Wednesday June 12, 2013 - Pontus Lidberg is a current holder of a New York City Center Choreography Fellowship. He invited us to a studio event this evening where works-in-process were shown. A large crowd - including many luminaries from the dance world - gathered to see what Pontus has been working on.
First up was an excerpt from a new pas de deux that will premiere on July 20th at the annual Dancers Responding to AIDS/Fire Island Dance Festival. Pontus worked at first in silence with the two dancers, Gabrielle Lamb and NYC Ballet principal Adrian Danchig-Waring, polishing up the phrasing of a passage from this duet. The music, from Osvaldo Golijov's Mariel, was then played and the two dancers moved with restless beauty thru the partnering sequence.
Pontus then told us of his next creative endeavor, a new work for Pontus Lidberg Dance entitled SNOW which will have its world premiere on September 21st, 2013, NorrlandsOperan, Umeå, Sweden. In this 100th anniversary year of the RITE OF SPRING, Pontus turns to the Stravinsky score but his response to the music sets aside the traditonal aspects of the libretto and the usual large complement of dancers in favor of a more intimate vision.
The excerpt from SNOW that was shown tonight is set for four dancers - Pontus himself along with Lindsey Clark, David Lagerqvist and Yannick Matthon. They are joined by a Bunraku puppet created by the Lone Wolf Tribe's Kevin Augustine. My initial reaction, seeing the puppet there before the showing began, was that I wouldn't like it...and my friend Rob felt the same way. But in fact it was so skillfully managed that we were quite taken with the concept.The puppet, though unfinished, was surprisingly lifelike and expressive.
Pontus described other aspects of the SNOW production, making me hope we'll have a chance to experience it here in New York eventually.
Pontus Lidberg is a film-maker in addition to being a choreographer; among his most memorable creations in the film genre to date are THE RAIN and LABYRINTH WITHIN. He is now embarking on a new film project, DANCES WRITTEN ON WATER. This evening he showed a "rough sketch" of this new work; this preview - which is breathtakingly poetic - was filmed in a pool. His plan is to create the final version of the film in the open sea.
The evening left me with an ever-deepening appreciation for Pontus's work and his unusual place in the creative world - a place where dance and film intersect.