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My fall dance preview for the SF Chronicle is now online. It's a big fall for ballet. American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, and the Joffrey are all making appearances at Cal Performances (and all dancing Tharp). Oakland Ballet is mounting a comeback under founding artistic director Ronn Guidi. Smuin Ballet is pressing onward after the death of Michael Smuin. And Alonzo King's LINES Ballet is marking a 25th anniversary with world premieres using live music by Zakir Hussain and members of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Phew! Off the ballet-track, here are a few personal picks I have high hopes for:
Chitresh Das Dance Company: The cross-cultural chemistry was dazzling two years ago when Indian Kathak master Chitresh Das teamed with tap phenom Jason Samuels Smith. Now the two rhythmic virtuosos continue the conversation, and add new voices, in "India Jazz Progressions." Sept. 28-30. Fort Mason's Cowell Theater, Marina Boulevard at Buchanan Street, San Francisco. (415) 345-7575, www.kathak.org.
LEVYdance: Talented young choreographer Benjamin Levy's five-dancer troupe is athletic and edgy. His ambitious new work is "Bone Lines," exploring his Persian Jewish heritage and his family's exile from Iran, and featuring impressive collaborators: composer Keeril Makan and couture designer Colleen Quen. Oct. 12-13. Jewish Community Center of San Francisco's Kanbar Hall, 3200 California St., San Francisco. (415) 292-1233, www.levydance.org.
Sean Dorsey: Sean Dorsey's storytelling dances about the transgender experience tend toward the tender and touching, and are beginning to attract an ardent fan base. Nov. 15-17. Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St., San Francisco. (415) 826-4441, www.dancemission.com.
See you at the theater.
August 28, 2007 · 10:16 AM · Dance · Comments (0)
The San Francisco Ballet danced at Stern Grove Sunday. My review in the Chronicle:
"It was awfully accommodating of the San Francisco Ballet to take a day out of preparations for their staggeringly ambitious 2008 season and treat more than 8,000 fans to free ballet alfresco Sunday. It was even more generous of them to dance as though they'd just come back from a long, refreshing vacation.
Perhaps the dancers can't be thanked for everything; perhaps it only seemed as though their warmth chased away the clouds shrouding Sigmund Stern Grove during this penultimate offering of the Stern Grove Festival. But this was dancing of enough lightness and energy to shine through the foggiest of San Francisco summers. And it was a very good omen for bright things to come next spring during the company's 75th anniversary.
Of course, it helps that Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson's programming skills extend to perfect picnic fare. Paul Taylor's "Spring Rounds," not among that modern master's finest creations, looks better in the open air, where the green-clad cast seems to frolic onto the stage right from the meadow. And "Elemental Brubeck," Lar Lubovitch's sometimes swinging, sometimes weirdly turgid jazz whirl, seems like just the thing to send you off into a Sunday sunset groove.
But the heart of the afternoon was George Balanchine's "Divertimento No. 15," to Mozart. When done right, it is not merely pretty but life affirming. And at Stern Grove the nearly moral conviction of its well-manned beauty could make you forget the bucolic surroundings.
The casting was mostly familiar from last spring's repertory season, but everyone seemed in especially good graces. Lorena Feijoo led the gathering with stately aplomb, her turns perfectly controlled in speed and placement, while Frances Chung enlivened the drawing-room atmosphere with her unusual style, big and buoyant. Katita Waldo and Vanessa Zahorian were in crisp form, while Julianne Kepley made a good first impression as a newly hired soloist: blond, confident, all-American.
But the gentle pathos of the ballet came through in the subtle presence of the men. Jaime Garcia Castilla's line was pure gentility. Nicolas Blanc's jumps landed softly right on the end of a musical phrase, the way your head might hit a pillow at the end of a satisfying day. Blanc, especially, brought out the dance's emotional core, in the ardor of his arms when he stepped back from his ballerina, in the angle of his head as he partnered. When Kepley extended her leg in a front développé, then leaned back upon his chest, you could see in Blanc's face the idea of civility as a luxury - and as a luxury easily lost. You could see something cherished, something at stake."
Click here for the full review.
August 14, 2007 · 10:30 PM · Dance · Comments (0)
Thanks to everyone who answered my call for performances to include in the Chronicle's fall dance preview. The response was tremendous and tremendously helpful, not just for making the preview as complete as possible, but for alerting me to shows to keep on my radar in the months to come. The fall dance preview won't be comprehensive, but I've tried to make it damn close. Look for it in the Chronicle's Sunday Pink section on August 26.
The open call was so useful--and I was so surprised to find some people timid about submitting information--that I thought perhaps I should state publicly: I'm always happy to receive press releases about events on the Bay Area dance scene via email (please no hard copy). Send them any time of the year to rachel at rachelhoward dot com.
Meanwhile, we're in the deadest dance month of the year, and I'm using the slowdown to work my tail off in grad school and press forward on my fiction. Aside from a review of San Francisco Ballet's Stern Grove performance this Sunday, you won't be seeing much of me in the Chronicle until September. But then the dance season gets busy--and after finishing the fall preview, I know there's much to look forward to. See you in the theater next month.
August 06, 2007 · 02:18 PM · Dance · Comments (0)
