Last night, it was off to the Civic Opera house for the opening night of ABT's visit to Chicago. They will be here the rest of the week with Swan Lake, but I prefer the mixed rep programs. Story ballets are great and popular, I know, but with the mixed rep programs, you get a little sample of different kinds of work. If you don't like one of them, you don't have to sit through it all night. I remember that Sleeping Beauty got a little old after a while... towards the end it was like: Now she dances!! And now HE dances! And, oh, she will dance again! And then they dance together! Awww, the end. But no! She dances again! and so on. It was like, OK, I get it, can you two just live happily ever after, already??
Anyway. The program was the All-American Celebration and first up was Twyla Tharp's Brahms-Haydn Variations. It was... yeah, I don't know. Busy. There was a lot going on up on stage, and I didn't quite know where to look. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it was... busy is the best word I've got for it. Lots of bodies in motion (the work includes 30 dancers) doing Twyla! Twyla! Twyla! Not my favorite of the night (maybe they should have kept it all inside? Anybody catching my Birdcage references here???)
The next piece was Paul Taylor's Company B, featuring music from the Andrews Sisters. ABT's website describes the piece: "Even though this dance is set to the lighthearted and fun loving tunes of the Andrews Sisters, the brilliant choreographer Paul Taylor explores not only the jitterbug, waltzes and polkas that were the social dance scene in 1940s America, but also he skillfully mixes the dances with images of the GIs during WWII, sensitively expressing the trepidation of War and the powerful emotions that surround living within its reality. The dance focuses on such poignant dualities, set to such beloved songs as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Tico-Tico" and "Bei Mir Bist du Schön."
So, yes. I definitely got that there was an undertone about the trepidation of war and so on, but mainly I got: GAP commercial. All the dancers were running around in khakis and pastels and especially in "Bei Mir Bist du Schon" where they were all in a group, it just seemed like you turned on the tv and all these great dancers were advertising the GAP. It was beautifully danced, but yeah. Fall into the GAP.
Anyway. The program was the All-American Celebration and first up was Twyla Tharp's Brahms-Haydn Variations. It was... yeah, I don't know. Busy. There was a lot going on up on stage, and I didn't quite know where to look. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it was... busy is the best word I've got for it. Lots of bodies in motion (the work includes 30 dancers) doing Twyla! Twyla! Twyla! Not my favorite of the night (maybe they should have kept it all inside? Anybody catching my Birdcage references here???)
The next piece was Paul Taylor's Company B, featuring music from the Andrews Sisters. ABT's website describes the piece: "Even though this dance is set to the lighthearted and fun loving tunes of the Andrews Sisters, the brilliant choreographer Paul Taylor explores not only the jitterbug, waltzes and polkas that were the social dance scene in 1940s America, but also he skillfully mixes the dances with images of the GIs during WWII, sensitively expressing the trepidation of War and the powerful emotions that surround living within its reality. The dance focuses on such poignant dualities, set to such beloved songs as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Tico-Tico" and "Bei Mir Bist du Schön."
So, yes. I definitely got that there was an undertone about the trepidation of war and so on, but mainly I got: GAP commercial. All the dancers were running around in khakis and pastels and especially in "Bei Mir Bist du Schon" where they were all in a group, it just seemed like you turned on the tv and all these great dancers were advertising the GAP. It was beautifully danced, but yeah. Fall into the GAP.
But you know, I LIKE the GAP, so I'm not saying this is a bad thing, or that I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't. And I did. It's just that while watching it, I was reminded of an ad for khakis, that's all I am saying. I am not proud that this was the image that popped into my head, because I am trying to become a more sophisticated viewer of dance. I still feel like as long as nobody falls down, it's a great performance. I am not really a great analyzer of technique etc. BUT - I felt better when I ran into someone I work with, a former dancer who performed in this piece several times. He didn't think that the lighting brought out the mood of the piece in a good way - so the guys lurking around in the background symbolizing soliders going off to war weren't really portrayed the right way.... So let me tell you, if he wasn't getting it, and he knows what to look for in a dance performance, from a dancer's perspective, I am not sure how much of the audience got it.
(See what I mean about the GAP commercialishness about this? Photo from ABT.org)The final piece was Jerome Robbins's Fancy Free about three sailors on shore leave in NYC. It was the best piece of the night. With music by Leonard Bernstein and a cute city-bar backdrop, it was kind of fun and West Side Story-ish. I kept expecting them to break into "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way..." and they DID have a rumble (three sailors, two girls, oh, no!!) and then there was a lot of awesome dancing as all three tried to impress the girls. I liked it. But then I am a sucker for sailors...
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