Sunday, March 2, 2008
More Contemporary Masters
Recently at Meany Hall, Compania Nacional de Danza from Madrid with choreography by Nacho Duato. For those of you that saw this performance, what did you think?
No ballet course would be complete without some Balanchine. From the New York City Ballet, here is excerpt from Stars and Stripes: What are your impressions?
And yet another view of ballet and ballet companies, here is the Joffrey Ballet in modern dance choreographer Alwin Nikolais' Tensile Involvement. Ballet companies have been doing more and more modern work along side their classical works. What do you feel about this kind of work?
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Hey, the last piece by Alwin Nikolais was done by Chamber Dance Company a little while back! Did anyone see that? It was my favorite piece of the whole show. I was stunned and fascinated the entire time watching it live. I found it exceptionally innovative and dynamic, while I feel that sometimes modern dance becomes redundant and loses my attention. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to see Compania Nacional de Danza - the video was lovely. They expressed a beautiful combination of feeling, rawness and lyricism. The second video, in contrast, though impressive on a physical level, was a bit "fluffy" for lack of better word, in my opinion. I think the name and music turned me off, partly, as it seems patriotic, and the energy is a bit snooty and contrived.
I found the piece by Nacho Duato absolutely captivating. It combined the beautiful ballet technique that makes dance feel so other worldly and the amazing partnership of contact improv. Every tandem movement made me believe that the human body is perfectly designed to be one-of-a-pair. A piece like that makes me wonder how we can even move as individuals when partnering seems so natural. I don't mean this in any sort of romantic relationship way, what i'm trying to convey is in terms of dance and movement. Also, as heather mentioned, I also immediately noticed and remembered seeing the Chamber Dance Company piece last year and watching it live was such a thrill. The movement of the ribbons added such character and seemed to be it's own dancer. As we talked about in class on friday, however, i noticed that the amazing choreography of the ribbons did upstage the dancers a bit. All three videos were beautiful and each was incredible to watch for it's own reasons.
-bergman
La Compañia Nacional de Danza is incredible. My attention was completely focused throughout their entire performance when they were in Meany. Their movements were precise and smooth. The beauty that each performer brought to the stage was overwhelming. The connection of body to movement was seamless. They were not making shapes and lines, but rather embodying the feeling and emotions of shapes and lines. It was spectacular.
I think that Balanchine works fall under contemporary or modern ballet, but they still live in the ballet idiom. The works of Nacho Duato and William Forsythe, however, live in both the ballet and modern dance idioms. I enjoy watching works of Balanchine, especially when the dancers are anatomically responsible with their movements.
I feel that modern dance is constantly reinventing itself. Since its beginning as a revolt against the ballet idiom, it has continued to change. Nikolais's Tensile Involvement is a fresh set of movements and emotions which continue to broaden our understanding of modern dance. I think that the public has taken a liking to modern dance. PNB even had an entire show last fall devoted to contemporary works.
The Compania Nacional de Danza was a very interesting performance. Their style was very modern but it wasn’t as harsh as the other modern pieces I’ve seen. It had more of a dance feel to it. The music was very appealing. I also thought that they worked beautifully as a pair. The chorography flowed between them which made it enjoyable to watch.
I love love loved the Stars and Stripes piece. I think it was absolutely incredible. I was really drawn to the gracefulness of the woman’s arms. They flowed perfectly with what moves she was doing. I often struggle with what my arms are doing and I constantly feel not graceful. But watching her inspired me, she looked so elegant. Also, the man’s balance was uncanny. He could turn for days! I was very impressed with this piece; I’d love to see it in person.
As for the Joffrey Ballet piece, I believe I saw something VERY similar to that last year at a performance in Meany Hall. It’s very visual appealing because of the streamers but the dancing in it seems very minimal. It was rather alluring but I’d prefer to watch/dance to something that had more dance involved like the Stars and Stripes piece.
I didn't get a chance to see the Compania Nacional de Danza from Madrid, but i'm sure it was a really great performance. :)
I really enjoyed the Balanchine video from the New York City Ballet. The woman in the video had amazing technique and control and the man sort of seemed like he was her prop. He did a great job of lifting her through the air, and promenading her around. I liked that video.
On the other hand, I didn't quite enjoy the last video, the one of the Joffrey Ballet modern dance, as much as I did the other videos. Modern just isn't my style. It was extremely visually appealing what they were doing with those streamer things, but I just didn't really like the dancing very much.
All three of those videos were really interesting to watch. The first was very captivating. The choreography was great and the way the two dancers worked together really added to the piece. It was very controlled despite the fact that it was very different from traditional ballet. The second video is always a pleasure to watch. That is a beautiful piece. Watching a gorgeous ballerina dance on pointe with legs that go on for days is always my favorite. The last video was truly incredible. The use of the background dancers and the ribbons was so perfectly choreographed and really added a cool element to the dance as a whole. The soloists were also great with the modern touches. Those were all very fascinating pieces!
While I think I've admitted to not really being a fan of modern, I actually kind of liked watching the Compania Nacional de Danza piece. The dancers moved beautifully together and it seemed softer (like Brittney said, less harsh) than other modern I've seen.
The Balanchine was a really fun piece to watch. This pair also danced really beautifully together and seemed to have great chemistry. They also just look like they're enjoying what they're doing and having fun with it. While their technique is excellent and they're both very graceful, I really enjoyed watching it because they really seem to be living in the moment and having a blast dancing.
I was really impressed with the Joffrey ballet piece, and can't imagine choreographing something like that! The dancing is what I imagine would be a combination of the William Forsythe piece (from the last posting) and the Stars and Stripes piece, although I did get a little bit distracted from the dancing by all of the ribbons.
The piece by Compania Nacional de Danza from Madrid compared to the Balachine piece are basically day and night. Although they are both duets, they are so different in style. The first piece is very modern and everything is very "grounded" and "curved". Alot of the movements they did had contact with the floor but in the Balanchine piece, everything was like "up up!" and as straight as can be. All her movements were on pointe, extented and clean.
I remember seeing that piece or something like it being performed at UW a while ago and I must say, it was my favorite piece. I really liked the blend of their outfits,the choreography,the stage props and especially the lights. I t would be really cool to be in a piece like that but I think being able to watch it from an audience perspective is a lot cooler.
I think modern and contemporary ballet is GREAT.! Dance is like a tree in which are branched out to many other possibilities. Classical, modern, or contemporary ballet- among its roots is ballet. I personally appreciate and enjoy learning all techniques but may slightly be more drawn to modern ballet. But at the same time, without enough experience, skill, and technique in ballet itself, I may be drawn to modern ballet for the wrong reasons; that it's more loose and have many variations.
The Nacho Duato piece was amazing! I just loved how it flowed so smoothly.. it reminded me of how you were saying that it's about the journey, not just the destination of the moves. It was hard to tell where each move began/ended because it all seemed like one long, graceful move - even when they transitioned from being apart to touching.
The Balanchine piece reminded me of how you tell us to only show confidence on the floor, as in our modern ballet pieces at the end of class. The girl in this piece is so smiling and so full of energy - this paired with the music exudes such confidence; it makes it much more fun to watch.
The last piece, with the darkness, the music, the ribbons, and the quirky movements of the dancers had a completely other-wordly feeling to it. It's really interesting to see these three dances in one blog entry because I don't really see how they could be any different from each other. Still, all were entertaining and equally amazing in their own (completely different) ways!
I just finished watching the Pacific Northwest Ballet's A Midsummer Night's dream which was choregoraphed by Balanchine and immediately recognized the second video as one of his pieces. I noticed that during partner dancing, the male often seems to be almost the accesory to the female, displaying her by holding her in the air or spinning her while she holds an arabesque. He joins and mimics her movements in some moments, but for the most part he just stands proudly and masculinely at her side.
All three videos are really beautiful,but the third one was captivating! its so unique and original.its amazing how they move and dance so beautifully with ribbons like that,without getting tangled and messed up. when the dancer made up a square with the ribbon,it reminded me how we dance in our own space (stay in our diagonal),but at the same time still connect with others.
the first one was beautiful in its own too,its 'flowy' and i found myself moving along the music and dance. i agree with samantha how it reminded us about how we need to take the journey from one movement to another,make everything flow like a river,so it will be fascinating to watch, not simply robots and waiting for the next move.
i also enjoyed the second one, very cool and graceful yet with power at the same time :)
The ribbons or ropes or whatever they are on the last video are a really cool effect. It looks like it would be really fun to see live. The second video is gone for some reason...
La Compañia Nacional de Danza was very nice. I really enjoyed the last ballet. The sand that was used added a lot to the number. The dancing was very graceful and put together. They made it look so easy! It was quite impressive...
The third video was by far my favorite...i think it was the same dance i saw last year in meany hall. The way the ropes were integrated just keeps your attention the whole time. It seems like it would take a lot of work and time to get the dance perfect without tangling the ropes or yourself in the rope. The lighting also helped with the illusions i just LOVE it. In the first video what i noticed first was the flexed feet. Since the first day i started dancing it has been drilled to point your feet and to see this amazing dancer not point her feet just throws me off a bit. The dance is done very well I am just not a big fan of modern dance but i give props to those dancers.
ps. the second video says its not available anymore...
The middle video wasn't available!!!, the first one was really sweet! I love how connected they were, so fun to watch that kinda dance because they are like one body with multiple limbs! The last video caught my eye alot because of all the colors and all the things going on at once that made a cool pattern. All of the dancers had to be together because they were all connected by these giant ribbons and that was soo cool to watch how they manipulated it into cool shapes and into cool backgrounds for a soloist.
La Compañia Nacional de Danza was amazing! I loved the way the two dancers came together as one piece of movement. And I really enjoyed how the piece kept going and it was very flowy with each part. The middle video wasn't available anymore..But I enjoyed the last piece a lot! I loved how the colors and music gave strength to the dancing. Everything complimented each other really well! It was something different to see, dancing with ribbons like that!
I did see the show and walked away awe sturck by the use of unison and canon. The lines of the dancers were captivating and empoering. Despite the fact there were minimal ballet movements traditonally speaking the lines created in ballet were apparent in the execution of the movement. I enjoyed the expression of emotions illuminated trough the physicality of creating extensions and transferring that emotion through facial expression and the embodiment of the music and theme behind the piece.
Ashley Howisey
I really liked the Compania Nacional de Danza, but I think that I was left wondering what the message or story of this piece was. Like, there was a lot of the male closing the eyes of his partner. I wasn't sure if this was a feeling like a father/daughter trying to protect her from the world, or his not wanting her to escape and see things for herself - I would have loved to know the context. I really liked the interaction and connection between them.
The Joffrey Ballet with choreographer Alwin Nikolais' Tensile Involvement was much more unique modern dance - it was an almost fully sensory experience in things modern - the props were so central to the dance, that they were part of the expression and dance. Though I can appreciate this form of expression, I am much more inspired to do what a classical ballerina does as a future goal of my ballet endeavors right now.
But, this second modern piece was very well done - the lighting, staging, props, dancing, music, and costumes were all conduce to a full experience of modern style - very cool.
My favorite piece was the Compania Nacional de Danza from Madrid with choreography by Nacho Duato. I loved this piece. I loved the partner work and the sensuality of the movements. I think of this piece as modern with ballet influences. I also feel like there are some West Africa dance influences in the choreography. It is a sensual and lyrical piece, which is the kind of dancing I relate to most.
I liked the Balanchine piece too. It is very impressive in its control; it seems to stay more in the ballet side of things, whereas Nacho Duato's piece seemed more modern.
The last piece was very creative in its ribbon work. It made me think of rythmic gymnastics. Most of the actual dancing seemed very upright in posture, but the patterns were very creative.
All of these pieces were really interesting to watch. The first one was fun to watch because the woman and man moved so well together. You could tell that they were connecting on so many levels, and some of hte partner work they did was amazing. The second piece was appealing because the woman was so graceful and beautiful. I am always fascinated when I see people dancing on pointe, and the whole dance was done really well.
The third video was definately my favorite, because the incorporation of streamers into ballet reminded my of color guard. For those of you who don't know color guard is like a dance team except they use props, usually flags, and they perform with a marching band on the football field. I competed in high school, and now I do choreography for my old school, and it is my favorite thing in the world! The way the ballerinas moved the streamers while still moving their bodies with such grace was great to watch. All of the dancers had to have their streamers in just the right position for the piece to look right, but they did it. It was very impressive.
this remindes me of last years dance majors concert. i really liked that dance with the ribbons and the lighting, and this remides me of it!
I really liked watching all videos.
I especially liked the second one.
I was so impressed that every move she makes is perfectly under her control and in order. It is really striking to watch these kind of performance.
Controlling one's own body and movement is a key in ballet. I think it also applies to modern ballet. Rather, in modern ballet, the importance of one's core strength is higher than techniques.
The La Compania Nacional de Danza video looked wonderful. I really wish I could've gotten the nights off from work to go see it. I did get to communicate with these women in the halls though...it was neat.
I appreciated the Balanchine piece. It was definitely more balletesque(is that a word?). But, compared to the other pieces I think it fell short of amazing.
I do remember seeing CDC present Alwin Nikilais' piece. Watching this video helped me realize how lucky I am to have seen it live. The colors and music and lights are much fuller in real time.
I thought the last piece from Joffrey Ballet in modern dance choreographer by Alwin Nikolais' Tensile was very creative because i have not seem any dance that dnacer have to used a lot of robbin. It was very interesting to watching new idea.
The first piece of dance is very different from the traditional ballet. Since the dance is modern, sometimes the movement does not make sense to me. In ballet, there is a lot of words term for the movement that we already knew but in modern, i have hard time sometimes to figure out the scene or the movement.
Even thou it was very different type of dance from the traditional ballet, but i still enjoy to watching it.
I thought the last piece from Joffrey Ballet in modern dance choreographer by Alwin Nikolais' Tensile was very creative because i have not seem any dance that dnacer have to used a lot of robbin. It was very interesting to watching new idea.
The first piece of dance is very different from the traditional ballet. Since the dance is modern, sometimes the movement does not make sense to me. In ballet, there is a lot of words term for the movement that we already knew but in modern, i have hard time sometimes to figure out the scene or the movement.
Even thou it was very different type of dance from the traditional ballet, but i still enjoy to watching it.
I think the Nikolais piece is very good, and visually stunning - I saw it last year at the UW CDC concert, and it is even more impressive live - all the energy that film can't quite capture.
I like a lot of aspects of the first piece - some of the movement sequences flow well and highlight a beautiful connection between the dancers.
The Nacho Duato piece is simply gorgeous. The movement is so organic and the two dancers dance together as they are deeply connected in the rythm, movement and each other. The differences in the Nacho Duato piece to the Balanchine piece are the reasons why I prefer modern dance more than ballet.
In the Balanchine piece I felt like the piece was only impressive in the way that the dancers had amazing flexibility, balance and high jumps. Of course it was visually pleasing and entertaining, but I personally felt more pleased and connected to the Nacho Duato piece. I like how modern dance allows you to use your body creatively and how you do not need to have amazing flexibility to make a piece interesting. I do realize that there are some exceptions to this in ballet but for the larger part I do appreciate modern dance a little more...
I also really enjoyed the last piece with the ribbons, which I also saw performed by the Chamber Dance Company. I like how dance composition and performance has been taking on different forms like in video, and as an installation- which is how I would classify "Tensile." It was really amazing to see live, and I am excited to see how the art of dance will continue to create itself.
Yes! Heather, I did see that piece by Alwin Nikolais! I remember being thoroughly confused by it and later wondering what my definitions of dance were. Why was I slightly taken aback by it? Also, in that piece, the music surprised me. I didn't feel the connection between the sound and the motion as I often can. It was also one of the first modern pieces I had ever seen. What was strange was that I didn't remember that this was specifically from the Chamber dance company until reading Heather's comment. It was almost like watching it as a new piece...and I reacted very differently now that I've spent more time within the dance community and exposing myself to different types of dance.
I didn't actually get to see the Compania Nacional de Danza perform here, but I really enjoyed this clip. I think that it's cool how the dancers work together and use one another as part of their movement.
Watching professional ballet dancers is so impressive to me. Years and years of training... the balance and the control. It's perfect. Balanchine isn't necessarily my favorite, but I can definitely appreciate the piece.
I didn't see CDC perform this piece as it appears a lot of other people did, but the movie that this is from - "The Company" - has a lot of similar pieces in it. I really like that it still has a ballet feel to it even though there's a lot of it that's not. The colors and the streamers are fun, and the way that the lines are used is really amazing.
I enjoyed Nacional's concert, but I detested the long intermissions. I was incredibly tired, and though the choreography was beautiful, I fell asleep during the second work! The first and last were so memorable to me as they happened to be dealing with some pretty heavy issues (castration, drug use). Castrati included some stage pictures that showed how much in pain the castrati would me. White Darkness utilized a whole stage experience to emphasize the control these drugs had on the addicts.
When I was in Dance 101 in Autumn 2004, we watched numerous videos of Nikolais work, and as a intro course, this was really bizarre! The computerized music, the use of props like huge hats and strings, etc. I think weirded some of my classmates out, but it was something I had never seen before and reminded me that dance is a neverending creative process and that you can get away with a lot within it.
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