UPDATE: View a gorgeous set of Christopher Duggan's photos from this evening here.
Tuesday March 22, 2011 - Above: Nejla Yatkin whose solo Journey to One: A Tango was one of the highlights of the final performance of this year's Dance from the Heart presentation, an event held annually in conjunction with Dancers Responding to AIDS. The Cedar Lake Theater is one of my favorite dance venues in The City and tonight's programme boasted a strong and diverse lineup of talent:
The performance was seamlessly produced with the briefest of pauses between numbers, excellent sound and lighting enhancing each dance. The varied styles of the participating artists and an appealing succession of musical selections helped make this a truly enjoyable evening.
The dazzling young tapster Cartier Williams opened the evening with his scintillating allegro footwork - at once stylish and subtle - in the solo THE FINAL TEST.
Two Paul Taylor alumni offered vastly different choreographic works: Patrick Corbin's fluent lyricism was beautifully caught by his dancers (Morgan Fogarty, Meggi Sweeney and Gregory Dolbashian) in an excerpt from SHADY, danced to a song by Bjork against shifting colours flooding the backpanel. David Grenke's darkly powerful VESPERS in which a young man mourns his beloved was danced wth compelling physicality by Shannon MacDowell and Brian Runstrom to the doleful Tom Traubert's Blues by Tom Waits. It was exciting and moving to see this duet staged again; Shannon and Brian gave a remarkable performance for which the crowd shouted their approval.
Brian Brooks enjoyed a tour de force with his quirky solo I'm Going to Explode danced barefooted in a suit, and Monica Bill Barnes presented a trio of straight-laced schoolgirls in plaid skirts, bulky sweaters and faux brooches cutting loose in the witty ANOTHER PARADE.
Kyle Abraham's duet for two men danced to MY FUNNY VALENTINE revolved around a sustained kiss - surely one of the longest kisses ever seen onstage. The boys - Chalvar Montiero and Christopher Nolen, wearing gym shorts and tank tops - managed to move suggestively while their lips stayed locked.
Six girls in peasant-style dresses with flouncy red petticoats gave a folk-dance energy to Nelly van Bommel's Fanfarneta, presented here in an excerpt. I want to see more of it! Excellent music by Lo Cor de la Plana underlined the vivid dancing of Ms. van Bommel's young ladies.
A large contingent of youthful dancers from New Jersey Dance Theatre Ensemble wowed the crowd with their lively and very accomplished presentation of Gesto, choreographed by Cherice Barton to music by Barbatuques. Clad in red leotards or briefs, the sixteen kids might have been just out for a romp and a stomp; but their shadow-ringed eyes gave the piece a darker dimension. Excellent work!
Nejla Yatkin's solo begins in silence, evolving into a tango. This stately, gorgeous dancer was mesmerizing as she moved with evocative/provocative grace, manipulating the long train of her silky cherry-red gown. This solo, Journey to One, turned me into an instant fan of Ms. Yatkin. Her music, by Lila Downs and Eliot Goldenthal, was as striking as her dancing.
OtherShore's Sonja Kostitch in a short red frock and ABT's Sascha Radetsky in somber black danced a duet from Edwaard Liang's LIFT, to a Clint Mansell adagio. Sascha's handsome partnering and presence superbly framed Sonja's poetic vulnerability. I'd love to see OtherShore revive this entire piece - a domestic drama, the first thing I ever saw them perform - with Sascha as a guest, of course.
dre.dance provided smooth clarity of movement in a quintet entitled 15 Step from the larger work dre.diohead set - of course - to Radiohead. With the evening moving to its close, the five dancers - Kelly Buck, Samantha Jo Harvey, Mia Malin, Colby Linderman and the irrepressible Tommy Scrivens - gave us a nice jolt of contemporary energy.
Kokyat and I had earlier gone to watch rehearsals of two of the participating artists, David Grenke Performance Projects and OtherShore. Follow those links for images of Shannon and Brian, and Sonja and Sascha (with Edwaard Liang coaching) in studio settings.
Thank you for conveying this wonderful event so clearly. Living in Alaska, we usually experience NYC performances through the eyes of others. I am grateful to see "Dance from the Heart" through yours.
-David
Posted by: David MacDowell | March 24, 2011 at 04:33 PM
I hope someday you'll get a chance to see Shannon and Brian in this duet...it is really very unusual and they are simply great in it.
Posted by: Philip | March 24, 2011 at 05:54 PM