Garage ballet

For every garage band that turned into Tommy James & the Shondells or Question Mark & the Mysterians, there were thousands of bands that never found their crystal blue persuasion in the rock music market and ended up crying 96 tears in oil slicks on the cement floor before the garage door gently rolled down on their dreams.

It was a time when kids begged for guitars, drum sets, and of course, the almighty amplifiers. He who was loudest reigned supreme. He who acquired a Fender, Rickenbacker, or Gibson was the most admired rocker on the block whether or not he could actually play his expensive instrument. 

Kids dragged their massive gear and massive enthusiasm to low- or no-paying gigs or to what ever local party would tolerate them. Everyone applauded and whistled and woo-hoo’ed because – well, because – not usually because it was good music. Then the kids grew up and went off to college, to war, or to a good paying job in the local Chevy plant.

Some good garage ballet came out of that era, too, although some of it could have been called backyard or basement ballet just as well. Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins – actual innovators with their own new ideas – were dancing to the times and to the future. But most garage ballet stayed in the garage, thankfully, although Polaroid snaps of it can suddenly surface at any reunion gathering. We’ll spare you photos of Daisy Loses Her Petal from 1966.

Nowadays, ballets and other forms of dance arise differently. Gone are the garages and field-testing the work for free. Now we have fringe festivals where everybody’s dance ideas can shine for 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Haglund may not be able to get to DIAGHILESQUE!, Still Life with Apples, or Kamikaze Cutesauce Cosplay Club at this year’s FringeNYC, but maybe someone will tell him about it. However, he has had time to take in some of the Joyce Theater’s Ballet Festival these past two weeks.

Joshua Beamish/Move: The Company, The Ashley Bouder Project, and Emery LeCrone all showcased some of the city’s uber-sophisticated ballet instruments in works that didn’t reveal much in the way of new choreographic ideas.

We knew most of these works before they began. We knew the women would wear pointe shoes with no tights so that we could appreciate all of the muscles and bruises that dancers identify themselves with these days. We knew that the women would do countless developpes and battements a la second. We knew there would be slides on pointe. We knew that there would be high but awkward lifts. We knew that there would be tough glares and up-turned eyebrows. We knew that there would be episodes ad nauseam of couples aggressively pulling on one another which we'll call the angst & yank of contemporary ballet. We knew that the women would wrap their legs in attitude around the men. We knew that there would be countless instances of posing on pointe with the leg muscles flexed under the overhead lights. We knew that there would be over-dependence on pas de deux based on gymnastics with vaguely-articulated message.

From these three performances, we came away with an appreciation of an elegant leotard designed by Reid Barteleme and Harriet Jung for The Ashley Bouder Project, more leotard designs by Janie Taylor in Joshua Beamish’s Surface Properties, and still more creative leotards from designer VPL by Victoria Bartlett for the world premiere of Emery LeCrone’s The Innermost Part of Something. These last designs could have been inspired by the creative work seen in Chelsea's art galleries along 24th and 25th Streets.

We appreciated all of the live music and vocal offerings, but especially the chamber performance of Shostokovich’s Trio No. 2 led by Elad Kabilio for Bouder Project’s Rouge et Noir, and David Aladashvili’s lively interpretation of Bach Partita No. 2 in C Minor for Emery LeCrone’s piece by the same name.

To be truthful, we were drawn to these performances to see the dancers, not the dances. It is in these smaller venues that dancers gain valuable experiences that inform and enrich their artistry in their larger “home” company work. Over the years in these programs, we’ve watched dancers who struggled to find the torso strength to whip their legs around in unballetic contemporary choreography quickly blossom into some of the most modern, articulate interpreters in dance. Simple lesson: It doesn’t come without trying and without practice.

We were especially happy to see ABT corps dancer Stephanie Williams working hard to own the choreography in Joshua Beamish’s Stay along with Dimitri Kleioris, and again as a late substitute for Sara Mearns in Emery LeCrone’s Bach Partita No. 2 with NYCB soloist Russell Janzen whose own concentrated hard work has yielded fabulous results in the past few years. It was nice to see the very youthful looking Janzen dancing with an age appropriate partner. He looked at ease, maturely confident, and his partnering was smooth and secure. The Bach Partita No. 2 also handsomely featured Stella Abrera and Alexandre Hammoudi who reprised their roles from this ballet which was first presented at a Guggenheim Works & Process event last season.

In the Bouder Project’s Rouge et Noir, Ashley and Amar Ramasar led a cast of NYCB corps members, all of whom are ridiculously talented. They’re not starving for opportunities like the dancers in that other company but still relish every moment on stage and every opportunity to grow. Alexa Maxwell and Indiana Woodward flying V-formation with Ashley Bouder is a damn good way to learn how to fly.

The most amount of “new” seen in these performances came from Ashley Bouder’s Project whose collaborations were the most sophisticated and polished and made us wonder what the next project phase might bring. So, we'll toss her a stylish H.H. Pump Bump Award with just enough fringe to make it interesting.

 

 

Comments

[Georgiann]

Thanks for the reviews, Haglund and for another great piece of your writing. This brings back memories, and provides accurate information on the most current ballet activity.

[Haglund]

Thanks, Georgiann!