At Ballet Theater, new videos and signs of a new era

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


At Ballet Theater, new videos and signs of a new era
Carlos Gonzalez, Thomas Forster, Katherine Williams and Breanne Granlund in “Convivium.” For its virtual gala, the American Ballet Theater presented works by four choreographers and pledged to become more inclusive. Matador Content via The New York Times.

by Siobhan Burke



NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Why make a dance film? What does the medium offer that a theater, with a live audience, doesn’t?

Those questions hovered around the digital program that American Ballet Theatre presented Monday night, “A.B.T. Today: The Future Starts Now,” a virtual gala featuring new works by choreographers Gemma Bond, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Christopher Rudd and Pam Tanowitz. Of the four, Tanowitz, who choreographed the six-minute film “David,” for David Hallberg, seemed most concerned with excavating “something that can’t be done live,” as she said in a short introduction.

Developed at locations in upstate New York and Connecticut — where each creative team worked together as an isolated group, or “ballet bubble” — the premieres signaled the beginning of a new institutional chapter for Ballet Theater, what the company is calling “A.B.T. RISE: Representation and Inclusion Sustain Excellence.” In one of several promotional videos inserted throughout the program, staff and dancers elaborated — sort of — on what this means.

“We are actively engaged in a transformation that will weave diversity, equity and inclusion into the fabric of ABT, on and off the stage,” Kara Medoff Barnett, the company’s executive director, said.

A more candid overview might have named, in less vague terms, some of the imbalances that make such a transformation necessary: for instance, that it has been 20 years since Ballet Theater commissioned a work by a Black choreographer (Christian Holder’s “Weren’t We Fools?” from 2000), or that of the approximately 50 works to enter the company’s repertory from 2010 to 2019, only about 20% were by women. (Sadly, for a major ballet company, that’s actually kind of a lot.)

With works by two Black men (Rudd and Moultrie) and two white women (Tanowitz and Bond), “A.B.T. Today” — which will be available on the company’s YouTube channel for a month — gestures toward a future ballet world less dominated by white male choreographers. Another sign of change: Each work begins with a written acknowledgment that it was filmed on land forcefully taken from Indigenous peoples.




While these digital commissions are a positive step, the artists should be invited back to Ballet Theater when they can benefit from a full stage and a live audience. With the exception of Tanowitz, who collaborated with filmmaker Jeremy Jacob and cinematographer Daniel Rampulla, all created works in which the camera seemed more obligatory than revelatory — in which the dance could have existed without the camera. And that’s fine: We shouldn’t expect choreographers reared in theaters to suddenly become experts in making work for screens.

Bond’s “Convivium” and Rudd’s “Touché” were both filmed at the Silver Bay YMCA in upstate New York, in a small theater lined with black curtains. Shot in black and white, the pleasant “Convivium,” for four dancers, looks like a rehearsal that we happen to be peering in on. In one of its more striking moments, Thomas Forster clasps the hands of his fellow dancers, drawing them close to him, then gravitates away, pulled toward the perimeter of the space. As he reaches in the direction of the curtains, the room seems smaller than it did before, the dancers lonelier and more confined.

Rudd created “Touché,” an intimate duet for Calvin Royal III and João Menegussi, in an effort “to normalize gay love and lust,” he said in a brief introduction. The work charts the phases of the men’s relationship, from shame, secrecy and internal conflict, toward a more tender and vulnerable connection, ending with a kiss.

The “Touché” team worked with intimacy director Sarah Lozoff, whom Royal recently interviewed on Ballet Theater’s Instagram (@abtofficial). Their discussion about consciously navigating consent during a choreographic process — as rare in ballet as an unapologetic depiction of male lovers — is worth watching on its own, or as a companion to this dance.

Moultrie’s “Indestructible Light,” for six dancers, was filmed at the arts center PS21 in Chatham, New York, on an indoor proscenium stage. Propelled by a jazz compilation (Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Neal Hefti, Billy Strayhorn), it is the most joyous of the four works, like an unleashing of pent-up energy. As if to capture the buzz of being backstage, the camera roves through the wings; yet in doing so, it also betrays an emptiness. It’s clear this dance is happening in a vacant theater.

With “David,” Tanowitz and her collaborators conjure an eerier isolation. Filmed on the grounds of the Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, the work cuts between scenes of Hallberg sitting in a plush living room — paging through images of Michelangelo’s “David” — and dancing among the pillars of Pavilion in the Pond, a stone structure that could be his own island.

About as tall as the pillars, Hallberg roams introspectively among them, at once tranquil and troubled, elegant and awkward, as he paws the ground or sinks into a deep plié with limp arms. It feels like the prelude to a horror movie, bristling with enough mystery to merit watching again and again.

© 2020 The New York Times Company










Today's News

November 27, 2020

The Hermitage Amsterdam reopens with an exhibition about knights and the Romanovs

Mauritshuis first gigapixel museum in the world

Prehistoric mega-shark raised its young in nurseries: study

'A love letter to Detroit,' on vellum and chrome

Iconic or sexist? Palm Springs mulls a Marilyn Monroe statue

Best art books of 2020

Photographers donate prints of music artists to raise money for Stagehand at Prints For Music

Land-art installation by Michel Comte: The first stage of 'The Centre of the World' will be completed in 2021

Alexandra Tolstoy: An Interior by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler 100% sold by lot

A soaring monument to beauty in China is stirring passions. Mostly anger.

Museum to record Londoners' Covid dreams

Carved limestone from ancient Chinese caves could reach $60,000 in Heritage Asian Art Auction

Uniforms from Little Bighorn Medal of Honor winner headed to Heritage Auctions

A virtual exhibition highlights work by 40 outstanding contemporary fiber artists from China and the USA

'Fairy Tales and Photography, or, Another look at Cinderella' by Jo Spence to be published in full

Relive the tradition with Victorian Yuletide at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute

Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench's sitcom co-star, is dead at 93

At Ballet Theater, new videos and signs of a new era

Ian Finkel, 'world's greatest xylophonist,' dies at 72

Dena Dietrich, who found TV fame as Mother Nature, dies at 91

Inside the 'other history' of comic book superheroes

Camille Walala reimagines Oxford Street: pedestrianised, plant-filled and people-focused

A table is not just for Christmas: Festive ideas from the Cotswolds

Mona announces Boxing Day reopening

Dementia May Never Improve, but Many Patients Still Can Learn

Main Challenges for International Students in America

Online Canvas and Print Gallery Wall Decor Galore Opens with New Leadership

Tips on How to Make the Most Out of Your Temp Agency Toronto Job

Canines- in- Need find Care and Love in Villages Homes

Rules To Double Your Earnings In A Game Of Online Sports Betting

Cyber Law Learning Courses & Degrees

Brighten your special day with Enchanting Jewellery

A Very Small Family Gathering Will Do This Time




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful