Oberon's Grove

Rehearsal: John-Mark Owen's REQUIEM

Dancer Josh Christopher (above) takes a central role in John-Mark Owen's REQUIEM.

Wednesday August 29, 2012 - Today I went over to the 92nd Street Y where choreographer John-Mark Owen was rehearsing for his upcoming presentation of REQUIEM. The performances are scheduled for September 13th thru 15th at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center.  Ticket information here.

Taking on the Mozart REQUIEM from a choreographic standpoint is a major project, and John-Mark has risen to the task in this ensemble work which avoids a literal interpretation of the sacred texts and favours instead a painterly approach. Each 'frame' of the ballet becomes part of a living gallery; John-Mark applies a dramatic subtext but he isn't a slave to it. The sculptural feeling of certain passages, as well as the unison 'choral' phrases of walking or marching, respond to the architecture of the music with its sense of ritual.

John-Mark has assembled a strong cast, with particularly vivid performances by Aaron Mattocks (above) as a sinister and even brutal dark angel...

...and the intense lyricism of John Christopher (above). Kerry Shea and Amy Brandt have the principal female roles.

Here are some images from the rehearsal and of the individual dancers involved:

The ensemble

Josh Christopher and John-Mark Owen

Aaron Mattocks, Amy Brandt

Ensemble

Josh Christopher, Aaron Mattocks

Jason Stotz, Nadezhna Vostrikov

JoVonna Parks, Oisin Monaghan

Kelsey Coventry

Alfredo Solivan

Kristen Deiss, Kelsey Coventry

Kerry Shea

Josh Christopher

Nadezhna Vostrikov

Kelsey Coventry, Jason Stotz

Oisin Monaghan, Matt Van

John-Mark Owen

For Each Remembered Day III

Maralin Niska's "In Questa Reggia"

Soprano Maralin Niska sings Turandot's "In questa reggia" in a live performance by the New York City Opera in Los Angeles, 1976. Ermanno Mauro is Calaf.

Maralin Niska's performances are among the most vivid memories of my own golden age of opera. I wrote about her here.

Other Niska rarities gave surfaced: a very early sample, singing Liu's aria from TURANDOT, and  Yaroslavna's aria from PRINCE IGOR (in English), one of the first operas I heard Maralin sing.  

For Each Remembered Day II

Continuum Contemporary/Ballet @ The Pillow

Donna Salgado's Continuum Contemporary/Ballet appeared at Jacob's Pillow earlier this summer as part of the festival's Inside/Out series. Photographer Michael Darling provides these images from the Company's performance. Click on each picture to enlarge.

Laura DiOrio

Sarah Atkins

Eric Williams

Virginia Horne & Eric Williams

Laura DiOrio & Eric Williams

Ensemble

US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012/Day 3

Thursday August 23, 2012 - Taipei's Jimmy Wang (above) scored a decisive victory over France's Nicolas Devilder today at the US Open qualifying tournament. Jimmy played some first-rate tennis and left his opponent frustrated as the straight-set victory loomed.

It turned out to be the only match I saw today, though that was not my plan. There were swarms of small kids wandering from court to court. They would settle down, watch a point or two, and then all get up and make a mass exit. Off-duty linespeople and ball boys stood on the sidelines chatting away, cellphones were in prime use, baby strollers were everywhere with the occupants fussing and squirming. With each passing year, the US Open seems to be less and less about tennis and more about being an event. 

The first few years that I went to the qualifying tournament, it was always sparsely attended; only people with a serious interest in the sport would show up to watch. Matches were played in a quiet, serious atmosphere; cellphones had not proliferated society at that point and no self-respecting mother would subject her baby to the heat and humidity and the baking rays of the sun. Then the public at large discovered the tournament and began showing up in droves.

I love watching tennis, but the Open is becoming an annual triumph of indifference. I wonder if I will even bother going at all next year.

US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012/Day 2

Wednesday August 22, 2012 - Tsung-Hua Yang of Tapiei (above) made a big impression on me at the 2011 US Open qualifying tournament and I was glad to have the opportunity to see him play again today. He faced Antonio Veic of Croatia in the very first match of the day.

Yang's playing is impressive for steadiness and technical sureness. His opponent was fiery and theatrical, with a couple of major outbursts of temper when he got what he thought was a bad call. Yang simply maintained his composure and moved unperturbed thru the match; he seemed destined to win from the start. Two rain delays - one of about 15 minutes and a second lasting only a couple of minutes - interrupted play. And as Yang was serving for the match, it started raining harder. He was able to secure the win just before all tournament play was suspended for about 45 minutes.

Antonio Veic did display a sense of humour amidst his theatrics: when called for a foot fault, he asked the lineswoman "Which foot?"

Once the rains stopped and things got dried out, I stayed at the same court to watch China's Yi-Fan Xu, a petite player who managed to thwart the tall British woman Naomi Broady. With a mixture of moon-balls and craftiness, Xu seemed to prevent Broady from making any headway.

After Xu's win, I moved from court to court: no match really captured my attention although I was curious to see the 'new' Chinese male player Ze Zhang in action. He has a lot of talent, and he's quite tall but his opponent - the second-seeded Slovenian Aljaz Bedene - showed that experience counts for a lot in these situations. The Frenchman Josselin Ouanna similarly kept Taipei's Ti Chen from building any momentum, despite some impressive shots.

We'll see how my favorites fare on Thursday and that will determine whether I need to go again on Friday.

US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012

Above: India's Yuki Bhambri signing autographs after winning his first-round qualifying match at the US Open.

Tuesday August 21, 2012 - Over the past few years I've discovered and followed certain players during the US Open qualifying matches - people like Alejandro Falla, Bjorn Phau, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito and Rajeev Ram. This year all five of those men were up in the rankings and so were into the main draw already; congratulations to all of them, but it meant I would be spending this year's tournament mostly checking out players new to me. Yuki Bhambri was the most exciting new discovery for me: he has an powerful serve and, after losing the first set, he buckled down and gave an impressive display of tennis skills in defeating the excellent and exciting Argentine Horacio Zeballos. It was close match, ending with a tie-breaker for the third set. I will definitely want to see Bhambri play again later in the week.

It was a beautiful day at the Open, breezy and with a nice mix of sun and clouds. There was a sizeable crowd and the usual annoyances of small children (parents: little kids get restless and cranky at tennis tournaments so leave 'em with a sitter), cellphones, and people gabbing during play. But for the most part I was able to find quiet spots to watch from, or to move if things got distracting. I was delighted to see the great Billie Jean King walking from court to court early in the day (the whole place is named after her, and deservedly so).

My first match was between two women I didnt know anything about: Dinah Pfizenmaier and Heidi El Tabakh. I initially pegged Pfizenmaier as the likely winner,but on the big points El Tabakh was able to capitalize and she won the match.

Thailand's Danai Udomchoke, who I've seen play many times, put up a valiant fight but was out-gunned by Spain's Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.

Three Asian women - all new to me - scored impressive victories: Ying-Ying Duan (very tall) and SaiSai Zheng (with a tendency to moon-ball) were representing the next generation of Chinese players, while Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan presented her opponent with a double-bagel victory.

After watching Yuki Bhambri's exciting victory, I decided to head home on a high note although there were still matches in progress. There's some construction going on at the Tennis Center and both the noise and the necessary 'detours' are inconveniences.

But I did take a look at the newly-opened Court 17, a smallish arena-style venue with an intimate feeling. I hope to see a match there at some point this week.

Alison Cook Beatty for Ballet Next

Friday August 17, 2012 - Alison Cook Beatty (with Michele Wiles and Jason Reilly in the above photo by Paul B Goode) is choreographing a new work for Ballet Next; entitled TINTINNABULI, the ballet is set to Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa. Today I stopped in at the DANY studios to have a look at this new creation, which will have its premiere during Ballet Next's upcoming season at The Joyce.

The dancers were having a breather when I arrived but after a few minutes they gathered their energies (they'd already been rehearsing for 2 hours) and ran thru the new ballet's completed first section and the nearly-finished second part. 

TINTINNABULI begins with the women on a diagonal (watch a rehearsal sample here) which evolves into a solo for Michele Wiles - stylized, mystical movement but highly emotive in expression. Her solo is observed by Jason Reilly - principal dancer from Stuttgart Ballet, guesting with Ballet Next this season - a charismatic dancer and excellent partner. As their pas de deux commences, there's a nice chemistry between Jason and Michele Wiles, even though for the longest time they don't actually touch. But when they do, it's luminous. Jason has a dynamic solo passage of his own.

Alison Cook Beatty, Michele Wiles and Jason Reilly in a Paul B Goode photo, above.

The quartet of soloists form chains with joined hands; they crouch is a circle. Their linked, ritualistic movements evoke images of Matisse and Balanchine as they move along the diagonal. The girls of the ensemble - Lily Balogh, Lily Di Piazza, Kristie Latham, Tiffany Mangulabnan and Erin Arbuckle - each bring a distinctive element to the work while functioning as a unit.

Michele and Jason resume their duet, really gorgeously set on the music, and they give it a strong emotional context even though it's just a rehearsal. A brief flurry of virtuosity follows.

Alison went on from the finished passages, exploring possible phrases as the ballet moves to a conclusion. I'll have to go back one of these days and find out how she resolves things.

Charles Askegard is a wonderful presence in the studio, supportive of the young choreographer and offering meaningful suggestions without intruding on the process. At one point, a lift was being pondered and Charles suddenly swept Alison overhead with the signature effortlessness of a prince among cavaliers.

Really nice atmosphere in the studio, and I look forward to seeing Alison's ballet costumed and lit at The Joyce. My special thanks to Paul Goode for his evocative rehearsal images.

You can catch Ballet Next at the 92nd Street Y in the Fridays at Noon series: Friday October 19th at 12:00 noon. It's free!

Nejla Yatkin's OASIS

Sunday August 19, 2012 - As part of the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival, Nejla Yatkin presented OASIS: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Middle East But Were Afraid to Dance at Theater 80, St Mark's Place. I'd been to a couple of rehearsals of this work so I had a good idea of what to expect; the dancers - sexy and beautiful - outdid themselves, and the piece held the audience in rapt silence and was very warmly applauded.

OASIS resonates with issues that are not always pleasant to contemplate, and while one could simply observe the movement and inhale the fragrant music, there's much to ponder: torture, suppression of women, rape, strict adherence to now-meaningless customs, lack of personal freedom of expression.

The work opens as two dancers appear in silhouette behind gauzy white curtains: the step forth, blindfolded, and commence a duet that is both sensuous and mystical. Clad only in the briefest of flesh-toned costumes, Nejla Yatkin and Fadi Khoury seem utterly self-possessed as they bend and sway to the enticing rhythms. Removing their bilndfolds, the duet takes a turn for the more passionate.

After a solo for Fadi - a sinuous mover - three men (Ahmaud Culver, Shay Bares and Jean-Rene Homehr) appear ominously with flashlights and rope whips. Fadi is tortured, almost too realistically; his gasps and screams are truly upsetting. But as an ironic counterweight, the detached voice of a TV newscaster talks about waterboarding with all the emotion of reading a weather forecast. Nejla, Sevin Ceviker and Rachel Holmes appear and perform ritual minitrations to Fadi's corpse, wrapping him in a black shroud.

Sevin and Rachel commence a gently swaying dance, joined by the boyishly beautiful Shay Bares. The three are then abducted and raped; the women will eventually be imprisoned (rape being the woman's fault, of course) while Shay is further degraded by his captor. Taking up finger cymbals, Shay performs a subtly erotic solo until his master throws a veil over him and whisks him away.

In a witty interlude, there is a fashion show. All the dancers - male and female - appear in the heavy veils and all-covering robes. Someone once remarked that it's no fun being a drag queen in a Muslim country: no one can tell anyway.

As OASIS moves to its conclusion, a cache of books is discovered and the dancers devour them with eager curiosity. "Women, do you know your rights?" a detached voice asks. "How can I know my rights when I don't have any?" comes the reply.