Thursday June 24, 2010 - Over the past few months, Kokyat and I have spent quite a bit of time in the studio with choreographer Lydia Johnson and her beautiful troupe of dancers. Tonight at Ailey
DUSK is Lydia's two-part Gorecki ballet. It opens with the women in long black skirts moving with ritualistic gestures and observed by the men. Danced to a movement from the composer's harpsichord concerto, the mood is unsettled despite the calming rites of the women in black.
In the second movement, darkness gives way to quietly glowing light and the music ('Already it is dusk') becomes reflective and eerily poignant. Above, in front: Joshua Kurtzberg and Laura DiOrio.
A series of duets evoke relationships, real or remembered. Above, Eric Vlach and Jessica Sand.
Ensemble.
Josh Kurtzberg and Laura DiOrio.
Double duet: Jesse Marks and Kerry Shea, Jessica Sand and Eric Vlach.
In the end three women reappear in the black skirts, like Fates who have come to preside over the twilight that descends. Throughout the work, the beauty and intensity of the individual dancers gave the choreography and the music a depth of expression that is so typical of this Company.
THE END OF THE MOVIE is Lydia Johnson's witty yet thought-provoking trio for three women which was created in 2003 to three songs by Cake. Above, Laura DiOrio dreams as Erica Schweer and Lisa Iannicito pose and preen in tandem.
Like chorus girls or Hollywood starlets, Erica and Lisa go thru an in-sync routine in the leggy costumes and patent-leather pumps pumps.
Later the girls lounge around, day-dreaming...though they are never still for long:
Erica Schweer and Laura Di Orio.
The end of THE END OF THE MOVIE.
Following the intermission, Lydia's newest creation - an untitled work set to solo violin music of J S Bach - was premiered. Kokyat and I have watched this piece evolve from its earliest stages when Lydia began creating it to music of Arvo Part. In the finished work tonight, so many of the elements we saw being sketched out in rehearsals came into focus.
In Jessica Sand's simple and attractive black-and-wine costumes and lit atmospherically by Renee Molina, the choreography can seem as active or as calmed as the music that inspires it. A low platform at the rear of the stage creates a second level of activity and sets up interesting partnering sequences.
The dancers move thru the music with quiet grace and are often featured in solo passages. One of the most memorable moments in the work is a duet for Robert Robinson and Jesse Marks which has a spiritual sense of brotherhood and mutual support (above, the boys in a rehearsal photo).
The evening ends with DREAM SEQUENCE, Lydia's 2008 'after-hours' nightclub piece to songs sung by Dean Martin. When Lydia first told me about this work it sounded like something I would not like, but it's actually a delight. Has there ever been any pop singer to equal Dino for sheer smoothness of delivery? The dancers looked great: boys with their jackets and ties off and the girls in richly-hued satiny party frocks. Duets and ensembles evolve showing us the individual personalities of the dancers; an unforeseen shift in the structure of the work was handled so seamlessly that I doubt anyone in the audience noticed. Kudos to all: Jessica Sand, Kerry Shea, Laura DiOrio, Lisa Iannacito, Erica Schweer, Laura Barbee, Eric Vlach, Robert Robinson, John-Mark Owen, Jesse Marks, James Hernandez and Joshua Kurtzberg: a great group of dancers.
The evening opened with IN CONVERSATION, the work that introduced me to Lydia Johnson and her dancers back in March 2009 and which remains my favorite among her creations. A separate blog entry with Kokyat's photos from this work will be found here.
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