Cedar Lake Spring Season

Monday June 2, 2008 - Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet invited the NYC area dance bloggers to the opening of their new programme. (Photo from Jo Stromgren's SUNDAY, AGAIN by Carina Musk-Anderson). Before curtain time, we met with Cedar Lake's director Benoit-Swan Pouffer and choreographers Jo Stromgren and Angelin Preljocaj. They discussed such things as what they look for in choosing dancers, and how they approach setting one of their works on a company other than their own. Mr. Stromgren has a theatrical company and is known for his stagings of Ibsen; Mr. Preljocaj's 24-member dance company is based in Aix-en-Provence. I recalled to him his unusual and memorable 1997 work for the New York City Ballet, LA STRAVAGANZA. He told me his Company will appear in New York City in 2010. I'm already planning to be there. We were then escorted to our seats and were pleased to find Matt Murphy, Ariel and Taylor had all arrived and that NYCB's Sophie Flack, Teresa Reichlen and Justin Peck and ABT's David Hallberg were also there. I love seeing dancers visiting their colleagues' performances in other venues. It makes the diversified world of dance world seem more unified. We were just getting comfortable in the front row when one of our seats was needed to accommodate someone from the New York Times. I volunteered and ended up having a delightful time sitting next to Mr. Preljocaj. I thought also that the dances were probably more impressive from being back further from the stage and at an elevated position.

Taylor has written about the performance here. And Evan here.

The house lights were still on when Jason Kittelberger appeared onstage for the opening work, Nicolo Fonte's LASTING IMPRINT.  As the house lights grew dim, the stage grew brighter, thus drawing us in. The dancers came out one by one and stood still. Then in a long segment danced in silence, they move with resonating slowness, striking poses which called for great control of the body. In a flash the stage is bathed in red light and a dynamic Steve Reich score strikes up: his 'Triple Quartet'. The Cedar Lake dancers course thru the music in powerful combinations with that edgy feel that is their trademark. Swan said before the show that he holds open auditions when he needs dancers and that he looks for individuality and strong personalities: he certainly has a good eye because the Cedar Lake Dancers are among the most powerful, sexy, athletic, graceful and moving that I've ever seen. And I've seen an awful lot of dancers in my day. The central part of LASTING IMPRINT is a sustained solo for Jason Kittelberger. Jason is an iconic presence, a tall and rather ominous-looking man with a magnificent physique and the coiled power of a mythical beast but it's all underpinned by classical ballet technique so that his dancing has a kind of powerful resonance that is - overused word but here it is: awesome. Jason smears his torso with white paint and later joins in a duet with Jessica Coleman Scott (photo/Paul B. Goode) in which her vulnerability and great flexibility contrast and compliment Jason's savage grace. In the end, the only sound is the dancers breathing.

If dancers of the calibre of Kristen Weiser, Ebony Williams, Jessica Lee Keller, Oscar Ramos, Jubal Battisti, Christopher Adams and Nickemil Concepcion might be referred to as a corps, then it's fortunate the Company that can boast of it. They are actually an array talent that keep the eyes darting madly from one to the other. You are always afraid you're going to miss something at Cedar Lake.

I hate to get 'artsy' on you, but I was very taken with this painting called THE ANNUNCIATION by Henry Ossawa Tanner which sort of captures the feeling of the Virgin Mary's mixture of fear, curiosity and rapture when the Angel appears to her. This is almost exactly the opening pose - and mood -  which we see in Angelin Preljocaj's L'ANNONCIATION. Staged as a long stylized duet for Mary and the Angel,  this is a very powerful piece.

Jessica Lee Keller as Mary and Acacia Schachte as the Angel conveyed this world-altering event with great clarity of movement. Jessica is both anxious and accepting; she doesn't know what is happening to her but she knows she has no say in it. Her sense of lyricism and her plaintive beauty were moving. Acacia ('like a razor' Mr. Preljocaj said to me) gave an extraordinary performance both in her strong, sustained dancing and her gloriously rapt sense of mission. The score starts with Vivaldi but then is enmeshed with the sound of a camera shutter and the chattering of small children. Later a sort of mechanical 'music of the spheres' underlines the resolute nature of the Angel's errand and its inevitability. As this unholy noise rises to a peak, the Angel kisses Mary in a moment of almost unbearable tenderness. That kiss unleashed all the glory and terror, the agony and the ecstasy that have dominated Western civlization for two thousand years. The audience lavished Jessica, Acacia and Angelin with applause and cheers and the girls had to return for an extra bow.

After another intermission and a glass of champagne Cedar Lake scored its third hit of the evening with Jo Stromgren's witty, edgy and very 'dancey' SUNDAY, AGAIN. A quote from the choreographer: "...there is always the irritating and inevitable Sunday which forces couples to test their coexistence abilities. Leisure time is not good for certain types of relationships." That is certainly the case for Jason Kittelbeger and Acacia Schachte who look completely bummed out at being home  together on a Sunday. They seem to want to go outdoors and play badminton - they keep opening the curtains to check the weather - but instead they get on one another's nerves until Jason gets a bit brutal. Now all the Cedar Lake dancers begin to blend into a series of vignettes; a badminton net, a racquet and a folding chair are lugged about; groups of dancers march straight across the stage sometimes pausing to cajole, lift, embrace or annoy one another. Harumi Terayama sits with a quizzical look on her face, then suddenly extracts a badminton birdie from her mouth. This incites Jubal Battisti to chase her around. Their playful duet is interrupted by more comings and goings. Christopher Adams and Ebony Williams are at some sort of standoff; Ebony in her white tennis frock could be cousin to Serena and Venus. Jason rudely spits on Ana-Maria Lucaciu who is consoled by Jessica Coleman Scott; the two girls almost get lovey-dovey but then Jessica starts frisking Ana-Maria and extracts yet another birdie from yet another orifice. Finally, a moderately happy couple: Nickemil Conception and Jessica Lee Keller - but they are swept aside as a big badminton game finally commences: everyone is playing - men vs. women - and there is much vocalization from the dancers.

Weaving thru all this narrative is a lot of actual dancing: turns, jumps, catches, lifts all executed with full-tilt vitality by the sensational Cedar Lake dancers. Jon Bond, Matthew Rich and Golan Yosef again couldn't be considered 'supporting' dancers: they're too necessary. The Bach music and really striking, glowing-colour lighting enhance the work and make it both an entertaining and thought-provoking finale for a tremendous evening of dance. I want to go back and see this programme again especially as the roles in the Fonte and Preljocaj will be alternated during the run which continues thru June 15. (The Stromgren photos by Ms. Musk-Anderson from the Oslo premiere of the work).

Comments

[jolene]

You have to share with us more of your conversation sitting next to Preljocaj! I saw his "Anunciation" about 10 years ago with my dance criticism seminar (all three of us, including the professor :) - in fact, it was the first dance criticism I wrote! I was very taken with the piece, and I still remember it today. His company will be in northern California next year, and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

[Philip]

Well, I have to tell you Jolene that I am probably the worst conversationalist in the world. I'm fascinated by people like Angelin Preljocaj but whenever I get into a situation like this, I completely freeze up. Of course I thought of a million things to say to him or ask him...AFTER the opportunity was squandered. My usual feeling when I am talking to creative, talented people is: "He's thinking I'm a complete jerk!"

Angelin was extremely charming and his speaking voice is so melodic. He put me at ease as much as he could. But I still felt tongue-tied.

This is why I was kind of dreading the pre-curtain session where we bloggers got to meet Angelin, Jo and Swan. Luckily there were some more talkative people in the room and so we kept it going and I did manage to actually say things. But I think the bottom line is: I write because I can't talk.

Do you still have the piece you wrote about L'ANNONCIATION? I'd love to read it.

[M]

Hey Philip! Just wanted to thank you for volunteering to move from the first row. I would have moved (as I would have loved to sit in further away from the stage) but I wanted to stay with my friend. Thanks again!!! Great to see you last night.

[jolene]

Gosh, I would love it if I still had my first review, but unfortunately I don't. I just remember it took me a full day to write it, it was one of the hardest assignments of my undergraduate career! But a great start to writing dance reviews. :) Thankfully it was a substantial piece to write about. Who can ever forget the complete surrender of that kiss??

I know what it means to be tongue tied esp to people who I highly respect! I don't know what I would have said. :)

[tonya]

Thank you for the great and very detailed review. I feel like I was there! Still sad I couldn't have been in two places at once... And, I wholly echo your "I write because I can't talk" line!

[Philip]

LOL...

It's a great programme and I'm hoping to see it again.

[arman]

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