| . | 04/27/2008
Ballet Builders
By: R. Pikser
Paola Hartley and James Russell Toth in Robert Dekkers' "Toccare."
When choreographers use music which lacks dynamic variation and range, they fall easily into the trap of allowing their movement to become repetitive, too. When everything looks the same, the emotional and intellectual information that we receive is that everything is of the same importance. This may be interesting as an intellectual construct, but certainly not as an emotional one.
The choreographer at this year’s Ballet Builders who most successfully evaded the trap of repetitiveness was Kate Thomas, Director of the School at Steps. Tellingly, she used music by Stravinsky for her trio, Measurement and Caution, and the dynamics of the music helped her develop the dynamics of her love triangle. The emotional destruction of the relationship also destroyed the three protagonists. In examining this process, movements and shapes were thought through and exploited in both conception and execution. Sculptures were interesting and evocative, especially when all three bodies were used together, whether at one point in space or across the stage area. Of the dancers, Tomiko Magario brought a depth to her movements of sorrow that lead one to think her whole being was falling apart.Robert Sher-Macherndl is a long-time presenter at Ballet Builders, and rightfully so. With his Goth esthetic, he always offers something visually interesting and dangerous looking, verging on the sado-masochistic, as the title of this year’s piece, I Trust You to Kill Me, suggests. Mr. Sher-Macherndl is expert at exploring the body and finding the unexpected possibility, but he does sometimes let his pieces continue for too long, as he did this one. This reviewer also felt a lack of dynamic variation, though the dancing, especially by Heather Saunders, was excellent. The costumes by Jenifer Sher were appropriately on the edge of strangeness while showing the movement to advantage.
Ballet Builders
April 12-13 2008
Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College
East 68th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue
Box office Monday –Saturday 12:00-6:00
212 727 4448
|
|