Miami City Ballet presents its Christmas miracle: ‘The Nutcracker in the Park’
Written By Orlando Taquechel December 14, 2020 at 5:47 PM
Dancers from Miami City Ballet in “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker in the Park.” (Photo courtesy of Alexander Izilieav)
First, the great news: Miami City Ballet is offering 14 performances of “The Nutcracker” in downtown Doral Park, starting Dec. 18 until New Year’s Eve.
And now for the story behind the news: It’s a beautiful Christmas tale, with a dance company planning its return amid a devastating pandemic and a public desperate to see in-person ballet once again. Two friends support the company’s director’s vision, and an even larger group sets out to make it come true. As a happy ending, we have the miracle of an unprecedented outdoor season.
It all started with a conversation between Lourdes López, artistic director of Miami City Ballet, and Ana-Marie Codina Barlick, CEO of Codina Partners, a real estate investment and development firm.
“This endeavor is the prime example of a public-private partnership at its best,” Codina says. “Seeing everybody working seamlessly together to bring this gift to the community has been inspiring: the private sector represented by Codina Partners, the Codina Family and Knight Foundation; the arts community by Miami City Ballet; the health-care sector by Baptist Health; and the government by the City of Doral.”
“This endeavor is the prime example of a public-private partnership at its best,” said Ana-Marie Codina Barlick, CEO of Codina Partners. (Photo courtesy of Gio Alma)
López adds: “Never in my 46 years of being involved in dance, have I seen this happen. All these separate sectors, coming together to answer a call for their community.”
Q: Whose idea was creating “The Nutcracker in the Park”?
“It came from me, initially,” López says. “But in May, I had a conversation with Ana, who asked me how the company was doing and what plans I had. I told her I was trying to put together an outdoor ‘Nutcracker.’ She immediately exclaimed, ‘If you do an outdoor [version], I want it for Doral.’ In conversation with another great friend, Wendall Harrington, we were commiserating on the state of the world and the arts. I told her about my ‘Nutcracker’ idea and about Doral. She said, ‘With an LED back wall, we can project the original … set designs by Ruben Toledo onto the wall for the outdoors.’ If I hadn’t shared my idea with both of them, this might not have happened.”
Harrington, a leading theatrical projection designer, has collaborated successfully with MCB on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (2016), “The Fairy’s Kiss” (2017), “The Nutcracker” (also in 2017), and “Firebird” in February of this year.
“This will be a slightly different version than the one you see at the Arsht,” López says. “First, it’s a multimedia performance, meaning the production will have video, animation, projections, and live dancing. All of Act II will be danced live, and some sections of Act I will be live as well.
“While I don’t want to reveal too much about where the production will take place, I promise it will still be a winter holiday performance, but winter down south!”
Q: Could it be considered a concert version?
“No!! This is the full ballet, all two acts. Nothing has been taken out of the ballet. In fact, the George Balanchine Trust, which licenses his works, would never allow us to take anything out or put anything in. It’s the same music, the same choreography, the same artistic sequencing of scenes. One way to look at it is that the scenes with many participants, specifically in Act 1, won’t be live but video,” López says. “And the special effects are even more spectacular because of the LED back wall. The set designs will be projected onto the LED back wall, and they will be visible from far away because they will be larger and brighter. Those living in apartment buildings across Doral Park will be able to sit on their terrace or stick their heads out a window and will still see a wonderful, magical and live performance right from their homes! And because of animation, we can now tell more of the story of ‘Nutcracker.’ For example, we can show you how Marie and the Prince got to the Land of Sweets in Act II. And, since I know everyone wants to know, the Tree still grows!”
Q: What have you learned from this project?
“I’ve learned so, so much,” López says. “First, it’s taught me that when a work is great, it remains timeless. Concerning our dancers, school and company, I’ve learned that all of us understand the responsibility we have as artists to regularly and consistently deliver beauty and hope. We are here for no other reason than to lift the human spirit. But the most important thing I’ve learned has to do with the community, with family. This ‘Nutcracker’ is happening because a Miami community came together to provide beauty and hope to its citizens.”
“It’s the same music, the same choreography, the same artistic sequencing of scenes,” affirms Lourdes López, pictured here in rehearsal with Chase Swatosh and Hannah Fischer. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Izilieav)
SAFETY MEASURES
Addressing the safety measures implemented, Codina describes enhanced, comprehensive health and safety protocols that “will be followed and strictly enforced to safeguard all. Daily COVID testing to our dancers, artistic staff and production crew will be provided by our health sponsor, Baptist Health South Florida. Required masks, social distancing standards, minimal to no-contact entry, and other health and safety measures in coordination with Baptist Health South Florida and local authorities will be strictly enforced for the safety of all.”
Additionally, guests will be seated in socially distanced pods, or separate sections of lawn that can accommodate a maximum of four people. Guests can select a chair module or a blanket module. In the chair sections, chairs will be provided. In the blanket sections, guests must bring their own blankets for seating.
WHAT: “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker in the Park”
WHEN: Dec. 18-31, with an opening night dedicated to and exclusively for first-responders and essential workers fighting COVID-19.
WHERE: Downtown Doral Park, 8395 NW 53rd St.
COST: All tickets are sold as pods and cost from $120-$285, depending on the section and the date. All tickets include free parking. Tickets for the opening performance on Friday, 12/18, are sold out.
Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami is back, with a live & virtual performance of ‘Don Quixote’
Written By Orlando Taquechel December 2, 2020 at 8:26 PM
Lorena Feijóo and Rolando Sarabia as Kitri and Basilio in “Don Quijote,” on the night of its 2010 premiere by CCBM. (Photo courtesy of CCBM)
The Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami (CCBM), under the artistic direction of Eriberto Jiménez, is returning to the stage with “Don Quixote.” The company’s first and only live performance of 2020, after the closure of theaters due to COVID-19, will take place Dec. 5 at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater. It also will be streamed live for online viewing.
The ballet “Don Quixote,” based on an episode of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s masterpiece, has a close association with the history of CCBM. The famous Grand Pas de Deux has been present in many of its concert programs and in almost all of the International Ballet Festival of Miami (IBFM) galas.
Cover of the playbill for the premiere of the ballet “Don Quijote” by CCBM in 2010.
In conversation with Jiménez, we recently revisited that story and discuss this month’s unique presentation – which also marks the reopening of the iconic Miami Beach venue, site of some of CCBM’s greatest triumphs, including two unforgettable “Giselle” performances of February 2007. This interview was conducted in Spanish and translated.
Q: On this occasion, CCBM is not presenting the original complete ballet – by Marius Petipa with music by Leon Minkus – but rather a “suite.” What is the difference?
A: The suite is like a summary of a complete ballet. In this case, we have secured that the original story is maintained, but selected the brightest parts of it, as well as its most popular characters.
Katherine Barkman and Jorge Oscar Sánchez in the Grand Pas de Deux of the ballet “Don Quixote,” during the XXIV International Ballet Festival of Miami (IBFM) in 2019. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)
Q: Which moments are included?
A: We have chosen a bit of each act of the original work. A short prologue introduces us to Don Quixote. Something from the first act to appreciate the main couple and the famous bullfighting scene will also be there. We have the fight with the windmills and the dream of Don Quixote with ‘is Dulcinea. And we close with the always admired pas de deux.
The pas de deux of “Don Quixote” is one of the most danced pieces in ballet galas worldwide. It has been presented by the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami on several occasions. We have enjoyed the participation of several Cuban principal dancers, such as Lorena Feijóo, Lorna Feijóo, Xiomara Reyes, Hayna Gutierrez, Marizé Fumero, Rolando Sarabia, Arionel Vargas, among others.
Q: When did CCBM premiere this “Don Quixote Suite”?
A: The company presented the complete ballet for the first time in 2010, in collaboration with the Cia Brasileira de Ballet (CBB). Our “Don Quixote Suite” premiered in 2015.
This seems to be an excellent time to present a “suite” again. Because of COVID-19, the theater does not want intermissions, to be able to maintain better control for the safety of the attendees.
Cover of the playbill for the premiere of “Don Quixote Suite” by CCBM in June 2015.
Q: Who will play the principal characters in this performance? Is this staging a collaboration with another company?
A: On this occasion, we will have as guests the Cuban dancers Ihosvany Rodríguez and Daynelis Muñoz, who were soloists of the National Ballet of Cuba before going into exile. Later, Daynelis was principal dancer with the Tulsa Ballet, and Ihosvany with the San Jose Ballet; he was also invited as a guest artist with the Slovenian National Ballet. This version is made in collaboration with St. Lucie Ballet, which is under the artistic direction of Lydia Oquendo and Rogelio Corrales. The dancers are from Greece, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Cuba.
Q: What are the protective measures taken to ensure the health of theatergoers?
A: The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater is the first theater in Miami to reopen, with the “Don Quixote Suite,” and for the public’s comfort and safety, it follow all the biosafety protocols established by the CDC and the Miami-Dade County Health Department, including payment procedures without physical contact.
The theater’s capacity has been reduced to ensure that distance between patrons be at least 6 feet, both in the seating area and in the line at the theater entrance. There will not even be intermissions, to avoid the crowding of people in the lobby.
The use of masks will be mandatory for the theater staff and the attending public. People who do not use those properly will not be allowed to enter or to stay in the premises. Only transparent plastic, vinyl or PVC bags with a maximum size of 12x6x12 inches will be allowed, and hand sanitizers will be available throughout the theater.”
WHAT: Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami presents “Don Quixote Suite”
WHEN: 8 p.m. Dec. 5 at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, 1700 Washington Ave.
COST: $35 and $45 for theater admission; $25 for online access
‘Men Who Dance’ to explore, challenge ideas of masculinity
Written By Jordan Levin November 24, 2020 at 3:05 PM
Miami City Ballet dancer Kleber Rebello will appear in Ariel Rose’s “Solstice in Solace,” as part of the “Men Who Dance” show. (Photo courtesy of “Men Who Dance”)
When he first planned his “Men Who Dance” program for last May, Rafi Maldonado was inspired by the idea of exploring and challenging ideas of masculinity in his art form. But after months of quarantine and restrictions, the showcase – now set for the Saturday after Thanksgiving – has another motivation: to lift up artists and audiences through live performance at a traumatic time.
“People say all the time that art is transformative,” said Maldonado, a veteran Miami jazz and contemporary dance teacher and choreographer. “The doctors are going to do a great job healing our bodies. What happens after that? That’s when artists come in. They can heal us differently, help us process information differently. That’s what art does, is be there in times of crisis.
“I see that as our mandate – to be there as soon as people can be there.”
“Men Who Dance,” which includes many of Miami’s top dance artists and companies, is set for Nov. 28 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. The event will be one of the first live shows at the venue, as it – like Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center and other groups – wrestles with how to keep the performing arts alive.
“People in the [arts] industry have been hit hardest and will be in a tough way longer,” said Kelley Shanley, CEO of the Broward Center, which has laid off all but 50 of its 500 employees. “We need to live with this virus because it’s going to be for a long time.”
Shanley said that Maldonado and others involved with the show “have the desire to overcome all the obstacles, take some risk, and give audiences what [they want] to see and artists an opportunity to perform. You’ve got to have great admiration for them – and we do.”
The Broward Center has worked with Cleveland Clinic to add safety procedures to its shows. Among the changes: Only 176 people will be able to attend the performance at the 584-seat Amaturo Theater, situated in groups of two or four away from the stage and 6 feet apart in all directions. Masks will be required.
Additionally, the venue has improved its HVAC system with better filtering and more outside air circulation, according to Shanley. Safeguards for the dancers include allowing just four onstage at a time, requiring they stay masked until they enter, and having only two people per dressing room.
“Men Who Dance” is a project of Maldonado’s Inter-American Choreographic Institute, or ICI, which he launched in 2014 with the aim of developing dance stories unique to the Americas – whether of Western pioneers in the United States or the Brazilian slaves who created capoeira.
As he traveled to work around the world, Maldonado became fascinated by how men are portrayed. (In addition to teaching at New World School of the Arts and at Miami City Ballet School, Maldonado became artistic director of Ballet Metropolitano de Medellin in Colombia in 2018.)
“Within our own art form, we have these stereotypes. We have to deconstruct these labels. This is not just machismo,” he says. “Whenever there is any sort of artistic intimacy onstage, many people are queasy about it if it’s the same gender. Or if the female is the stronger. There’s something wrong with that. I want to take this exploration to other countries and cultures.”
Saturday’s show reflects Maldonado’s long history and many connections in the Miami dance community, as well as multiple reactions to themes of masculinity, the pandemic, and performing.
Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, led by former MCB dancers Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra, will contribute three pieces: “Shogun,” Brazilian-Japanese Ivonice Satie’s duet inspired by her grandfather and the relationship between a martial arts master and disciple; “Fiebre,” a quartet from a piece by Venezuelan choreographer Vicente Nebrada; and “Partida,” a solo by Dimensions dancer Ryan Nicolas DeAlexandro inspired by the exhilaration of performing again.
Eriberto Jimenez, leader of the Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, which lent its Little Havana headquarters for rehearsals, will present the duet “Unbound,” danced to Florida Grand Opera tenor Dylan Elza singing a Donizetti aria. And Dance NOW! Miami will offer a new work, “In the Eye of the Cytokine Storm,” and a solo from “Lacrymosa,” created by South Florida-raised Joffrey Ballet dancer Edward Stierle in reaction to the AIDS epidemic, which killed him in 1991, when he was just 23 – a poignant reflection of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Dance NOW! Miami’s Anthony Velazquez will perform “Lacrymosa.” (Photo courtesy of “Men Who Dance”)
Capoeira dancer Gustavo Guru will perform the Brazilian mix of dance and martial arts, while New World School graduate Enrique Villacreses will do his own funk/contemporary solo. Choreographer Ray Sullivan, whom Maldonado got to know while teaching at Miami City Ballet, will bring “Connected Sight,” a duet honoring the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, from his Tango Out project – exploring tango’s male roots and tense interplay of sexuality and power.
Maldonado’s ICI plans to open with his “On The Sixth Day,” a trio invoking Adam and the beginning of the world, and to close with former Miami City Ballet colleague Liz Malm’s “Resonate.”
For Ariel Rose, a rising choreographer who is also a Miami City Ballet dancer, creating for “Men Who Dance” has taken on new meaning since the onset of the pandemic. The overwhelming impact of the pandemic, quarantine, the longing to dance, and the difficult, uncertain efforts to bring back live performance, all have become part of his piece, “Solstice in Solace.”
When Maldonado first invited him, Rose planned to explore the closeness between Miami City Ballet stars Renan Cerdeiro and Kleber Rebello, childhood friends who studied dance together in their native Brazil.
“It’s not about homosexuality but about friendship,” says Rose. “They represent two artists who depend and lean on each other to absorb everything that’s happened in the world.”
The trio rehearsed in person at the National YoungArts Foundation’s JewelBox studio, and Miami City Ballet is allowing Rose, for the first time, to present one of his dances as a representative of the troupe.
“For me, it felt like a long winter, an eclipse, this absence of art,” says Rose, who just turned 30. “For my generation, this has been a defining era. We’ve seen 9/11, the stock market crash, the immigrant crisis. COVID made me look back on my life and what’s happened in this country.
“I’m trying to channel all those feelings into this piece.”
WHAT: Inter-American Choreographic Institute’s “Men Who Dance”
Written By Cameron Basden November 10, 2020 at 8:14 PM
Miami City Ballet dancers in George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker,” which this year will be presented at a park in Doral. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Iziliaev)
Dance – a performing art that uses space, superhuman technical skills and artistry – has been relegated during these past quarantine months to kitchens, living rooms and backyards. Dance artists have been stifled, attempting in their various ways to maintain a positive outlook and, most of all, to keep their bodies and technique in check. It has not been an easy time.
Dance films have been created and archived material has been streamed. It is possible to watch a filmed performance of The Royal Ballet from London one second, then watch New York City Ballet the next. Creative filmmaking has thrived. Choreographers who had already been investigating digital formats for dance have found that necessity has pushed them to the forefront. Visual boundaries have been explored and broken.
Still, even with all the creativity and exploration occurring in the virtual realm, dancers have been in lockdown. They have been at home, filming, learning … and waiting for the first opportunity to let their bodies explode in space.
That time has come.
Dance performances are moving outside. From large organizations such as Miami City Ballet to smaller, site-specific choreography, dance is outdoors, where the air is fresh, distancing is possible, space is infinite, and live dance can be seen and can thrive.
As Miami dance icon Brigid Baker said, humorously, “I’d be dancing in a ditch right now if I had to. It’s so important. It’s who we are.”
In normal circumstances, Baker’s Whole Project would be performing in Miami-Dade County Auditorium’s On.Stage Black Box theater. For her company’s Nov. 13 show, Baker is moving her work outdoors onto an impromptu stage extending from the auditorium’s loading dock, as part of its Drive-Through Theatre Experience.
“The performance is free, with a limited number of cars so everyone can see,” Baker said. “You turn your radio to the soundtrack. It’s like a version of the drive-in.”
Baker will be showing a solo entitled “Crown,” which translates to “Corona” in Spanish and is performed by dancer Amy Trieger. The solo is an initiation to what Baker feels is a renaissance, a change that is coming. It is short in terms of minutes but rich with material and intricacies.
The solo movement is particular to Trieger, who has worked with Baker longer than any other dancer, and it was created to the haunting and soulful music of Arvo Pärt Fratres Version VI for percussion and strings.
Almost as challenging as the solo work itself are the outdoor logistics. Baker always creates natural, handmade sculptures that hang or move as part of her performances.
“There is no crew,” Baker said. “To be outside, I had to create something light in structure and able to be disassembled to hang in the space easily. If I thought about what I was doing, I would scare myself. I’m making a crown!”
On a much larger scale is Miami’s flagship dance company, Miami City Ballet, which will present Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” from Dec. 18-31 at Downtown Doral Park.
Miami City Ballet typically presents multiple performances of “The Nutcracker” to packed houses in three South Florida counties. This year, encompassing all the magic and joy of the timeless holiday favorite, “The Nutcracker” will be seen on a huge outdoor stage, complete with an LED screen.
“As a society, everyone is hungry for joy,” said MCB artistic director Lourdes Lopez. “This is a time when comfort, healing and inspiration through the arts are more vital than ever.”
Set for Dec. 18-31, the performances have been organized with support from the City of Doral, Downtown Doral, The Codina Family (from Codina Partners), and Baptist Health South Florida.
“Never have I been part of a project where the government, city officials, a real estate business, medicine and a ballet company have come together to make this performance happen,” she said. “Not one entity could have done it on their own. It was truly everyone coming to the table and saying, ‘How do we make this work?’ This is not just getting on stage and doing a performance outside. This is truly a community event.”
Because so many children will make up the live production, segments will be shown on film. The LED screen will be used to seamlessly weave the live dancing with the projections and video, with the help of the original projection creator, Wendall Harrington.
The dance company is not unfamiliar with performing outdoors. However, performing with many safety protocols adds new layers. Choreography backstage and in front of house is as important as the choreography on stage – it’s a huge job that encompasses permits, barricades, ticket scanning, seating pods, safe markings on the lawn, and the cleaning and disinfecting of everything after each performance.
The city plans to set aside classrooms from a local school to safely house children in the performance, while office space behind the stage will be used as a dressing rooms area for the MCB dancers. Baptist will create testing sites for production staff, dancers, artistic staff and children. Baptist Hospital representatives who oversee COVID-19 safety and testing will come on board to understand how the show works and to ensure that it is done as safely as possible.
“As someone is heaving and breathing backstage, they’re not crossing paths with someone who is about to go on,” Lopez said. “We’re calling it the ‘Safety Start,’ the place where dancers prepare backstage. It’s all choreographed for safety.”
Meanwhile, Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini – the co-artistic directors of Dance NOW! Miami – have shifted the Miami Beach location of their “Program I” on Dec. 13 from the closed Colony Theatre to the open-air North Beach Bandshell. (This program has been rescheduled to Jan. 10.)
The venue change has provided them with the opportunity to dance outside before an invited live audience while simultaneously livestreaming the performance for ticket-holders.
Dance NOW! Miami’s Anthony Velazquez and Benicka Grant. (Photo courtesy of Simon Soong)
“The good fortune of living in [the Miami area] allows for open spaces for performances. Necessity becomes a virtue,” Salterini said.
Dance NOW! Miami had much repertory created and rehearsed last year that was never performed, but it couldn’t create a program with that available repertory that would guarantee the 100 percent safety of its dancers. The company decided to drop all repertory it had and create a piece that was shaped by and reflective of the literal, physical and current situation that we’re living.
“We surveyed the dancers to see what level of comfort they have with masks or without masks,” Salterini said. “We know that everyone’s comfort level is not the same. That has made us follow what their level of comfort is as we choreograph.”
The co-choreographers created “This Moment, Here,” a complete work that speaks to what has occurred since those first days of the pandemic.
“People breaking up from stress or distance, falling in love, a depiction of disease, the horrific actions the body has when it attacks itself and eventually kills the person, a reflection on Black Lives Matter, political debates and the lack of agreements in our society. We felt we had to acknowledge where we are,” he says.
The company’s technical director, Bruce Brown, has created a set that keeps dancers at a distance from each other. Salterini and Baumgarten are considering having three different stages or spaces as a reminder that this pandemic isn’t over and maintaining distance is still a necessity.
An outdoor, site-specific venue also was used by choreographer Sandra Portal-Andreu and dancer Samantha Pazos, who last month joined forces to perform, “I am Speaking,” set to a compilation of famous speeches made by women including Maya Angelou, Malala Yousafzai, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sojourner Truth and Michelle Obama.
The activation was part of “Miami Vote Float,” which took place Oct. 24 in the parking lot at the Vizcaya Museum and Garden’s garage. The election event was designed to provide early voters with entertainment and to remind them of how much voting matters.
“I personally gravitated to this project not only because of the political climate, but because I felt this was the perfect opportunity to perform in a live open space,” Portal-Andreu said. “Dancing with a mask under the Miami heat and humidity demanded another level of strength and focus, but we paced our performance and channeled each other’s energies to respond to the powerful words that resonated from the speakers.”
Brigid Baker’s wholeproject performance, “Crown,” will be at 7:30, 8 and 8:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at Miami-Dade County Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler St. Tickets are sold out, but a waitlist is available. Go to Miamidadecountyauditorium.org.
Miami City Ballet presents George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” in the Park from Dec. 18-31 at Downtown Doral Park, 8395 NW 53rd St. Tickets are available by visiting Miamicityballet.org or calling Miami City Ballet Customer Relations at 305-929-7010.
Dance NOW! Miami presents Program I featuring, “This Moment, Here,” at 7 p.m. Jan. 10. The show will be filmed at the North Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach and livestreamed via YouTube. Tickets cost $10 and are available at Dancenowmiami.org. Every ticket buyer will receive an email with the livestream link and the concert program. For additional information, call 305-975-8489.
Despite pandemic, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami to unveil new works
Written By Sean Erwin November 5, 2020 at 6:04 PM
From left, Paulina Zambrana, Mayrel Martinez and Selah Oliver in “Nutcracker on the Indian River,” Dimensions Dance Theatre’s presentation in collaboration with Ballet Vero Beach. (Photo courtesy of Carlos Guerra)
Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami has been busy preparing new, full-length works for its spring program.
But first, it will launch its fall series this week by offering a sneak peek at some of these works.
Starting Nov. 6, Dimensions Dance will present “From Behind the Mask: Digitally Unveiling DDTM’s 2021 Season,” a free virtual program with informal vignettes of upcoming premieres, interviews with choreographers, and artist insights into the works, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.
The first program will include two solos from South Florida choreographer Yanis Pikieris’ “Four Seasons,” and a pas de deux excerpted from Pikieris and David Palmer’s full-length ballet, “Adiemus,” performed by DDTM dancers Ryan Nicolas DeAlexandro and Meisy Laffitte.
“What I find magical about Yanis is the passion and energy that pours out of him,” said DeAlexandro. “I notice in his choreographies a similar energy to Vicente Nebrada’s choreography with lots of twisty-twervy movements for the girls. [‘Adiemus’] has a kind of Enya vibe – gooey, lovey, and Yanis knows all the tricks to the partnering.”
For Jennifer Kronenberg and husband Carlos Guerra – DDTM co-artistic directors – generating new works meant they could keep their dancers employed during tough times. The company received initial funding for its digital season from the state and Miami-Dade County, as well as from South Arts, a nonprofit foundation supporting performing arts organizations throughout the South. A recent boost came from The Miami Foundation, which has allowed Dimensions Dance to extend rehearsals an additional five weeks, Kronenberg said.
The “From Behind the Mask” season will end with a run of “Nutcracker on the Indian River,” an hourlong South Florida adaptation of the holiday favorite created in collaboration with Ballet Vero Beach. “Nutcracker on the Indian River” will stream from Dec. 23 to Jan. 6from a shared link on the Ballet Vero Beach and DDTM websites.
Alexey Minkin and Claudia Lezcano in “Nutcracker on the Indian River,” which will stream from Dec. 23 to Jan. 6. (Photo courtesy of Carlos Guerra)
“We’ve filmed an environmentally themed outdoor version of ‘Nutcracker’ in Vero Beach on the Indian River,” Kronenberg said. “For instance, instead of the Land of the Sweets, Clara encounters all kinds of local wildlife, like Mother Mangrove instead of Mother Ginger, the Cranes instead of the Arabian dancers. We have Sand Pipers instead of Mirlitons, Gopher Tortoises replace the Chinese, Land Crabs take the place of the Spanish – their claws act as castanets.”
Asked how they were able to continue creating new works during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kronenberg said the key to staying in the studio has been frequent testing. The dancers have formed social bubbles of twos and threes.
“We have a protocol list they had to sign if they wanted to work at this time,” Kronenberg said. “We are extremely diligent about daily safety protocols, including temperature taking, mask wearing, hand sanitizing and general sanitizing practices in the studio. We have successfully completed five weeks of work without any COVID scares.”
DDTM dancers DeAlexandro and Chloe Freytag agreed that the chance to return to the studio made any inconveniences observing the company’s protocols worth it.
“Knowing that a life-threatening virus could harm any of the people that I love motivates me to get tested regularly,” DeAlexandro said. “Of course, it can be a tedious task, but if that’s what we have to do to practice our craft together in the studio, then I am all for it!”
Of course, the pandemic makes it impossible to dance before a live audience right now. For DeAlexandro, no live audience meant less nerves and the added chance to push the envelope: “I felt a little more comfortable in the space, knowing that if someone would see something, we could pause. Knowing I could stop made me go for it and push even more.”
But both dancers agreed that dancing without an audience was just not the same. For a digitally streamed performance, the audience can respond in likes, comments and emojis, but that is all “really different than a roaring audience giving reverence to what you’ve just done,” Freytag admitted.
WHAT: Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami’s “From Behind the Mask: Unveiling DDTM’s 2021 Season”
WHEN: Nov. 6, 13, 20 and 25. “Nutcracker on Indian River” will stream from Dec. 23 through Jan. 6.
HOW IT WORKS: On the publicized dates, patrons who sign up for the DDTM mailing list on the website will be sent a link to watch the performances. That link will remain active on the website for one week.
COST: Subscription for the DDTM mailing list is free, though there’s a suggested donation of $10.
New World School of the Arts dancers (from left) Sashalie Rios, Deja Darbonne and Sydney Rabin will be seen performing “Nube Blanco,” by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as part of the Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler. (Photo courtesy of Juan Cabrera)
For decades, the Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler has showcased the best of Miami’s dance companies, choreographers and performers.
More than a kickoff to the Miami dance season, the event – named after the South Florida choreographer and former New World School of the Arts dean of dance – has provided participants with the opportunity to network and view each other’s latest works.
This year’s Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler, set for a virtual showing at 7 p.m. Oct. 23, will include pieces from Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida, Ballet Flamenco La Rosa, Dance NOW! Miami, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, Karen Peterson Dancers, Momentum Dance Co., New World Dance Ensemble, Pioneer Winter Collective, choreographer Kyra Jean Green and dancer-choreographer Sandra Portal-Andreu.
The pandemic forced the organizers to think differently about this year’s event.
“Part of the call to the artists this year was to submit works that were very well-edited with interestingly filmed performance footage,” said Hannah Baumgarten, co-artistic director of the Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler along with Diego Salterini since 2009.
The pair also are artistic co-directors of Dance NOW! Miami, which will mark its 10th season at the Sampler with the first movement from the company’s playful, “ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM: A Love Letter to Italy.” Baumgarten and Salterini created the work during quarantine – made for viewing solely through Zoom.
Meanwhile, Dimensions Dance Theatre’s co-artistic directors, Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra, chose choreographer Donna Goffredo Murray’s exquisite pas de deux, “Space Between Words,” for this year’s Sampler.
“The piece is subtle, quiet and impactful,” said Kronenberg. “[The dancers play] a romantic couple, but there is longing for something else. All the silences and moments without movement are as important as the passages with movement, and the piece really works for the Sampler because the couple dances in a very controlled space.”
For Guerra, the shift to digital presents an opportunity for local companies to expand their audiences.
“Over the summer, we started to present virtual performances of things we had already done and got a big interest,” he said. “People didn’t have to drive all the way to South Miami to see our performances. We even have audiences seeing our footage in Europe.”
For Pioneer Winter, founder and artistic director of the Pioneer Winter Collective, the Sampler is a great venue for bringing back old repertoire. The company will be screening, “Glory Tap,” a six-minute tap dance originally filmed in 2011 that takes place within a bathroom stall, exploring themes such as stigma, fear and liberation with choreographed moves implying an anonymous sexual encounter.
“You see two toilets and two pairs of legs inside the stalls. You see them dancing, and some of their movements are sexual,” he said.
Claudia Lezcano and Fabian Morales of Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami. (Photo courtesy of company)
When asked about the challenges of virtual performances, Winter replied: “The digital is just like a site-specific dance that has history or social or cultural information tied to it. Social issues are embedded in the technology. For instance, we’ve been playing around with virtual reality, and accessibility issues arise when you consider the cost of a $400 VR headset.”
South Florida’s premiere physically integrated dance company, Karen Peterson Dancers, will debut a new solo, “Deep Concern.” The piece by Karen Peterson, dancer, choreographer and the company’s artistic director, was filmed with five cameras arranged in a studio set up in her apartment.
“Moving in the dark using physical impulses, I wanted to respond to my deep concern for the political climate,” Peterson said. “I’m concerned with the social inequities in our country and the health of my family. I’m also concerned with the unknowns of a dance company fighting for its life in Miami during a pandemic.”
Spliced between performances, the one-hour show will feature filmed interviews with the Sampler’s choreographers and directors, moderated by Cameron Basden from the nonprofit Miami Dance Hub.
The Sampler got its start in 1989, created by Lewis, who had accepted the position of founding dean of dance at the New World School of the Arts in 1987, attracted by the potential he saw for growing a vibrant dance community in Miami.
Daniel Lewis became founding dean of dance at the New World School of the Arts in 1987 and started the Dance Sampler two years later. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Lewis)
It was developed “mainly as an audience development tool, because I was going to dance performances for the local companies that were only 25 percent full. My hope with the Sampler was that all these different audiences would come to see their company, and they would like the other companies they saw, and then they’d come out for them, too,” said Lewis, whose new autobiography, “Daniel Lewis: A Life in Choreography and the Art of Dance,” was released in May. Escalating responsibilities at New World caused Lewis to step away from his programming role in 1998.
The New World School of the Arts is the only school invited to perform at the event, due to the special connection Lewis had to both. This year, the New World School’s Sampler contribution will be “Nube Blanco,” by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.
“The work begins in silence with a male soloist and a flamenco-ish solo for one man in a square of light,” said Mary Lisa Burns, the school’s current dean of dance. “At the upstage, the women come in from the corners in red flamenco shoes and dresses, and the men in high pants and white T-shirts. As it develops, the piece examines gender stereotypes – the dancers remove [this] clothing during the course of the dance until all the dancers are genderless.”
After all these years, and despite the recent challenges, the mission of the Sampler seems to be alive and well.
“The Sampler is composed of companies born and bred right here in South Florida, and the special camaraderie among the companies that present there is tangible for the audience,” said Dimensions Dance Theatre’s Guerra. “Miami is so large and spread out, so there we get to see each other’s work and see what the other companies are up to.”
WHAT: Daniel Lewis Dance Sampler
WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m. Oct. 23; online
COST: $10; guests receive access to a private link
Celebrating 30 years with Karen Peterson and Dancers
Written By Rebekah Lanae Lengel September 21, 2020 at 4:38 PM
Dancers from the company include, from left, Oscar Trujillo, Katie Brennan, Shawn Buller and Alexis Martinez. (Photo courtesy of Karime Arabia)
As Karen Peterson was planning the 30th anniversary of her eponymous dance company, she had lined up touring dates, a residency in Naples, and world premiere dance works.
“I really felt it was a great culmination of partnerships that I’ve been developing over 30 years of presenting creative, physically integrative dance,” Peterson says.
All of that preparation and planning came to a stop in March, when COVID-19 closures became widespread, causing the cancellation of their spring performance programs.
“I had to reinvent what we were going to do,” she says.
Innovation and reinvention have been staples of Peterson’s history.
Founded in 1990, Karen Peterson and Dancers has created mixed-ability dance that has been seen and celebrated worldwide. Peterson moved to Miami in 1979, after training at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and quickly began to establish herself as one of the pioneers of dance in South Florida. It was through contact improvisation workshops that she began to develop mixed-ability dance work for both trained and untrained dancers alike, and from there her company was born.
Now, as Peterson adapts herself and her dancers to a new online reality, she has embraced the unknown: developing work and classes especially for Zoom, learning video editing, and creating a new way to showcase her work and to celebrate the company’s history – and to ensure its future.
She was also able to secure resilience funding from The Miami Foundation, Miami-Dade County, and the National Endowment for the Arts’ CARES Act to support her dancers during this time, which gave her room to plan.
“After the spring series, we do take a break in the summer. I feel very fortunate that there was some funding that I was able to hold on to for the future. Our original plan was to bring back our dancers on Oct. 1 and pick up what was canceled in April. Obviously, that wasn’t happening, which is why we decided to have a virtual celebration,” Peterson says.
This Zoom rehearsal features collaborators (counterclockwise from upper left) JanpiStar, Pawel Karpinski, Adam Eckstat and Dwayne Scheunemann. (Photo courtesy of Karen Peterson and Dancers)
The company’s newly imagined 30th anniversary celebration will feature six new works, created by Peterson and longtime collaborator Oscar Trujillo.
“Two of the works are reimagined rehearsal footage by filmmaker Dinorah de Jesus, who reimagined the work with visual effects, and adapted it to her vision,” she says.
There also will be a mini-documentary of the company by video artist Heber Siqueiros.
“This anniversary is a testament of what we have achieved online and how the two-dimensional dancer can look on screen, and how they can relate to one another, even though they are physically in different places, how there is a sense of composition,” says Peterson, explaining how she has adapted dance making to the Zoom screen. “How do we take a physical concept and give the movements out to dancers and have the vision realized?”
Taking into consideration the public’s “Zoom fatigue,” Peterson has made the program last 30 to 35 minutes. It will be followed by a live question-and-answer session featuring all dancers and collaborators.
From left: Katie Brennan, Karen Peterson, Alexis Martinez, Oscar Trujillo and Shawn Buller. (Photo courtesy of Karime Arabia)
As for what the future holds for the dance company, the indefatigable Peterson remains optimistic as she continues to adapt and build and find silver linings and opportunities in this moment.
“I think any dance company that gets through this time is very resilient. I think any individual dance artist who continues to be able to make work, it’s because of a passion and drive that is not going to go away. I do think about sidewalk performances, dances in the park, things that have been done before, because I think people do want to go back to the theater and relive experience,” she says. “But I think we are developing an audience that might be turned on by my group even though they don’t live here, which they never would have been in the past, and they might be able to see something live in the future.”
WHAT: Karen Peterson and Dancers’ Virtual 30th Anniversary Program, with performances, interviews and more
Peter London Global Dance Co. marks 10th anniversary with virtual production
Written By Sean Erwin September 10, 2020 at 8:04 PM
Peter London Global Dance Co. presents the 2019 world premiere of “Crossing,” choreographed by Peter London. (Archive image courtesy of Gregory Reed)
As the Peter London Global Dance Co. turns 10, its founder is already looking to the future.
Peter London’s goal for the next decade is to give his students not only the skills to succeed in the nation’s top companies but also reasons to stay in Miami and generate art here.
“Not all the dancers want to go to New York,” says London, who began training South Florida dancers and choreographers for the ranks of the nation’s elite dance companies as an instructor at the New World School of the Arts in the early ’90s. “The overall goal is to have in Miami a company of color that truly represents Miami as a global city.”
London, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, has seen many of his former students go on to star in top companies including Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham Dance, Paul Taylor Dance and Dance Theatre of Harlem. In fact, past pupils included Alvin Ailey’s artistic director, Robert Battle, and its first-ever resident choreographer, Jamar Roberts.
“Many dancers I first encountered at Dance Empire [of Miami], and I would then train them for New World,” says London. “I created a class structure in preparation for the end game – and that end game was Alvin Ailey Dance Center and The Juilliard School, since I studied at The Juilliard School of Dance on a full scholarship. I created a training program for them to acquire that certain attitude it takes to be principal dancers.”
London knows what it takes to get to the top because he danced as a principal with two New York City ensembles – first with the Limón Dance Co. and then with Martha Graham Dance, under Martha Graham herself.
“As Martha Graham used to say: The goal is freedom,” London relates. “The training includes a meditation style, which I developed. I taught them to take this centeredness not only into their dance classes but also into the academic classes. And, as far as the dancing part goes, they tear the place up.”
In December, the multicultural, contemporary dance company will mark its 10th anniversary with the premiere of “Women-Roses-Water.” The program, a contemporary and Afro-Caribbean dance fusion, was originally scheduled at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. When it became clear that would not happen live because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company reworked group choreographies into solos and duets that could be filmed separately and then edited for streaming.
“Everyone will film their solos virtually,” London says. “The dancer will pick the landscape where they will perform, whether in a park, their apartment, or out in the street. They’ll film their solos and duets, which will all be edited so that they look like they are happening together.”
The December program will speak to issues of gender and race.
“‘Women-Roses-Water’ came about because of me losing the important women in my life,” says London, referring to his recently deceased mother as well as numerous dance influences such as Graham, The Juilliard School’s Martha Hill, and Alvin Ailey’s Denise Jefferson.
But London also took inspiration from women outside dance: “Hillary Clinton and women who are pushing for political change, like Michelle Obama, and all those women who recently won offices in the 2016 election – this all formed part of the cosmic electricity that informed me. All of that came together in the themes women, roses, water.”
Founder and artistic director Peter London uses local dancers combined with dancers originally from Miami who are now working professionally in places such as New York City. Pictured here are dancers performing London’s “Seoul Soul.” (Archive image courtesy of Gregory Reed)
In 2011, London’s company was the recipient of a $120,000 Knight Foundation Arts Challenge, which went a long way to helping support the newly formed company. He has set having “a stable funding basis” as another company goal.
“The plan is that, after 10 years of constantly running from studio to studio, we can have a space for ourselves,” he says. “Our aim is to get a stable funding basis to employ at least 14 dancers with health insurance, and then get an administration in place, because I’ve been doing a lot of this myself and getting about two hours of sleep a night. We get invitations to do different things but, without an administration, we can’t do it.”
And yet, when the pandemic hit, forcing the cancellation of dance seasons, the Peter London Global Dance Co. didn’t miss a beat. The company’s new executive director, Kal Gajraj, immediately saw the challenges the pandemic posed, but also the opportunities it offered.
“As a dance company, what we do is live entertainment. We are used to performing for an audience, not in front of a camera. So, we had to ask ourselves: What happens when we pull the live out of a live performance?” Gajraj says. “It has forced us to innovate in how we produce art, and so if virtual is the way that we do it, then we are going to go that way.”
Gajraj drew on his experience in sports to connect meaningfully with company patrons: “I used to work for the Florida Panthers hockey team, where it is normal both to have fans come to the stadium and also have those who watch from home.”
In that spirit, Gajraj and London have remained connected with patrons through virtual, biweekly Happy Hour events on the streaming platform Patreon. They feature interviews, question-and-answer sessions with artists, dance classes and clips from previous company performances.
“Arts organizations are experiencing a huge learning curve,” Gajraj says. “Even if we could begin performing again in theaters tomorrow, the future of dance performance is in being able to do both – perform to a live audience and to make available this content for people who want to view at home.”
Peter London Global Dance Co.’s virtual premiere of “Women-Roses-Water” is scheduled for Dec. 26-27. For more information on this performance or the company’s continuing biweekly series, visit Plgdc.org.
XXV International Ballet Festival of Miami in full swing until Sept. 13
Written By Orlando Taquechel September 3, 2020 at 5:00 PM
Ballet Philippines perform “Opera,” choreographed by Rheda. (Photo courtesy of Jojo Mamangun)
One of the most anticipated dance events of the year for South Floridians, the International Ballet Festival of Miami (IBFM), is in full swing, reinvented as an exhibition, a virtual encounter, and a fundraising campaign.
Through the digital platform PLAY.ticketmundo.com, enjoy 20 prerecorded programs until Sept. 10, and three live “Gala” performances on Sept. 11 to 13. At $10 per program (which includes 24-hour access), the money raised will directly benefit participating companies.
“We already had everything prepared to celebrate the 25th anniversary with presentations at the Arsht Center, the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, the Fillmore and the Broward Center … but with the situation created by the pandemic we had to change the plans and make it virtual,” said Eriberto Jiménez, the festival’s artistic director.
On the IBFM Facebook page, watch dance workshops, interviews with artistic directors, and other collateral activities including the festival’s Aug. 15 inauguration, with the presentation of the commemorative poster and the documentary, “La Amable Euforia de la Danza,” by Miguel Castañet Jr., about IBFM founder Pedro Pablo Peña (1944-2018).
Also available online: the event’s traditional gathering with book authors, which took place Aug. 29. The evening’s discussions centered around Daniel Lewis and his recently published biography, “Daniel Lewis: A Life in Choreography and the Art of Dance” (McFarland, 2020), and Jennifer Kronenberg with “So, You Want to Be a Ballet Dancer?” (University Press of Florida, 2013).
Jennifer Kronenberg and her book, “So, You Want to Be a Ballet Dancer?” (Photo courtesy of Carlos M. Guerra)
Kronenberg considered it “a great honor to be presenting my book at the festival. When I wrote it eight years ago, I did it intending to mix memories with advice, to create an ‘evergreen’ guide for young dancers.”
Her participation was “a wonderful opportunity for me to revisit the book and check its relevance.”
For his part, Lewis will receive the “A Life for Dance” Lifetime Achievement Award at the start of the Grand Gala of Stars on Sept. 12.
“Being recognized by your peers, in your community, is a high tribute to your life’s work,” he said. “I am moved and delighted to be the recipient of such an award.”
Despite any challenges, this virtual edition of IBFM could end up being a truly memorable event for Miami ballet fans, because they will have the opportunity to appreciate the performances of participating artists in recordings they chose themselves, which should provide a guarantee of quality.
In the absence of a playbill, our recommendation is to learn about the participants before choosing what to watch. To facilitate your search, here is a list of all invited companies and their works – listed by country.
Eugenio Ebreh Casella and Reika Vigilucci, from Lyric Dance Company (Italia), performing “Caravaggio, Amor Vincit Omnia.” (Photo courtesy of Alessandro Botticelli)
Lorena Feijóo in “Carmen,” one of the performances presented by Cuban Classical Ballet de Miami. (Photo courtesy of Bernardo Dieguez)
As for the live entertainment portion of the festival, the Gala performances will be presented across three days, starting Sept. 11.
The first Gala, dedicated to contemporary ballet, will feature Dance Now! Miami, Ballet Flamenco La Rosa, Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami, Brigid Baker WholeProject, Ballet Inc. and Dancetown Miami.
“Only duets or solos will be presented in the Galas,” Jiménez said. “But it must be clarified that the duets will be performed by dancers who are a couple in real life, or who have been together all this time. We have tried to keep everything as safe as possible.”
For more information on participating groups, activities and scheduled performances, visit Internationalballetfestival.org. Tickets for prerecorded programs and live broadcasts are on sale at PLAY.ticketmundo.com.
Miami City Ballet returns to Lincoln Road roots with pop-up studio space
Written By Sean Erwin August 6, 2020 at 5:32 PM
Miami City Ballet dancer Nicole Stalker rehearses in the new pop-up studio space on Lincoln Road. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Iziliaev)
Framed by retail mirrors, masked Miami City Ballet dancers Taylor Naturkas and Benjamin Lepson stretched out at barres placed 20 feet apart in the former BCBG Max Azria women’s apparel shop on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.
Outdoor speakers pumped Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” on a recent weekday, as one shopper after another casually peered in, then froze. Some examined the mannequins in the windows, draped with costumes sourced from MCB’s full-length production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Others pulled out smartphones to record the movements of the dancers inside. Circles painted on the pavement marked appropriate social distancing spots for the spectators.
When COVID-19 disrupted dance schedules worldwide and closed down theaters, Miami City Ballet began working on strategies to stay connected to audiences. Miami City Ballet x Lincoln Road, a new pop-up studio space, is part of that strategy – allowing fans, shoppers and casual passersby to enjoy dance right before their eyes.
“My goal in life is to do moments of surprising beauty for the public,” said Tim Schmand, executive director of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District.
The Lincoln Road BID collaborated on the initiative with MCB, the City of Miami Beach and the Comras Co., the Miami retail leasing, investment and development company that owns the space.
Miami City Ballet’s former home on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. (Photo courtesy of City of Miami Beach)
“It all started with Michael Comras, CEO of the Comras Co., who remembered how the ballet started in 1985 with its first home [on] Lincoln Road, where Victoria’s Secret now is,” Schmand said. “Pre-pandemic, MCB had intended to be on Lincoln Road this season anyway and to do ongoing activations there.”
The current MCB pop-up has turned out to be a winner for both spectators and dancers. The cavernous space safely accommodates seven masked dancers at a time, giving them the opportunity to safely practice and reconnect with colleagues.
“Coming to this space has been invaluable,” MCB principal Tricia Albertson said. “Even if I only see five dancers at a time when I’m here, I realize we’re all just pending, waiting to get back to what we do.”
For MCB principal Tricia Albertson, “coming to this space has been invaluable.” (Photo courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
Albertson said her initial response to the sudden end of the season was panic. Diagnosing quickly her need for a schedule, Albertson jury-rigged a closet rod as a dance barre and laid down a patch of Marley dance flooring sent by the company for at-home rehearsals.
Along with dance and conditioning classes on Zoom, she has added cross-training to her training and is currently working on earning her yoga instructor certification online.
“I feel stronger in some ways than I used to feel in a season,” Albertson said.
The pop-up studio space reminds MCB principal dancer Katia Carranza of a time back when MCB was still based on Lincoln Road. (Photo courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
For MCB principal dancer Katia Carranza, the space offers a welcome step up from taking company classes by Zoom in her apartment. It also reminds Carranza, who joined the company in 1998, of a time back when MCB was still based on Lincoln Road.
“The company has grown in size and stature since then,” she said. “Even the programming has completely changed. We couldn’t do a full-length ballet back then.”
As she spoke, people stopped and snapped photos of the dancers at the barres.
“It’s so good for us to feel people are there, and it motivates us to be back onstage,” Carranza added, cheerfully.
Though the company’s Zoom classes have been a lifesaver, Carranza, whose parents are in Mexico, has found the isolation to be a challenge.
“Many of us have been by ourselves, and we have supported ourselves through that. We all miss what we love and are looking forward to having the opportunity to do what we love together again,” she said.
As part of Miami City Ballet x Lincoln Road, dancers are working out at 744 Lincoln Road every weekday, from 1 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m., through Sept. 10.
The MCB pop-up is just one of Lincoln Road BID’s current experiments to bring art to the public during this time.
Another recent example: having New World Symphony musicians performing on golf carts along Lincoln Road over Father’s Day weekend. Keeping the performers in motion took the music straight to shoppers and kept crowds from forming.
After all, keeping things safe requires some out-of-the-box approaches. Said Schmand: “Now I have to be wily about bringing the arts to the public.”
What: Miami City Ballet x Lincoln Road
Where: 744 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
When: 1 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. weekdays, through Sept. 10
Dance NOW! Miami’s 20th anniversary season finale to be a virtual celebration
Written By Jordan Levin May 26, 2020 at 7:37 PM
Diego Salterini and Hannah Baumgarten, at center, pose with members of their Dance NOW! Miami ensemble. (Photo courtesy by Simon Soong)
Twenty years is a long time for any dance company to not only survive but thrive.
Hannah Baumgarten and Diego Salterini, the founders and directors of Dance NOW! Miami, say the reason their company has flourished for two decades is because it isn’t solely about them.
“The focus of Dance NOW! is not Hannah and Diego, but to serve its community,” Salterini says.
Adds Baumgarten: “We understood quickly that, as beautiful as it can be, being a creative artist was not our sole purpose. Having a company that would allow dance to thrive was our goal.”
Their generous, can-do spirit has powered the company’s expansive mission, which through the years has grown to also include the restaging of historic modern dance and ballet works; presentation of new choreographers; educational and community programs; showcases for Miami dance artists; as well as the company’s own performances, international touring, and site-specific works.
In many ways, Dance NOW! has become a pillar of the Miami dance community.
When the COVID-19 lockdown derailed plans for their 20th anniversary season, Baumgarten and Salterini pivoted efforts to continue under quarantine.
Salterini’s video skills helped them to quickly figure out Zoom, keeping their company working on an imaginative series of “Covideos,” which included public service announcements on staying home and poignant blends of onstage and quarantine performances.
They’ll present their season finale concert on its original date of May 31 – but on Facebook Live, instead of onstage. It will be a kind of variety show (a throwback, perhaps, to Salterini’s previous life dancing on Italian TV), featuring interviews with collaborators and former dancers, images, fun facts and performance clips. The event will culminate in “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,” a final Covideo piece they describe as playful and surreal. The virtual performance is free, though they are encouraging people to buy a $20 virtual ticket.
“We’ve always said to our students, ‘Go ahead and try, the floor is not that far,’” Baumgarten says. “Our life is based on uncertainty now. It’s all trial-and-error. Even companies with large budgets are exploring.
“We had to mark our 20th anniversary and tell the story of our history. It might not be ideal. But it’s the cards we were dealt.”
Baumgarten and Salterini met in the mid-’90s. Baumgarten, a graduate of the elite Juilliard School who had performed with modern dance and contemporary ballet troupes, came to Miami in 1994 after burning out on life in New York. Not long afterward, Salterini, who had been working as a dancer, assistant choreographer and director on Italian television’s elaborate variety shows, arrived in Miami in search of something more artistically substantial.
They met at PAN – a South Beach dance and performing arts center founded by Miami dance pioneer Ilisa Rosal – where Baumgarten was teaching.
It was creative love at first sight.
“In a totally cliché way, when we saw each other, I felt bells and whistles and flashes of light,” Baumgarten says. “It’s a weird feeling I never had before or since.”
Diego Salterini leads a dance class via Zoom during COVID-19 quarantine times. (Photo courtesy of Dance NOW! Miami)
Their bond is purely artistic, not romantic. They say their closeness sometimes confuses people. “Every time we meet someone new, it’s hard for them to understand we’re not married,” Salterini says.
They formed Dance NOW! Miami in 2000, initially with just themselves and two other dancers, primarily to present their own choreography. They made a key shift toward a more expansive mission in 2009, when they became one of the resident companies at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, a bustling arts center with a theater and two large dance studios. Having free rehearsal, storage and performance space (the group now pays a nominal rent) gave them crucial stability – they could function like an organization, rather than project to project.
Just as important, they joined with the center’s community and education programs. They developed the World Dance Summer Intensive with the center’s diverse resident troupes. They do free student and community performances at the center, and other school residencies on their own.
“We were so blessed to have the facility, we knew we needed to share,” Baumgarten says.
They built a rich matrix of relationships with multiple generations of artists and the dance community. They present young artists in their “New Voices” series, such as Chris Rudd, a Miami-raised New York choreographer, and experimental artist Lazaro Godoy.
Others are mentors, including Cameron Basden, a former close associate of Gerald Arpino (the late artistic director of Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet), who stages Arpino’s works for the troupe.
Another is Daniel Lewis, founding dean of the dance department at Miami’s New World School of the Arts. After Lewis retired in 2011, Baumgarten and Salterini took over his “Dance Sampler,” a longtime showcase of Miami artists ranging from newcomers to ’80s pioneers, and expanded it last year to include troupes from around Florida.
Now a close advisor, Lewis has staged works by modern dance pioneers Jose Limón and Doris Humphrey for the company’s “Masterpiece in Motion” series reviving historic choreographers.
This winter, Dance NOW! Miami had Andrea Seidel, another Miami pioneer, stage Isadora Duncan’s “Varshavianka,” an homage to revolutionary struggle. The goal was to perform it onstage in March. Instead, this week Baumgarten and Salterini posted video of a studio performance online – seeing a succession of dancers fighting to support each other now echoes health-care workers’ relentless battle against COVID-19.
“[The dancers are] running into their own death, and none of us in our generation know what that’s like. Now, suddenly, it’s happening,” Baumgarten says. “As we start to open up, I want us to remember [health-care workers] are still there trying to protect us.”
The pair began taking the threat of COVID-19 seriously back in February, as Salterini’s Italian family and Baumgarten’s Italian boyfriend endured that country’s desperate pandemic situation. By the time Miami locked down in March, they were already making plans.
“It took us a week to move everything online,” Salterini says. “We thought: We could retreat or move forward. So we moved forward.”
They’ve reacted by being proactive, positive and community-minded. They’ve kept their dancers engaged (and under paid contract), teaching classes online, creating the Covideo series, and joining Dale Andree’s online National Water Dance project. As they dealt with disappointment and uncertainty, they’ve been grateful for each other.
“The beautiful thing about having two of us is that, if one of us is in the gutter, the other can pull them out,” Salterini says.
“We knew we could bend and not break,” Baumgarten says. “We’re trying to lead by example, knowing everyone is experiencing the confusion, the claustrophobia and the longing. We will adapt.”
Even as they wonder what their 21st season will bring, they’re creating an extra celebration for this Sunday’s finale: a chance to join the company’s dancers in a live dance party.
To participate, find the event on Instagram to learn some of the movement phrases in advance.
“There’ll probably be some music and cocktails,” Baumgarten says. “Everyone needs to feel a little extra-connected now.”
What: Dance NOW! Miami’s 20th anniversary season finale
Miami City Ballet to premiere ‘A Dance for Heroes’ virtually
Written By Sean Erwin May 5, 2020 at 5:28 PM
Miami City Ballet principal Renan Cerdeiro performs in “A Dance for Heroes,” set for May 8. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Iziliaev)
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Miami City Ballet artistic director Lourdes Lopez asked herself: “What can we do to use this crisis, as artists, to help us all stay connected?”
The answer: “A Dance for Heroes,” a technological production that aims to honor the people whose work makes it possible for everyone else to quarantine.
The new ballet – set to premiere at 8 p.m. May 8 on the company’s Facebook page – is “a way to say thank you to the pandemic’s first-responders and essential workers, and to give our young artists some hope.”
It merges the steps of four dancers, moving separately, into one performance. Each dancer was filmed doing his or her part at Miami City Ballet’s studio, then the segments were edited to bring them all together.
For Lopez, who commissioned the ballet herself, it was critical the technology not overwhelm the dance.
“Whatever post-production was done had to be part of the dance,” Lopez says. “This was not meant to be a gimmick, and so the film had to be part of the choreography.”
She originally approached choreographer Durante Verzola and photographer/videographer Alexander Iziliaev and asked them to create work that could be presented online.
The quarantine presented formidable obstacles for all involved.
For Verzola, sheltering at his parents’ Kansas City home with five younger siblings and a gaggle of pets made his first problem just finding a quiet space to work.
“My parents have a pretty spacious bathroom. I could use the bathroom mirrors to get a sense for the movements on my own body,” Verzola says. “That was the biggest challenge – not being physically present with the dancers for any of it.”
Iziliaev, the company’s house photographer and video artist, had some ideas on how to make it all work, but his first hurdle was communicating software-heavy, film-editing processes to non-techies, Lopez and Verzola.
“When Lourdes approached me to dedicate this to the front-line heroes, I immediately began thinking, how can we do this when we can only take one dancer at a time?”
Iziliaev, once a dancer, created short videos of himself presenting the editing techniques he thought Verzola could use.
“[Iziliaev] presented me with different options,” Verzola says. “Since I knew the techniques he would use in the editing room, I planned the choreography knowing those options were there.”
“A Dance for Heroes” features Miami City Ballet principal dancers Jennifer Lauren and Renan Cerdeiro along with two of the school’s pre-professional students, Taylor Naturkas and Erick Rojas.
Learning and performing the choreography posed both technical and practical challenges.
“Usually we learn a choreography facing the choreographer’s back and we follow their movements,” Lauren says. “But when you work with a screen, it’s all in reverse since the screen shows you the opposite of everything.”
“Dance for Heroes” involved much online work by (clockwise, from left) Miami City Ballet principal Jennifer Lauren, videographer Alexander Iziliaev, principal Renan Cerdeiro, pre-professional dancers Erick Rojas and Taylor Naturkas, and choreographer Durante Verzola. (Photo courtesy of Alexander Iziliaev)
Says Cerdeiro: “When we were shooting, there were times when [Iziliaev] would stop me and say, ‘That was a great take, but you crossed the center mark a little.’ So even in the filming, there were things you weren’t free to do.”
And then there was the problem of dancers working out choreographies in apartments with wooden floors and neighbors quarantined underneath.
“I had a couple of jumps. I just couldn’t do them here in my apartment,” Cerdeiro says. “I did some of those steps for the first time the day we went in for the shooting.”
For Rojas, the biggest issue was working out couple sequences with Naturkas.
“We had to imagine we were dancing together even though we weren’t,” he says.
He and Naturkas resorted to text messages to communicate precise body positions, so they would appear to dance together in the digital space.
Even hearing the same piece of music was problematic. Durante organized the choreography around Wim Mertens’ “Often a Bird” (1996), chosen for its minimalistic string- and percussion-driven pulse. But music does not sound the same on either end of a Zoom videoconferencing session.
“We had to mute ourselves and play the music on our own phones because otherwise there would be a lag if we listened to the music through Zoom,” Naturkas says.
The final 4-minute product, Iziliaev says, is not strictly dance but it isn’t film either – it’s a new, third entity.
“This will never be done in live theater like it will be shown [in video],” Iziliaev says. “You can’t dance it like you will see it on the video.”
Despite dancing without an audience, Cerdeiro says he “felt emotionally connected just knowing that it was specifically dedicated to a certain group of people. Even in the studio, when there is no audience, you feel an emotional connection with a choreography – and we knew the intention of this choreography was deeper.”
The point of this particular ballet for him is the healing message that art communicates during a time of illness.
“For everyone who gets to watch this video, it’s a hope of better days to come and an injection of normality,” he says.
Iziliaev hopes essential workers will be able to see it, that they “will have a little bit of time to spare.”
“[Knowing] that other people support you in what you do is a huge help in confidence,” he adds. “That’s the support we wanted to give to them and to say, ‘We’re here with you,’ and to show that with what we do best.”
“I’m not a nurse and can’t do what they do,” says Lauren. “What we do is dance, and hopefully that will bring a moment of peace in their day.”
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