Science-fiction author Ray Bradbury once said, “It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.”
When choreographers create works intended to be “abstract,” that is sometimes when dancers find the most meaningful connections to the steps.
North Carolina Dance Theatre faced a limited rehearsal window on Monday, and it was moved back due to a conflicting rehearsal for this weekend’s upcoming Romeo & Juliet Project. Yet despite that, and a subsequent 20-degree temperature drop that changed the stage conditions, NDCT overcame all obstacles to deliver an emotionally charged “Evening of Pas de Deux” in the Amphitheater. [w/ SLIDESHOW]
The duet format may be part and parcel of the performing arts, from a theatrical dialogue to a concerto for two violins. But the duet occupies a special place in dance, where it is known as the pas de deux. In the classical vein, it is most often the pinnacle of a full-length ballet, as the leading dancers convey the culmination of a romance through movement.
A dozen red roses, a Swarovski diamond necklace, a box of gourmet chocolates. While these are all nice gifts, it’s hard to beat the man who had a ballet created especially for his wife, to commemorate the first time they met.
In 1964, George Balanchine choreographed Tarantella featuring Patricia McBride, now North Carolina Dance Theatre associate artistic director, as the leading lady.
Almost 50 years later, Patricia McBride will restage Tarantella with NCDT dancers Emily Ramirez and Jordan Leeper performing the abstract pas de deux with tambourines in hand. The piece features music by Louis Gottschalk and arranged by Hershy Kay.
“It’s amazing what goes into making something effortless,” an old advertisement reads for Gaynor Minden, a pointe shoe and dance apparel company.
They say those who can’t do, teach. Having successfully done both, Sasha Janes, North Carolina Dance Theatre’s associate artistic director, has proven that theory to be absolutely wrong.
After a long day in the studios with the dancers of North Carolina Dance Theatre, Sasha Janes just wants to go home, crack open a beer and have his face painted like a butterfly.
The NCDT associate artistic director and choreographer’s 3½-year-old daughter Jaidyn would paint her parents’ faces everyday if they’d let her.
Face painting, trips to the park and riding around with three kids on one bike are now as much a part of Janes’ life as ballet classes and rehearsals.
Ballet is a decidedly aristocratic art form, born in the courts of Europe and still, even today, laced with proper positions and bows. Major European ballet groups in Paris, London and Moscow each have precise stylistic proportions and repertoires that are embedded in the history of the art form.
So it is fun to watch how American companies have taken a formal and often staid dance format and given it their own twist, which local audiences can see in an open air, festival-like setting such as Chautauqua’s Amphitheater. However, they thankfully have not often had to deal with cool temperatures such as those seen at the surprisingly terrific — given the circumstances — final performance of North Carolina Dance Theatre and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, expertly conducted by Grant Cooper.
This time of the season has a bittersweet quality. Our schools of the fine and performing arts and some of our professional arts ensembles are performing for the last time during the upcoming week. Throughout the season we have witnessed the many gifts of these companies. In particular, we have seen the arc of development of the festival dancers, the Music School Festival Orchestra, Chautauqua Theater Company, to cite only those featured in the next few days.
Saturday evening you can enjoy Shakespeare’s As You Like It at Bratton Theater at 6 p.m. and move swiftly on to the Amphitheater for the North Carolina Dance Theatre, our resident professional dance company, accompanied by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Grant Cooper, a newly minted American citizen.
It feels somewhat seamless to think of leaving the Forest of Arden within Bratton Theater for a stroll through Bestor Plaza to the Amphitheater, having just heard that in such a place we must find “tongues in tress, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.”
When Sasha Janes couldn’t think of a title for his new ballet, he did what any stumped choreographer would do: He left it up to a bunch of 5-year-olds.
The North Carolina Dance Theatre associate artistic director put the naming of his new work into the tiny hands of a Children’s School class of 5-year-olds. As a father of three young children, Janes was excited to involve kids in his production.
“They have great imaginations,” he said.
The quirky, comedic ballet, danced to a jubilant score by Haydn, is part of NCDT’s performance with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Grant Cooper at 8:15 p.m. Saturday in the Amphitheater.
The Chautauquan Daily 