The Last Tango: Julio Bocca Bids Farewell with Bocca Tango

Julio Bocca is bidding us farewell again, this time dancing Bocca Tango with his own company Ballet Argentino. After an emotional sendoff in June of 2006 at American Ballet Theatre, where he enjoyed rock star fame, he’s ready to end his performing career. “Forty seems like a good age to stop,“ says Julio Bocca from his hotel room in Buenos Aires. “I want to finish my career on a high level.”

Bocca began dancing at the age of five with his mother, Nancy Bocca. He continued his training at the Teatro Colón. In 1985 he won the Moscow International Ballet Competition. The following year Baryshnikov invited him to join ABT, where he flourished through a 21-year career. “For me ABT is like home, I will always feel that way. It’s an amazing company that I will always cherish. They gave me freedom and security.” His diverse career also includes a stint on Broadway in Fosse, which led to an interest in musical theater.

It’s been a long and busy life for Bocca, who managed a double career all these years while dancing at ABT and his company. He started Ballet Argentino when we was 23 because he wanted to develop Argentinian dancers. Bocca looks at it this way: “Now, I have a 17-year base with the company, and it was very rewarding to see so many dancers achieve success in their career. The dancers got a chance to travel and dance in different styles. That was the idea behind the company.” Thus far 100 dancers have passed through the company. The company’s diverse repertoire includes works by José Limon, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham, and George Balanchine. The other idea central to the company’s mission was giving Bocca something to dance besides the usual guesting gigs.

“I had the chance to do new choreography created especially for me; it just felt more complete.” Bocca Tango’s choreographer Ana Maria Stekelman has a long history of creating work especially for Bocca. There’s lots of give and take in the process. “I love the way she works,” says Bocca. “We go into the studio, put the music on, and I start moving. She gives me a lot of freedom in the creative process. She’s a very versatile choreographer. She can tell a story and also be very abstract.”

As for the “Ultimo Tour,” show audiences will get a taste of tango and more. Bocca is fond of saying that “Tango is in my blood.” When he was growing up, the music and movement of tango was always in his world. “It is something I always kept with me.” You might say Bocca Tango takes tango to new heights. The dancers, all classically trained, may also have tango in their blood and a good bit of ballet as well.

Besides the steamy duets with Figaredo, Bocca takes some unusual partners like a table and a ladder. Regardless of who or what Bocca is dancing with, he evokes the raw brand of physicality that made him famous. Stekelman and Bocca enlisted improvisation to arrive at the final choreography, although he admits “I still like to improvise when I am dancing.” Bocca’s tango with a table exudes a sensual flavor. “It’s like I am preparing the space for a woman,” he says.

The final piece from the show, a solo for Bocca with a ladder, involves some daredevil moves and a good bit of improvisation. “I remember playing in the park when I was young. I was always playing between the steps on the equipment. I wanted the piece to have that feeling,” says Bocca, who also wants audiences to know that the ladder is not attached to the floor. So the danger level is high. “Good thing I’m not afraid of heights,” he adds.

Bocca admits the show feels like an intimate musical. “It’s very simple, with no huge sets. It’s just the artists really, the singers, dancers, and musicians.” Live music performed by Guillermo Fernandez and Viviana Vigil and Octango give the show authenticity. Much of the music is by Argentinian tango legend Astor Piazzolla. “I love his music and grew up hearing it; I even met him once while I was dancing at ABT. There is something special in Piazzolla’s music that makes you want to dance. I can listen to the same piece over and over and find something new in it.”

After 27 years as a professional dancer, now seems like the time to move into the next stage of his career, which will involve directing, coaching, overlooking his musical comedy school, and running his foundation which supports the school in Buenos Aries. (The foundation helps pay the tuition and living expenses of underprivileged children to attend his school.) Bocca plans for a good dose of down time and considerably less travel. “I want to spend some doing absolutely nothing,” jokes Bocca. “And when I am done with that, I know I will have plenty to do.” He also hopes to have more time to himself and his family. The company will continue as will his association with it. His principal dancer, Cecelia Figaredo, will become the face of the company, and a new show is already in development. It’s been a great ride and one that Bocca feels privileged to have been on.

Bocca’s time on stage will end right where it started, on an outdoor stage in Buenos Aires this December. Bocca’s spare but sizzling show feels like just the right note to end on. “I have enjoyed this show so much,” he says with a bittersweet tone in his voice. “We have such a good time.”

Society for the Performing Arts presents Julio Bocca and Ballet Argentino in Bocca Tango on November 1, at 8 pm, at Jones Hall. Call 713-277-4SPA or visit spahouston.org.

Reprinted from Artshouston.

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre: Wild Cursive

Calligraphy and choreography share a canvas in Cloud Gate Dance Theatre's final chapter of Cursive: A Trilogy, with choreography by Lin Hwau-min, presented as part of BAM's 25th Next Wave Festival. Dancing is a kind of mark making, with the ink visible for only as long as we can perceive the movement; as soon as it's made, it's unmade by the next move. Having missed the first two sections, I am coming in a late in the story with chapter three, known simply as Wild Cursive.

The piece is based on Kung Chao type of "wild calligraphy,” which according to the program, “frees characters from any set form and exposes the spiritual state of the writer in its expressive abstraction.” The structure of Wild Cursive follows the laws of nature, ebbing and flowing, with groups collecting and scattering. Dances appear and disappear much likes ocean waves, with no hard boundaries.

The dancing remains the reason to see Cloud Gate. Trained in traditional forms of dance and martial arts, the performers possess a fluid control that allows them to take and surrender shape in the most startling ways. In one passage a dancer imitates a wave lapping against a shore. In another instance, a dancer folds like a leaf in mid-Autumn. Limbs don't begin in the usual places as the body here forms a more organic entity. It's astonishing to watch the quality of movement in these sequences.

Translucent rice scrolls with fresh dripping ink come and go dividing, containing, and concealing the performance space. Certainly the movement of ink and body have a collective unity as the dance borrows its structure from the path of meandering ink.

Jim Shum and Liang Chun-mei's music design bring forth the natural world with sounds of crickets, water, and temple bells establishes a meditative mood. Chang Tsan-tao's crystalline lighting bathed the piece in sculptural glow. Sammy Wang's utilitarian black leotards and full pants neither added nor subtracted from the piece.

The body as brushwork in space is a rich idea. Still, as elegant as Cloud Gate movers are, I wonder if something got lost in the translation as wild they are not. The overall tone exudes such a calculating sense of control, which, in the end, remains too constrained to be in the wild zone.

Reprinted from CultureVulture.

ROAD TRIP: Fall for Dance

Urban Bush Women in Batty Moves

Photo by Stephanie Berger

First, a word to the audience who came to this year's Fall for Dance at City Center. Who are you and can you come to Houston? This spunky group of youngsters, new dance enthusiasts, and drag-a-friend to dance types, was the star of city center's annual danceapalloza. In dance spy mode I was able to snoop on many a dance centered conversation. The ladies in row C took copious notes in between catching up on Grey's Anatomy. The fun guy behind me in Grand Tier found each new dance his new favorite. (Oh the joys of new love.) And what about the woman that provided detailed “color” commentary in between pieces to her companion. At times it felt like a rock concert. They even clapped at David Salle's silver tree in Karole Armitage's Legeti Essays. A juicy pause in between pieces allowed a little post dance chatter. Dance needs more buzz—more talk—more text messaging. FFD accomplishes all of that.

Plus, you can't beat the price. Lower the ticket price ($10 a pop) and they will come. And come they did in droves complete with lines down the street waiting for canceled tickets. FFD has spread to Orange County, in LA. What would it take to land here? We could use a little rock the house dance energy.

After nearing freezing to death on a trek to APAP two years ago I settled in to making FFD my dance binging event of choice. The weather is ideal, although could you speed up that fall color for me next year people? It's an ideal way to see a lot of dance in a short period of time. Having just co-curated the Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance, I am more interested in ever in what makes a festival sing.

Enough about the audience and the price. There was dancing—lots of dancing, all kinds of dancing from parts near and far. In an near impossible task FFD covered world, modern, ballet, and tap dance. Highlights included Larry Keigwin + Company, Camille A. Brown, Trisha Brown's Spanish Dance, and Mats Ek's Memory. Of course it was good to finally get to see Urban Bush Women, who will be performing in Houston this January with SPA.

I was there for the gestalt experience. Programing in and of itself is an art from. How does an evening of dance hold together? What makes an audience member feel that they have seen a chunk of dance that feels just right? FFD presented full-bodied programs that probably made a lot more people take the fall. The best way to FFD is go for broke and belly up to the whole festival. It won't break the bank, and may very well win your heart over to dance.

China: Still and in Motion: A Conversation with Mitsi Shen and Janie Yao of Dance of Asian America

Top: Stone Bodhisattva.

Photo by Erin Blatzer

Bottom: Dance of a Thousand Hands
Photo by Tom Ye

Who better to have by my side at the Treasures of Shanghai exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science than the mother/daughter team of Mitsi Shen, director of Mitsi Dancing School and Janie Yao, artistic director of Dance of Asian America. Their upcoming concert, Splendid China: Journey to the East, takes place literally across the street at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Treasures of Shanghai contains objects from the Neolithic period (3,000 B. C. to the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911 A. D.). I was intrigued with the idea of so much of ancient Chinese culture happening with a few hundred feet from each other that I couldn't resist having these two highly knowledgeable women in tow to gaze on these exquisite objects and discuss their upcoming project. Where better to talk about ancient Chinese dance than among ancient Chinese art?

Splendid China will feature two works with ties to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A. D.) so we naturally gravitated to that zone of the exhibition. “The Tang Dynasty was a big one for culture,” says Yao. The exhibit features fine porcelain boxes, diningware made of jade and agate, and detailed bronze mirrors. Apparently things went well during the Tang Dynasty. “It was a time of wealth and expansion,” says Shen. “Trade along the silk road led to great prosperity.” Buddhism was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty. Trade and exchange with neighboring countries was on the upswing and the arts reached a new peak during this period.

Shen and Yao stopped in front of a Stone Bodhisattva. Yao immediately recognized connection to one of the featured pieces on the program, The Dance of Thousand Hands, with choreography by Zhang Ji Gang. Unlike the stone Bodhisattva, Zhang is not from the Tang Dynasty, but a contemporary choreographer who is inspired by his cultural history. This dance concerns Guan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion who revered by Buddhists as the Goddess of Mercy. “Her name is short for Guan Shi Yin. Guan means to observe, watch, or monitor; Shi means the world; Yin means sounds, specifically sounds of those who suffer,” writes Yao, in her description of the dance. Shen points out the delicate hand positions, showing me her own extremely flexible fingers. Zhang's dance contains overtones of classical Indian dance in the hand and arm positions. The dance was inspired by painted clay sculptures found in caves in Dunhuang.

Things get pretty complicated when thinking about world dance because the world just doesn't stand still. Yao mentions that influences from the west continue to change the face of Chinese Dance. “Modern dance and ballet have had a tremendous impact on contemporary Chinese dance,” says Yao.

I keep expecting Yao to tell me that she learned these dances from ancient scrolls or that they have been passed down from generation to generation through some sacred process of oral history. “Honestly, if you saw the dances as they existed in the Tang Dynasty you might be bored,” says Yao. “These dances have ancient origins but are also contemporary interpretations. Chinese dance is in motion.” Also on the program is the Tang Dynasty Palace Dance, choreographed by Zhang Yun Fun, which reflects influences from the western borders of China.

Several dances that depict the rich culture of China are also featured on the program. “Outside of Dance of a Thousand Hands the program is all new,” says Yao. “I find it important to not only connect and communicate the Chinese culture, traditions, and history to our audience through our dance performances, but make sure that they continue to be entertained and captivated.” I suggest a visit to the exhibit, a picnic dinner, and a starry evening of dance.

Talking to Chen and Yao made me realize one of the fundamental differences between visual art and dance. These glorious objects in front of us will remain the same through time. Not so for dance. Dance is a living, breathing, and evolving form, continually renewed by the people that bring it back to life. It makes sense. The people that gave the world gunpowder, paper, the compass, and spectacular works of art through the ages are focused on innovation. Why should it be different in dance?

After Shen and Yao left, I went upstairs to sneak a peek at Lucy, my 3.2 million year-old cousin. Suddenly, the Tang Dynasty felt like yesterday.

Dance of Asian America presents Splendid China: Journey to the East on October 19 & 20^th at 8:00 pm at Miller Outdoor Theatre. It's free. Visit www.danceaa.org.

Treasures from Shanghai: 5,000 Years of Chinese Art and Culture continues at the Houston Museum of Natural Science until January 6^th, 2008. Visit www.hmns.org.

Kahlo in Motion: A Conversation with Choreographer Nadia Dosal

Second Generation Dance Company is about to premiere The Self Portrait, a new work based on the life of the legendary artist Frida Kahlo in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Choreographer Nadia Dosal fills us in on her process.

Tell me about your background.

Nadia Dosal: I started dancing at five with my mother, she taught me my Latin culture, which is Puerto Rican. I started dancing seriously in high school, and I also trained at Cookie Joe's in Sugarland.

How long have you been dancing in Second Generation?

ND: I started in 2003, so I am in my fourth season now. I have learned so much there. The artistic director, Lori Amare Bujung has really pounded technique into me, especially ballet and modern. It's been great to work and learn from her. I've also performed in Second Generation's Black Dance Festivals, where artists come from all over the U.S. It's a wonderful event.

Is this your first full length piece?

ND: Yes it is. I have been choreographing shorter works for the past four years.

Where do you teach?

ND: I teach ballet and modern at MECCA where I am the contemporary dance director.

What drew you to Kahlo's story?

ND: I was drawn in by her pain and struggle that she went through and her will to survive. She never gave up. She conquered all the devastating things in her life through her painting. I started researching her life about three years ago. The movies helped, the one by Selma Hayak, and the movie, Frida: Naturalez Viva, which is excellent because it shows a Mexican point a view. It was an eye-opener for me to see how she was able to survive her many tragedies.

How is Kahlo's work integrated into the piece?

ND: I actually try to re-enact some of her paintings. For example, “Las Dos Fridas,” is one of her most famous self-portraits. She always felt like she had a double life within herself. In the painting there is a European Frida and a Mexican Frida. She painted it after she divorced Diego Rivera. I am trying to bring the painting to life. I am not just re-enacting paintings but also actual events in her life.

Is the painting actually projected?

ND: Yes, it is projected before the dance begins.

You dance the role of Kahlo in addition to your role as the choreographer. What's it been like to dance this role?

ND: To fill the shoes of such an emotionally powerful person has been a humbling and honorable experience. She went through pain that I never experienced such as miscarriages and an unfaithful husband. And of course, she was a communist.

How would you describe the style of the piece?

ND: It's a modern dance piece and it's also prop heavy, so I guess it could be called Dance Theater.

What kind of props?

ND: We have a bed that she lived in for a long time towards the end of her life, and an easel. I tried to be historically correct to the period of the 20s and 30s.

With a cast of about 15 what were some of the challenges?

ND: Coordinating everyone's schedules was always a task. I had to improvise to make it all work.

Tell us about the music?

ND: I used Lila Downs, a Mexican American contemporary singer and Lydia Mendoza, a Mexican singer from the 1920s. I also mixed in one of my favorite American composers, Tori Amos. Other selections include traditional Mexican folkloric ballads such as the beloved “Paloma Negra,” music from the Number 23, Los Lobos, and Antonio Vivaldi.

Kahlo was in pain most of her life due to the accident she had when she was young. How does that information factor into the piece?

ND: Yes, her physical pain is made clear throughout the ballet. There will be scenes where I am bedridden. Towards the end she is in a wheelchair.

Where do you best connect in your own life to Kahlo's life?

ND: As a painter myself, I connect to her work as an artist. She inspired me to put more emotion into my paintings. She is my idol.

What do you want the audience to experience?

ND: I want the audience to see my point of view, to feel what I felt when I saw Kahlo's work, not just her paintings, but her life.

Any last thoughts?

ND: I hope to go to Mexico and see the La Casa Azul, the house where Kahlo was born and died. It's a museum now and houses many of the paintings that were inspired by her environment. I want to be immersed in her world.

What's next for you?

ND: We will be doing more shows together as a company, but to be honest after this show I will be ready for a mini vacation.

Second Generation Dance Company presents The Self Portrait on Oct 12 & 13 at Barnevelder. Call 713-298-7091 or visit www.secondgenerationdance.org/