Saturday January 7, 2009 - Ariel joined me for my second visit to Miro Magloire's New Chamber Ballet at City Center Studio. Miro's performances always feature live music and have the effect of a wonderful evening of chamber music with a visual context; music and dance are equal partners at New Chamber Ballet and tonight the impassioned playing of violinist Ariana Kim and pianist Melody Fader set the evening off on a perfect trajectory with their silken rendition of Dvorak's Four Romantic Pieces. Their playing was in fact so rapturous that I felt tears welling up. Then the three dancers - Emily SoRelle Adams, Elizabeth Brown and Emery LeCrone - appeared. Miro's choreography requires strong classical technique, deep musicality and expressiveness and the courage to dance full out in a relatively small space. He is fortunate that his four ballerinas (Madeline Deavenport is the fourth) are all radiantly confident and each highly individual in her own right. And each one reminds me of a corrresponding ballerina at New York City Ballet.
In KLAVIERSTUCK the grand piano becomes part of the choreography. Wheeled to the center of the room (by Miro himself) the piece opens with Ms. Fader playing the percussive Stockhausen score with Emily SoRelle Adams and Emery LeCrone seated quietly next to her. Then the dancers begin to explore the piano: caressing it, laying an ear against it, balancing with its support. They dance away from it briefly, always returning. It's Miro's tribute to the importance of the piano in his creative life.
In MONOLOGUE Elizabeth Brown dances a solo to Morton Feldman's Extensions 1 and Projections 4; the angular, plucked, pingy music is played with authority by Mlles. Kim and Fader. Ms. Brown keeps the edgy feeling but humanizes it with her expressive movement. As if eavesdropping, two of her colleagues hover near the wall, nearly motionless.
All of the simple, elegant costumes for the programme were designed by Candice Thompson, a regular contributor at The Winger. Candice surpassed herself with the backless black gowns (with trains) for the closing work, VIDUITY (photo by Kristin Lodoen Linder) by choreographer Constantine Baecher. Ms. Fader at the piano played the Janacek piano sonata with a sense of passionate yearning as the four women opened the work with a unison sequence of ritualistic gestures indicating loss and grieving. The visual image here is really stunning, and the four dancers have beautifully expressive backs. Then they step out of the long skirts and dance - a solo, a duet and another solo - in black tights; the movement is less constrained than in the prologue but always underpinned by a feeling of tender regret. Donning the skirts again the quartet return to more formalized mourning, each girl clutching a small black handkerchief. This visually resplendent piece, the movement richly enhanced by both the pianist and the designer, left a vivid impression. I want very much to see it again.
All evening the playing of Ariana Kim and Melody Fader was remarkable for clarity and depth of feeling. I was thrilled to be sitting next to New York City Ballet's Megan LeCrone but of course I was far too shy to strike up a conversation with her.
Miro's next performances are set for March 27th and 28th at the City Center Studios. For up-close dance watching and inspired music-making, I'll be there for sure.
Comments