Diamond Project
Where: New York State Theater, Lincoln Center
What: Sixth annual Diamond Project, April 25-June 25
Why: Presentation for 7 new choreographers for New York City Ballet
The Diamond Project was conceived by NYCB's Ballet Master in Chief, Peter Martins in 1992 and has since offered 47 works by 26 different choreographers. The name of the Project was inspired by the late philanthropist Irene Diamond, whose foundation has long supported NYCB's new choreography. Balanchine encouraged and presented new choreographers during his seasons, then at City Center. Choreographers for the Project were Mauro Bigonzetti (AD of Italy's Aterballetto), Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux (Director, North Carolina Dance Theatre) , Jorma Elo (Resident choreographer, Boston Ballet), Eliot Feld (AD of Ballet Tech), Peter Martins (NYCB's Ballet Master in Chief), Alexei Ratmansky (AD Bolshoi Ballet) and Christopher Wheeldon (NYCB's resident choreographer). Each new work was presented 4 times in addition to the 34 ballets from the NYCB repertory.
Eliot Feld, made his debut at NYCB as the "Nutcracker" Prince when he was a youngster. He was mentored by Jerome Robbins and his first work was a success. The company presented 2 "All Feld" programs from his previous works before his new works: "Backchat," "Étoile Polaire" and "A Stair Dance," for the 2006 festival. To music by Paul Lansky and a set that was a tall wall, three male dancers, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Craig Hall and Andrew Veyette suited Feld's casting preference for athleticism. His dancers are without projection or inter-reaction, except for a small amount of camaraderie. Feld can be funny in a quirky way on occasion. Hanging, climbing, twisting, defying gravity, the dancers in this new work, reminded one of mountain climbing with poses.
Feld discovered a muse in teenage apprentice Kaitlyn Gilliland, 18, at 5 feet 9 1/2 inches, with a sinuous expanse of legs, arms and torso. Her mother is Lise Houlton, former soloist at American Ballet Theatre before taking over the Minnesota Dance Theater, founded by her grandmother, Loyce Houlton in 1962. Feld, in his "Étoile Polaire," used every inch of Gilliland's torso, costumed in black leotard, tights and shoes to exploit her long line against a light screen. It was a long tour de force solo, to the music of Philip Glass, without a beginning, middle or a climax, and a spattering of ballet vocabulary here and there. It was fascinating as it left the image of a distant evening star before total darkness.
"A Stair Dance," to music by Steve Reich, finds 3 sets of 5 steps upon which Ellen Bar, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Robert Fairchild, Sean Suozzi and Giovanni Villalobos cavorted in daring, risky ups and downs. With no resemblance to the elegant stair dances of Fred Astaire or Bill Robinson, the workout keeps the audience on edge with fingers and toes crossed for the safety of the group. The costumes, as in "Backchat" are contemporary, informal street dress and shoes.
Mauro Bigonzetti, artistic director and principal choreographer of Rome's Compagnia Aterballetto since 1997 named his Diamond Project work "Il Vento," the wind. Bigonzetti has created works for ballet companies in Europe, as well as the English National Ballet, and an earlier work for NYCB in 2002. Born in Rome in 1960, he studied at the Rome Opera Ballet School, became a company member of its ballet in 1978 and created his first work in 1990 at the Teatro Sociale in Grassina. His admiration for Balanchine is unabashed and passionate.
His choice of music for this 17-minute work was a commissioned score by an associate, Bruno Moretti. And what a team them make. Like Balanchine working with Stravinski, what evolves is a co-production of like minds, joined in a creative process, emotionally and
theatrically.
Bigonzetti began his work on a darkened stage, with hushed violin sounds and a central figure. One feared that it would imitate Robbins' "The Cage," but far from it. His central figure of focus was Benjamin Millepied or alternate, Edwaard Liang, as a troubled soul. Liang transcended his martial art athleticism into seamless movements. Both artists are exceptional in projection and presence. This choreographer coached his dancers beyond the mastery of steps and the remarkable lifts and floor work he required.
As the score moves to cellos and a string section, with jarring and painful accents, the lamentation of the focal artist may be in his imagination or actual. The cast paired into seductive pas de deuxs as a group left him alone as in the beginning. Bigonzetti costumed his dancers in sexy, black, lacy halter leotards. The men were bare to the waist and wore black pants. NYCB's lighting wizard, Mark Stanley added to the mood and focus. Dancers were Maria Kowroski with Jason Fowler, Saskia Beskow, Maya Collins, Tiler Peck, Teresa Reichlen, Antonio Carmena, Robert Fairchild, or Craig Hall, Jonathan Stafford and Sean Suozzi.
"Il Vento" is the kind of haunting work that makes you want to be alone for awhile savoring the mood, before the real world crowds in.
Peter Martins, NYCB's Ballet Master in Chief's "The Red Violin" and resident choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's "Evenfall," both part of the Diamond Project, were presented on the same evening. They couldn't be more contrasting in content, presentation and vocabulary.
Martins is also artistic director of the School of American Ballet, a unique arrangement since most schools are run by pedagogues. He is artistic director of the New York Choreographic Institute, which he conceived in 2000, to provide choreographers the opportunity to experiment. His own career in creating works began in 1977 and has resulted in 80 works, many to commissioned music by contemporary American composers. The music to his new work was "The Red Violin" by John Corigliano. It was jarring and Martins didn't miss a chance to accentuate a movement on the music. His predecessor, George Balanchine used music as accompaniment to a work, or as a parallel to its structure, but there is no such finesse here. Martins provided the dancers with sharp movements and repeated a lift or a descent to the knee more than once. The movements were contemporary and interesting but without invention, mood or theme. The work was "moyen," (small but passable).
Christopher Wheeldon, NYCB's resident choreographer from England, on the other hand is a classicist with a sense of humor. Although not many in the audience got the humor, which was a subtle spoof about sitting on stage in a tutu (not done) or bending over, two hands on the floor, making the dancers look like a ducks, tails up, waiting for a cue from the floor. The entrances and exits were inventive, soloists entered upstage of the corps, and the corps marched at one point in Fourth Position twisting in the waist, from the front wing. That got a small twitter of recognition of his humor from the fans. However, in "Evenfall," his third work for this and previous Diamond Project Festivals and a total on 12 for the company, he knows his classical vocabulary and this is purely a classical work, in three sections performed by an 18-member cast. The music was Béla Bartók's glorious third Piano Concerto.
A required classical pas de deux was performed by Damian Woetzel in his typical "toss it off" manner with MirandaWeese, who has been a principal dancer in a company of 23 principals, but really is. With her beauty, floating arms and eloquent feet she would be a principal in any company.
Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, along with his wife, Patricia McBride, were long-time members of NYCB. They now run the North Carolina Dance Theatre. Bonnefoux's "Two Birds with the Wings of One," to the music of NYCB's first resident composer, Bright Sheng, was based on "Two Poems from the Sung Dynasty," sung by the distinguished, Lauren Flanigan, with portions of "Chi Lin's Dance" from "Flute Moon" inserted here and there. If you attend Asian dance performances, of which there are a great many in New York, the sound, the spirituality and the poems come as no surprise. Flight, reached by a high level of spiritually, is a frequent image. Each bird represents a different symbol, but two birds together, who mate for life, indicate marital fidelity, according to the Chinese Institute's interpretation. Choreographically the vocabulary is classical, but its use is transporting and speaks to you, or not.
French-born Sofiane Sylve, muted her prodigious technique to the role, and danced with Andrew Veyette, as the two birds, who wished to be one. The work included two sextets, one male, and one female, all to an inconclusive ending. Colorful costumes by Holly Hynes added to the mood, although I doubt that any Asian dancer would appear in the short, traditional jackets with pink tights. Ah, well.
The program was touchingly dedicated to Betty Cage, the former long-time, unforgettable general manager of NYCB, who saw the company through the ups and down of its early days with great compassion, poise and wisdom. Cage was the one to whom you went with problems, domestic or otherwise. Her door was never closed. She was the calm within the storm of illnesses, injuries and financial trials that beset the company. It was a nice remembrance from Bonnefoux.
It probably began with college "contact" dance, in which acting out youthful angst and hostility was the message, as dancers bumped, dumped and dragged their partners. Now, advancing to dance as sport, and crowd-pleasing athleticism, it was just a question of time before it was all done on pointe. "Slice to Sharp," by Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo, resident choreographer of the Boston Ballet, created a relentless wresting match for the four couples, who twist, spin and lean at an alarming pace. The audience applauded every jump, lift or turn. But the comparison of dancers with athletes is not valid since no athlete, with a few exceptions, had to spend 8 years in a daily classes beginning at an early age, audition, continue morning classes, afternoon rehearsals, evening performances, tour and do several two-arm overhead presses in most works nightly by lifting a partner of at least 100 pounds overhead, on his shoulders or back, or catching her at the distance of 3 feet, in time to the music, while maintaining a pleasant visage and the character of the role....and all for union scale.
A clue to the intent of the choreography is sometimes in the chosen music. In this case, it was a workout for two violinists, Kurt Nikkanen and Michael Roth, who wrestled with music of pre-Bach violin virtuoso Heinrich Ignaz Franz Von Biber's prelude and several excerpts from AntonioVivaldi concerti. Both composers were string-breakers.
Couples in the work were Maria Kowroski, Ana Sophia Scheller, Sofiane Sylve, Wendy Whelan (who always tries to find the inner voice in every movement) and partners Joaquin De Luz, Craig Hall, Edwaard Liang, and Amar Ramasar.
Alexei Ratmansky, AD of the Bolshoi Ballet offered his "Russian Seasons" to the Project. It is set to the haunting commissioned music by Leonid Desyatnikov, sung by mezzo-soprano, Susana Poretsky and shared by Arturo Delmoni as solo violinist with Maurice Kaplow conducting the 12-part set. The work, with Russian peasant over tones, is playful, charming, sad, funny, always youthful and cleverly costumed by Galina Solovyeva with each of the six couples in matching colors: bright red, green, purple, gold, deep blue or black, white. Ratmansky called upon his Petipa ancestry by repeating a step or lift three times, but incorporating quick entrances and exits. He is a young man (b.1968) with a long soul.
One section featured Wendy Whelan mysteriously as a sorrowing member of the spirited group. Later she appears in a white bridal costume. Could this be an allusion to the Russian tale of a bride, who custom demands her to weep at her wedding? Or a reference to "Les Noces?" Whelan appears serene and calm as she danced alone then joined Rebecca Krohn Jenifer Ringer, Alina Dronova, Georgina Pazcoguin, Abi Stafford, Albert Evans, Antonio Carmena, Adam Hendrickson, Amar Ramasar, Jonathan Stafford and Sean Suozzi.
The New York Choreographic Institute announced a gift of 5M from the Irene Diamond Fund. A matching endowment grant, it was the second-largest gift in the Institute's history. A previous gift from the Diamond Fund was used in 2000, to create the organization, a center devoted to classical choreog-raphy. With matching grants, the endowment expects to grow. The first recipients of the Choreographic Institute fellowships are Carolina Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater and The Washington Ballet.