Americana Onstage - from Toe to Heel
Many American choreographers have turned to their homeland, past and present, for inspiration. They have taken off from composers rooted in the country, and they have been inspired by other cultures. American influences also appear in dance companies from abroad.
The Washington, DC, area recently witnessed four diverse reflections of American life by four very different dance companies. We were treated to a moving portrait of the South by a contemporary ballet company, a tour of America by a modern multimedia troupe, an inspirational borrowing and blending of another culture by a West Coast modern ballet organization, and a foreign ballet company's performance of the work of an American choreographer.
North Carolina Dance Theatre, with the Greasy Beans and Christine Kane, presented "Under Southern Skies" at the Music Center at Strathmore. Classical ballet and live down-home bluegrass music evoke the beauty and poetry of the South.
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Artistic Director of North Carolina Dance Theatre for the past ten years, began his career with the Paris Opera Ballet and has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet and New York City Ballet. His works have been commissioned by companies including New York City Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, Pennsylvania Ballet and Munich Opera.
Bonnefoux decided to look in his own North Carolina backyard and make a ballet using the region's bluegrass music. In 2003 he was introduced to the Greasy Beans acoustic band from Asheville, North Carolina. His collaboration with the band produced the ballet "Shindig," a joyous, funky thigh slapping folk dance-like piece. That same year Bonnefoux founded the company's Heritage Project, an initiative to educate the public about southern themes through related dance works. Being familiar with their local music helps ballet newcomers to get comfortable.
The celebration of the South and its ever-changing landscape began with "City South," choreographed by Mark Diamond to Victor Wooten's music, "You Can't Hold No Groove," and Bela Fleck's and the Flecktones's "Sinister Minister and Flight of the Cosmic Hippo." The dance's high energy and technique conveyed the fast pace and surprises of urban life.
Bonnefoux's "I'm With You," was a swirling pas de deux inspired by and set to the music of another Asheville-based musician, folk singer Christine Kane. "Sweet Tea," choreographed by Uri Sands to the music of John Coltrane, had true southern charm with hats, fans and rocking chairs.
The experience of Associate Artistic Director, Patricia McBride, a stellar American ballerina of international stature who danced with New York City Ballet, complements Bonnefoux's. Their expertise shines forth in the virtuosity and artistic range of the dancers. Thirteen of the dancers are American, but Australia, Brazil, England, Canada and New Zealand each has a representative in North Carolina Dance Theatre.
The three-year old Arts United of Washington presented "The Scenic Route" with new songs, modern dance and photography at the Jack Guidone Theater at Joy of Motion Dance Center. The performers showed glimpses of American life, from the mundane trek to work, to the open roads going from beach to mountain. America's optimism of the promise of something better pervades the dance themes of love, play and work
John Saint Amour and Melissa Saint Amour, the Artistic Directors, are responsible for the music and dance, respectively. They began work on "The Scenic Route" about a year ago. Melissa, a faculty member at Montgomery College in Maryland, had completed the dance "Wreckage," but was hesitant to perform it following Hurricane Katrina. John was inspired by D.W. Groethe's song, "Leavin' It All Behind," which conveys the sense of hope for a better life despite the odds. The company sent out a call for songwriters to submit songs about the American experience. New songs that expressed the ideals that unite the country were been selected from hundreds of submissions from across the country and abroad. John, Lori Anne Williams and Caz Gardiner were the singers. Local jazz pianist, Dan Roberts, premiered a new jazz work for piano and percussion.
Inspired by the freedom to find one's own direction as evoked by Jack Kerouac in On the Road, the dancers enacted a journey seeking a new life, experiencing new places and people, and ultimately finding a place to call home.
Still photography provided the backdrop. Jim Guzel, a nationally-prominent photographer and owner of DC's Aphrodite Photography, showed new work as did Ron Goodrich, an artist from Syracuse, NY.
Melissa choreographed all the pieces except "The Daily Grind" that Sylvana Christopher created to the high-energy rock song. The dance captured fast-paced urban life and featured an outstanding dancer, Talia Bar-Cohen. The Arts United founding dancers, Bar-Cohen, Sylvana Christopher and Aaron Jackson were joined by Kerianne Hinerman, Colleen Parnell, Jason Donaldson and Ling Tang from China who is currently a student at the University of Maryland.
The dancers' charm, gusto, skill and humor enveloped the journey. It began with the song "Leavin' It All Behind." Then in "Go With Jack Kerouac," the dancers picked places on a map. There's a cute portrayal of vagabond hitch-hiking in the dance "Kentucky Bound." "Scenes from an American Highway Rest Stop" logically followed. Then the dance "Wreckage" was performed to the song "Amazing Grace." Other dances were "Migration Blues," "Vantage Point High" and "Back to New England."
In the American tradition of borrowing from other cultures to make something unique, Alonzo King's LINES Ballet at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts presented "The MOROCCAN Project." Critic Rachel Howards says, "For more than 20 years now, one of the hallmarks of King's work has been the way he offers up his dancer's extreme extensions and jutting joints as a lingua franca capable of conversing with any culture's music." "The MOROCCAN Project" suite of dances was inspired by the accompaniment of Moroccan music featuring the prominent Bouchaib Abdelhadi and Yassir Chadly. In the recorded music at Wolf Trap, the musicians were joined by two female singers, Hafida Ghanim and Mouna Saadini, who emitted throaty cries, sharp warbles and ululations.
With hints of Morocco, King's vocabulary is modern. Women wore ballet slippers rather than toe shoes and were clad in vivid tangerine colored diaphanous flared culottes. The topless men wore wide tan skirt-like pants.
We heard the drumming of the Gnawa people, who originated in West Africa and came to Morocco as slaves in the 16th century. Superimposed were haunting strains of oud (lute), violin and women's devotional singing. There were Berber songs from the Middle Atlas Mountains; Chaabit, a form of popular song that is the Moroccan equivalent of American country music; classical Arabic music rooted in the ninth century; and catchy, highly danceable Algerian Ra'i music, which combines North African rhythms with a solid bass line and synthesizer. We heard songs of ladies' blessing, men's blessing, Bedouin proverbs, and poetic praise songs for the Sufi.
"The MOROCCAN Project's" sixteen mesmerizing, infectious segments of ritual-inspired staging and movement hint of a mosque, a village square, desert sun and sand, celebration and welcoming visitors into the community. Both the music and movement have call and response patterns typical of African performance.
Percussion drives much of the athletic, quick dancing, torso undulations and spectacular arm movements with fluttering tilted wrist and turned palm. An ululating female voice punctuates frenzied movement suggestive of the Zar (healing) ritual. "The MOROCCAN Project" has a humorous segment reflecting changing Moroccan tradition: A lone woman tries to penetrate a wall of four men who break apart only to realign. She tries to climb over, tumbles backward and then over them, persisting and finally triumphantly strutting off, even though she never penetrated the wall.
The company's outstanding dancers are the powerfully built Prince Credell, who has danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Ailey II and Complexions; and Aesha Ash, who moves with flair and sensuality. Her background includes dancing with the New York City Ballet and Béjart Ballet Lausanne.
King, who founded his company in 1982, has created works that have entered the repertoires of ballet and modern dance companies world-wide as well as choreographed works for prima ballerina Natalia Makarova and film star Patrick Swayze.
Russia's Kirov Ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre unexpectedly departed from its classical repertory of swan queens and village maidens. It turned to America's avant garde, journeying physically and aesthetically into territory previously unexplored. At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Kirov presented an evening of masterpieces created by William Forsythe, an American who has been directing dance companies in Germany and choreographing for them and other companies. The Kirov has been performing Forsythe's work since 2004, and sublime dancers executed it in zealous style with dazzling skill.
Forsythe reflects America's cutting edge with a highly individual modern style, capturing the fast-paced and contentious dynamic of the country. His style is energetically abstract, athletic, aggressive and expressionist with post-punk imagery. Forsythe's work both embraces and challenges conventional ballet technique in a unique interplay. He boldly uses abrupt beginnings and endings.
"Steptext" began with the houselights up and the audience still conversing. A woman sitting behind me said, "It looks like an exercise class." But not for long. Dancers in black leotards against a black backdrop performed duets in varied combinations involving one woman and three men. About two bars of Bach's music would be heard heralding another aggressive duet, and then more snatches of music. Dancer Irina Golub was outstanding, sleek and sexy with endless extensions.
"Approximate Sonata" comprised a sequence of four duets. It was designed like a rehearsal, including verbal directions given onstage. "Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude" was performed by three women and two men to Schubert's "Ninth Symphony." Women in light green modern plate-like tutus and men in blood red engaged in frenetic solos and duets.
"In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated" demanded quicksilver movements from the dancers. Golub glamourously and dramatically stretched hip joints and hamstrings to splintering crashes of Thom Willems's music for synthesizer and percussion.
America appears on stage in various renditions. DC enjoyed portrayals of the South, the country, the country intertwined with another culture, and a foreign country's espousal of an American choreographer. The options are endless.