Yesterday was a high point, even for me. My life right now seems to be a series of fantastic experiences where some of the greatest dancers and dance creators of our time allow me the opportunity to view their work from a unique perspective. It happened in a double dose yesterday when the soon-to-debut BALLET NEXT threw open their studio doors for me in the afternoon; and then I met up with Kokyat who was to photograph an actual performance by the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in the evening.
But beyond the excitement of seeing some of my dance heroes at close range, both events featured live music in ways which enhanced the dancing and made the whole day resonate in a particularly vivid way.
At BALLET NEXT the Company's musical director, concert cellist Elad Kabilio, has gathered together an ensemble of top-flight musicians who will perform all of the music for the Company's debut performance at The Joyce (November 21st) live. So we will experience Mauro Bigonzetti's new duet La Follia, set to Antonio Vivaldi's trio sonata of the same name, as well as music by Mozart, Satie and Max Richter all rendered by these excellent players. But Charles Askegard and Michele Wiles have gone one step further and have asked Mr. Kabilio and his musicians to also perform the familiar Tchaikovsky music from SWAN LAKE, SLEEPING BEAUTY and the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. The result is beyond what one might consider an 'arrangement' of these familar works; watching Michele and Charles rehearsing the White Swan pas de deux, I was struck by the clarity and poetry of the musical rendition to which the dancers responded in kind. In a way, it was like finding the very essence of SWAN LAKE.
In the evening, Lar Lubovitch's newest work CRISIS VARIATIONS took on a special lustre with the score, crafted by composer Yevgeniy Sharlat and inspired by Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, performed by the recently-formed chamber ensemble Le Train Bleu. Flautist/conductor Ransom Wilson and his five keenly-focused young musicians were seated to one side of the stage as the dancers unveiled this dense, darkish Lubovitch work with its central couple - Kate Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis - giving an outstanding performance.
More about BALLET NEXT and Lar Lubovitch's season at BAC will appear here shortly...with photos.