Above: dancer J'Michea Walker of Nomad Contemporary Ballet
Tuesday September 11, 2012 - Following the early-morning performance of Table of Silence at Lincoln Center, I headed down to the Battery Dance studios where dancer/choreographer Ursula Verduzco had invited me to watch a rehearsal of her new work for Nomad Contemporary Ballet. It will be shown at the Company's upcoming performances on September 22nd and 23rd at the Ailey Studios. Ticket information here.
Ursula (above) is the driving force behind the exciting Latin Choreographers Festival which, earlier this year, put forth a particularly strong programme. That's where I first encountered Nomad Contemporary Ballet: dancers Erin Ginn and Eric Vlach performed a Bach duet choreographed by the Company's director Kristen McGrew. I knew I wanted to see more.
Arriving at Battery this morning I found Ursula working on her new piece, entitled The Game and set to music by Dead Can Dance. Several dancers I know were in the studio, and Kristen McGrew was also there. After Ursula's rehearsal ended, I stayed on to watch Kristen's rehearsal: she is using Vivaldi, and her work contrasts well with Ursula's. There are three other choreographers (Alexei Agoudine, Janet Atallah and Adrienne Hurd) on the programme so it should be a very interesting mix. And the dancers are really good.
Here are some pictures I took at the rehearsal:
Ursula Verduzco
Alessandra Giambelli
J'Michea Walker
Bethany Lange
Eric Vlach
Shannon Maynor
The ensemble rehearsing Ursula Verduzco's The Game
Kristen McGrew
Eric Vlach and Jung Eun Jung in an adagio from Kristen McGrew's Vivaldi ballet
Jung and Eric
Jung & Eric
Jung Eun Jung
Erin Ginn
Joel Levy
Shannon Maynor
Bethany Lange
Jung Eun Jung
Eric Vlach and Alessandra Giambelli
I'm really looking forward to seeing this performance; if the other works on the programme come up as strongly as Kristen's and Ursula's, it should be really enjoyable.
