pretty much limited to what I’ve seen on Disney’s Fantasia. Click here for Ballet 101: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-0SXXD7bWk

Dad and I arrived just in time for the Russian National Ballet Theatre’s production of Swan Lake – which means we didn’t have a chance to read the program. Thus, I was forced to piece together a coherent story from the Enchanted Kingdom-inspired costumes and Lake Louise-esque scenery.

At the end of Act II, many questions loomed, including but not limited to: Is the Prince a crossbow-toting member of the NRA? (PETA is gonna have a fit.) Is the dude in the sparkly brown suit-and-cape combo supposed to be the Prince’s lust personified? And why is Jimmy Fallon playing the part of the Prince’s Tutor?

Confusion abounded until intermission, at which point everything was illuminated – literally for the other folks as they made their way to the lobby for a stretch, and figuratively for myself as I read the program notes. Huzzah for coherence!

As Jane Austen wrote at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Turns out Prince Siegfried is one such a single man – and finds princesses throwing and pirouetting themselves at him, hoping to woo. To no avail. (Awkward!)

You see, Siegfried has sworn his love to Odette, the Queen of the Swans. The swan maidens and their queen are under a spell cast by a wicked sorcerer. Naturally, there’s something about how true love breaks the curse. But Siegfried falling in lust with an Odette lookalike named Odylle complicates things. ‘Tain’t that always the way…

The solution to the swans’ dilemma? True love. (Why is it always true love?) But of course, the science behind this birds-and-the-bees solution is never explained. Though I suppose the Russian Ballet National Theatre can be forgiven. Their production of Swan Lake really was less talk and more action.