ALEXEI RATMANSKY, HIS ‘SWAN LAKE’ RECONSTRUCTION AND ITS LONG-AWAITED PREMIERE BY MIAMI CITY BALLET

Carlos Quenedit and Katia Carranza as Siegfried and Odette in Alexei Ratmansky’s “Swan Lake.” (Photo/Gary James)

Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky’s reconstruction of the original staging of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s “Swan Lake” will finally have its North American premiere on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

This reconstruction has its origin in the notations of repertory works created under the supervision of Nikolai Sergeev (1876-1951), dancer, choreographer and régisseur of the Mariinsky Ballet from 1894 to 1918. When Sergeev left Russia, he took the notations with him.

Almost three years have passed since Lourdes López, artistic director of the Miami City Ballet (MCB) and “A Life for Dance” award honoree at the last International Ballet Festival of Miami, announced in March 2019 the premiere of “Swan Lake” as the great event of the company’s 35th anniversary season. We all know what happened next with the appearance of COVID-19.

Ratmansky needs no introduction because MCB already has three of his works in its repertoire: “Symphonic Dances” (2012), “The Fairy’s Kiss” (2017), and “Concerto DSCH” (2018). So, taking advantage that he’s in Miami supervising the last rehearsals, we asked him several questions.

Q: What does MCB have that makes you come back?

A: Balanchine’s and Edward Villella’s heritage, Lourdes López’s leadership, and the dancers’ trust and friendship.

Q: To what do you attribute the appeal and popularity of Petipa/Ivanov’s “Swan Lake” 126 years after its original staging?

A: To the truly great score, beautiful and poetic story, and genius choreography.

Q: What have been the biggest challenges in reconstructing the original Petipa/Ivanov choreography?

A: There are some original steps that are extremely difficult, even for today’s dancers. Also, it’s not easy to get the pantomime right because the dancers (and the spectators) now have little understanding of it. The mime must be alive and interesting to watch. We are working on it.

Q: What has been the greatest satisfaction?

A: To see the logic and the inspiration of the original choreographers making it back into the ballet they created in 1895. To see it come alive.

Q: How do you make sure a reconstructed classic does not end up being a work of interest only for the “connoisseurs”?

A: By inspiring the dancers to make it their own.

Q: How reliable are the notations of the time to affirm that what we will see is the original version? For example, is another choreographer possibly presenting a different reconstruction from the same annotations?

A: The notations show the choreography performed during Petipa’s lifetime (the early 1900s). It’s the closest we can get to the original 1895 choreographic text. If the stager follows precisely what is notated, the result will be more or less the same. However, there are some gaps in the notation. And that needs to be filled according to the taste and knowledge of the stager.

Q: The first staging of this reconstruction was in Zurich and the second in Milan. In an interview, you compared both productions and explained their differences. How different is the Miami version?

A: The Miami version is closer to Zurich’s in terms of the number of dancers on stage (the La Scala company is bigger). Hungarian and Goblet dances are slightly reworked. For some casts, we separated the role of Benno and the male lead in Pas de Trois (as it was in the original). In Zurich and Milan, it was performed by one person. But some MCB dancers are going to perform both roles at once.

Q: How has the experience of staging “Swan Lake” been with the MCB dancers?

A: It pushes the MCB dancers out of their comfort zone. But they are willing to go for it, and that’s been very satisfying. I am not talking about the obvious COVID-related challenges, like rehearsing in masks, postponements, cancellations, etc. The last two years have been extremely difficult for ballet people.

Q: Today, it must be difficult to find dancers who do not have a set idea of interpreting the main characters – Odette/Odile, Prince Siegfried – of “Swan Lake.” So how do you work with those who have already performed other versions?

A: Every major company has its production of “Swan Lake,” so the ideas vary. I can always say if the dancer has a pre-established idea of a role and then I try to navigate them toward the new understanding gently.

Q: In Miami, a large audience of Cuban origin loves ballet and knows the version of the “Swan Lake” by Alicia Alonso, “based on the original by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.” Do your reconstruction and Alonso’s interpretation have something in common?

A: Alonso is probably my favorite interpreter of the Odette/Odile role ever. Her dancing in American Ballet Theatre’s Alexandra Fedorova production that I saw in the New York Public Library is pure genius. But any version that claims to be “based on the original,” in reality, is never based on the original. Instead, it is based on earlier interpretations of other interpretations, which were based on the original at some point. I am not saying that these versions don’t have artistic merit, not at all. It’s just that my goal is different and very specific. I want to present the “Swan Lake” choreography created by two great masters, Petipa and Ivanov. Luckily, the notations made by Nikolai Sergeev and his colleagues at the Imperial Ballet make this improbable task possible. And I am grateful that Lourdes López is as inspired by the idea as I am.

Q: Finally, are you planning to return to Miami for opening night?

A: How could I miss it?

Miami City Ballet will perform “Swan Lake” from Feb. 11- 13, 2022, at the Adrienne Arsht Center’s Ziff Ballet Opera House, 1300 Biscayne Blvd, Miami. The Arsht Center requires masks and a recent negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination. To purchase tickets (starting at $37), visit tickets.miamicityballet.org/events.

To read the Spanish-language version of this story, click here. 

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Maya Billig’s ‘Gate Closes at 3:05’ aims to provide a post-apocalyptic safe space

Miami choreographer, dancer and filmmaker Maya Billig in her latest work, “Gate Closes at 3:05.” (Photo/Brianna Campbell)

People coped differently when the pandemic interrupted life. Some turned to gardening, some learned to cut hair, others baked. For Miami choreographer, dancer and filmmaker Maya Billig, the shutdown of arts performances triggered her impulse to create new work.

“My natural response when things start going haywire is to create and that naturally flows out of me in times of pressure,” Billig said. “During the pandemic is when my work as a choreographer really took off. We were finally able to go into the studios with one or two other dancers, and creating became my means of survival.”

(Gate Closes at 3:05 Trailer from Maya Nadine Billig on Vimeo).

Billig’s latest work, “Gate Closes at 3:05,” will show at 8 p.m. Feb. 4-5, 2022, at The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, 404 NW 26th St., Miami. The show has its origins in “A Lot,” an experimental piece staged in a parking lot and performed in December 2020 with support from a Knight Foundation New Work grant and the Miami Light Project. Some of the challenges of staging that work included dancers becoming sick in the weeks leading up to the performance.

Many of those challenges to art-creation persist today.

“I am still dealing with this, because if one dancer gets sick then what then? It really feels like the Wild West out here trying to make art,” Billig said. “But art making has been my lifeline throughout all of this.”

Billig, a 2019 graduate of Miami’s New World School of the Arts, grew up in Coconut Grove, where she still lives.

“I was raised by old Grove hippies,” she said. “My grandparents came from New York when the art and music scene was booming in the Grove.”

Traveling informs her creative process. She regularly takes two-month solo trips, soaking up the sights and smells that then find their way into her work.

Billig drew inspiration for the hourlong “Gate” program from the Netflix outer space Western, “Cowboy Bebop,” and from her experience at warehouse ruin bars while traveling in Budapest.

“I would put my new work in a dance theater category with modern roots like hip-hop and house dancing weaved into a modern style,” Billig said. “The set design resembles Cowboy Bebop as well as bars in Budapest where they had turned ruined buildings into bars and clubs that were these eclectic mixes of things and furniture.

“This program will be a surreal experience for audiences with four characters —performed by dancers Rafael Ruiz, Brianna Campbell, Marisa Fernandez and myself — with intertwining back stories.”

The key to Billig’s new program is the live music, specially composed for the performance, that blends electronic house music with Fats Waller tunes and meditation sounds.

“It is this which makes it surreal,” Billig said. “Working on this, I was thinking of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’ where there is a party inside while all this death is happening outside. The speakeasy idea is the idea of the dance space as a kind of haven and, when I made this. I was missing going out to dance.”

Billig turned to musicians Charles Levine of Soul Clap, Phill Celeste (also known as Life on Planets) and Greg Paulus of No Regular Play. The three joined up in Miami for a week of 12-hour days to compose the soundscape for “Gate Closes at 3:05.”

“I’ve always wanted to see how this fine arts dance world would blend with this historical house music scene,” Billig said.

The idea of art as a haven and refuge is central to this experiment, and Billig sees it as a thread running through her body of work.

“I’m so drawn to creating these surreal spaces, because for a short period of time the audience is in a suspended state, and in that suspended state there is an opportunity for people to renegotiate their beliefs and understandings,” Billig said. “This is the root of why we go to the theater.”

“Gate Closes at 3:05” attempts to create a safe space by integrating audience and performers within the theater.

“The musicians will speak throughout the performance, and at times the dancers will form part of the audience as well,” Billig said. “Some of the dancers will sit at tables with members of the audience. Dancers will look audience members in the eye and even pass things to the audience. The program starts with one of the dancers coming out and literally smiling at everyone as acceptance of the fact that we are here and they are here and we are completely aware of that.”

 

WHAT: “Maya Billig: Gate Closes at 3:05”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Feb. 4-5, 2022

WHERE: The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, 404 NW 26th St., Miami

COST: $15-$25

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: Must wear a mask inside the building (including audience members who are age 2 and older). Must provide proof of full vaccination or of a negative COVID-19 test completed within 72 hours. Temperature will be checked.

INFORMATION: miamilightproject.com/event/maya-billig-gate-closes-at-305

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Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami presents ‘An Evening in White’

Arianne Lafita and Vittorio Galloro in “Swan Lake.” (Photography: Aldo Palosci; courtesy of Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami)

Under the artistic direction of Eriberto Jiménez, the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami (CCBM) returns to the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach to offer a unique performance titled, “An Evening in White,” dedicated to the so-called white ballets of the Romantic repertoire of the 19th century.

The program promises to be a beautiful concert with guest stars, on the stage where some of the company’s most successful performances have taken place, and includes fragments drawn from masterpieces such as “Giselle” (1841), “La Bayadère” (1877), “Swan Lake” (1895) and “Les Sylphides” (1909).

(Video courtesy of CCBM)

The insertion of “Les Sylphides” in the program deserves an explanation for not being a work premiered during the 19th century. This short piece in one act (with music by Frédéric Chopin and choreography by Michel Fokine) is for some a late white ballet and, for others, a nostalgic exercise that resurrects the style and pays homage to its predecessors.

However, the justification for its appearance in “An Evening in White” is simple. While the other three selected titles are examples of the genre because they contain a scene where the dancers wear white and move like ethereal beings, “Les Sylphides” is a white ballet in form and content, from beginning to end.

At the time, the white ballet turned out to be the perfect choreographic solution to represent the spirituality of the drama of love that manages to manifest itself beyond death, without forgetting that in terms of staging, it meant a vital contribution to the development of ballet with argument.

You can substitute without significant consequences the csárdás for polka in “Swan Lake,” but you cannot change the swans for Willis without affecting the story and destroying its essence.

Although its original premiere – choreographed by the Czech Julius Reisinger – was in 1877, “Swan Lake” as it is known today comes from the 1895 revival made by the Frenchman Marius Petipa and the Russian Lev Ivanov for the Imperial Ballet of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

In their “Lake,” there are two imperishable pas de deux of irrefutable beauty. The first is the love duet of the second act, performed by Prince Siegfried and Odette, the Queen of the Swans. The second, known as “the pas de deux of the Black Swan,” appears in the third act, is danced by Siegfried and Odile, and includes the famous 32 fouettés. Odette is a white swan; Odile is a black swan.

For “An Evening in White,” CCBM has selected the pas de deux of the second act for obvious reasons, and the Cuban dancer Arianne Lafita with Italian dancer Vittorio Galloro will be its interpreters on Saturday night. Both will be returning to Miami only to participate in this function. They will also give life to another emblematic Romantic couple (Giselle and Albrecht) in the pas de deux of the second act of “Giselle.”

For its part, “Les Sylphides” will be performed by Ihosvany Rodríguez as the young poet who goes for a walk and meets the feminine spirit of the air, represented by Astrid Arvelo, Mayrel Martínez, and Natali Alvarez.

In “La Bayadère” (with music by Ludwig Minkus and choreography by Marius Petipa), Rebecca Storani, Ihosvany Rodríguez, Astrid Arvelo, Eleni Gialas, and Natali Alvarez will dance the parts of the main couple and the soloists, in the scene known as “The Kingdom of the Shades.”

But Lafita and Galloro are the big attraction of “An Evening in White” because they both left a charming impression on us in 2011 when they participated in Miami’s XVI International Ballet Festival.

“Miami audiences are very enthusiastic and grateful to the artists. When we performed at the festival in 2011, it was a very nice experience, because even though they were our first international appearances, people appreciated our art,” they tell us when we communicate with them via email.

What have they done since then?

“We have been dancing together for 11 years as independent First Dancers, performing almost the entire repertoire of classical ballet, neoclassical and contemporary pieces. In addition, we have performed as guests in many National Theatres and Operas in Europe, Russia, Asia, and Latin America. In fact, on Wednesday, Jan. 26, before traveling to Miami, we will perform with the full ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ in a performance for the Centennial of the Bucharest Opera.”

What does this trip to Miami mean to you?

“In these difficult times worldwide, the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, together with its director Eriberto Jiménez, is showing the high level that the art of ballet has in Miami and how important it is to give art and culture to the public. For us, it is a great pleasure and an honor to share the stage with the artists who will participate in this Gala. It is also a great joy to return to Miami and meet again with its wonderful audience. We are sure it will be an unforgettable night.”

“If you remove from your hearts the love of beauty, you will remove all the charm of life,” said Jean Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss writer, and philosopher revered by the Romantics.

But there is no reason to worry. Beauty has always been one of the objectives of art; the theme of Romanticism maintains its validity in our days, and the love of beauty is an acquired taste in the ballet-loving Miami audience.

 

WHAT: Miami Cuban Classical Ballet’s “An Evening in White”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022

WHERE: The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, 1700 Washington Ave.

INFORMATION: cubanclassicalballetofmiami.org

 

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Peter London Global Dance Co. Finds Reasons to Celebrate in ‘Touch and Rain on Me’

Peter London Global Dance Company- Photo by Osmany Torres

UPDATE: “Due to a breakthrough Covid-19 case, Peter London Global Dance Company: Touch & Rain On Me has been canceled for the remaining performances tonight December 30 and tomorrow December 31, 2021. The health and safety of everyone is of paramount importance.”

Homelessness, domestic abuse, loss of employment, intimacy and joyful activities – the list of the pandemic’s impacts goes on.

In its 11th season, the Peter London Global Dance Company tackles these pandemic consequences and still locates reasons to celebrate closing out 2021 in its newest program “Touch and Rain on Me,” at the Arsht Center’s Carnival Studio Theater.

Peter London – PLDGC Artistic Director and New World School of the Arts Professor of Dance — drew inspiration for the December program from the social consequences he saw unfolding around him during the Spring.

“We knew that homelessness was increasing across the country, and we saw what was happening in California and South Florida,” said London. “The pandemic then hit and people were being evicted. I found myself asking how would they even get clean water?”

Questions like this one prompted him to head to the beach where he created the solo — “The Streets” – danced by PLGDC dancer, Terrence Pride. London used found objects as props for the piece.

“A water bottle I found on the road became a face and that became his lady friend who kept him [Pride] company through the day and night,” explained London. “Being homeless you really have to innovate to survive.”

Incidents of domestic violence also spiked during the lockdown with so many people confined at home. London translated this violence some couples experienced into his second duet, “Touch Me One Last Time” – danced by Eden Collier and Rafael Del Vizo and set to the mellifluous lyrics of Billie Holiday’s, “Don’t Explain,” known for her share of relationships with abusive men.

“I originally created the dance and filmed it on a sidewalk between 73rd and 54th street walled in by hedges on either side and a hotel wall on another. The space is tight. The man and woman are forced into this tight space and having an argument,” said London. “He acts violently towards her but is also remorseful and loving at the same time.”

For London, human beings naturally thrive off the sensation of touch, but the pandemic made that dangerous.

“The whole idea of touch became something like a death sentence,” added London. “In situations of domestic abuse touch can cause death, and even if you escape you are out on the street.”

London carried this idea of the dangers of touch further in the duet, “Journey to Tea”. In the work London examines how the pandemic shaped the death experience for many families.

“We could only press our hands against the glass when our grandmothers and loved ones were dying,” continued London. “We sometimes only heard them for the last time on the phone. That was happening all over the place. The parents would bring their grandchildren to put their fingers against the glass.”

Originally shot as a film at 73rd and Collins, the dance begins with an Adam-like figure (danced by Aaron Lopez) lying on the floor and an Eve-like figure (danced by Nicole Pedraza) dancing to Japanese music with the sound of a waterfall in the background.

“She (Pedraza) does a wonderful rippling movement with her arms, like steam arising from the teapot,” explained London. “The two never actually touch one another no matter how close they get because there is that glass which separates them. We see tenderness and we see the frustration and tension of not being able to have an intimate relationship.”

The challenges of the pandemic persuaded London to create his dances both for live performance and film. “Back in May there was no guarantee there would be live performance at all. I thought, ‘If that happens when December comes I will have it and present it as a film.’”

For this London turned to Miami videographer and filmmaker, Carlos Ochoa. “Carlos put together a wonderful crew who were amazed and excited and dedicated and they were so glad to do what they do again.”

The pandemic’s ongoing power to generate uncertainties from one week to the next London captured in, “Urban Serengeti,” which ends the program.

“From week to week we don’t know what’s going to happen. We are living in an urban Serengeti with lots of loss of life, and we had to be alert just like the animals out on the Serengeti.”

Composed of three movements – Kalinda Wash, King Carnival, and Bacchanal Tuesday – “Urban Serengeti” is set to excerpts from “Creole Soul” – an album by Trinidadian composer, Etienne Charles as well as original music Charles composed specifically for the PLGDC program.

For London it was important the December program end on a joyful note. “Bacchanal Tuesday celebrates the closing of Carnival when all the bands play and thousands are in the streets. It is about getting back to life and a new year with new energy.”

However, for London, the December program also represents a homecoming and family reunion due to the presence of former students among the dancers.

“Brooke Logan – a local dancer who has assisted Jamal Roberts, Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey — has created a new piece for this program, “The Missing Link,”” said London. “I’ve taught her since she was 9 years old as well as Justin and Evan Rapaport who will also perform. Justin recently won the Danish Dance Theater Award at the 14th Copenhagen International Choreography Competition.”

“They are my kids and they always come home to perform with us every year. The families come to the show and the performance ends up a family reunion. PLGDC is a Miami oasis for our young artists who go away but who have a place to come back and share their art.”

WHAT: Peter London Global Dance Company’s “Touch and Rain on Me”
WHERE: The Carnival Studio Theater of the Adrienne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33132).
WHEN: December 28-30 at 7:30pm and December 31st at 4pm.
TICKETS: Tickets for TOUCH and RAIN ON ME are $44 and $53 and may be purchased at the Adrienne Arsht Center box office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at arshtcenter.org.

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Review: Miami City Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ is a holiday tradition that’s especially meaningful this year

Miami City Ballet is presenting “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” at different venues throughout South Florida this holiday season. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Iziliaev)

“The Nutcracker” is a holiday tradition every year. But Miami City Ballet’s presentations this year are even more meaningful — representing, for many in the audience, a return to live dance since the onset of the pandemic.

MCB opened its holiday run of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” on Dec. 10-12, 2021, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, with a roster of 54, including 16 new dancers. The Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances showcased a company with considerable depth of talent.

Each also featured gorgeous music performed by the Opus One Orchestra, under director and principal conductor Gary Sheldon on Friday and Saturday and guest conductor Laura Joella on Sunday, plus terrific violin solos by concertmaster Mei Mei Luo.

(Video courtesy of Miami City Ballet)

The late Isabel Toledo, celebrated woman’s bespoke designer, and her husband, artist and illustrator Ruben Toledo, revamped MCB’s “Nutcracker” in 2017, and their magic appears throughout the production, with costumes sporting eye-popping combinations of fabrics.  Wendall Harrington’s projections and John Hall’s lighting imbued traditional scenic elements with an otherworldly feel, as when the Christmas tree swells to titanic proportions.

Balanchine divided the ballet in two acts and fashioned it with roles for the entire company, from students to professionals. One benefit of so many stagings is that audiences often see dancers in unexpected roles, like corps dancers performing lead parts usually reserved for soloists or principals. This was the case for the Broward performances this year, with happy results.

The first act opened with a holiday party at the house of Dr. and Mrs. Stahlbaum, where guests have gathered including Herr Drosselmeier (performed by Reyneris Reyes). The watchmaker and inventor came bearing gifts: marvelous automated toys that dance for the children. Playing the toys, dancers Mayumi Enokibara as Columbine and Shimon Ito as the Toy Soldier best crafted the illusion of mechanical life — Enokibara hopping in arabesque and Ito spinning in double tours.

Drosselmeier also brought along his nephew (wonderfully performed all weekend by Dominick Scherer, in his ninth year with the production) and a traditional Nutcracker doll, both of whom captivate the Stahlbaums’ daughter, Marie (the radiant Allegra Dacquino Richerson).

When the partygoers dispersed, Marie fell asleep with her Nutcracker doll beside the Christmas tree, later awakening to the legions of the seven-headed Mouse King (Cameron Catazaro) infesting the house. Act II closed with her organizing the Nutcracker and toy soldiers to battle the mouse army.

Marie first had to travel through a wintry landscape on her way to the Land of the Sweets. To the first chirps of the piccolo, dancer Ellen Grocki rushed to the center, snapped en pointe, then rushed off followed by Enokibara, Matilda Solis and Taylor Naturkas. In the “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” 16 dancers crisscrossed the stage in ¾ time, pounded by a paper blizzard. One sequence had several dancers rushing toward the center, then leaping, snapping their legs and pivoting still in the air, speeding off in a new direction when they hit the ground, imitating the play of snow in the wind.

MCB’s corps dancers were exciting and demonstrated exquisite timing all weekend.

In Act II, Marie found herself now a princess escorted by her Nutcracker doll-turned-prince (Scherer) in a land teeming with sweets and cakes. Ruben Toledo’s tongue-in-cheek touches were everywhere, including lime slices framing a pineapple crown and 30-foot ice cream people painted on the leg curtains draping the stage. This transition set up a series of dances by the citizens of the realm ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy.

First up was the dance of Chocolate. Lead Chocolates — Nicole Stalker and Damian Zamorano on Friday and Sunday and Adrienne Carter and Francisco Schilereff on Saturday — snapped in attitude and sailed in saut de basque with equally high energy. The dark brown velvet coats and bodices of the dancers represent a Toledo winner here.

For the sinuous dance of Coffee, the Saturday night performance by MCB newcomer Hannah Fischer was spectacular, combining contortionism with impressive theatricality.

Both Ito and MCB newcomer Andrei Chagas were impressive as the male lead for the Tea segment. Ito was flawless scissoring his legs as he leapt forward in jeté cloche, and Chagas oozed energy, launching splits to close out the passage.

An equally energetic Alexander Peters launched himself through the dance of Candy Canes on Friday, snapping turn after turn jump-roping his hoop.

Grocki owned the role of lead Shepherdess on Friday and Saturday, flawlessly working through the role’s quirky pointe work set to staccato piccolo and flute.

Originally an image on a brand of chocolates in the 1880s, the Toledo rethink of Mother Ginger — performed by Bradley Dunlap on Friday and Harrison Monaco on Saturday and Sunday — had a satisfying air of the sci-fi monster about it.

Slipping from her voluminous skirts, student dancers Lara Chiang, Evangeline Faraldo, Grace Milam, Carolina Rodriguez, Mia Chiang, Grace Eaton, Pamela Hall, Celeste Martinez were consistently precise, very coordinated, and buoyant in each performance as the Polichinelles — named for clown-shaped chocolates.

In the “Waltz of the Flowers,” principal Nathalia Arja in the role of Dewdrop wowed on Friday and Saturday, packing furious energy into the movements of her upper body and well-defined fouettés. However, a softer interpretation of the role by newly minted corps dancer Naturkas on Sunday was also memorable.

Principals Tricia Albertson and Steven Loch were spectacular in the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. Loch attentively secured Albertson through spins and lifts, and his jetés in the coda were impressive.

Samantha Hope Galler and Ariel Rose played the pair in the Sunday casting and were also lovely. Hopefully, MCB has future performances in mind for this pairing.

Several North American dance companies succumbed to the economic challenges brought on by the pandemic, and some dance observers openly speculated whether audiences would even return to halls with vaccine availability, claiming dancers’ calls of racism and body-shaming might keep people away.

In this latest production, Miami City Ballet has presented a company whose talent base has clearly expanded during the shutdown, and whose Toledo-inspired “Nutcracker” continues to read as a commitment to classical dance becoming a genuinely multiracial and multicultural art form. 

WHAT: Miami City Ballet presents “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker”

WHERE/WHEN: Performances continue at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts (1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami) from Dec. 16-26, and at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (701 Okeechobee Road, West Palm Beach) from December 29-30.

COST: $34-$109

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: Be sure to review the COVID-19 health policies of your venue before attending a performance; visit arshtcenter.org/en/Visit/health-safety-covid-19 or kravis.org/healthsafety

INFORMATION: 305-929-7010; 877-929-7010 (toll-free); miamicityballet.org/nutcracker

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DANCE NOW! MIAMI TRAVELS IN TIME TO MEET ISADORA DUNCAN

Allyn Ginns Ayers will dance the role of the mother in Isadora Duncan’s “Ave Maria.” (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)

Imagine you could go to the theater today to enjoy a dance concert with Isadora Duncan.

Considered to be the “Mother of Modern Dance,” Duncan died in 1927 at age 50 when her scarf got caught in the wheels of a car while traveling in Nice, France.

Dance Now! Miami (DNM) will offer audiences an exciting journey back in time to see some of her works and appreciate a certain way of doing things, from a time when a viewer’s attention did not depend on a succession of stimuli, which often suffocates today’s creative projects.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, in the Miami Theater Center (MTC) in Miami Shores, the company founded and directed by Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini will present  a program titled, “Stories for the Holidays,” which includes four short pieces from Duncan.

(Video courtesy of Dance NOW! Miami)

With this performance, DNM wants to give its audience “the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of dance by presenting a series of short works with straightforward messages of love, passion, joy, and resilience,” says Salterini. “Each piece is a small vignette, from Duncan’s angelic figures in ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘Harp Etude’ to the nonbinary genre of Hannah’s ‘Die Frauen’ that celebrates the feminine in each of us.

“I will be presenting ‘Lunatico,’ an ode to the moon, masterfully danced by our youngest member David Jewett,” he continues. “And ‘Three Moments in Time,’ a series of duets that portrays three couples (or maybe it’s the same couple) in three moments of their relationship from the first date to the 10th anniversary. “

Adds Baumgarten: “The program also includes Jon Lehrer’s ‘Solstice’ and ‘All Shook Up,’ originally created for our former rehearsal director, Jenny Hegarty. It will be performed by an exceptionally talented DNM Youth Ensemble dancer, Nicole Espinel, who trains at Miami Arts Charter School.”

On this occasion, the South Beach Chamber Ensemble (SBCE) will accompany Dance NOW! on “Three Moments in Time,” “Ave Maria,” and “Lunatico.” Salterini tells us that, “the relationship between DNM and SBCE is almost two decades old. Every time we have the opportunity to work together, we do it. Using live music just improves everything.”

Baumgarten also explains how the idea of incorporating “Solstice” into the DNM repertoire came about: “Jon Lehrer is a contemporary choreographer based in New York. We love his energy and sincere approach to dance and invited him to come to Miami in the fall of 2020, but COVID derailed our plans, and we were only able to bring him now. His work is very dynamic, and a lot of fun, and he fits in perfectly with the company. His style is, in a sense, very similar to Diego’s and mine.”

Salterini predicts “it will leave the audience with a pleasant and serene smile. It is very satisfying to see it and, according to the dancers, it is also a pleasure to dance it.”

But Duncan’s works are the highlight of the program, and Andrea Mantell Seidel, former artistic director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Ensemble in Miami, has been in charge of restaging them. So, in addition to “Ave Maria” and “Harp Etude,” the show will feature “Varshiavianka,” and “Dubinushka,” two of Duncan’s so-called “Russian revolutionary dances.”

Asked about Duncan’s style and Mantell Seidel’s process of working with the company, two DNM dancers shared their thoughts.

For dancer Allyn Ginns Ayers, “Isadora Duncan’s technique consists mainly of simple walks, jumps and gestures. It sounds easy, but it is not. While in recent years, the trend in dance has largely been towards virtuosity, Duncan’s steps are trimmed and shed of any excess. Instead, we are asked to start with the ‘truth’ of the dance or character and let the emotion reveal the choreography. It is a precise way of approaching movement that has influenced my approach as a dancer even in works that have nothing to do with Duncan.”

After the death of two of her youngest children in an accident, Duncan choreographed Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” to revive her spirit, and as a tribute to them. This work has two versions: a solo and a group piece for six dancers. On this occasion, Allyn Ginns Ayers will dance the role of the mother with four other women around her.

Even though DNM dancer Anthony Velázquez prepared for this show last season, he will not dance at this concert because of an injury. Still, he shares his point of view with us: “It’s different from other jobs I’ve done because I usually approach the choreography with a more technical approach, then the emotion follows. But Andrea Mantell Seidel demanded ’emotion before movement,’ and her words stayed with me since she staged Isadora’s works for us. I then used that approach for ‘La Malinche’ where I played a native Mexican, and it helped me connect with what José Limón was trying to convey. Duncan and Limón’s works offer stories that to tell them correctly we must start from a real place.”

And that is something always recognized and appreciated by the public. Limón’s “La Malinche” was a huge artistic achievement for DNM last April, and Duncan’s works promise to provide a stellar year’s end for the company.

 

To read this performance preview in Spanish, click here.

 

WHAT: Dance NOW! Miami presents “Stories for the Holidays”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021

WHERE: Miami Theater Center, 9806 NE Second Ave., Miami Shores

COST: $40 for general admission, $25 for Miami Shores residents, and $15 for students with valid ID

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: Face coverings will be required inside the theater at all times unless proof of full vaccination is provided, according to the website.

INFORMATION: 305-975-8489; dancenowmiami.org

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Men Who Dance to return for a second year, this time as a festival

Argentine twin brothers Nicolas and German Filipeli are scheduled to perform at the Inter-American Choreographic Institute’s Men Who Dance Festival 2021. (Photo courtesy of Manzo Foong)

When the Inter-American Choreographic Institute (ICI) presented its first-ever Men Who Dance program in November 2020, it sought to explore and challenge ideas of masculinity before a live audience – and marked a return to indoor shows at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts since the pandemic closures.

This year, it’s back in the same venue, with the second edition now known as the Men Who Dance Festival 2021.

“The purpose of Men Who Dance is to create a platform to do gender exploration,” ICI artistic director Rafi Maldonado-Lopez said. “The beginning of the show plays on the notion of:  What is man?”

The festival will feature many returning Miami-Dade County-based dancers and companies, including Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida, Tango Out, Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, and Dance NOW! Miami. But there are some newcomers also scheduled, including Miami choreographer Randolph Ward, as well as artists from Paraguay, Brazil and Denmark.

(MWD SHOW Highlights 60ss from Rafi Maldonado-Lopez on Vimeo; video courtesy of Leandro Brito)

Ward plans to debut his new work, “The Practice of 10 Years,” a two-act solo he conceived as a tribute to his 10-year relationship with his husband, Miami drag artist CC Glitzer.

“The first half is dedicated to the conflicts of a relationship, and then I pay homage to him as a drag artist,” Ward said. “He’s sugar and I’m spice.”

For Ward, an important element of dance involves challenging audience expectations.

“I think it’s important that the audience sees things that are not traditional, because it shakes your core and makes you think about your life,” he said.

One of this year’s international performers will be Pontus Lidberg, artistic director of the Danish Dance Theatre in Copenhagen. He will participate in the duet, “Wings and Ash,” set to the work of composer David Lang.

“I have explored male partnering during most of my choreographic career,” Lidberg said. “I am a hybrid choreographer that works with big dance theater and modern dance companies and everything in between. Male partnering is a red line through my work.

“I have to make work relevant to me and based on my life experiences. Not to do that would be completely weird.”

Among the show’s 2020 highlights was a performance titled, “Connected Sight,” by the Miami-based program, Tango Out, which is expected back this year.

“Their performance last year had two men dancing tango … created by Miami choreographer Ray Sullivan as a tribute to the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre,” Maldonado-Lopez said. “It was one of the performances we received the most positive feedback about.”

Tango Out’s contribution to this year’s festival will be “Monólogo,” performed by Argentine twin brothers Nicolas and German Filipeli, who were third-place winners in the 2019 Tango World Cup.

“The brothers represent two aristocratic ‘compadritos’– defiant but friendly – who compete with one another to determine who is the better dancer,” explained Sullivan. “They represent prototypes of a style of life of a kind of ‘porteño’ (a Buenos Aires resident) from the 1920s and ’30s.”

Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami is also set to return, with a pas de deux that reenvisions Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera, “Carmen” – whose namesake, the gypsy Carmen is the love interest of the soldier, Don José, and the toreador, Escamillo.  This new version, titled “The Flower,” retells the opera as a love story between the two male leads.

“Why can’t these two men question themselves and then fall in love?” said Eriberto Jimenez, executive artistic director of the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami. “I think it’s important that we explore our sexuality and the way human behavior works.”

 

WHAT: Inter-American Choreographic Institute’s Men Who Dance Festival 2021

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28

WHERE: Amaturo Theater at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale

COST: $25-$150

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: According to the Broward Center website, “this performance is on sale at full capacity without physical distancing limitations. The Broward Center’s health & safety guidelines have been developed in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic and follow guidance of local and state health officials and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).” To review the center’s “Health & Safety Guidelines,” visit browardcenter.org/visit/health-safety-guidelines.

INFORMATION: browardcenter.org/events/detail/men-who-dance

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Dimensions Dance Theatre’s Program I to showcase works of 3 choreographers

Miranda Montes de Oca and Kevin Hernandez rehearsing for “DECO: Danzón of Eclectic Cultural Origin.” (Photo courtesy of Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami)

Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami’s Paulina Zambrana step-skips across the floor on the diagonal to a slow piano ballad, arms wafting overhead, then drifting behind her back. She slow-pirouettes into a lunge, bends back deeply, then springs forward into a deliberate set of chainé turns en pointe, catching a note with each step.

She is rehearsing her solo portion in “Preludes,” a new work by South Florida choreographer and Miami City Ballet dancer Ariel Rose that’s set to debut as part of Dimensions’ Program I: “World Premieres” on Saturday, Nov. 13. The company, led by co-artistic directors Carlos Guerra and Jennifer Kronenberg, is presenting three world premieres that evening at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay.

(VIDEO: DECO Trailer | October 2021)

The first, “Preludes,” embodies a “liquid quality” in the movements, designed to “imitate how human beings flow through different situations and emotions,” according to Zambrana’s partner in the piece, Dimensions dancer Maikel Hernandez.

Out of breath as she finishes her performance, Zambrana remarks that Rose has coached her “to feel like you’re swimming underwater, [as if] everything is very fluid and lush with the changes in the music.”

That music is piano work from Jorge Mejia’s 2015 album, “Preludes,” which served as inspiration for Rose’s work. (Mejia is president of the Latin division at Sony/ATV Music Publishing and a product of Miami’s New World School of the Arts.)

Next up is “DECO: Danzón of Eclectic Cultural Origin,” a collaborative piece strongly accented with features of Persian and Indian dance, whose title word, “Danzón,” is a nod to Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s dramatic orchestral composition, “Danzón No. 2.” Supported by a Knight New Works grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Art Deco-inspired piece is the work of choreographer Kevin Jenkins,  and describes Miami’s present diversity and the myriad influences that shaped its past.

“DECO” opens with a solo by Dimensions dancer Miranda Montes de Oca, who walks toward the audience inserting pronounced hip rolls, her shoulders rolling into broad circles that sweep forward to the oboe’s melody or snap and freeze in odd angles in time to the beat tapped out on the wood block. At her side, dancers Stephan Fons, Mayrel Martinez, Selah Jane Oliver, Kevin Hernandez, Alexey Minkin and Melissa and Lyvan Verdecia form a diamond. They stretch out to their sides with their legs, as their arms trace wave patterns then sweep forward as if casting a weight.

“DECO” shows off Jenkins’ distinctive style – arms, wrists, hands and fingers moving ceaselessly, forming gestures that coordinate with off-center head tilts and pigeon-like slides. The body below the torso remains calm and grounded. The effect calls to mind classical Indian dance.

“We focused attention on coordinating hand placement and the head.  We also worked on the positions of the fingers a lot,” Oliver says, referring to how Jenkins coached them in this style.

Dimensions will also debut “Landscapes,” created by South Florida choreographer Donna Murray and inspired by the poems of Lani Scozzari.

Murray developed the work during the pandemic lockdown, with the support of an Artist Innovation Fellowship funded by the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County.

“The poems described a love affair during a road trip, where the poet described the state of the couple’s relationship using features taken from the context of each stop,” Murray says.

Murray rethought the message of the poems, putting the love first and then recast it for three couples dancing three pas de deux — the first danced by Oliver and Montes de Oca, the second by Dimensions’ Yanis Eric Pikieris and Daniel White, and the third by company newcomers Melissa and Lyvan Verdecia (the married couple danced in New York City’s Ballet Hispánico before relocating to South Florida).

The duets exhibit different spaces of emotional intimacy between the couples.

For example, the piece opens to the slow notes of a cello, and Oliver and Montes de Oca sitting at the center of the room. Montes de Oca shrugs forward then reclines into Oliver’s lap. They stand and pivot, then stretch forward and embrace. Montes de Oca appears intent on containing Oliver, either by circling her or by catching her arm and pulling her back to her side. The segment ends with both dancers stretched toward the other on the floor, their cheeks touching.

As she looks forward to returning to the stage after the pandemic closures, Oliver says the pandemic has changed her approach – dance is now for fun.

“In the background is the thought: What if I can’t dance again? What if something happens? I’m trying to enjoy it rather than obsess about it being perfect.”

Click here to read our Spanish-language preview for this performance.

 

WHAT: Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami’s Program I: “World Premieres”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021

WHERE: South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, 10950 SW 211th St., Cutler Bay

COST: $25-$45 for general admission, $75 for VIP tickets and $10 for students with identification

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: Social-distanced seating and enhanced sanitation measures are in effect and mask wearing is “strongly encouraged” at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center.

INFORMATION: 786-573-5300; smdcac.org/events

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brigid baker wholeproject puts ‘opera’ into ‘Operation Birdsong’

Meredith Barton will appear in brigid baker wholeproject’s “Operation Birdsong,” set for Nov. 11-14, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Cristina Isabel Rivera) 

In an era when grandiose titles such as Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Warp Speed routinely announce mass mobilizations, Miami choreographer Brigid Baker has named her newest program, “Operation Birdsong,” with an emphasis on the word “opera.”

For Baker, opera is an all-encompassing artform, and her latest program “is a poem and an opera in a fever dream, whose structure erases itself and vanishes, and is designed to expose emotion. A poem is slippery and can move in between worlds, it doesn’t have to offer clarity or hope or vision, it only has to make us pay attention to the world.”

Through “Operation Birdsong,” the brigid baker wholeproject company showcases human beings’ kinship with their bird cousins — from shared song patterns to the over-the-top displays of color and costuming both species can exhibit. Presented at Miami-Dade County Auditorium’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre from Nov. 11-14, 2021, the show forms the second installment of the company’s three-part trilogy that also includes “Crown” (which debuted in November 2020 as a drive-through experience) and “Return of the Bird Tribes” (scheduled to debut spring 2022).

For decades, the calls of birds have seemingly changed due to greater urban ambient noise. When the pandemic hit, some changed their tunes entirely.

“The sudden quiet enabled them to hear each other on a wider scale and vary their communication. They sing now more quietly in a lower tone, but with more flourishes,” Baker continues, as she pins a loop of fabric tight under the arm of wholeproject dancer Isaiah Gonzalez in the company’s 6th Street Dance Studio in Little Havana.

Gonzalez steps back and moves his arms in the altered costume. Half-dress, half-cape, the white fabric billows, sail-like, with patterns of bright yellow and mauve circles.

Nearby are two, 5-foot-tall blue papier-mâché robin eggs and against the wall is an enormous “nest” the size of a barn door. Baker refers to the nest as a mandala that will float across the stage at key moments of the performance, with brooms hanging beneath it.

During this recent rehearsal, Gonzalez then lines up on the opposite side of the studio along with two other dancers, Amy Trieger and Meredith Barton. After a narrator recites the names of birds, a brief recording of their specific song plays. With each new bird call, the dancers shift their movements. The screeches of the blue jay, for example, trigger quick steps, with the dancers tightly sandwiching one another, while the puffin’s call inspires long, sweeping leaps.

At the eagle’s scream, the three plié deeply, torsos bent toward their side, while for the seagull they stretch at an angle. As they shuffle through the sequences, they often snap out birdlike shifts of their head, quick ankle-height kicks, or fluttering twists of their wrists.

 Video also forms an essential component of “Operation Birdsong.” Baker affectionately terms her own videos as “slash-and-hack jobs.” But audiences who have seen her films know they feature poignant, tongue-in-cheek edited clips sourced from the web and often teeming with gorgeous natural images set to music.

Baker — dressed in an orange top and loose-fitting black slacks — starts up a black-and-white video featuring soprano Beverly Sills as Cleopatra in Handel’s opera, “Julius Caesar.” Sills packs her performance with runs, trills and virtuosic leaps of octave.

Sporting a crown of white feathers and a white cape hanging from her shoulders, Sills looks like a fantastic bird performing a mating dance.

“If I take clips of operas and put them alongside birds in song, we are similar, down to the plumage,” says Baker, as the video shifts to common songbirds warbling their tunes.

“Also, Justin has the sound wired in the theater to give a surround-sound effect to the bird calls,” she adds, referring to Justin Trieger, digital multimedia artist, recording engineer and manager of New World Symphony’s collaborative, internet-based projects. Trieger consistently contributes videos for wholeproject programs.

With so much emphasis on music, the program also includes Baker’s sister, Bertilla Baker, singing a cappella Irish folksongs.

The video ends. The dancers do a quick costume change, donning black robes and velvet black hats angled like a tuft of feather on the head of a bird. Each hat has a gold feather sewn into its side. The performers line up on the far side of the studio, facing away.

As a husky male voice recites the Wallace Stevens poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” the dancers sweep the floor, beating their arms overhead and to their sides, then launch into tight pirouettes before falling out to sweep across the floor again. The choreography comes off as part-dance, part-ritual invocation.

 Baker sees the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity for people to recalibrate their priorities.

“We’ve lost 3 billion birds worldwide since the 1970s,” she says. “And the idea that we would let their songs disappear is insane.”

To read our Spanish-language preview for this event, click here. 

 

WHAT: brigid baker wholeproject’s “Operation Birdsong”

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11^–14, 2021

WHERE: Miami-Dade County Auditorium’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre, 2901 W. Flagler St., Miami

COST: $25

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: The facility “strongly” encourages the continued use of face masks for indoor performances. Disposable face masks will be available. For more information, go to miamidadecountyauditorium.org/coronavirus-updates.

INFORMATION: miamidadecountyauditorium.org

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Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami seeks to expand its audience with works by young choreographers

Diana Figueroa in “De Toi” by Phillipe Obregon. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)

The Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami (CCBM) will present its “Choreographers Showcase” on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Miami Theater Center in Miami Shores.

Choreography is more than “the writing of dance,” the closest definition to the history and origin of the term. And a choreographer is much more than the one who creates the steps and movements of the dance.

The choreographer is also the playwright and artistic director for the staging. The choreography is at the core of any piece of dance, academic or improvised in appearance. You could say that improvisation frees the performer from choreography. But the reality is that you would only be successful “improvising” if your efforts result in a proposal with steps and movements that communicate something. And that’s choreography.

But there is more. Without choreography, there is no work to interpret, and only with good choreography can a good repertoire be achieved. Without repertoire, there is no way to identify the style of a ballet company. And a repertory is also needed to illustrate the style of the dancers at any national ballet school.

Choreography is a fundamental resource for all dance companies. Its diversification is a problem that Eriberto Jimenez, artistic director of CCBM, is proactively trying to solve.

“For the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, it is imperative to start creating new programs for a different audience,” he tells us. “Our regular audiences will continue to enjoy classical ballet performances twice a year. We will include programs combining classical and contemporary styles. But I think it is essential to allow new generations to develop their choreographic skills creating new ballets for the company.” 

Q: Is this the first time CCBM is presenting “Choreographers Showcase”?

Jimenez: “Not really. We presented our first ‘Choreographers Showcase’ on Feb. 27, 2021. In 2020, something similar was created during the months of confinement. Eight dancers participated, and pianist Isaac Rodriguez created the original music for the project. We called the program, ‘Rebuilding Together.’ We taped each dancer individually, and then the whole thing was edited as one piece. The idea of bringing together different choreographers and dancers came about as a way to create programs we could present in unconventional places — different from the theaters where we regularly perform.”

On this occasion, the program will include new creations as well as works that are already part of the company’s repertoire, such as “Lecuona Suite” (2018, with choreography by Jimenez), which is a tribute to renowned Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona and has live music by Rodriguez.

Choreographers presenting new contemporary pieces include Enrique Villacreses and Rafael Ruiz del Vizo, two young dancers who graduated from Miami’s New World School of the Arts.

Villacreses’ work, titled “My Universe,” deals with the barriers that human beings create within themselves and includes a tetrahedral artwork by artist Don Lambert. Ruiz del Vizo will present two pieces: “Geminis,” which portrays duality, the inner development of the antagonism between body and soul; and “Orbits,” a search for constant movement around each human being and his or her environment.

Q: How are choreographers invited to participate? 

Jimenez: “For these first two programs, the choreographers have been selected from a group of talented young people who participate in a daily class offered by the company. Some are members of the company, and others attend classes with us to stay trained. I have seen their work, and I think it is essential to support them in their vision as creators. In addition, each brings a different kind of body language to the members of the company. And everyone is enjoying the creation process, which for some also represents a challenge … 

“Along with Villacreses and Ruiz del Vizo, Phillipe Obregon will be presenting ‘De Toi.’ He is a contemporary and jazz dancer from Colombia. The Cuban-born Fernando Garcia will participate with ‘The Sentence,’ and I will premiere a piece, still without a title. The program will also include two choreographic works by the St. Lucie Ballet. Under the artistic direction of Rogelio Corrales and Lydia Oquendo, this group frequently collaborate with us, and Miami audiences are familiar with their work.”

WHAT: Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami presents “Choreographers Showcase”

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021

WHERE: Miami Theater Center, 9806 NE Second Ave., Miami Shores

COST: $30

INFORMATION: 786-747-1877; cubanclassicalballetofmiami.org

 

*This is a translation of our Spanish-language preview for this event. 

 

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South Florida’s rich dance culture to be fully on display at Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler

Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida will present an excerpt from “Viva España,” choreographed by artistic director Vladimir Issaev. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Laine)

There truly is something for everyone in South Florida’s eclectic and varied dance scene.  Offering a wealth of multiple genres that span the gamut from sultry tango and flamenco to edgy contemporary and classic ballet to performance art and site-specific works, the dance culture here is rich.

Audiences will have the opportunity to experience the artistry of myriad professional dance organizations all on one stage when the Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler presents its inaugural post-COVID live performance on Oct. 29-31, 2021.

The Sampler’s three artistic directors — Daniel Lewis, Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini — agree that the unity of organizations and audience is a vital component for the dance culture in this community and a unique occasion for dance artists to work together.

Initially created in the early ’90s as the Modern Dance Sampler by Lewis, founding dean of Miami’s prestigious New World School of the Arts, the yearly performance was meant to cross-pollinate audiences, give exposure and visibility for modern dance organizations, and provide a performance opportunity on a larger scale.

(Video courtesy of Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler)

“I was offering a showcase where different audiences could come together and see something new, and they might start going to other concerts,” Lewis says. “I watched the audience grow over the years.”

Both Baumgarten and Salterini were early Modern Dance Sampler participants.

“As young dancers in the community, we felt the profound effect of being in a show with other dancers in the community,” Baumgarten says. “Of being exposed to the other choreographers in the community and, of course, to the audiences.”

The Sampler continued through 1999, until — as Lewis says, laughingly — “I eventually retired the Miami Dance Sampler, and it ceased to exist for about 10 years.”

The Sampler idea was reborn after Baumgarten and Salterini were granted the possibility of working at the Little Haiti Cultural Center with their company, Dance NOW! Miami, in 2009. For them, it was a blessing to have both rehearsal space and a theater and, in return, they wanted to give back to the community.

Even without a large initial funding source, Baumgarten and Salterini felt that unifying professional dance in a performance like the Sampler was such an important part of the dance culture that they trudged ahead relentlessly, restarting the program under the name, the Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler (DLDS), honoring Lewis as the initial founder and garnering his blessing.

“I was pleased that they wanted me as one of the artistic directors,” Lewis says.  “That I had a voice within their vision.”

More than a decade later, it has grown to be produced by Lewis’s organization, Miami Dance Futures, in collaboration with Dance NOW! Miami, New World School of the Arts, Florida Dance Education Organization, and Palm Beach State College’s Duncan Theatre.

Today, the Sampler invites not only participants from Miami, but from throughout the state.

“Last year, because of COVID, we were virtual. This year, we can present the Sampler in its full capacity and expand finally into two counties,” Salterini says.

The performance will be at the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth on Oct. 29 and at the New World School of the Arts Dance Theater in Miami from Oct. 30-31.

“In a city like Miami, where we are so spread out, this is a great opportunity to create community,” Salterini says. “One of the most important moments is when all the dancers are together taking class on the stage before the show starts. We’re all together, all abilities, all ages.  It’s so important for the young dancers to see that there is a dance community here.”

A first-time participant in the Sampler, Ballet Vero Beach (BVB) will present an excerpt from “Caprice” by Matthew Lovegood, with music by Antonio Vivaldi. The enigmatic male duet questions the relationship and intentions of the two men. Originally danced by BVB director Adam Schnell and choreographer Lovegood, the roles this time will be performed by Anders Southerland and Daniel White.

New World dance students plan to perform an excerpt from “Dancing Spirit” by choreographer Ronald K. Brown, with music by Duke Ellington, Wynton Marsalis and War. Paying tribute to Alvin Ailey’s former artistic director, Judith Jamison, Brown uses movements from Cuba, Brazil and the United States “to conjure dancing spirits who embody Jamison’s elegance, vision, dignity and generosity,” according to the Alvin Ailey website.

Mary Lisa Burns, current dean of dance at New World, says: “The DLDS showcases so many different styles of dance and such a range of approaches to choreography. It is an annual event unlike any other, and one which we look forward to hosting each year at our Dance Theater.”

Having recently presented her work, “CIRCA/MIA,” through Miami Dade College’s Live Arts Miami LALA (Live Arts Lab Alliance) Performance Series and in partnership with the Perez Art Museum, Miami, Sandra Portal-Andreu will now bring a condensed version — called simply “MIA” — to the Sampler. Featuring music by Miami duo Afrobeta, “MIA” plays as a response to the hopes and fears that children have about climate change and the future of Miami.

“This will be the first time in three years that I present a work on stage,” Portal-Andreu says. “In recent years, most of my work has been site-specific, which is where I have this newfound comfort.”

Bringing “MIA” into the theater, the audience will be engulfed with audio and visuals that drive home the message of what climate change looks like through the eyes of children. Portal-Andreu says she hopes this work will engage the adults in the room to take action for the next generation.

Flamenco dance is very much a part of the South Florida dance community. Rather unique to Miami in its narrative ballet presentations is Ballet Flamenco La Rosa (BFLR). The company is joining the Sampler to present “Verano y Humo,” an original Flamenco Ballet choreographed by BFLR artistic director Ilisa Rosal and inspired by Tennessee Williams’ play, “Summer and Smoke.” The characters in Williams’ play are represented fittingly in flamenco movement and will be performed by Jose Junco, Mayelu Perez and Paloma de Vega. Live music composed by guitarist Jose Luis de la Paz and vocal artist Jose Cortes will accompany the artists.

“Flamenco is coming from a tradition in Europe where men’s and women’s roles, and how they’re looked at by society, are very prevalent issues,” Rosal says. “Williams’ play has these amazing characters, and flamenco is a perfect language to express all of it.”

A serendipitous connection allowed Rosal to cast De Vega in the role of Nellie, one of the lead characters in the play. De Vega, a singer, actress and dancer, happens to be visiting Miami from Spain. She auditioned and was considered perfect for the role.

Meanwhile, Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida will celebrate being back in the theater with “Viva España,” a vibrant and romantic piece choreographed by artistic director Vladimir Issaev to music by Jules Massenet, based on “El Cid.”

“We will be showcasing our new dancers, and the Sampler will be the first opportunity they will get to perform before we officially open our 2021-2022 season in early November,” says Ruby Romero-Issaev, executive director and wife of Vladimir Issaev.

Another new participant in the Sampler this year is choreographer, director and dancer Maya Billig, who will show an excerpt from “Brink,” a contemporary dance theater piece inspired by the 1938 Orson Welles radio adaptation of “War of the Worlds.” Performed by Billig, Danielle Davis and Isaiah Gonzalez, “Brink” uses the “heightened theatricality of a dreamscape to offer poignancy juxtaposed by moments of relief and humor,” Billig says.

“‘Brink’ was created during the pandemic and has only been viewed virtually,” she adds. “Performing on the Sampler is an opportunity for the work to be experienced with a live audience, as it was designed to.”

Having just completed the Forward Motion Festival in September, Karen Peterson and Dancers will bring a duet to the Sampler from her full-length work, “Lost and Found.” The piece, to be performed by Penelope Huerta and Jesus Vidal, speaks to the people lost during the pandemic and the empathy and hope experienced after a year of confinement and isolation.

Culminating the performance, the full Dance NOW! Miami company will present “Solstice,” created by Jon Lehrer in 2019 for his Jon Lehrer Dance Co.

In summary, Salterini says: “We do believe that audiences are eager to get back to live theater.”

He takes an emotional breath and continues: “While video has been very helpful to keep us entertained during the quarantine, there is nothing like a live performance. We hope audiences come back with courage and enthusiasm to rekindle the love and passion for sharing a physical space.”

THE DLDS 2021 VIDEO SHOWCASE

Paying tribute to last year’s totally virtual Sampler and to the wonderful creations in video dance, and recognizing that everyone is not fully “up and running” again, the DLDS is offering a free video component this year. Through Oct. 31, view four videos created during the pandemica, plus a special addition of Lewis performing in a site-specific video from the late ’70s created by dance icon Anna Sokolow. Each piece will be introduced by Baumgarten, Salterini and Lewis. To view the showcase, visit vimeo.com/625041185.

 

WHAT: 11th annual Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler

WHEN/WHERE:

8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, 2021, at Duncan Theatre, 4200 S. Congress Ave., Lake Worth

8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, and 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31, at New World School of the Arts, 25 NE Second St., eighth floor, Miami

COST: $25 for general admission, $15 students; tickets may be purchased online for both venues at dancenowmiami.org/events/dlds or in person at the performances

SAFETY PROTOCOLS: Both venues will follow federal, state and local public health regulations and guidance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Face coverings are “strongly encouraged” at Duncan, according to the Dance NOW! website, and masks are required at New World.

INFORMATION: Call 305-975-8489, email info@dancenowmiami.org or visit dancenowmiami.org

 

Click here to read our Spanish-language preview for this event.

 

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