BALLET NY – Tenth Anniversary!
Even before the financial markets went into free fall, the maintenance of a small dance company was an almost insurmountable task. Yet Judith Fugate and Medhi Bahari have now celebrated “Ballet NY’s” tenth anniversary with their recent season at the Joyce Theatre. They know only too well how strong a commitment must be to create a venue where lesser-known choreographers can present work, and mature dancers, needing to continue to perform, can find a stage plus a word of encouragement from supportive directors.
Among those represented this time around was Lisa De Ribere, a former soloist with American Ballet Theatre, now a teacher at School of American Ballet and a popular choreographer who contributed the opening piece “Manny’s Mission.” That was the high. After that, the program went steadily downhill. The closer was “Majestic Days and Fervent Nights,” choreographed by Thaddeus Davis, which was neither majestic nor fervent, but rather a mess, and a lengthy one at that.
What possessed the directors to let this piece go on the program after a viewing or two in rehearsal is a big question. Both Fugate and Bahari have a Rolodex of performing experience between them, and somewhere through the rehearsal process must have realized this piece hadn’t a chance of succeeding. It was simply a hodgepodge of fragmented, ill-conceived movement with no phrasing, no meaningful dynamics, no clear exits and entrances and no distinguishable choreographic highlights. In the program, credit is given to the Hospital for Special Surgery as a contributor making this piece possible. This gives one great pause for thought. Davis put the women on pointe, and in phrases of movement with so little structure set to a volatile musical score, it was cruel and unusual punishment both for the dancers and the audience—as voiced best by a woman in the ladies room afterwards who said, “I have a headache.”
William Soleau’s “Table Games” started out with an idea. Elegant ladies and gents idled around (or rather held up) a large circular white prop that resembled a table top, possibly a gambling table, while they pondered their next bet. Predictably, some left the table and came forward in twos, threes and solos to dance, then return to the table and hold on to the prop so the next dancers could come down stage and do their thing. Soleau’s piece had several probable endings and perhaps an earlier one should have been used, as the viewer had to wait impatiently for a glass to break before it was over. Was that a symbol of our country’s economic failure or gambling distress in general, or just a tacked on ending? When a viewer has to read content into choreography, there is a problem.
Andrew Blight’s premiere of “Pro-Vine Pas de Deux” began with eye-filling image of James Ihde, alone on the stage in a long lunge. This was quite an opening, and expectations were high. Laura Feig joined him, and they both danced to Blight’s not very enchanting choreography. A nice Edgar Varese/J.S. Bach montage of music backed them up. Both dancers had good control over some swivel hip phrases, and they were compatible partners. Let me see, maybe the opening visual was really what the work was all about.
Back to “Manny’s Mission,” which if placed at the end would have sent us out to the streets on an upbeat. De Ribere’s piece was set to Klezmer and Frescobaldi – two unlikely musical comrades, but the choreographer had the good sense to make them work for her piece. Though it began on an ominous note, marching is always worrisome, it picked up into some quirky moments. Here, de Ribere had complete control over the capabilities of her dancers — not a bad trait for a choreographer because it sets the audience (and the dancers) at ease. Thus they are able to have fun, and fun was in short measure on this “Ballet NY” program.