Above: choreographer Claudia Schreier
Saturday August 9th, 2014 - At the second annual Breaking Glass Project's competition for emerging female choreographers this evening, Claudia Schreier was the audience's chosen winner: her ballet HARMONIC swept to victory in a brilliantly-danced performance which elicited a vociferous ovation from the packed house at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.
Set to a marvelously dance-worthy score by Douwe Eisenga, HARMONIC was first performed by the Columbia Ballet Collaborative in November 2013. It was then taken up by Craig Salstein's Intermezzo Dance Company who danced it at Vassar College in March 2014. For this evening's presentation, Intermezzo dancers Amber Neff and Nadezhda Vostrikov were joined by ABT's Nicole Graniero, and Edward Spots, formerly of Ailey 2.
Distinctive blonde beauties, Amber (who dances for Suzanne Farrell and Miro Magloire), and Nadezhda (who is currently deeply involved with the upcoming ballet-based TV series Flesh and Bone) brought strong technique and personal flair to the fast-paced choreography. Edward took the ballet's physicality and parterning motifs handsomely in stride, whilst Nicole gave a radiant, sophisticated performance with an impetuous energy, her eye contact with audience and with her onstage colleagues giving her presentation an added allure.
Above: Nicole Graniero in rehearsal
Of the other works on the programme, each of which had its merits, none could rival HARMONIC in terms of music, structure, and a sheer feeling of vibrancy. An appealing pas de deux from choreographer Stina Quagebeur, entitled VERA and evoking a World War I atmosphere, came in a close second in my estimation, thanks in part to the attractive piano works of Ivor Gurney and the excellent dancing and emotional qualities of the English National Ballet's Crystal Costa and Guilherme Menezes.
The four other choreographers seemed to me to have somewhat missed the mark in musical selection: this was in fact Claudia Schreier's springboard to success, since Mr. Eisenga's score gave her a clear starting advantage. And while Claudia's piece was so concise and pleasing at every moment - never a wasted step or gesture - that one wanted more, the other choreographers' works all seemed in need of editing to achieve a truly pungent effect.
As a pleasing 'dessert', Breaking Glass Project's artistic director Ellenore Scott offered a neat double-feature dancework entitled EX-GIRLFRIENDS. Not part of the competition, this piece featured a lovely song from vocalist Diana Krall followed by a comic-relief romp to a tune by Anthony Randolph. Four girls from Ellenore's company Elsco Dance did a good job with it.
Competitions of this kind do not always turn out as they should: a choreographer who rounds up a sizeable contingent of friends and family in the audience can easily tip the voting. Tonight, high-quality music and movement prevailed when Claudia Schreier's win was announced. Her prize will be a full evening of her own danceworks, produced by the Breaking Glass Project next year.