Above: Sarah Pon, Laura Di Orio and Katie Martin-Lohiya in Lydia Johnson's What Counts; photo by Nir Arieli
Thursday June 11th, 2015 - Lydia Johnson Dance offering two premieres - What Counts, set to music by the jazz trio The Bad Plus, and Giving Way, to a score by the contemporary Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov - along with repertory works set to music of Bach and Mozart, opened their season at the Ailey Citigroup Theater tonight. The house was full, and a wonderfully attentive crowd it was.
Lydia Johnson has always been an inspired architect of steps and structures, and she has found a invaluable ally in Deborah Wingert, the renowned teacher and Balanchine maven who has been working with Lydia's company to draw a cohesive style from a dedicated group of dancers of diverse backgrounds.
The program began with what is surely Lydia's most personal work to date: Barretts Mill Road: A Remembrance which is set to Mozart's Fantasia in C Minor and the adagio from the C-Minor piano sonata. The ballet was inspired by memories of the choreographer's mother, who passed away a few months ago. Looking back at a more genteel era, when social dancing was an important element in community life, Lydia has created a salon in which people meet and share moments of fleeting intimacy. Between dances, they sit quietly in a corner of the stage, lapsing into reveries and recalling their own past romances. Rather like Balanchine's Liebeslieder Waltzes, Barretts Mill Road is performed in two distinct halves, with the women switching from long black tutus to short skirts; the men wear black with deep violet vests throughout.
Tall and lithe, Katie Martin-Lohiya plays a pivotal role in this ballet. She enters with other women but is soon alone on the dance-floor, casting her gaze around the room, seeking friends...or, perhaps, memories. As the first half of the ballet ends, the dancers depart one by one leaving Katie alone; she makes a final sweep of the space, strikes an elegant wing-span pose, and rushes off. That is the same angelic pose she will assume at the end of the ballet.
Above: Sarah Pon and Grant Dettling in Barretts Mill Road
This Mozart work affords numerous solo and duet opportunities for the dancers: Min Seon Kim moves in gentle swirls across the floor, and indeed each of the women - Sarah Pon, Katie Keith Dettling, and Laura Di Orio - have their expressive solo passages. Interesting parings of dancers brought us Sarah Pon and Grant Dettling, Blake Hennessy-York and Chazz Fenner-McBride, and - in a particularly sparkling encounter - Katie Dettling with Blake. One partnering motif of special appeal has the girls gently prying open the men's crossed arms to listen to their hearts.
Above: Blake Hennessy-York in Barretts Mill Road: A Remembrance
For the past few seasons, I have been following Lydia Johnson Dance closely, including spending a lot of time in Lydia's studio as she builds her works on her distinctive company of dancers. One of the few choreographers in my experience to successfully mesh the seemingly un-mixable styles of ballet and contemporary dance, Lydia also has an unerring rightness when it comes to musical choices. Even when she settles on music not to my immediate liking, she does things with it that are not merely palatable, but likeable. Such was the case for this evening's second offering: What Counts.
What Counts opens with a bang as Chazz Fenner-McBride and Blake Hennessy-York (above) leap onto the stage. Their ensuing duet has them bouncing on air, playful and enticing. The music of The Bad Plus is wonderfully beat-y and tasty, even to someone like me who is not really into jazz. Lydia Johnson has made a piece that juxtaposes pleasing passages of contemporary movement with witty, stylized interjections for a trio of women: Laura Di Orio, Sarah Pon, and Katie Martin-Lohiya (see photo at top of article).
In a sustained duet for Sarah Pon and Blake Hennessy-York (above), Lydia's choreography takes the usual elements of a "romantic relationship" pas de deux apart and puts them back together in a fresh way. There is conflict, resolution, and then an almost ecstatic heavenward opening of arms in celebration of love restored. The duet was performed with deep commitment by Sarah and Blake, drawing the audience into the music and movement. What Counts evoked a volley of cheers from the crowd as the dancers took their bows.
Above: Sarah Pon with the ensemble in Untitled Bach
From 2010 comes Untitled Bach which makes use of an upstage bench, from which multi-level partnering is explored (Katie Martin-Lohiya, Oliver Swan-Jackson, Laura Di Orio and Brynt Beitman in the above image). This is a complex work with multiple things happening almost all the time; at one point we have five couples in simultaneous pas de deux.
Again, individual dancers made their marks, including Oliver Swan-Jackson with his beautifully expressive hands, luminous loveliness from Sarah Pon, Katie Keith Dettling in a passionate solo...
...and Laura Di Orio (above), a unique beauty with a striking stage presence.
A highlight of Untitled Bach is a male duet danced by Blake Hennessy-York and Chazz Fenner-McBride, of which Nir Arieli captured this series of images:
Concluding the evening, Giving Way is a dance for four couples, set to music by one of Lydia's favorite composers, Osvaldo Golijov, whose music she has previously used in Crossings By River and Night of the Flying Horses. Golijov's eclectic style draws on such diverse elements as European classicism, Jewish liturgy, rain-forest exoticism, tango, and even opera. Giving Way's final section is set to a soul-pleasing and unusual combination of cello and marimba.
Giving Way opens with the four men advancing downstage on the diagonal to a throbbing rhythm. The women echo this passage in the opposite direction; this motif is then repeated by all eight dancers.
In the first of many highlights in this Golijov work, Blake Hennessy-York and Brynt Beitman (above) have a duet that explores the beauty of stylized movement. More of Nir Arieli's images from this duet:
A pas de quatre for Laura Di Orio, Brynt Beitman, Sarah Pon and Blake Hennessy-York follows, and then a line-up with unison lifts; the women race forward, then collapse backward into their partner's arms. A series of lifts culminates in a strikingly powerful sustained one for Katie Martin-Lohiya held by Oliver Swan-Jackson. The sound of the marimba and the lowering of the lights evoke mystery; the women leap into the arms of their men.
The music takes on a tremulous aspect with overwhelming gorgeousness in the cello/marimba combination. Min Seon Kim and Chazz Fenner-McBride (above) lead off a series of duets...
...with Laura Di Orio with Brynt Beitman (above), followed in turn by Sarah Pon with Blake Hennessy-York, and Katie Martin-Lohiya with Oliver Swan-Jackson.
A folk-like theme emerges, the four men dance together and then begin a striking passage in which pairs of men together lift the women who sustain an arms-extended, cross-like pose as they are borne across the stage.
Exuding a feeling of quiet ecstasy, the soft glow of the cello underlines a tender duet for Laura and Brynt (above); these two dancers found a wonderful mutual resonance of feeling here. And then the cello deepens even further for a solo by Sarah Pon. Chazz Fenner-McBride, a dancer who first caught my eye with his memorable performance of a featured solo in Robin Becker's Into Sunlight, again bowled me over here in a restless solo in which his shadow made complimentary moves.
Giving Way ends remarkably with the cello sustaining a single note for well over a full minute as the dancers bend and sway in slow, hypnotic waves of movement.
More of Nir Arieli's images from Giving Way:
Laura Di Orio, Brynt Beitman
Ensemble moments, with Min Seon Kim and Chazz Fenner-McBride in the foreground:
The evening's balance between classic and contemporary elements - in the music, particularly - proved satisfying, and it is again to the dancers that much praise for the program's success is due; they all gave unstintingly of their energy and artistry...and some of them literally danced all night. More kudos for Renee Molina (lighting), Joel Wilhelmi (sound), Mary Stazewski (stage management) and Audrey Ross (publicist) and to LJD's lovely Jessica Sand Blonde who did the costuming for three of the four works.
In a Gotham dance scene that is abundantly rich in dance and dancers, Lydia Johnson and her troupe bring integrity, sincerity, and a human connection to their performances, presenting work that reaches the receptive viewer on a personal level.
All photographs in this article by Nir Arieli, with my thanks for his creativity and generosity.