Morphoses / The Wheeldon Company – 10/29

Morphoses / The Wheeldon Company opened at City Center tonight with an overall program that was impressively produced even though the choreography was less than substantial.  As we’ve come to expect from past years and look forward to, the evening’s dance was supplemented with interesting film clips.  This year the clips captured the dancers in the midst of creative process working and living at Martha’s Vineyard. These films have always been a positive aspect of Morphoses’s seasons, and succeed in differentiating the company's programs from most other presenters at City Center.

The dances this evening were accompanied by live, bold music from the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas led by Alondra de la Parra who founded the orchestra. The evening began with an undanced musical overture by Alberto Ginastera entitled Estancia: Malambo.

The first ballet on the program was Commedia by Christopher Wheeldon to Stravinsky’s music.  Rather clinically put together from a choreographic standpoint, Commedia has good scenery and costumes and the dancers moved efficiently through the choreography, but there was nothing inventive enough or funny enough or passionate enough to stir the soul or imagination of this viewer.  Wheeldon’s emphasis on curious hand and arm movements was, well, curious, but it never led to anywhere.  In short, the piece looked good, was danced well by all including Melissa Barak and Carrie Lee Riggins, but was not especially interesting.

Australian choreographer Tim Harbour’s new ballet Leaving Songs to music by Ross Edwards was Wheeldon-like in some ways. The costumes of the ladies were pinkish/salmonish leotards without tights which looked a bit like After the Rain. There was significant pretzeling about in the Pas de Deuxs; and while Harbour in a film clip tried to explain that the ballet was a poem about death and life, it came across as being trite, especially when the dancers were carrying balloons.

Softly as I Leave You by Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon of Nederlands Dans Theater was an interesting theater-movement piece performed passionately by Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Rufing Pronk.  Jacoby was trapped in a relationship as signified by her angst-dance within a three sided wooden box.  Pronk appeared and they moved outside the box, together and separately, and then moved back into the box together where each one literally lifted up the other one, signifying how they, yes, lifted one another up, and then Jacoby softly left the box and went out on her own.  Sounds simple, but it was quite an eventful journey to music by Bach and Arvo Part (the same music Wheeldon used in After the Rain).  Haglund can’t say that he would want to see this piece again, but he can say that it transported his imagination to another place for a short spell - which is what dance is supposed to do.

The final offering of the evening was Alexei Ratmansky’s Bolero.  The last time Haglund saw a ballet to Bolero, it involved Jorge Donn dancing seductively on top of a table in Bejart’s choreography.  It was hot stuff back in the ‘70s.  Tonight’s Bolero was just a bunch of steps without much else.  If Haglund never, ever, ever again sees Ratmansky’s around-the-head-port-de-bra, it’ll be too soon.

The one aspect of Bolero that was pleasing however, was Lucas Segovia, a Julio Bocca protégé who has enough similarities to the much missed Julio that it was hard not to follow him around the stage to the exclusion of the other wonderful dancers.  He commanded the attention the way Julio used to and communicated with that unmistakable Bocca-passion.  It was hard to tell in this choreography what his classical abilities might be, but if they are anything close to his contemporary skills, we should sign him for the home team right away.

Morphoses is at City Center through Sunday. Go see. The structure is in place for a good evening of dance, but it’s just missing content.

 

 

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Comments

[jose]

There is a video of Lucas Segovia in YT dancing contemporary dances.

[Haglund]

Hi Jose.

Thanks for the YT info on Lucas Segovia. Julio has done a great job with this kid.

- Haglund