Above: Eran Bugge and Michael Trusnovec in Paul Taylor's ROSES; photo by Paul B Goode
~ Author: Oberon
Wednesday March 7th, 2018 - One of the worst things about my bout with severe hip arthritis a year ago was the performances I had to miss due to being literally immobilized. The problem could not have developed at a worse time, and I was especially downcast that I had to forego the entire Paul Taylor 2017 season at Lincoln Center. So this evening's performance constituted my reunion with the incredible Taylor dancers - who I love both as performers and as people - and also happened to feature the premiere of Paul Taylor's 147th dancework. A sense of anticipation kept me upbeat all day - despite the weather - and the evening was every bit as exciting, entertaining, and moving as I hoped it would be.
ROSES is one of my favorite Paul Taylor's works, and I was thrilled to see it again today; it's so meaningful to me on so many levels. This evening's performance was touchingly beautiful in its heart-filling envisioning of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll. The Idyll was Richard Wagner's birthday gift to his beloved Cosima and was first performed by a chamber ensemble that had been secretly rehearsed by the composer. On the morning of December 25th, 1870, the musicians assembled on the staircase at Villa Tribschen; Cosima wrote in her diary of the overwhelming impression made by the sound of this heavenly music seeping into her consciousness as she woke from sleep. "Let me die!" she exclaimed to Richard as the music faded away. "It would be easier to die for me than to live for me," Wagner replied. Cosima ended up outliving the composer by nearly fifty years; she kept the memory of their love alive until the end.
I've been in love with ROSES ever since I first saw it at Jacob's Pillow in 1985, when it was new. Back then, when we saw the Company three or four times every Summer, we felt like it was the Golden Age of Taylor. But for me, that golden age has never ceased: through changing times and with an ever-evolving roster of dancers, the flame has been kept burning brightly.
How gorgeous ROSES looked tonight...and how gorgeous it sounded, too, as played by the Orchestra of St Luke's under the baton of David LaMarche. As the strains of the Siegfried Idyll fade away, Eran Bugge and Michael Trusnovec enter as if from a dream. Clad in white, they dance one of Taylor's loveliest pas de deux, whilst in the pit the phenomenal clarinetist Jon Manasse plays Heinrich Baermann's Adagio for Clarinet and Strings.
Five couples dance to the Siegfried Idyll: Heather McGinley and Sean Mahoney, Jamie Rae Walker and Alex Clayton, Madelyn Ho and Michael Novak, Christina Lynch Markham and Lee Duveneck, and Kristin Draucker and Michael Apuzzo. In a way, ROSES is a difficult ballet to watch in that the couples are often doing different things at the same time and you want to watch each couple exclusively, yet - in doing so - you are missing something that's happening elsewhere onstage. The pairing of the tall Michael Novak with the petite Ms. Ho was especially appealing to watch, and there's a beautiful image of Heather McGinley poised like the figurehead of a ship - arm outstretched - standing on Mr. Mahoney's thigh.
For all the spacious romance of the choreography, there's also athleticism to be dealt with: the dancers do some tumbling and cartwheels along the way. They have to be ready for anything. The five couples then seat themselves on the floor along the back of the space, facing upstage, whilst Ms. Bugge and Mr. Trusnovec cast a spell with their fluid and fluent partnership; at the end, they join their seated colleagues as the light fades.
Next came the new Taylor work, CONCERTIANA. Set to a very appealing violin concerto by Eric Ewazen - which is both contemporary and surprisingly lyrical - this abstract ballet is an ensemble piece in which each of the eleven dancers involved have ample opportunity to shine. Violinist Krista Bennion Feeney was the featured soloist, and she reveled in the generous music provided for her by Mr. Ewazen.
The ballet opens strikingly with the dancers in silhouette against a green-lighted back panel; over the course of the piece, the dominant colour changes. Mr. Taylor makes subtle borrowings from his earlier works along the way, and as the dancers step forward in solo, duo, and trio sections, those not featured at the moment pass upstage in stylized walking or running motifs, a bit like the corps in the adagio of Jerome Robbins's GLASS PIECES.
A duet for Christina Lynch Markham and Sean Mahoney finds these two dancers playing beautifully off one another. James Samson, Michael Apuzzo, Madelyn Ho, and Michael Novak - the latter in an extended solo - all look great. In the central andante, Heather McGinley's solo work is stunning - she got a big cheer when she took her bow at the end - and a bravura solo for Alex Clayton was likewise greeted with vociferous enthusiasm. The concerto's final movement opens with a light-hearted trio for Ms. Bugge, George Smallwood, and Lee Duveneck. The curtain calls were great fun, and I kept hoping Mr. Taylor might step out for a bow...but he didn't. CONCERTIANA is a ballet I want to see again, because I think there's aspects of it that I need to focus more intently on.
Just in: here are some images (thanks to Lisa Labrado!) from CONCERTIANA by photographer Paul B Goode:
The ensemble; costumes by William Ivey Long
Heather McGinley
Pas de trois: Lee Duveneck, Eran Bugge, George Smallwood
Alex Clayton
To close the evening: the brilliantly weird, witty, and wonderful CLOVEN KINGDOM. This is an iconic Taylor work, set to a marvelous montage of music drawn from Arcangelo Corelli, Henry Cowell, and Malloy Miller. It was conducted tonight by Donald York, and it was danced to perfection.
Two pairs of female dancers have prominent roles: Heather McGinley in lime-green periodically flies along a diagonal in swift jetés, pursued by Ms. Ho. The queenly Laura Halzack, in black, and her handmaiden Christina Lynch Markham, in pink, have a very odd relationship indeed: quirky and mysterious. They look sensational. These four women wear reflective metallic headgear which casts shards of light into the space, adding to the ballet's bizarre atmosphere.
Meanwhile, a quartet of Taylor beauties in soft-colored gowns swirl, sway, and do cartwheels as the ritual unfolds: I simply loved watching Michelle Fleet, Jamie Rae Walker, Eran Bugge, and Parisa Khobdeh.
The men, in tuxedos, are a close-knit brotherhood. To a dazzling percussion interlude, they cavort in choreography that is sensual, animalistic, and physically demanding. This quartet won a big burst of applause: Michael Trusnovec, Robert Kleinendorst, James Samson, and Michael Apuzzo all looked hot and danced up a storm.
Darkly provocative, and rather zany, CLOVEN KINGDOM drew a big audience response tonight. We could have done without the chatty dames snacking behind us, and a loud argument that erupted from the back rows of the theater at one point. Manners, everyone!
~ Oberon