PERIDANCE DANCE INTENSIVE With Celia Ipiotis, and many more.
May 14, 2024GIBNEY COMPANY
May 20, 2024Review by Celia Ipiotis
A youthful audience streamed into the David H. Koch Theater for an evening of works by contemporary choreographers.
Broken into solos and duets followed by ensembles, Pictures at an Exhibition unfolds to the gorgeous music of Modest Mussorgsky played on piano by Stephen Gosling and danced against projected images by Kadinsky.
Simple yet gleamingly inventive, Alexei Ratmansky’s 2014 piece sharpens each New York City Ballet member’s image with clear lined choreography. One after another, a dancer pulls away from the group, and introduces themselves to the audience. A youthful exuberance pervades the whimsical music and brightly colored outfits by Adeline Andre.
In the mysterious Gnome section, the striking Mira Nadon whips her long legs in strides across the space, then tightens her limbs into swift spins.
Each descriptive section receives a full throated performance by the company. Emma Von Enck shimmers in the bright Tuileries, and Anthony Huxley’s stately interpretation of a Promenade leads to eight other movements that pair up dancers in everything from brightly energetic passages to a whirlwind of airy stag leaps, skipping runs and claps. A sense of friendly camaraderie pervades Pictures At An Exhibition.
Peter Boal in the original cast of Red Angels by Ulysses Dove in 1994. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Choreographed in 1994 during an era shadowed by AIDS, Ulysses Dove, who died that same year, created Red Angels to a score by Richard Einhorn. It’s a breathless, bold dance based on sharply hit positions, whipping turns and unexpected roll ups to toes and dead drops to the floor. Gamely performed by Dominika Afanasenkov, Mira Nadon, Adrian Danchig-Waring and Joseph Gordon, underneath the taut ballet, Mary Rowell’s electronic violin injects the sense of urgency framing a time when each gesture, each minute could be the last.
The bright, sparkly costumes by Alejandro Gomez Palomo got most of the applause in Gianna Reisen’s Play Time for a group of 10 dancers who each get a turn at some jaunty choreography based on attitude and poses, struts and some stylish swinging of the sculptural, eye-pleasing costumes.
Jerome Robbins’ foray into a more distinctly modern dance idiom meditatively spreads across the stage in his 1983 Glass Pieces set to a score by the downtown music darling Philip Glass. Dressed in simple, colorful tunics, T-shirts and tights by Ben Benson, the dancers moved in front of a grid, reminiscent of Sol LeWitt’s grid drawings (most notably “Printed Matter”) favored by experimental dancers in the 1980’s. Inching side to side and forward and back in two dimensional relief, the company sustained a depth of expression within the restrained structure.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis
