Oberon's Grove

Young People Committing Suicide

It's so pleasant to sit here blogging about dance, music, opera and my adventures in Gotham; it's nice to feel so involved in the world that I write about and to have my wonderful friend Kokyat preserving our experiences with his camera. In general I try to steer clear of politics and religion on my blog, partly because they are such devisive topics and I am so very tired of divisiveness. Also there are countless sites where you can go for every political and religious perspective and where you can join in discussions of those topics and rant, rage or despair to your heart''s content; I prefer my blog to be an oasis of beauty and reason.

But in recent weeks there has been an alarming spate of suicides among young people related to their sexual identity, whether real or as perceived by their peers. Columnist Dan Savage has contributed a video entitled It Gets Better which urges young gay people not to despair, to stay the course and look forward to a time when they can emerge from the shadow-world of mental and physical abuse, embrace the world in all its diverse beauty and - hopefully - live happily ever after.

Dancer/choreographer Bennyroyce Royon has made a short film that young people should watch.

Growing up in a tiny town in the 60s and early 70s, I was terrified. I was so different from everyone else. Even once I began to understand what my 'problem' was there were no answers, and no one to talk about it with. In this situation you are virtually alone. 

Back then, on so many days, I pretended to be sick to stay home from school - and in fact, my fears did make me physically ill so many times. My parents were respected members of the community and my older brother (a rebel-without-a-cause type, but OK since he was straight) and my sister were very popular with their peers. I realize that if not for these facts I would have had an even harder time - I remember once when I was being harrassed an older student passed by and said, "Hey, he's Jeff Gardner's little brother...leave him alone!"  I suppose if I'd had the courage to tell my brother what was happening to me, he would have beat the crap out of my assailants for me and maybe even pulled his jack-knife on them. But how could I talk to him about my feelings? How could I talk to anyone?

Dan Savage's video suggests the possibility that the troubled small-town kids of today might find ways of reaching out to older gay people via the internet. This is a great idea however it is also fraught with risks: if parents find their kids are corresponding with homosexuals - or have even watched Dan's video -  it will make life for these kids even worse. And also, how would an adolescent in rural Texas or a teenaged girl in Utah be able to distinguish between someone genuinely wanting to help them and someone who just wants to get into their pants, or blackmail them?

When I attended the vigil last year for the young people murdered at a gay center in Tel Aviv I was so moved by the plight of some of our local gay youth who told their own stories of being bullied and disowned. Luckily for them here in a major city there are places you can go, people you can turn to. In Smalltown USA there are no such options. 

The Obama administration, after hood-winking gays into supporting their 'Change You Can Believe In' pep talks, continue dancing around gay issues, tossing crumbs from the table here and there and trying to appear sympathetic to gays in such matters as DADT and DOMA while avoiding taking any real leadership position on either matter, and filing court briefs behind the scenes that seem aimed at maintaining the status quo.

I have sometimes asked my sister if she knows of young people in our little hometown (she still lives there) who might be in need of someone to talk to about their sexual orientation. Of course you can just imagine the reaction of parents when they hear that some faggot from the Big City wants to talk to their kid.

Of course another facet of all this is the tacit affirmation that staying in the closet is the best policy; athletes, actors, political figures, dancers, musicians, religious leaders - people who might serve as powerful role models for young gays everywhere - continue to play it straight or at the very least play it ambiguous out of fear of having their careers de-railed by an admission of their sexuality. One newscaster who interviewed the parents of a recent teen-suicide has never stood up and said that he's gay, though it was not all that long ago that you'd see him around the NY club scene. And he had a fling with my ex. So for all his 'concern' he seems to lack the basic courage to be himself and thus maybe help - however indirectly - a young person somewhere in Middle America who is struggling with an incredible burden.

It was in fact only thru the love and understanding of two people - Jeanette and Ann(e) Olga - that I never took the pills I had stashed away and that I am here today to look back on it all and thank them for keeping me alive, even though they didn't know that that is exactly what they were doing.

I have always viewed life as a journey and this song - which I've always loved and which I've been listening to a lot lately - always feels like it was written just for me. Maybe young people will listen to it and come to realize that life in all its beauty and mystery lies ahead of them:

"In my early years I hid my tears
And passed my days alone
Adrift on an ocean of loneliness
My dreams like nets were thrown
To catch the love that I'd heard of
In books and films and songs
Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy
In the place where the real world belongs

Still I look for the beauty in songs...
To fill my head and lead me on
Though my dreams have come up torn and anchored
As many times as love has come and gone

To those gentle ones my memory runs
To the laughter we shared at the meetings
I filled their kitchens and living rooms
With my schemes and my broken dreams
It was never clear how far or near
The gates to my citadel lay...
They were cutting from stone some dreams of their own
But they listened to mine anyway

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say
It could be I've lost my way
Though I keep a watch over the distance
Heaven's no closer than it was yesterday

And the angels are older
They know not to wait up for the sun
They look over my shoulder
At the maps and the drawings of the journey I've begun

Now the distance leads me farther on
Though the reasons I once had are gone
I keep thinking I'll find what I'm looking for
In the sand beneath the dawn

But the angels are older
They can see that the sun's setting fast
They look over my shoulder
At the vision of paradise, the changing light of the past
And they lay down behind me
To sleep beside the road til the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance
Moving farther on"

 

Barber/Stravinsky/LUCE NASCOSTA @ NYCB

Wednesday September 29, 2010 - Above: a Paul Kolnik photo of Craig Hall and Ashley Bouder in Mauro Bigonzetti's LUCE NASCOSTA, the closing work on tonight's programme at New York City Ballet. (Craig unfortunately did not dance tonight though he was announced.)

A programme change brought a repeat of Peter Martins' BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO - one of his best ballets - in place of his charming but less profound GRAZIOSO. Portrait of composer Samuel Barber, above. The excellent cast for the BARBER - Sara Mearns, Megan Fairchild, Charles Askegard and Jared Angle - repeated their roles from the season premiere which I wrote about here. Tonight's performance found all four dancers on top form and violin soloist Arturo Delmoni and conductor Faycal Karoui giving an especially moving and - in the final movement: edgy and witty - performance of the score. Kokyat was thrilled with Sara Mearns' luscious dancing, and he and I both thought Megan Fairchild reminded us of the inimitable Rachel Berman, the great Paul Taylor dancer we met last year at the NYIBC. 

Balanchine's STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO was likewise given an excellent musical rendering by violinist Kurt Nikkanen and Maestro Karoui. During this Fall season we have seen four fascinating ballerinas in this ballet: Sterling Hyltin and Janie Taylor shared one role, and Maria Kowroski and Rebecca Krohn shared the other. Each seemed perfect in her own way, and thankfully we don't need to choose who's better or best: we can simply relish the wealth of star-power on display. Tonight Rebecca danced with Sebastien Marcovici and I wondered if they would develop the same electric current that passed between Rebecca and Amar Ramasar at the earlier performance. They did, making for a exciting rendition of their duet. Janie Taylor is already digging deeper into her role - she was wonderful in her debut in this ballet but she's finding it even more congenial as she repeats it: small nuances of gesture and expression making the ballet more her's. Sebastien and Ask laCour danced powerfully and partnered the girls superbly in the demanding duets.

The Santiago Calatrava setting for LUCE NASCOSTA looks stunning, and the score by Bruno Moretti continues to reveal entrancing facets on each hearing. The sexy costumes (bare chested, black-trousered boys and the girls in bewitching black-ruffled skirts) add to the appeal of this dark yet curiously romantic (in the second half) ballet. An injury to Gonzalo Garcia (hopefully not serious) caused his original role to be danced by Adrian Danchig-Waring tonight, and the unannounced absence of Craig Hall necessitated further changes: Sam Greenberg appeared in the ensembles as did David Prottas who danced very well in the duet with Sean Suozzi; and Christian Tworzyanski took over one partnered passage with Tiler Peck. It also seemed to me that Georgina Pazcoguin and Vincent Paradiso had expanded opportunities which is fine with me since they are two of the Company's most striking dancers.

Tiler Peck and Adrian Danching-Waring open the ballet, drawing us into the the mysterious world of this lost tribe. Their opening passage is danced in silence; Tiler's dancing is so mysterious and intense that we are immediately in her thrall. One motif that threads thru the choreography is of the girls in a rather awkward balance on both pointes which they must sustain. Tiler stayed strikingly still as Adrian moved around her.   

Adrian was nothing short of magnificent: his powerful physique and the intensity of his persona are riveting. In his duet with the gorgeous Tess Reichlen they were smoulderingly powerful. Maria Kowroski continued her top-notch season with a stunning perfomance; her duet with Amar Ramasar was jaw-dropping in its physicality and in the allure of these two spectacular dancers - people were screaming for them at the curtain calls.

Georgina Pazcoguin and Vincent Paradiso are such remarkably communicative personalities onstage and this ballet gives them the perfect opportunity to display both their physicality and their sense of risk-taking while meanwhile simply savoring the erotic undercurrents they bring to their duet passages.

The solos for Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle show us these two beautiful dancers at their most charismatic; Ashley Bouder & Jon Stafford in their duet bring a vivid tension to the partnering which is complex, angular and steamy all at once. 

Maya Collins looks so great in this ballet, always catching my eye. I wish Ana Sophia Scheller had more to do here - I'd love to see one of Mr. Bigonzetti's duets crafted for her and Sean Suozzi for example. The two blonde beauties Lydia Wellington and Sarah Villwock and the smooth-moving, exotic-looing Sam Greenberg were all excellent and I hope they will each have more opportunities to step out in the near future.

As LUCE NASCOSTA ends, the girls glide across the floor into the arms of their men - this striking motif seemed especially impressive tonight. As the music fades away, I felt I was awakening from a dream that I did not want to end.

Walking to the train after the performance, Kokyat captured this image which seems like a tribute to Santiago Calatrava's floating disc and to LUCE NASCOSTA.   

Ballet Class with Deborah Wingert

Wednesday September 29, 2010 - How I wish I could have been taking class with Deborah Wingert this morning at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center instead of just watching. Throughout the 90-minute class I was constantly envying the dancers and wishing that this was how I had spent my life rather than in a cubicle or on the retail floor.

I had watched Deborah Wingert, formerly of New York City Ballet, teach class at the New York International Ballet Competition last summer and I thought 1) she is gorgeous and 2) she gives a really good class. She has a quick eye for details, gives corrections in an authoritative manner and calls out praise when she sees something well-executed. In imparting her technical advice to the students, Deborah uses imagery, both humorous and poetic. She will show the students how bad a pose or move looks when poorly executed and then show them how to make it look beautiful.  Her knack for finding just the isolated element in a flow of movement that is preventing the student from making the best possible effect seems instinctive, though clearly it was honed thru years of studying, dancing and working with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She often refers to these two men in her detailed descriptions of how something should look but it's not mere name-dropping; it's almost as if she was passing on things the two choreographers had just told her a day or two ago.

Enhancing the atmosphere of the studio at every moment was the de luxe musicianship of pianist Mijin Jung. Mijin's playing always seemed to have just the right tempo and her choices of the melodies as well as her excellent technique made her playing seem like a labor of love.

The students were all very fine dancers, including two girls we've met previously at Miro Magloire's New Chamber Ballet: Maddie Deavenport and Lauren Toole. One amazing aspect of watching dancers of this level in class is hearing the teacher call out the next combination: "Let's do this-this-this-this-this-and finish with this, then repeat on the other side." Immediately the students dance it out while I am still mentally at the first "Let's do this..." I suppose after a while these things become second-nature but it always amuses and baffles me how quickly they absorb.

The class flew by and all-too-soon the dancers were applauding the excellent pianist Mijin Jung and Deborah came over to talk with Kokyat and me; up close the white-blonde woman with the phenomenally green eyes becomes even more striking; her speaking voice (both in class and in conversation) is melodious and her tiny injections of wit - and her references to people and ballets out of the past - make her so intriguing to talk with. Coming out into the lobby space, we encountered two Balanchine legends - Allegra Kent and John Clifford - and were introduced to them by Deborah.

Kokyat spent the 90 minutes padding around the studio to catch everything as best he could; the dancers were very gracious about this intrusion into their routine. We'll have his photos here in the next couple of days. The pictures with this article are from my little Lumix. 

Kokyat did me a special favor and immediately processed and sent me this picture of Deborah and Allegra Kent taken right after Deborah's class today. Click the image to enlarge.

Deborah Wingert teaches open class at MMAC (on West 60th Street) on Wednesdays at 10:30 AM now thru December; I urge all my ballet-dancing young friends and acquaintances to take class from her. If I was physically able, I'd be the first person at her barre every Wednesday.

 

Dancing for MORPHOSES: Kristi Boone

Kristi Boone is one of five dancers from ABT who will be appearing with MORPHOSES at the Guggenheim on October 3rd and 4th as part of the museum's Works & Process series.

I asked Kristi to tell me a little about working with MORPHOSES up at Martha's Vineyard this summer in preparation for the Guggenheim performances. She sent me this story:

"The setting here at the Vineyard Arts Project is serene, 
refreshing and perfect for creating ballets and close relationships.
I have really enjoyed the atmosphere that Lourdes has created
for us here. There are five of us from ABT (Isaac Stappas, Misty 
Copeland, Blaine Hoven, Eric Tamm and myself) and 7 other 
wonderful dancers from all over.  We have all had this 
great chance to become  close friends and share together
what we love to do.  

The first two weeks we were here we got to work with Jill Johnson
(formerly of Frankfurt Ballet under William Forsythe), who taught 
us some of the Forsythe technique in a workshop format.  We 
learned so much from her and it was such a pleasure to expand
out of the classical frame.  I hope to be able to use what I
learned and do a Forsythe ballet again soon! 

For the Guggenheim shows MORPHOSES are doing two pieces
by Pontus Lidberg and Jessica Lang. Both have been given the 
assignment of using a piece of music that composer David Lang
created especially for this project at the Guggenheim.  So it's 
unique in that you will see the interpretation of each choreographer
to the same score.  Unfortunately, I have been dealing with a foot
injury so I am only able to be in the first section of Jessica's 
piece. It is a rather hard piece of music to count, which is 
difficult for the choreographers, but I think it's a good challenge
to which the dancers to work together to create a rhythm to stay 
together.
 
I have grown up in American Ballet Theatre.  From the time I was 
15 years old I attended their summer programs, went through 
Studio Company and then to the main company. While I love 
being a soloist with ABT it is so amazing to work with other dancers
and staff in a different environment. It sparks new creativity and a 
more intimate feeling that you can't get in a big company. 

I really have enjoyed being here in Martha's Vineyard dancing with all 
these great artists including my husband. I hope to be able to work
with MORPHOSES again in the future, the friendships I have made 
here I will always hold on to. And even though we are closing in on 
week four here and have a little 'Islanditis' and can't wait to get 
back to NYC, we have enjoyed sharing this experience with each 
other immensely."

MORPHOSES: Vineyard Summer

The dancers of MORPHOSES have spent the latter part of the summer up at Martha's Vineyard preparing for their upcoming performances at the Guggenheim. Above: Eric Tamm and Misty Copeland of ABT who are performing with MORPHOSES here in New York City on October 3rd and 4th.

The performances are part of the Guggenheim's Works and Process series. MORPHOSES will dance two ballets, one choreographed by Jessica Lang and the other choreographed by Pontus Lidberg, both set to the same musical score by composer David Lang.

Watch a studio preview from the Vineyard here.

The full roster of dancers for the Guggenheim performances:

Melissa Barak
Kristi Boone
Misty Copeland
Laura Feig
Gabrielle Lamb
Rachel Sherak
Andrea Spiridonakos
Blaine Hoven
Matthew Prescott
Kanji Segawa
Isaac Stappas
Eric Tamm

Choreographer Jill Johnson gave a master class for the Vineyard Arts Project.

Dancers Rachel Sherak, Andrea Spiridonakos and Matthew Prescott. It must have been a beautiful experience to work on the new ballets in such a gorgeous setting. Now MORPHOSES are set for the Guggenheim performances, and I look forward to seeing the result of their creative process.

Violin Concerti @ New York City Ballet

Saturday September 25, 2010 evening - Ballets set to three great 20th century violin concertos were presented tonight at New York City Ballet. This excellent programme was one of the most enjoyable - and impressively danced - evenings in recent seasons. Faycal Karoui was on the podium and three very fine violinists took turns, playing works of Barber, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

Arturo Delmoni (above) played the gorgeous Samuel Barber piece. Read about this concerto's troubled 'birth' here - it's a great story out of recent musical history. Mr. Delmoni played it gorgeously tonight and the orchestra - save for an errant oboe - sounded wonderful.

A Paul Kolnik photo from BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO above, with this evening's cast: Charles Askegard, Sara Mearns, Jared Angle and Megan Fairchild.

When Sara Mearns stepped into the spotlight I just knew she was going to give an astonishing performance and she certainly did: her dancing had a great sense of freedom and expansive lyricism in the opening movement where she would step into whirling arabesques which she sustained with a floated feeling. Charles Askegard was yet again the ideally attentive cavalier: always right there at the right moment. They look super together. 

The 'modern dance' roles in this ballet were originally created on Kate Johnson and David Parsons when they were members of Paul Taylor Dance Company. It would be fun sometime to see current dancers from the Taylor company in this Peter Martins work; I'd love to see Aileen Roehl and either Michael Trusnovec or Francisco Graciano in this ballet. But NYCB's Megan Fairchild and Jared Angle are so fine in these roles that we really needn't look elsewhere. They dance bare-footed, something you don't often see at NYCB.

Above: tonight's cast in a Paul Kolnik photo. In the second movement, Jared Angle's tortured soul is becalmed by Sara Mearns - up to a point. Then suddenly the tension shifts and it is Sara being subjugated by Jared; what a frisson when her hair comes down! Jared carries her off to some unknown fate and we never see them again.

What a terrific performance Megan Fairchild gave - her Henry Leutwyler portrait above. I've seen her in this ballet before but she's totally upped the level of her performance both as dancer and presence. It's quite a leap from being a perfect Aurora to this role which has built-in elements of humour but is performed with a straight face. Megan nailed it and in the closing allegro section she pestered Charles Askegard to perfection; the audience were laughing but the dancers were dead serious. At the end she clambers up onto Chuck's shoulders, he flips her and drops her to the floor - a tricky passage, expertly timed by the dancers today. Watching Megan Fairchild's performance I thought I'd love to see her in more of the Taylor rep.  

Above: Gonzalo Garcia photographed by Kokyat while dancing with MORPHOSES in Central Park last summer. Gonzalo has chalked up one success after another since joining NYC Ballet but I tend to think that his performance in Jerome Robbins OPUS 19/THE DREAMER is one of those perfect matchings of dancer to role. For all the passion and intensity of his dancing here, Gonzalo always keeps that slight detachment from reality that sets the dreamer apart. A beautifully wrought and expressive performance. His muse tonight was Janie Taylor whose sense of mystery plays so well into this ballet, for we do not know if she is real or simply a figure in the dreamer's imagination. Janie danced beautifully - her third role in two weeks - and she is such a captivating dancer to watch. Excellent dancing by the corps made this performance of OPUS 19 especially pleasing, and violinist Lydia Hong (I cannot find a photo of her!) played with poetic clarity. 

Kurt Nikkanen played the Stravinsky with authority, an ideal mixture of tension and flow, and touches of wit and of gypsy bravado.

In the Stravinsky, Maria Kowroski (above, in Henry Leutwyler's photo) gave a sensational performance, remarkable for the clarity of her technique, her sweepingly high extensions, wonderfully supple torso and a quiet sense of joy in dancing Balanchine's steps in the final movement. In her pas de deux with Sebastien Marcovici, the two dancers kept a current of dramatic energy flowing back and forth. Sebastien looks great - a powerful force onstage - and he and Maria created a whole portfolio of memorable black-and-white Balanchine images in that single duet. 

Sterling Hyltin (photo by Jeff Gurwin) looks so delectably lovely and youthful when the curtain rises; when she starts to dance it's with a real feeling of authority. She has worked up a superb interpretation of this role, not only in her footwork and timing but with facial expressions which transmit both the nuances of the music and her underlying pleasure in dancing Balanchine's phrases. Ask LaCour towers over Sterling like a protective prince; the beautiful moment when they simply stand together and Ask, with a sweeping gesture, shows Sterling the world before her, was especially poignant tonight.

Sterling and Maria exchanged smiles as the finale progressed and the whole Company seemed to be on a thriving mutual wavelength of camaraderie. The individual performances by the corps dancers gave me a lot to watch and as always the watching paid off. Wei was especially happy to see Faye Arthurs dancing in a duet passage with Sebastien right after their first entrance.

Maria, Sterling, Sebastien, Ask and Ms. Hong were enthusiastically applauded and came out for an extra bow at the end of this wonderfully satisfying evening.  

In a dance-related story, an exhibit of costumes from the Ballets Russes opens in London. I hope this collection will eventually be shown in New York City.  

At The Rover With Bennyroyce Royon

Friday September 25, 2010 - We dropped in on dancer/choreographer Bennyroyce Royon (above) at the Rover Studios on Wooster Street where he was working with four dancers in an informal setting.

Nearly half of Benny's studio space had been overtaken by a big collection of all sorts of lamps which had arrived early for an upcoming installation. Undaunted, Benny and the girls got into an exploration of movement thru improvisation and abstraction.

Demonstrating a basic pattern of steps which radiated fluid motion thru the torso and arms, Benny - one of the smoothest movers I've ever seen - got the girls into the flow of things with his easy-going style and positive feedback.

The four women - very different physical types - picked up on Benny's energy and his centered spirit. The room was full of the expressive energy of the body in motion. Kokyat and I really enjoyed the experience; here are some of K's images from the afternoon:

Melissa Peraldo and Benny

Abby Geartner works it (above and below)...

 

Melissa Peraldo

Cat Cogliandro

Carson Reiners

Carson & Melissa

Melissa & Carson

In the weeks since I first met  Bennyroyce Royon this past April, he has presented an evening of dance entitled The Chronos Project, danced with Karole Armitage's company at the Cedar Lake Theater, and went to Aarhaus, Denmark with his colleague Natsuki Arai to dance a Brian Carey Chung duet, LONELY HOUSE.

Today's dancers: Carson Reiners, Melissa Peraldo, Abby Geartner, Cat Cogliandro with Benny.

All photos: Kokyat.

PNB's Director's Choice

Above: Angela Sterling's photograph of Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers Seth Orza and Sarah Ricard Orza in Jiri Kylian's PETITE MORT, part of the Company's Director's Choice programme.

View a slideshow of images from this production here.

Met's New RHEINGOLD Fizzles Out in the End

 

Thursday September 23, 2010 - Just a few notes about the Met's new RHEINGOLD which I saw at the dress rehearsal. Musically, it's an A+ RHEINGOLD with Maestro James Levine seemingly choosing a somewhat faster pace than in his most recent traversals of the score. Wonderful orchestral detail.

Among the many vocal pleasures today, the Loge of Richard Croft ranks high as the most beautifully sung interpretation of that music I can recall ever hearing. His wonderfully clear and plaintive sound fell so melodiously on the ear. Bravissimo! Bryn Terfel's Wotan alternated thunderbolts of tone with lieder-like intimacy - I really enjoyed listening to him - and Eric Owens sang with power and cutting dramatic edge as Alberich. Stephanie Blythe's strongly sung but expressively colourless Fricka made me long for the dynamic and verbal detail such artists as Helga Dernesch, Christa Ludwig and Yvonne Naef have brought to this role at the Met. Grandly sung giants: Hans-Peter Konig and Franz-Josef Siegel. Patricia Bardon, looking a bit like Lady Gaga, sounded fine as Erda and Wendy Bryn Harmer's powerful vocalism as Freia made me wish she was singing Brunnhilde. Kudos to Dwayne Croft (Donner) for rushing up onto the steeply raked platform to summon the lightning bolts with his authoritative "Heda! Hedo!"; his striking vocalism was superbly abbetted by the Met's horns. Adam Diegel made a good impression as Froh and Gerhard Siegel compensated for missing out as Mime last season (due to ill health) with a finely-wrought vocal characterization today. Lastly (firstly, really) Lisette Oropesa, Jennifer Johnson and Tamara Mumford were the vocally attractive and verbally nuanced Rhinemaidens. They were called on for risky flying, some acrobatics and some nice balletic gestures and they dove in - so to speak - with good-natured compliance. There was something a bit ominous about their dark, long fins.

The Robert Lepage production is neither here nor there. Two outstanding 'pictures' linger in the mind: the opening with the mermaid-Rhine daughters drifting up thru the blue depths of the Rhine to perch high above the stage floor for their teasing of Alberich...

...and (above, in Richard Termine's photo) the beautifully evocative walk high above the stage of Wotan and Loge as they head to Nibelheim (an effect dampened, however, by their visible fly-wires). Once in Nibelheim the braziers and billowing smoke are most effective. Excellent screaming from Alberich's hapless gang of slaves.

During much of the afternoon, the singers in rather drab costumes - Ms. Blythe looking especially frumpy in mossy green - simply stand in front of grey walls on grey floors and sing. The characterizations are standard and generalized and there is no galvanizing moment, no memorable stroke of drama.

Among the production's oddities were the first entries of Freia, Donner and Froh (acting doubles, I believe) who slide down a steep ramp head-first - pointlessly. Freia is made to look like Minnie in LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST; when it is time for the gold to be measured out in Freia's dimensions, poor Miss Harmer had to lay in a fussily-arranged hammock while cheap fake-gold armory was heaped upon her. Then she had to sit up to listen to Erda's warning and then lay back down in her hammock til Wotan paid the full price for her release.

I expected fantastical effects for Alberich's transformations into dragon and toad but the dragon was just a huge skeleton shoved out by visible stagehands. The stuffed frog was a droll touch and he was caught by Loge and tossed into a nearby pot and the lid hastily put on. That was pretty amusing.

Apparently a mechanical malfunction caused the finale to look very lame and empty: the gods are reportedly supposed to be seen scaling the wall and heading for Valhalla, but this all went awry. Ms. Blythe, heading down below the set where a double would supposedly take over for the climb, seemed to get stuck between the set's two panels. Her upper body remained visible; the lights went down but she did not move. Then as the grandiose music depicting the entry of the gods into Valhalla thundered from the pit, nothing happened onstage. Panels of rainbow colours flowed across at the back of the set but there was no Valhalla and no gods, neither singers nor doubles.

Even if the ending gets fixed, which it must if the production is to have any kind of meaning, the overall impression is of a rather dull staging - a dutiful telling of the story without the expected visual dazzle. For all the stand-and-deliver vocalism I thought a plain old Bayreuth-style disc could have been used as a setting, saving the Met a bundle. 

There were only a handful of spectators at the rehearsal. Before it started, I was enjoying the sound of the Met's trumpeters warming up with their Wagnerian fanfares and I realized that the lady sitting next to me was none other than Diana Soviero - one of my all-time favorite Violettas and Butterflies. We had a nice chat.

 

Saariaho/Veggetti MAA @ the Miller Theatre

Wednesday September 22, 2010 - After watching a preview of the ballet MAA at the Guggenheim two days ago, I was anxious to see the entire work staged at Columbia's Miller Theatre. For his setting of Kaija Saariaho's 1991 score, choreographer Luca Veggetti has assembled a cast of seven dancers, all but one of them having associations with Juilliard Dance Division. Kokyat and I attended the dress rehearsal where he took these photographs. Click on the image above to enhance.

View a 'trailer' for MAA from the Guggenheim's Works and Process presentation here.  

MAA will be repeated on Friday and Saturday September 24th and 25th; for more information contact the Miller Theater box office at 212-854-7799.

The Saariaho score was played tonight by the remarkable International Contemporary Ensemble, the same musicians who blew my mind with their brilliant rendering of Xenakis' ORESTEIA at the same venue in September 2008. Among those players with outstanding solo moments were harpist Bridget Kibbey, the perpetually brilliant Jacob Greenberg on keyboards...

...violinist Erik Carlson...

...and flautist Claire Chase.

MAA opens with a prelude (entitled Journey) in which the electronified sound of the composer's footsteps impart a sense of mystery and carry us away from the everyday world to the place where we watch the dancers moving to Luca Veggetti's seemlessly flowing, other-worldly style which attunes so perfectly to the ballet's score. Intense movement phrases are interspersed with moments of repose, and the dancers who are not dancing at a given moment might sit or lay down on the floor, or take a seat among the musicians. One especially beautful motif is a sliding movement as the dancers glide from place to place across the floor.

From the opening quartet entitled Gates, the dancers are Craig Black and Chen Zielinski...

...Viktor Usov and Min Young Lee. Such off-kilter balances recur as the ballet progresses.

In her long and marvelously expressive solo (entitled ...de la Terre), Frances Chiaverini (above) is accompanied by Erik Carlson's violin, the sound of which resonates, buzzes and warps electronically.

Above: dancer and violinist: Frances Chiaverini and Erik Carlson performing ...de la Terre.

One of the most captivating musical passages is Forest in which magical sound-textures are achieved by all the instruments playing same-note staccati while the timpani suggests a sexual undercurrent. Some choreographers might have gone in for bursts of allegro dancing here, but Mr. Veggetti instead gives us a stretchy, sexy-tension duet for Casia Vengeochea and Spencer Dickhaus (photo above).

The remaining three movements are danced by the ensemble; here are some individual photos of these young dancers:

Viktor Usov, Min Young Lee

Min Young Lee

Spencer Dickhaus

Casia Vengoecheva with Spencer Dickhaus

Craig Black, Chen Zielinski

The ensemble

Craig Black, Frances Chiaverini and Viktor Usov

As the music shimmers to a hush, the dancers slowly move off (Min Young Lee, above)...

...leaving the stage to Ms. Chase as darkness falls. Click the image to enlarge.

Enhancing the stage picture were the lighting designs of Roderick Murray, sculptural pieces by Moe Yoshida and costumes designed by the choreographer with Deanna Berg MacLean. During the applause, Ms. Saariaho appeared onstage and kissed each dancer and musician in turn.

All photos by Kokyat; some of his black and white images from the dress rehearsal are here.