Oberon's Grove

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Autumn 2011

Sunday November 20, 2011 - The Columbia Ballet Collaborative presented works by five choreographers for their Autumn 2011 performances. Above: dancers Caitlin Dieck and John Poppe in Claudia Schreier's CHACONNE, a dress rehearsal image by Kokyat. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Tonight's was the third and final showing of the programme; the first two evenings took place at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center - sellout crowds were reported - but tonight the setting was Streng Studio up at Barnard College. Having watched many rehearsals in this studio, I was wondering how it would fare as a performance venue but it turned out very well: the room was hung with dark drapes and the lighting, though not complex, was atmospheric. Audience members jammed one end of the studio with the standing-room-only ambience creating an added sense of anticipation; the ballets were observed in expectant silence and the dancers dealt smoothly with any spacial limitations they might have been feeling. We were as close to dance as one can be without actually taking part.

Lisa de Ribere's SILENT WOODS celebrated the classic ballet style with music (Anton Dvorak) and dancing that immediately caught the sweeping romance of a 19th century ballroom. But the dancers, clad in sleek black, looked very contemporary: above, John Poppe and Rebecca Azenberg. Ms. de Ribere, steeped in the lyric grandeur of Balanchine and Petipa during her dancing career at both New York City Ballet and ABT has a natural instinct for form and elegance but her work is forward-looking and fresh. And the music!

Lisa's dancers - Dennis Dacarett and Serena Mackool (above) along with Rebecca Azenberg, John Poppe, Meredith Hinshaw, Ariana Lott, and Rachel Silvern - had the technical and expressive abilities to show off the choreography to fine effect. It's a work I would like to see again.

What better gift could a dancer receive than to have a work created on him by an outstanding choreographer, with the added advantage of being set to a musical masterwork? This is the gift that Richard Isaac (above) received from Emery LeCrone with the solo INTERSTICE; set to the prelude of Bach's cello suite in D-minor. In darkness, two long sheets of white fabric have been stretched across the stage; the lights slowly come up and the bare-chested dancer steps into the space. Moving at first in silence, Richard seems to be embarking on a solitary ritual. As the music crystallizes out of thin air the dancer begins a restless, questing dance in which the fabric becomes his habitat. I saw this solo in rehearsal a few days ago; it looks really incredible in the theatrical setting, and Richard gave a memorable, powerful performance.

Richard Isaac in Emery LeCrone's INTERSTICE.

Choreographer Bennyroyce Royon used the evening's largest complement of dancers in his newest creation, TABU. Erin Arbuckle, above, was one of ten dancers in this piece, a mysterious and sexy celebration of the darkish rites of a tribe of nocturnal creatures. Clad in leather, lace and evocative facial make-up, the dancers move to the music of Zoe Keating in this nightmarish ballroom where sexual tensions simmer just below the surface. But these denizens of the night may be too far gone to savour the passionate sensuality which surrounds them.

John Poppe and Lauren DeMaria in Bennyroyce Royon's TABU; John danced in three of tonight's works. For Lisa de Ribere and Claudia Schreier he was in classic cavalier mode; for TABU he switched gears and got into the silky fluid moves that are Bennyroyce's trademark.

Also appearing in Bennyroyce's TABU were Dan Pahl and Clinton Edward Martin (above), Rebecca Azenberg, Serena Mackool, Rebecca Walden, Gretchen Schmid and Delaney Wing.

CHACONNE is the second work by Claudia Schreier that I've seen and both times she has impressed me with her sense of structure, her excellent musical choices, her individualized use of the classical vocabulary and her ability to challenge her dancers while still making them look good. In this evening's CHACONNE, Bach's partita #2 serves as the map for Claudia's finely-paced choreography. John Poppe, above with Alexandra McGlade in an extended duet passage, jumped back effortlessly from his punky stint in TABU to partner Claudia's four ballerinas: Ms. McGlade, Caitlin Dieck, Lauren Alpert and Margaret Cowie.

Lauren Alpert, John Poppe and Alexandra McGlade in Claudia Schreier's CHACONNE. 

Choreographer Laura Ward delves into themes of dreams and the mystique of sisterhood in her ballet SHE SAID WAIT. The work, set to music of Michel Ayello, opens with the slumbering sextette of dancers, above.

They awaken (Audrey Crabtree-Hannigan, above) to create shifting relationships as they move thru the shadowed dreamscape in partnered passages.

Lauren DeMaria in Laura Ward's SHE SAID WAIT. In addition to Lauren, Audrey, and Brianna, the cast for the Laura Ward piece featured Eleanor Barisser, Lucia Elledge and Hannah Rosner.

The Columbia Ballet Collaborative are celebrating their 5th anniversary; the organization has grown considerably since they started out, and so has their audience. Tonight's very strong showing and the dedicated work of the participating choreographers and dancers, as well as those behind the scenes,  indicate that it's a winning proposition all round.

Dress rehearsal photography by Kokyat, with my thanks...as ever. On the spur of the moment Kokyat was given permission to use his Leica during the actual performance; I'm anxious to see the results.

Lar Lubovitch @ BAC - Program B

Saturday November 19, 2011 - Tonight's programme presented by the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company at the Baryshnikov Arts Center opened with a revival of MEN'S STORIES and also featured CRISIS VARIATIONS, the latest Lar Lubovitch creation which is performed with live music. In the above rehearsal photo by Kokyat, dancer Attila Joey Csiki who appeared in both works tonight. Click on the image to enlarge.

Attila could be said to epitomize the Lubovitch style which calls for extraordinary fluidity of motion, an innate sense of lyricism, and a great depth of personal commitment as well as vast reserves of sheer physical energy. Having watched this dancer in both solo and Company rehearsals and in master-classes where he passes his passion for and knowledge of the choreographer's iconic 'look' on to receptive young dancers, I've come to admire him greatly.

In MEN'S STORIES, Attila takes on a central role; but in fact this piece calls for an ensemble of nine spectacular male dancers and that is exactly what the Company delivered tonight.

MEN'S STORIES is subtitled 'A Concerto in Ruin'; composer Scott Marshall has crafted an audio collage which combines his own original music with various 'echoes' of fragments of older pop songs and spoken narrative; this sonic template is then laid over familiar passages from the Beethoven piano concerto #5 and the resulting 40-minute sound-tapestry sets the stage for the dance which veers from ecstatic to sarcastic, from vanity to uncertainty, from camaraderie to solitude. Male primping, staking out territory, passing attractions, revealing insecurities, boasting, jiving, celebrating and just plain dancing...all of this and more play into the work while voices tell of boys-to-men rites of passage, the birds and the bees, a sultry woman looking for the man of the moment.

Clad at first in black tail-coats, the dancers in MEN'S STORIES have an after-hours elegance about them. The lighting is infernally dark, and there's something vampiric about these nocturnal animals. In the course of the work, each dancer will have his opportunity to step out from the ensemble and 'speak' to us one-on-one. Aside from Attila's flourishing radiance, we have the imperial Clifton Brown and the punky intensity of Jason McDole. We have the manly self-assurance of Brian McGinnis and the boyish appeal of Reed Luplau. We have the tall, long-striding, bright-eyed Milan Misko and the flashing classical dazzle of Carlos Lopez. We have the poetic beauty of Nathan Madden and the mercurial moods and vibrant moves of Jonathan Alsberry. Both as dancers and as personalities, these men keep us engaged and curious: do their stage personas reflect their real-life characteristics? That is a question which I have often pondered while watching dance.

While Ransom Wilson's chamber ensemble Le Train Bleu delivered another fascinating performance of the score for CRISIS VARIATIONS (composer Yevgeniy Sharlat channelling Liszt) I was tonight better placed to concentrate on the dancing. This is another dark dream, with moments when the dancers slump into heaps of slumberers only to rise again and move haltingly into the light, bedazzled. Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge, Jason McDole, Attila Joey Csiki and Reed Luplau at times burst into wild combinations which border on the manic, but then subside again as the central couple - Kate Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis - continue an on-going pas de deux that veers from jagged passion to statue-like stillness. At the end of CRISIS VARIATIONS, Kate lies trapped under a pile of spent dancers; she reaches out to us imploringly but then is suddenly sucked into the gloom, vanishing from sight.

Kokyat was photographing during the performance; some of his images will appear here soon.

Tonight's performance played to yet another sold-out house; Lubovitch fans and admirers of his super-dancers will be glad to know that the Company will be at Manhattan Movements and Arts Center from February 10th thru 12th, 2012.

Lar Lubovitch @ BAC - Program A

Friday November 18, 2011 - Above: Leigh Lijoi of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, studio photo by Kokyat. Leigh danced in the closing work - DVORAK SERENADE - at tonight's performance by the Company at Baryshnikov Arts Center.

The Lubovitch masterpiece LEGEND OF TEN, which premiered in 2010, opened the evening in a performance that combined the musical glory of Johannes Brahms, the flowing movement style of Mr. Lubovitch, and the peerless expressive beauty of his dancers. Set to two movements of the Brahms piano quintet in F-minor, the choreography for LEGEND OF TEN mines the folkish elements of the Brahms score, giving a sense of community and of cohesiveness to the patterns which sometimes convey an underlying restlessness. At the center of LEGEND is a pas de deux couple - Elisa Clark and Reid Bartelme - who infuse their partnership with perfect musicality while allowing their individual personalities to speak to us thru the music and movement. They were surrounded by an ensemble of some of Lubovitch's outstanding artists: Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge, Katarzyna (Kate) Skarpetowska, Jonathan Alsberry, Attila Joey Sciki, Ree Luplau, Jason McDole, Brian McGinnis - virtually an all-star cast.

Having its premiere performances this season, CRISIS VARIATIONS is set to a score by Yevgeniy Sharlat performed live by Le Train Bleu, a chamber ensemble led by flautist/conductor Ransom Wilson. The musicians, who were seated just a few feet from us, gave a spirited performance of the score which draws for its inspiration upon the Liszt Transcendental Etudes. The score has a somewhat jagged, fragmentary feeling but also sustained bursts of melody, such as a hymn-like passage for organ and saxophone. At the keyboard, James Johnston could make us feel like we were in a church (organ) or in an 18th century salon (harpsichord). The other excellent players were: Sami Merdinian (violin), Christopher Matthews (flute), Luke Gay (saxophone) and Brian Ellingsen (double bass). 

While the musicians are illuminated at stage left, the dancers move in pools of light at stage right. They sometimes huddle down into dense floor-based movement patterns. Kate Skarpetowska and Brian McGinnis brought arresting physicality and pauses of mysterious stillness to their pas de deux. Again the energy and passion of the dancers in the ensemble - Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge, Attila Joey Csiki, Reed Luplau and Jason McDole - gave the work its movement base.

I must say, I'm very glad that I'll be seeing CRISIS VARIATIONS again on Program B since I have to admit I found myself watching the musicians quite a bit (since they were right in front of me) and possibly missed some of the choreographic elements. For the second performance, I'll try sitting where the dancers are directly in my line of vision.

A pure Lubovitch classic, the 2007 DVORAK SERENADE made Kokyat think of a wedding and made me think of a joyous rite of Summer. While the heartstrings are being caressed by the achingly gorgeous melodies of the Dvorak serenade in E-major, the white-clad dancers move in swirling combinations that sing of spiritiality and hope. Once again, the entire ensemble provided dancing at peak level: Nicole Corea, Laura Rutledge, Kate Skarpoetowska, Elisa Clark, Jonathan Alsberry, Attila Joey Csiki, Brian McGinnis, Reed Luplau and Jason McDole, joined by newcomer Ashley Lindsey. Laura, Kate, Jonathan and Brian were additionally featured in a quartet who often moved in dynamic, folk-flavoured patterns.

As a young high priestess and her god-like consort, Leigh Lijoi and Cliton Brown were jaw-droppingly beautiful in their creamy adagio style. Ms. Lijoi has a fresh quality that was truly distinctive and Mr. Brown - surely one of the great dancers of our time - was awe-inspiring both in his perfect partnering and the expansive, all-embracing expressiveness of his arms and hands. Their artistry gave a final illuminating benediction to the evening.

The house was packed to the rafters and the audience watched the dancing in a state of total focus, erupting in affectionate applause for the dancers and musicians after each piece, and a shouting bravos when the choreographer appeared onstage at the end of the evening.

I was delighted to read that the Lubovitch Company are scheduled to be at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center from February 10th - 12th, 2012. These dates are already on my calendar. 

My sincere thanks to Mr. Lubovitch, Ticia Baratta and Janet Stapleton for arranging for Kokyat to photograph tonight's performance. His images will appear here soon.

Food of Love

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.

At The Met: Verdi's NABUCCO

Thursday November 17, 2011 - Last season, the Portuguese soprano Elisabete Matos made her Metropolitan Opera debut singing the arduous role of Minnie in Puccini's FANCIULLA DEL WEST. She scored a big personal success and became something of a cult figure for Gotham's opera buffs. Tonight she was back, singing an even more demanding role: Abigaille in Verdi's NABUCCO. Listen to the big scena from her performance here.

The soprano made a distinctive success in the role; as with her Minnie, it took a few moments for her to get the voice in gear. But one of the first things that struck me was the way she handled the coloratura flourishes in the score: she sang every note without smearing and she didn't break the passages with breaths. A singer with a highly individualized timbre, Matos is undaunted when the music dips into chest voice; at the other end of the spectrum her top B's and C's had plenty of thrust and sizzle. Her passionate rendering of the text and her admirable ability to give nuance to music that is often simply belted were big plusses in her performance. It's an old-school and personalized kind of voice and style. As Matos struck off a brightly sustained top-C to end her big cabaletta, Dmitry and I turned to one another and said: "Here's our Brunnhilde!"  Whenever Ms. Matos comes to The Met, I will be there.

The Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee gave an outstanding performance as Ismael, normally a thankless role (no aria) but here made prominent by the tenor's clear, warm and Italianate sound and his slender, handsome appearance. He projects the voice well, with house-filling success, yet he could also taper notes along the way. He's clearly listened to lots of Italian tenors and he needs to guard against being over-generous with his basically lyric instrument in order to preserve its attractiveness. The audience embraced his singing and presence with an especially warm chorus of bravos.

I first heard basso Carlo Colombara at the Met in 1997 as Ramfis in AIDA and liked him a lot. Over the following seasons he was frequently announced for various roles at the House but he seems never to have shown up again on the boards til a decade later for a few more AIDAs. Now he is back for the far more taxing role of Zaccaria in NABUCCO. He seemed stretched by the opening aria which takes the voice to the outer reaches of the range at both ends; he was clipping upper notes short and seemed to want to rush ahead of the conductor's already-speedy tempo. But soon after, in the great prayer 'Vieni, O Levita" Colombara sounded much more like the basso I remember. From there on in, he was quite effective both vocally and as a personage.

As Nabucco, Zeljko Lucic shows off his imposing and intrinsically 'right' Verdi-bartone sound and style. He has both power and subtlety at his finger-tips and knows just how to turn a phrase to maximum vocal and dramatic effect. It's a big, big-hearted portrayal and you want to love him totally though at times his great qualities are under-mined by wayward pitch. But at his best, as in the 'mad scene' that follows his blasphemy, Lucic commands the stage.

Elizabeth Bishop was a very fine Fenena and basso Jeremy Galyon made his mark as the High Priest of Baal. The chorus sounded well and won the evening's longest applause for their singing of "Va pensiero" with its very sustained final note hanging on the air. But this chorus with it's waltzy feeling always makes me a smirk. Paolo Carignani led a performance that zipped along but also managed to have a sense of grandeur.

The production features a front drop curtain that would suit well for Wagner's RING: there's magic fire, there's veins of Rhine gold, there's Valhalla. Since the Met's infamous new RING with its infernal machine so far shows no sense of directing the singers or characterizing the individual roles, the Company could have saved $20 million by simply having Wotan and Fricka stand and deliver in front of this attractive painting.

Athough I have attended a half-dozen performances of NABUCCO at the Met in recent seasons, this is the first time I actually stayed til the end.

Metropolitan Opera House
November 17, 2011

NABUCCO
Giuseppe Verdi

Nabucco.................Zeljko Lucic
Abigaille...............Elisabete Matos
Ismaele.................Yonghoon Lee
Fenena..................Elizabeth Bishop
Zaccaria................Carlo Colombara
Anna....................Erica Strauss
High Priest.............Jeremy Galyon
Abdallo.................Eduardo Valdes

Conductor...............Paolo Carignani

Emery LeCrone for New Chamber Ballet

Photographer Nir Arieli provides these images from a studio rehearsal of a new solo choreographed by Emery LeCrone and danced by Sarah Atkins (above); the as-yet-untitled solo will be featured on the programme at New Chamber Ballet's performances on November 18th and 19th at City Center Studio. Also on the bill are new works by Miro Magloire - NCB's artistic director - and Constantine Baecher of the Royal Danish Ballet. Music of Anton Dvorak, Morton Feldman, Michael Nyman and John Cage will be performed live by pianist Melody Fader and violinist Erik Carlson. 

Click on each image to enlarge.

Emery LeCrone (above) is using two of Michael Nyman's Zoo Caprices - The Lady In the Red Hat and Timelapse - for her newest work. Within the space of a few days, Emery has premiered three new solo danceworks: this NCB piece, a solo for Richard Isaac for Columbia Ballet Collaborative and a solo danced by Max van der Sterre for the Young Choreographers Showcase. Emery now embarks on a year of creative activity as the recipient of a New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. 

Sarah Atkins has recently performed with CONTINUUM Contemporary Ballet and MORPHOSES. She hails from Dallas, Texas and is a relative newcomer to New Chamber Ballet.

Here are more of Nir Arieli's photos from this rehearsal:

New Chamber Ballet tickets are available at Smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444.

Constantine Baecher for New Chamber Ballet

Tuesday November 15, 2011 - Constantine Baecher, a choreographer who also dances with the Royal Danish Ballet, is creating a new piece for New Chamber Ballet's upcoming performances. For the first time in recent seasons, I'm unable to attend either of NCB's evenings (poor planning on my part!) so I was grateful when NCB's director Miro Magloire helped arrange for me to see/photograph rehearsals of the works being created for the City Center event. I was especially curious to see what Mr. Baecher was cooking up, in that he'll be dancing in his own pas de deux; this will be only the second time since I've been acquainted with New Chamber Ballet that Miro has had a male dancer taking part.

Photographer Brian Krontz met me at the Baryshnikov Arts Center studio where he took the photos for this article. 

Constantine's new duet is set to John Cage's 1940 score, Bacchanale for prepared piano, the first work that the composer - who became something of a specialist in writing for prepared piano - created for the instrument. A piano is 'prepared' by placing small clips or scraps of metal, plastic, wood or even cardboard on or under the piano strings. This creates a distorted, percussive 'echo' to pure sound of the musical note. The more strings that are prepared, the more jangling or clattering the music sounds to us. Pianist Melody Fader plays the Cage music for Constantine's as-yet-untitled ballet. 

There was a special atmosphere of camaraderie in the studio since Constantine and his dancing partner Elizabeth Brown (above) are good friends and colleagues. Elizabeth, a mainstay at New Chamber Ballet, recently danced in Miro Magloire's intriguing dance-drama LITTLE BIRD for the SONiC festival at Joyce SoHo.

When we arrived, Constantine and Elizabeth were hopping about madly in the middle of the studio while Melody's clanking piano - which she aptly said made her think of a choo-choo train - was being insistently hammered.

Here are more of Brian's rehearsal images; click on each photo to enlarge:

I''ve spent many hours watching dancers in the studio but I can't recall a rehearsal where the participants were having this much sheer fun.

New Chamber Ballet will present this duet plus new works by Emery LeCrone and Miro Magloire on their Autumnn evening programmes, November 18th and 19th at City Center Studios. Ticket information here.

All photography by Brian Krontz.

Matthew Westerby Studio Presentation

Sunday November 13, 2011 - Last week photographer Matt Murphy and I stopped by at a rehearsal of the Matthew Westerby Company where the young choreographer and his troupe of exciting dancers were preparing for today's studio presentation of a trio of works: SATURN SKY, which is new, the duet SLOW FALL - one of Matthew's earliest creations - and COURT, a Westerby jewel that really impressed me when I first saw it performed this past April. The top Matt Murphy photo is from COURT; the dancers are Kristen Licata and Dylan Baker.

COURT, drawing inspiration from Tudor England but very contemporary in its look and feel, captured my fancy yet again, both at the rehearsal and the showing. The Karl Jenkins score has a rich range of rhythms and instrumental colours which Mattthew visualizes keenly and to which his dancers respond with stylish movement, from suggestive swaying to face-paced leaps and swirls across the floor. Above: Clement Mensah and Dylan Baker.

Kristen Licata, Dina-Verley Sabb-Mills, Mandy Chan

Dylan Baker

Dina-Verley Sabb-Mills, who has recently joined Matthew's troupe.

Clement Mensah; Clement danced with Matthew's group previously and has just returned from a European stint.

In the domestic duet entitled SLOW FALL, set to music by Radical Fashion, we observe the slow dissolve of a relationship. Passion and anger are just below the seemingly calm surface here; the duet was beautifully interpreted by...

...Alessandra Larson...

... and Matthew Westerby.

The newest work, SATURN SKY, is set to a compiled score featuring Ben Frost, Lucine ISL and Deru. The dancers awaken in some brave new world (another planet, or post-apocalyptic Earth?) and begin a tentative exploration both of the space and of one another. The music is darkish and kozmic...

...and there's a central solo for Mandy Chan (above). 

Dylan Baker, Amanda Gavan

In SATURN SKY, the dancers (Clement Mensah, above) warily come to accept one another and their new environment, falling back into restless dreams at the end.

Litchfield Performing Arts are presenting the Company's upcoming Connecticut performances where Matthew Westerby Company are the resident company for Project Poetry Live! The choreographer mentioned the challenges - and the fun - of bringing 'live' dance to 150 school-aged kids who have had little or no exposure to it. 

All photos by Matt Murphy. Be sure to stop by Dance New Amsterdam before December 10th to see Matt's striking collection DISPLACED.

Young Choreographer's Showcase 2011

Monday November 14, 2011 - Works by five choreographers - Kimi Nikaidoh, Nicola Curry, Emery LeCrone, Troy Schumacher and Daniel Mantei - were presented tonight at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. Above: Matt Murphy's photo of Emery LeCrone, artistic director of the Young Choreographer's Showcase. This was Emery's second year presenting the Showcase and it was a strong programme of fresh and inventive choreography, excellently varied musical choices, and top-level dancing.

Troy Schumacher's THREE MOMENTS was the spectacularly-danced opening work tonight. Four New York City Ballet dancers who are concurrently part of Troy's Satellite Ballet ensemble performed to live music from pianist Nick Jaina and violinist Nathan Langston; the two musicians share the musical composition credit with Amanda Lawrence. 

I think we sometimes take the technical wizardry and personal magnetism of the New York City Ballet dancers for granted; it was really exciting to see them at close range tonight and be reminded of their sheer perfection. THREE MOMENTS opens with a solo passage danced by Ashley Laracey, observed by Teresa Reichlen. Tess then dances the first of two pas de deux with Sam Greenberg. The willowy ballerina's lustrous lyricism takes on a contemporary edge in Troy's demanding movement style while her partner displayed the energy, charisma and space-filling authority that to me says 'star in the making'. Beautiful concluding moment: after so much passionate movement, Sam sweeps into a deep backbend as Tess strikes an exultant pose.

In the second duet, a prickly theme on the violin propels Ashley Laracey and Troy Schumacher into a fast-paced dance that is playful but blessedly never cute. They are youthful and vibrantly alive, the pace is brisk, their musicality shines.

After a slight pause, the mood of the evening turns darkish as Max van der Sterre appears in a pool of golden light to dance Emery LeCrone's solo UNTITLED TRANSIENT. Wearing simple black trousers, Max's sculptured torso takes on a glowing quality as he moves to the pensive, moody music of Kim Malmquist. On the surface, this solo seems a testimony to the quiet power of the male dancer; yet there is a underlying restlessness where we think of a caged animal, nearly resigned to his fate but still with an impulse to break free. Max, both here and last week dancing with SenseDance, looked magnificent. Happy birthday, Max!

In her finely-crafted ALL THINGS NEW, Kimi Nikaidoh's choreographic voice spoke to us most persuasively. For her three-movement duet, Kimi turned to music of the Baroque masters and then went about creating movement that was both worthy of the music and extremely satisfying to watch. There was a slight feeling of Paul Taylor in the piece, mainly in the clarity and conviction with which the dance flows forward as well as in the reationship established between the two dancers.

Kimi, an exotic beauty, and her handsome partner Harry Feril were superbly in-sync as they moved thru the spacious combinations of the opening section, set to soul-stirring music of Arcangelo Corelli. In a brilliant stroke, Kimi used the melodically simple but emotionally rapt Giordani love-aria "Caro mio ben" for her tender but never maudlin central pas de deux. It looked for a moment like the work might end on a note of romantic calm, but instead the dancers veered into a joyous allegro finale to Bach.

After the intermission, choreographers and dancers from ABT took over the stage in two works, the first created by Nicola Curry, the ravishing dark-haired beauty, on two of her ABT colleagues: Nicole Graniero and Eric Tamm. To music of Max Richter, Ms. Curry crafted a neo-classical pas de deux that led off with beautifully modulated port de bras from her two attractive dancers. Nicole Graniero caught the mysterious atmosphere of the plushly romantic score, her dancing refined and sophisticated. Kokyat and I are big admirers of Eric Tamm, with his handsome presence and polished partnering skills.  

Daniel Mantei of the ABT corps de ballet danced in his own choreographed work, ARMAMENTS, along with five colleagues from the Company. A Tchaikovsky piano trio was played live by Jorge Avila (violin), Katherne Cherbin (cello) and Emily Wong (piano).  Mr. Mantei's choreography moved beyond predictable responses to Tchaikovsky's lush and poignant score, using contemporary movement motifs in fresh combinations: the boys literally pluck the girls out of the air, and in a pair of pas de trois - the first for men and the second for women - he makes innovative use of the music. The work seems to end on a question mark. Excellent dancing from all: Mr. Mantei along with Nicole Graniero, Kelley Potter, Cassandra Trenary, Sean Stewart and Grant DeLong.

On arriving at the theater, we were greeted by a lovely ensemble of dancers - including Victoria North, Erin Arbuckle, Maddie Deavenport, Lauren Toole and Caitlin Dieck: Emery LeCrone really knows how to put on an evening of dance right down to having a bevy of ballerinas as ushers and stagehands. So nice to see them all, along with Erin Fogarty, Deborah Wingert, Claudia Schreier, Juan Camilo Aguirre Acosta, and the inimitable Albert Evans.

Emery LeCrone for Columbia Ballet Collaborative

Photographer Matt Murphy and I stopped by at Manhattan Movement and Arts last week where choreographer Emery LeCrone was working with dancer Richard Isaac (above) on a solo to be presented at the Columbia Ballet Collaborative's Autumn performances, set for Friday and Saturday November 18th and 19th at MMAC and Sunday evening the 20th up at Streng Studio, Barnard College.

Above: choreographer Enery LeCrone. The solo, set to the Prelude of Bach's Suite for Solo Cello No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008, is entitled "Interstice". The dancer moves between, on, over and under two long sheets of fabric which stretch across the space.

Here are some of Matt's rehearsal images:

Dancer and choreographer confer.

Read more about this Autumn's Columbia Ballet Collaborative participants here and here.

Be sure to check out Matt Murphy's exhibit DISPLACED at Dance New Amsterdam; it's there thru December 10th.