Wednesday October 5, 2011 - This morning I went down to one of my favorite dance haunts, Battery Dance studio in Chinatown, where I met choreographer Jeremy McQueen and his dancers as they prepare for their October 13th appearance at the Dance Gallery Festival. Jeremy will be presenting Concerto Nuovo, inspired by George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. In the top photo, Jeremy with dancers Michelle Brugal and Jessica Ryan Greene.
It's always interesting to see a choreographer creating a new dancework to music that's already been used by someone else - especially in this case, since Balanchine's Concerto Barocco is an iconic masterpiece. Jeremy has something very different to say about this music. Using the outer movements of the Bach D-minor concerto, Jeremy's Concerto Nuovo is a stylish and contemporary response to the music.
The pacing is fast, the choreography demanding. The work is set for nine girls, each having an opportunity to shine in brief solo passages (Courtney Ortiz, above). They wear short, frilly white skirts which give the appearance of a flock of cygnets.
Since I still have better luck photographing dancers in stillness than in motion, here are some images of the lovely girls in Jeremy's troupe:
Taylor Gordon, Criscia Richardson
Alyssa Maksym
Michelle Brugal, Jessica Ryan Greene
Ninia Augustin, Courtney Ortiz
Michelle Brugal
India Richardson, Adrianne Chu
Jessica and Courtney
India, Michalle & Adrianne
Ninia
Taylor
Ensemble
A Facebook gallery from this rehearsal will be found here.
