Dance People Descend on the Bayou City: Houston Hosts the 2009 Dance/USA Conference

Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, one of the featured companies at The Power Of Movement

photo by Frank White Photography

Houston may not be considered the center of the dance universe year round, but when the Dance/USA's annual conference convenes from June 3-6, it just might be. The city will fill with dance directors and administrators for the conference, aptly titled, Sustainable Future: Reality Check!, to discuss, share and network strategies for keeping dance going strong in a challenging economy.

The host committee, consisting of the broad spectrum of Houston's diverse dance community, has been working for over a year to make Houston look good for its visitors. Meetings took place at different locations so the host committee could not only get to know each other but also become more familiar with each member's organization. So how did Houston end up as the host for the Dance/USA conference? “We lobbied hard it for it,” admits Jim Nelson, co-chair of the Dance/USA host committee and Houston Ballet's general manager. “Houston Ballet has been active in the organization for years, and we hosted the winter council meeting in the 1990s.” According to Nelson, it's been an amazing bonding process. “We have been a very active group,” he boasts. “The committee's level of engagement and attendance has been truly remarkable. We may have raised the job of the host committee to a new level.”

Sandra Organ, artistic director of Sandra Organ Dance Company, has been a Dance/USA member for the past decade and has served on the board from 2002-2008. Organ finds the individual councils for dancers, support service groups, choreographers and managing directors especially valuable for people to hone in on their concerns. Currently, she's also on the host committee. “Seeing good dance, sharing ground and best practices, what's not to get about this organization? Collectively, we need each other to support the art form. We don't have to re-invent the wheel with the business of dance; someone's been there before and has good advice,” says Organ. “Every year they provide a forum to make connections. You can throw out a question and get an answer from anyone from the executive director of Alvin Alley to Ballet Hispanico.”

Richard Graber, Houston Arts Alliance's director of grants & services has also served on the host committee and has worked hard in securing funds for local artists to attend. Graber, a dancer turned administrator, knows first hand how important it is for a community to come together for a project. “I think bringing the Dance/USA Conference to Houston is a big achievement for the city and very exciting for our local dance community. It's been a delight to work closely with the Houston dance community and also help provide support for dancers locally,” says Graber. “My hope is that locals will take advantage of the conference offerings and turn-out in large numbers.”

Showing off Houston's range of dance talent proved a high priority for the committee so they came up with The Power of Movement, a showcase of Houston's top 11 dance troupes. “We wanted to show our dance community in the best light possible, in a fully produced and curated show at Cullen Theater at Wortham Center,” says Nelson. “We are hoping some presenters attend, and this event can be a springboard to further opportunities.” The line-up includes Dance of Asian America, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Hope Stone Dance Company, Houston Ballet, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Psophonia Dance Company, Revolve Dance Company, Sandra Organ Dance Company, Suchu Dance, Travesty Dance Group, and Urban Souls Dance Company.

Participants of The Power of Movement receive a year-long membership and two registrations to the conference. Hope Stone artistic director Jane Weiner plans on attending the conference. “I am 'Houston Proud' of our arts community, and feel so glad that we get a strong and healthy dose of national exposure,” says Weiner, who will be presenting an excerpt of her newest work, Village of Waltz, set to music by Peter Jones. “I looked at the conference topics and am pleased to have so much knowledge in my own backyard.”

The committee has stayed with the sustainable theme and all the events will take place in the downtown theater district so attendees can take Metro or walk to events. With the conference taking place at the Hyatt Regency Houston and performances at the Wortham Center, participants will be able to take in Houston's impressive collection of theaters. “We want to push Houston as a green city,” says Nelson. The kick-off reception takes place on June 3rd on the roof top of the George R. Brown Convention center, overlooking Houston's stunning skyline, and Discovery Green, where Houston Dance, Inside Out, a free performance showcasing Houston’s dance community will take place later that evening.

In addition to activity planning, the committee also raised funds from local foundations and corporations. The committee also hopes participants take in some Houston sights as well and have organized a special informational packets on the city's best sights. For Nelson, who has been attending the conference since 2000, the opportunities to spend such concentrated time with peers is priceless. “The contacts I have made have been absolutely invaluable,” he says. “It's also great to meet people dealing with the same problems you are. You realize you are not alone and we can all benefit from some fresh thinking on today's dance world.” All that said, when the hoards of dance people leave Houston, a tighter dance community will remain, new friendships forged, and a new awareness of the vibrancy of Houston's dance scene. Nelson adds, “The depth of this community is truly extraordinary.”

Dance/USA presents Sustainable Future: Reality Check! from June 3-6. Visit www.danceusa.org. The Power of Movement, held in conjunction with Dance USA, takes place on June 5th 8pm at Cullen Theater, Wortham Center. Call 713-227-2787 or visit www.houstonballet.org.

For information on HAA funds to attend the conference contact Richard Graber at Richard@haatx.comor call 713-527-9330.

The Power of Movement is generously sponsored by Houston Endowment, City of Houston Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department, Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Downtown Alliance, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Discovery Green and Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine at The Methodist Hospital.

Reprinted from Dance Source Houston.

Maximum Impact

As seen in Dance Teacher Magazine.

If there is one lesson to be learned from running a small business, it might well be: Things change. For that reason, DT sought the advice of vet-eran studio owners who have learned to build flexibility into their business plans. Here they share some ideas on how to design and use your space in ways that will strengthen your bottom line without tying you down.

Consider Portable Flooring
Whether you outgrow your space, or your rent outgrows your enrollment, nothing could be more painful than to leave behind a custom floor when you move. Maggie Parungao-Ferla, owner of Dance Theatre International in San Jose, CA, preempted that possibility by purchasing a portable Harlequin Liberty floor with Reversible double-sided marley-type flooring laid on top.

“We are happy where we are now, but it gives me peace of mind knowing the floor is portable,” says Parungao-Ferla. Completely free-floating, the floor consists of panels that can be easily moved or added to without creating permanent damage to rental space. “Our portable floors use a special clip system where nothing is permanently screwed into the floor,” says Claire Londress, marketing manager for Harlequin Dance Floors.

There is also the matter of versatility. While DTI offers mostly ballet classes, Ferla needed a surface that would work for jazz and tap as well. She purchased the Reversible flooring with the idea that she could easily take it with her for a performance. “Right now, we mostly use the black side, but it’s great knowing we could flip it and use the white for a performance,” she says. “It’s easy to maintain as long as we occasionally replace the tape.”

The Hedberg family, owners of Summit Dance Shoppe in Plymouth and Wayzata, MN, have been using Rosco Adagio Marley in seven of their nine dance rooms at their two locations. “We recently moved from a mall to our own building, so we just rolled up our Adagio floor and took it with us,” says Matt Hedberg, the facilities manager. “The floor gets great reviews by teachers and students alike. We also expanded into more rooms, so it was easy to just add on more rolls.” Because Summit Dance Shoppe offers a range of classes from pointe to hip hop, they needed a versatile surface. “The floor is even sturdy enough for the high-heeled ballroom dancers who rent the space during the day.”

Look Into Movable Barres
Leslie Updyke shopped around before purchasing portable barres from Stagestep for her two Leslie School of Dance locations in Western New York. “I was looking for a barre that was lightweight, easy to dismantle and sturdy enough to provide support,” says Updyke, who uses portables in nearly every dance room in her studios. “Portable barres also prevent my older students from gripping the barre and the younger ones from using them like monkey bars. I want them to learn to use a light touch on the barre and find their core strength.”

Portable barres also solved her space issue in an oddly shaped room where heaters prevented installing permanent barres, and in a basement studio with cinder block walls. “I want my dancers to have space to dance, and utilizing the center area just makes sense,” she says. “As for the basement studio, portables were a necessity.” Updyke says that her jazz and lyrical teachers use the barres for various stretching activities, and she likes how quickly they can be collapsed and removed for the ballroom renters.

“If you have a growing class, you are going to need more than the barres along the wall,” says Rosco Dance Floor product manager Caroline Rault. “And you also want to consider the changes you make to a rental space, such as permanent barres. Our barres are lightweight and can easily be put up and moved out of the way.”

Find New Uses for Existing Space
When Cory Hunt opened her one-room dance studio, Total Dance Inc., in Durham, NC, she knew tumbling classes would be popular with her younger students. With a roll-out mat, a wedge and a carpet from Carolina Gym Supply, Hunt was off and running with four levels of tumbling for ages 3–12. “I always danced and did gymnastics, and I find they go well together,” says Hunt. “It also opens up my studio to a whole new group of students.”

Patti Jean Spinillo, equipment consultant at Carolina Gym Supply, helps studio owners take their first step in starting a tumbling program, whether it’s just one class or several. “We ask a lot of questions,” says Spinillo. “We need to understand the studio’s goal before recommending our products.”

When Hunt moves into a four-room studio later this year, she will have a dedicated space for her tumbling classes and add on to her collection of apparatus. But for right now, she appreciates how quickly and easily she can transform her dance space into a tumbling room. “All of our products are portable, they come in a variety of colors and they can be put down and taken up in a matter of minutes,” says Spinillo. “A tumbling room can return to a ballet studio easily.”

Share Your Space
To fully maximize your space, you’ll need to find uses for your studio during hours when it’s otherwise vacant. Evelyn Ireton owns Houston-based West University Dance Centre and Houston Academy of Dance. She likes to keep the 6,000-square-foot West University location booked solid
during the day, as well as in the evening, when most of her classes take place. She has found a perfect fit with Ad Deum Dance Company, which rents two rooms every weekday, 9–3 pm. The location is ideal for local dancers because it is convenient to major highways, with both Starbucks and Whole Foods within walking distance. Ad Deum Artistic Director Randall Flinn also takes over the studio to conduct workshops during winter and spring holiday breaks.

“It’s a win/win for me,” Ireton says. “Randall brings new dancers into town, several of whom end up teaching at both of my studios.” She also says that Flinn and his company are gracious about welcoming people who drop by to ask questions. The situation is a good fit for Flinn as well. “Even though we are technically ‘just renters,’ we are treated as if this were our home, and that is exactly the way we feel,” he says. “It makes a huge difference to me and my dancers. And the extra teaching work supplements my dancers’ income considerably.”

Ireton has also built relationships with several former Houston Ballet dancers and ballroom teachers. They use the small studios during evening hours for coaching sessions and private lessons. On Sundays, she rents to an Irish dance troupe and she says that her studio is the place for out-of-towners to hold auditions. “People respond to the vibrancy and activity in the studio; it’s inspiring,” she says. “So many studios look empty during the early daytime hours. Mine looks thriving all the time. There is always something going on.” DT

Keeping It Small

Marjie Major thought long and hard about Happy Feet Dance Studio’s redesign when she rented a 1,300-square-foot space in a strip mall in Cherry Hill, NJ, just outside of Philadelphia. “I had enough space for a small waiting room and two studios. But I thought about my clientele of young parents and went in the other direction with a large waiting room and one studio,” says Major, who has been in business for four years. “The waiting area is almost as large as my studio.” With an open space complete with a play area for younger siblings, a stroller-friendly wood floor and a viewing window, parents can be comfortable while they wait and watch. “There is nothing worse than trying to juggle a baby on your lap while you sit in an uncomfortable chair,” Major says.

“When parents call the studio, the first thing they ask is if there is a place to wait with younger siblings.” Handy bins make cleanup of crayons, trucks and books easy.

“I want to be in tune with my parents and create the feeling of a small restaurant,” says Major, who runs the studio with the help of two part-time instructors. “I know everybody’s name, and I offer a welcoming atmosphere.” Because younger students are more interested in early classes, the studio is often empty after 7:30 pm, when Major rents the space to ballroom and Pilates teachers. On Sundays, an Indian classical dance teacher conducts class, and Fridays will soon be filled with yoga. —N.W.

Review: Armide

Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Trucks don't usually drive through operas, even in Texas. All that changed during a recent performance of Jean-Baptiste Lully's Armide by Mercury Baroque.

Mercury Baroque, a small but well established orchestra based in Houston, specializes in presenting Baroque music played on period instruments, in both traditional and casual settings. Re-imagining Baroque music also plays a large part of their mission. To give Lully's 1686 lyric tragedy, Armide, a fresh spin, Mercury Baroque's artistic director Antoine Plante enlisted French director Pascal Rambert, known for his boundary-pushing work in theater.

Armide's story derives from 17th century Italian poet Torquato Tasso's work Gerusalemme Liberata, which concerns wars between Muslims and Christians. The story captivated many an opera composer, including Handel, Haydn and Rossini. Rambert, riffing off the timeliness of the subject, set his Armide in the “now,” as in today's headlines of torture, religious wars, and the harsh glare of interrogation. For the most part, the opera took place under florescent work lights on an industrial landscape of a bare bones stage. Rambert used a tribe of non-trained camouflage-wearing dancers (with the exception of performer/dance captain Jon Stronks) as people, and they did a good job of not trying to act like dancers. Live camera work conjured a pressured atmosphere of surveillance and transparency. When the back wall lifted to reveal a sleek black Chevy Silverado truck driven by Haine or Hate and stuffed with an army hauling semi-automatic weapons, we knew we were not in 17th anymore. Other odd theatrics included a slow motion golf game complete with a golf cart and series of laptops on work tables that the performers played with during the show. Houston-based artists Frederique de Montblanc (installation assistant) and Jeremy Choate (lighting assistant) collaborated on the visuals.

Rambert's brand of anti-theater has its charm here, but it's nothing new. (For a while, so many people were doing this in Houston, I was getting to know the back wall at the Cullen Theatre a little too well.) But to be fair, for 17th century opera, maybe it is, especially for the Mercury Baroque crowd. And it has its drawbacks, like eye strain from the florescent lights and the visual distractions from all the backstage people wandering around.

Whether Rascal's contribution amused or annoyed doesn't so much matter because in the end the music took center stage. Isabelle Cals' tough as nails Armide possessed a vocal power and command of the stage. Cals' powerhouse performance contained an authority that anchored the show. Zachary Wilder made a convincing Renaud, Armide's captive then true love. Beau Gibson, an Houston Grand Opera Studio alum, probably has never made an entrance like this before, as in driving the aforementioned truck on stage, but he handled it well, and lived up to the drama of the part, sunglasses and all. Tyler Duncan, Lauren Snouffer and Sarah Mesko all gave strong performances. The chorus, under the direction of Albert LeDoux, sounded terrific and melded well with the “people.” The Mercury Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Plante, delivered a crisp and solid performance.

Sure it's fun to have trucks make a rare appearance in French opera, but it's the music I will remember here. As far as bringing Baroque music into the light of the present—mission accomplished.

Reprinted from Culturevulture.net.

Review: Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter
André Previn
Houston Grand Opera
May 6, 2009

Elizabeth Futral as Laura Jesson.

Photo: Felix Sanchez.

Tortured love affairs make good opera. That's a fact. Houston Grand Opera's world premiere of André Previn's second opera, Brief Encounter, wins on all fronts. Based on Noël Coward's one-act play Still Life and David Lean's 1945 classic film, Previn and librettist/director John Caird re-imagine this soulful tale with stunning results. Previn's lush cinematic score pays homage to Lean's film while also expanding the Brief Encounter canon.

Previn's diverse career has taken him from Hollywood composer (four Academy Awards) to jazz pianist; he's left no genre untouched. He even conducted the Houston Symphony for a brief stint during the late 1960s. Brief Encounter is only his second opera, so there's yet another chapter to be told in Previn's musical history.

Brief Encounter tells the story of the sweet but troubled affair of Laura Jesson, a bored British housewife, and Alec Harvey, a handsome and caring doctor, who come to life once a week on their regular Thursday meetings. The scene opens with a behemoth clock that dissolves to show Laura and Alec at the very end of their relationship. So time has already run out as Alec tenderly reaches for Laura's hand. They sit silently across the table from each other quietly acknowledging the end. Starting at the end sucks us right into the heart of their pathos. Now we are curious, how did they meet, spend their Thursdays, fall in love, become lovers, and return to their spouses?

Baritone Nathan Gunn is positively dreamy as Alec. He not only fills Trevor Howard's shoes but adds to them as he endows Alec with a sensitive edge, powerful acting, and a smooth tonality. Elizabeth Frutal's believable Laura is both demure but willing to take a chance on happiness. Frutal's vocal color brings us straight into her confused interior world. The couple's potent chemistry anchors the opera. Kim Josephson portrays Fred, the lonely husband, with a quiet dignity and has at least one moving turn that makes us rethink Laura's behavior. Comic relief comes through in Meredith Arwady's performance as Myrtle Bagot, the station proprietress.

Bunnie Christie's gray-toned train station is filled with images of time from wall clocks to a gigantic time piece that opens the opera. The monotone hues contain the drama well, evoking the film without being heavy handed, lending a bittersweet tone that crosses the film to opera barrier. Leafless trees add to a sense of pending loss. Paul Pyant's lighting design evokes the bleek London skies, the lonely river, and the cool intimacy of interior spaces. Patrick Summers and the HGO Orchestra give full weight to Previn's melodic score. It's melancholy of the highest order. Thursdays have never been this exciting.

Reprinted from Culturevulture.net.

REVIEW: The Learned Ladies

The Learned Ladies
By Molière
Translated by Richard Wilbur
Irish Classical Theater
Buffalo, NY
April 24, 2008

Photo: Lawrence Rowswell

Are you an insufferable intellectual, prone to boring people to tears with questionable prose and other faults of an overly self-interested mind? Alas, a cure is at hand in the way of one polished production of Molière's The Learned Ladies, translated by Richard Wilbur and now playing at the Irish Classical Theater Company, Buffalo's flagship theater troupe. In our current atmosphere of heavy spin, pre-digested sound bites, and other assaults on the word, Molière's satire on academic pretension feels timely. Remember his attack was not on women's efforts to become intellectual equals of men, but on knowledge as a kind of fashionable currency.

The Learned Ladies takes us inside a bourgeois Parisian household overrun by a salon of women who easily swoon for sappy sonnets and other ecstatic pretenses of learning. The trouble begins when the non-intellectual daughter, Henriette, confesses her love for Clitandre to her philosophy loving-sister Armande, who was once courted by Clitandre. Armande tells her to marry philosophy, but the big problem emerges when Philaminte, Henriette's shrew of a mom, reveals she has already selected a mate for her unschooled daughter, Trissotin, her devoted tutor in all things learned. Henriette's hen-pecked father, Chrysale, sides with Henriette and a good tangle ensues.

The cast attacks this play with a brazen spirit. Robert Rutland plays Chrysale, the doormat of a hubby who finally stands his ground, with a keen sense of mania. We never know what he's going to do next. Josephine Hogan's gaze will melt anything in its path in her fiery portrayal of Philaminte, the domineering book-crazed mother. Diane Curley makes a level-headed Henriette, and Kate LoConti is suitably haughty as Armande. Kelli Bocock-Natale is hoot as Belise, Chrysale's loony sister, who secretly believes Clitandre is in love with her. Tim Newell swaggers in as Vadius, the new hot tutor on the block, with a cunning performance. Kelly Ferguson-Moore as Martine, the grammar-challenged maid, Kevin Zak as the obligatory hunchbacked servant and Doug Crane as the stoic no nonsense clerk each add distinct performances.

ICTC's Producing Director Fortunato Pezzimenti directs with an ear for high comedy, keeping the pace moving, the language flying and the satire humming. Ron Schwartz's stylish set provides just enough bling, dazzle and punch to conjure a Parisian salon. Kate E. Palamé’s costumes contain such whimsy as a pair of turquoise leggings, painted bows, and other zany flourishes. Brian Cavanagh's bright sunny lights amp up the over top feel of this production. All in all, the play feels as fresh as the warm-for-April Buffalo breeze just out the door. Should you be prone to dropping Nietzsche or Proust into your sentences to impress and annoy your less heady friends, expect a complete remission.

Reprinted from Culturevulture.net.

Review: Awake and Sing

Moe (Jamie Geiger, kneeling) and Hennie (Natalie Arneson, standing).

Photo by www.RicOrnelProductions.com

A desperate family in desperate times. No, not a story culled from yesterday's headlines, but the scenario of Clifford Odets' masterwork Awake and Sing!, now playing at Houston's Main Street Theater (MST). Set during the depression-ravaged 1930s, Odets' enduring play depicts the everyday life of the Bergers, a struggling Jewish family living in the east Bronx in1935. Bessie, the overbearing Jewish mother of all mothers, loves and smothers her children, ignores her husband, and generally drives everyone nuts with her hyper-reactivity and demands for “respect.” Myron Berger, the beaten down dad, just tries to survive and stay out of Bessie's path. Hennie, the hard-edged daughter, brims with anger over her situation and holds it all in, almost. Moe Axelrod, a war hero and family friend, has wooden leg, a head full of paradise and a killer crush on Hennie. Grandfather Jacob survives on philosophy (Marx), music (Caruso) and giving inspirational advice (“Make something of yourself”). Uncle Morty, Bessie's brother, is the one man with money, but his happy-go-lucky attitude adds tension rather than relief. Ralph, the dutiful son, goes to work every day at as a clerk to contribute to the household and his own arrested development. Folksy colloquialisms fly about the stage as this family finds itself trapped by circumstances and their ideals. Dreams and disappointments play out within the tight container of Berger's cramped flat.

Luisa Amaral-Smith is terrific as the insufferable mother whose heavy-handed love comes over the household like a gigantic cloud. George Brock embodies the stifled husband with a noble grace. Steve Garfinkel imbues Jacob, the calm and all knowing socialist.with a steady presence. Natalie Arneson's Hennie is one girl on the brink. She's particularly believable in her final scenes with Moe. Jamie Geiger portrays the fast-talking wisecracker, Moe, with a mixture of gusto and desperation. Charles Swan gives Ralph a time bomb edge. As the rest of the family is literally paralyzed by their situation, Swan's restless energy penetrates. He's the exhaust valve for this troubled lot, and Swan navigates that volatility well, especially when he collapses in Jacob's arms. During the play's final seconds, Swan is especially potent when he stands to face his future, broken but still wide-eyed and sustained by a shred of hope.

Director Cheryl L. Kaplan keeps close to the period in her treatment, fully utilizing MST's tiny space to create a claustrophobic atmosphere. The audience is literally stuffed inside the Berger's apartment. There's no escape. No need to guess what that feels like. We get it right away. Trey Otis' set design lends a sense of the crumbling dignity of this family and Margaret Crowley's period costumes work well.

Sure, the play is obviously timely, but that's not what necessarily all you take home. Odets' fully fleshed-out characters question the price of materialism, imagine a life that's not “printed on dollar bills” and strive for meaning amidst the most dire circumstances. So it reads in Isaiah 26:19, “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust,” a potent message for then and now.

Reprinted from Culturevulture.net.

Rigoletto: Houston Grand Opera

Scott Hendricks as Rigoletto. Photo: Felix Sanchez.

Revenge rarely pans out. Just ask Rigoletto. If ever there was a Shakespearian tragedy that's not exactly Shakespearian, it has to be Verdi's 1841 mega hit, Rigoletto. The opera endures because it’s a killer story about a father's obsessive love for his daughter, the daughter's wayward love for a cad, and one persistent curse that the most tragic hunchback in all of opera can't seem to shake. In between, there is some of the most melodic music Verdi ever composed. Based on Victor Hugo's play, Le Roi s'amuse and Italianized to appease the Austrian censors, Rigoletto contains all the necessary ingredients for great opera—broken but full-blooded characters who do all the wrong things for the reasons they believe to be right.

Houston Grand Opera's production is spare in all the right places and opulent when it needs to be. Michael Yeargan sets his Rigoletto in an M.C. Escher-like box that depicts an encroaching storm that expands and contracts. Within the first few moments the atmosphere of menace is clear and we know that things are not going to turn out well for this gang. And what a gang HGO has gathered to pull all this off. Making a stunning role debut, HGO studio alumnus Scott Hendricks imbues his Rigoletto with a generous dose of pathos and an earthy sound. His performance builds in momentum as the piece progresses. Russian soprano and HGO studio alumna Albina Shagimuratova moves into a new level of maturity in her portrayal of Gilda, Rigoletto's smitten daughter. Her bright and vibrant sound just brims with innocence and she's gaining in naturalness on stage. Tenor Eric Cutler swaggers about with suitable moxie as the lusty and lecherous Duke of Mantua. His charisma and velvety tone came through during the famous Act Three aria, “La Donna e mobile.” Andrea Silvestrelli convinces as the evil Sparafucile, and current Studio member Maria Markina is well matched for the role of vixen Maddalena.

Paul Pyant's lighting design amplified the oncoming doom with clever use of ominous shadows in key scenes. Peter J. Hall's richly textured and jewel-toned costumes balanced the otherwise spare set effectively. The HGO chorus under the direction of Richard Bado was most compelling during the haunting storm scene. Lindy Hume directed with a swift hand, keeping the action rolling, the tension mounting, and the emotions exploding. Patrick Summers conducted a crisp performance by the HGO Orchestra.

The final storm finally comes in, taking with it Gilda's life and Rigoletto's soul. So it goes in the land of the cursed.

Reprinted from Culturevulture.

The Learned Ladies: Irish Classical Theater Company

Buffalo, NY
April 24, 2008

Photo: Lawrence Rowswell

Are you an insufferable intellectual, prone to boring people to tears with questionable prose and other faults of an overly self-interested mind? Alas, a cure is at hand in the way of one polished production of Molière's The Learned Ladies, translated by Richard Wilbur and now playing at the Irish Classical Theater Company, Buffalo's flagship theater troupe. In our current atmosphere of heavy spin, pre-digested sound bites, and other assaults on the word, Molière's satire on academic pretension feels timely. Remember his attack was not on women's efforts to become intellectual equals of men, but on knowledge as a kind of fashionable currency.

The Learned Ladies takes us inside a bourgeois Parisian household overrun by a salon of women who easily swoon for sappy sonnets and other ecstatic pretenses of learning. The trouble begins when the non-intellectual daughter, Henriette, confesses her love for Clitandre to her philosophy loving-sister Armande, who was once courted by Clitandre. Armande tells her to marry philosophy, but the big problem emerges when Philaminte, Henriette's shrew of a mom, reveals she has already selected a mate for her unschooled daughter, Trissotin, her devoted tutor in all things learned. Henriette's hen-pecked father, Chrysale, sides with Henriette and a good tangle ensues.

The cast attacks this play with a brazen spirit. Robert Rutland plays Chrysale, the doormat of a hubby who finally stands his ground, with a keen sense of mania. We never know what he's going to do next. Josephine Hogan's gaze will melt anything in its path in her fiery portrayal of Philaminte, the domineering book-crazed mother. Diane Curley makes a level-headed Henriette, and Kate LoConti is suitably haughty as Armande. Kelli Bocock-Natale is hoot as Belise, Chrysale's loony sister, who secretly believes Clitandre is in love with her. Tim Newell swaggers in as Vadius, the new hot tutor on the block, with a cunning performance. Kelly Ferguson-Moore as Martine, the grammar-challenged maid, Kevin Zak as the obligatory hunchbacked servant and Doug Crane as the stoic no nonsense clerk each add distinct performances.

ICTC's Producing Director Fortunato Pezzimenti directs with an ear for high comedy, keeping the pace moving, the language flying and the satire humming. Ron Schwartz's stylish set provides just enough bling, dazzle and punch to conjure a Parisian salon. Kate E. Palamé’s costumes contain such whimsy as a pair of turquoise leggings, painted bows, and other zany flourishes. Brian Cavanagh's bright sunny lights amp up the over top feel of this production. All in all, the play feels as fresh as the warm-for-April Buffalo breeze just out the door. Should you be prone to dropping Nietzsche or Proust into your sentences to impress and annoy your less heady friends, expect a complete remission.

Reprinted from Culturevulture.

Core Performance Company: THREE

Photo by Lori Teague

May 2, 2009

Three is believed to be a magical number. It's stock bumped up this weekend at CORE Performance Company's performance of “Three,” which included work by Beppie Blankert, Alicia Sánchez and Polly Motley. Not only were these three outstanding works, each carrying a distinct choreographic thumb print, but combined, made for one of the most satisfying dance concerts of the Houston dance season. CORE—in top form here—includes Blake Dalton, Kimberly Kleiber, Claire Molla, Mary Jane Pennington, and former Houston dancers Corian Ellisor and Alex Abarca. The evening, presented by Several Dancers Core, concluded their Houston season for this Houston/Atlanta based troupe.

Blankert directs Beppie Blankert Danceconcerts in the Netherlands and tours internationally. Her offering Cumulus, perhaps the most traditional in the concert, begins with snippets of text from e.e. cummings' poem “may I feel said he,” while a solo dancer shines a hand held spotlight on a trio of women. Set to various string quartets by Charles Ives, Blankert stays neatly within the post-modern lines, blending gesture and more formal dance vocabulary. Text from cummings' smart poem punctuate Blanket's lyrical tendancies, lending a lightness and wit. Molla's detailed attention to the power of iconic shape stood out. D. Patton White's chic earth-toned costumes added a gentle glamour, and Kris Phelps' lighting design emphasized the sculptural aspects of Blanket's nuanced choreography.

Sanchez directs the Alicia Sánchez y Compañía: El Teatro de Movimiento based in Mexico City. Her work was last seen here in Texas two years ago at the Big Range Dance Festival. In Tus Pasos Encontrados (Your Found Steps) Sánchez plays with the notion of completeness. Four dancers stand in a row in front of their shoes repeating gestures. They lift their shirts as if to check themselves and perform other motions of grooming. Eventually, they strip down to their slips and underwear and are free to move and interact. Somewhere in the middle they play with their clothes as if they have forgotten their function. Shoes become markers, safe places to land, and maps to new places. At one point a row of shoes transforms into line of rocks for a clever game of stepping stones. Finally, the dancers redress, step into their shoes and look up as the lights fade. They are complete. Dalton, Kleiber, Molla and Pennington each add a distinct sensuality to Sánchez's highly theatrical dance.

Motley, originally from Nacogdoches, spent time in Houston in the 1970s and is known here as James Clouser's former assistant at Houston Ballet and Space/ Dance /Theater. Currently, the Vermont-based artist works closely with the New England Foundation on the Arts making work for non-traditional venues.

Motley's Charmed Romantics obeys no traditional ideas of structure or form. Therein lies this spacious piece's power, charm, and breathtaking originality. It's full of movement surprises, yet each feels completely organic. Five dancers wearing gray jumpsuits enter and exit in rhythms and patterns of their own logic. Relationships develop with a pairing here and there, a chance meeting of a trio, while individual dancers occasionally appear lost in their own thought. In one delicious section, Molla and Pennington trade secrets while Ellisor and Dalton exchange caressing hugs and Abarca sits watching in wonder. The piece, chock full of cross sections like this, dwells in the intimacies of both self-absorption and human entanglement. The movement jettisons back and forth between quick, sweeping traveling steps across the stage and endearing passages of self-amusement. The mood also shifts been internal and external, allowing the audience to oscillate between voyeur and participant. Eric la Casa's sounds of the Paris subway along with samples from a wistful Diedra Adams' song, come and go as well. Adams' song sneaks in mid-lift, adding a note of tenderness. Motley's work appears to breathe, as pulses of sound, movement and changing intentions weave in and out. Even the space feels elastic.

Strong performances by Abarca, Dalton, Ellisor, Molla and Pennington, who also contributed to the choreography, give the piece even more dimension. Motley's careful process leaves enough evidence to gather that she spent time getting to know these dancers, how they think, move, and inhabit her work. Charmed Romantics casts such an intoxicating spell that when the lights dim, it feels too soon. Why end now? We were just getting to know you.

Reprinted from Dance Source Houston.

The Trilogy: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Dominic Walsh Dance Theater and Sarasota Ballet

Dominic Walsh Dance Theater

Hobby Center
April 30, 2009


Mozart conjures a chilly place under Dominic Walsh's choreographic baton. The Trilogy: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Dominic Walsh Dance Theater (DWDT) and Sarasota Ballet left an icy sting, hauntingly beautiful in some parts, and perplexing in others.

Women in white face donning semi-period frocks of fluffed blue-gray tulle and men in waistcoats make up the denizens of Walsh's ghostly Mozartian landscape. They come and go, alternating between serious and silly moods. (Why are just the women in white Pirot-like make-up?) Domenico Luciano, a body double for Michaelangelo's David, takes the form of the main character, the thread that unites the Mozart pieces. Luciano, always lovely to watch, sweeps through space with grand gestures and contains a larger than life feel. It's hard to watch anyone else when he is on stage. Yet, his domineering presence confounds as much as intrigues. Who is he? A visitor in this imagined kingdom, the ruler? Normally, a little ambiguity works well, here's it's just frustrating.

The ballet springs to life during the opera sections from The Magic Flute and Cosi fan Tutte. The sound of the human voice melts some of the piece's austerity and Walsh goes to town with his usual choreographic flair, finding all kinds of novel ways to partner and create compelling shapes. Clawed hands and slippery ice skating slides, create distinct shapes. The energy during these sections provides needed relief and warmth.

Sarasota Ballet, under the direction of Iain Webb, provided another bright light. This sleek company handled Walsh's sinewy curves with great attack, technique, and a flair for nuance. Webb's fine troupe melded well with DWDT and their polished performance was the high point of the evening. Simon Mumme and Logan Learned stood out during “Amadeus for Anita.”

Libbie Masterson's set of cloth-draped wire resembles icebergs, but never achieves a feeling of substance. The lack of dimension flattened out the space, making the choreography seem less sculptural. Toward the end, the fabric billows from all directions. Moments that might have been visually arresting were marred by technical constraints. Fabric, a fluid material, ended up looking static. Luciano's whimsical fluffed tulle costumes added some needed lightness, and Robert Eubanks' spooky lighting heightened the somber grave-yard feel.

Despite fine dancing by both troupes and some choreographic glimmers the overall effect left me cold. The culmination of these three ballets together just did not add to a very satisfying whole. Not even Mozart's epic music held it together.

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Three Choreographers, Two Cities, and One Eclectic Dance Company: Quick Chat with Jean-Philippe Malaty of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in Twyla Tharp's Sweet Fields
Photos by Rosalie O'Connor

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, the little gem of a dance company based in the mountains of Colorado, heads for the flat lands of Houston to perform work by three contemporary masters, including Twyla Tharp, Jorma Elo and Moses Pendleton. Executive director Jean-Philippe Malaty tells us about the show and his troupe.

Dance Source Houston: If you had to describe Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in one idea, what would you say?

Jean-Philippe Malaty: We want to be ambassadors of contemporary dance, and we try to advance the dance form into the future.

DSH: Technically, that's two ideas, but then again, you are a two-city dance company. What's the secret to running a double city troupe?

JM: Hard work. I wish there was a secret. Both Tom (Mossbrucker) and I were dancers with the Joffrey when it was based in New York and Los Angeles, so we had hands-on experience with this kind of company. And, in our generation there were several two-city companies. It was a fashion in the 90s. All of the them failed. We tried to learn from their mistakes and find a way to make it work. First, we found two cities that are geographically close, so we did not have much in the way of traveling expenses. And both Aspen and Santa Fe have similar cultures in terms of anesthetics and interests. There is a famous opera festival in Santa Fe and a large music festival in Aspen, so both cities have a strong history of supporting the arts.

DSH: I saw your company dance Sweet Fields at ADF last summer. It's one of Tharp's more lyrical pieces, a bit different for her.

JM: Everyone is doing Tharp these days, but this piece is more unusual for her. Her style is still very much there, but this piece uses choral music, and you don't find that much in contemporary dance. We will be adding Sue's Leg, another rarely seen Tharp piece, to our rep soon. We also have the pas de deux version of Nine Sinatra Songs.

DSH: Houston sampled their first taste of Jorma Elo's work last month at Dance Salad. He's such a rising talent. How would you describe his mark on ballet?

JM: Within three minutes of watching his work you know it's a Jorma ballet. He has his own vocabulary and aesthetic. It's not rehashed Balanchine. For me, his work is very musical and poetic. Since we do not have a resident choreographer, we try to develop relationships with guest choreographers. This is his third work for us and it's very personal and intimate to us. We were only the second ballet company in the US to work with him. We may be the smallest company he works with now. He knows the dancers so well so he developed it especially for us. The dancers have really grown from the experience.

DSH: You close the show with Moses Pendleton's Noir Blanc, a large step away from Elo.

JM: He created this piece for us seven years ago and it has become our signature piece. Everyone wants to see it. It's very theatrical and based in illusion.

DSH: How did this stretch the company?

JM: They had to learn without ballet steps. Also, his work is more image-based than about movement or energy.

DSH: How do you see the synergy between all three pieces?

JM: No synergy. The whole idea is that these three choreographers are all so different. We are an eclectic dance company. We showcase what dance is today and break the misconception of what a ballet is or should be.

DSH: Your company has had a high visibility year with rave reviews, large venues and expansive touring. What gives?

JM: I think we have been building steadily and carefully in small steps. Maybe we started out being in the shadow here in the mountains, but we have be developing for 13 years now. We have a unique identity and style. The word is out.

Society for the Performing Arts presents Aspen Santa Fe Ballet on May 8^th at 8 PM at Wortham Center's Cullen Theater. Call 713-2274SPA or visit www.spahouston.org

Reprinted from Dance Source Houston.