Review: Ballet Across America

Last night, I went to see Ballet Across America at the Kennedy Center. If you're in town this weekend and looking for something to do, I highly recommend trying to get rush tickets or just treating yourself because, let's face it, you're worth it. And so is the show.

I saw Ballet Memphis, Ballet Arizona and Pacific Northwest Ballet perform.

Ballet Memphis was first with a piece called In Dreams that premiered in 2007. What I loved most about their performance and what made it arguably my favorite of the night, was that it made me feel like I was smack dab in the middle of Beale Street. The piece was set to music by Roy Orbison, Sam Phillips and Cindy Walker, giving the piece a true southern, Memphis feel. The choreography was very contemporary, even crossing the line into modern at times. But the dancers' movements perfectly mimicked the rhythm of the music and even the inflection of the vocalists. Another really effective element of In Dreams, which was about breaking up with a lover, was the dancers' upper bodies. When dancing alone, the dancers' upper bodies were stiff, erect and almost robot-like. But when the dancers embraced, one dancer would seem to melt, fall back and be supported by the other, losing the stiffness and independence of the earlier movements.

Ballet Arizona's piece Diversions had extremely dramatic music, coloring and movements. Although the dancers were well-trained (talk about some leggy ballerinas!), I was admittedly disappointed with Ballet Arizona's performance. A difficulty of performing with other companies is that the audience has a point of reference. Unfortunately, Ballet Arizona seemed sloppy at times when compared to the other companies. The music in Diversions was very stop-and-go and jarring so it stood out when a dancer was off the music or not in unison with the rest of the corps. Additionally, the piece featured 20 dancers and half the time I did not know where I was supposed to look. I feel like I missed a number of awesome moments because there were so many different things happening on stage and no focal point. However, the piece did have very intricate lifts and it was fun to watch the male dancers move the ballerinas through the air as if they were weightless. The absolute highlight of Ballet Arizona's performance was a pas de deux by Tzu-Chia Huang and Russell Clark. Huang and Clark were the only two people on stage (no distractions!) and the dark lighting and emotional partnering made for an incredibly special moment. They ended hugging in a spotlight and someone behind me actually gasped.

Pacific Northwest Ballet closed out the evening with a piece called 3 Movements, choreographed in 2008 by New York City Ballet principal dancer Benjamin Millepied. Although this piece had a corps of 16 dancers, they were together, their lines were straight and they had very fluid movements. 3 Movements was monochromatic- everyone was wearing gray, white or black. However, what the piece was lacking in color was made up for by sassy choreography. Millepied incorporated the grapevine, cha cha, and other ballroom dance movements into the choreography. The near-constant movement reminded me of a bustling city street. And the costumes contributed to this effect as well. The men were wearing suit pants, button downs and skinny ties and the women all looked like they had stepped out of an American Apparel catalogue. In fact, I'm pretty sure one of the dancers was actually wearing this.

Performance Preview

Some diehard baseball fans travel the country to see different baseball parks. If I had the time and the funding, I would do the same for ballet companies.

Ballet Across America makes that trip less necessary. The ballet companies are coming to me...and you (if you're in DC).

What is Ballet Across America? It's a festival celebrating the diversity of American ballet. Nine ballet companies from all different regions of the country will share the Kennedy Center stage this week. It's like a ballet convention.

I saw Ballet Across America two summers ago and I absolutely had to splurge on a ticket for this, the second installment. I'm seeing Program B featuring Ballet Memphis, Ballet Arizona and the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Choosing a program was a really difficult decision for me because the Houston Ballet (in Program A) totally knocked my socks off last time around. They performed "Velocity" by Artistic Director Stanton Welch and left me picking my jaw up off the Opera House's floor. I was SO impressed by the athleticism of the male corps de ballet.

Alas, I doubt you'd see a bad performance this week during Ballet Across America. These companies are some of the best.

Here's a preview of Ballet Memphis in rehearsal:

Making of In Dreams from Trey McIntyre Project on Vimeo.

Review: Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company

Apologies for not getting this review posted more quickly. The end of my week was crazy.

Luckily, I was able to see the Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company in their Millennium Stage performance last Wednesday (I previewed the performance in an earlier post). The company performed two pieces: 1) TAKE; a dance in the park and 2) Sugar.

Both pieces were impressive exercises in teamwork. If you watch the video on the Kennedy Center's website, you'll see that most of the company's performance occurred in the air. In TAKE, the dancers whizzed across the stage in detailed choreographic patterns, narrowly missing each other. My favorite moments were when two dancers worked as partners and began spinning so quickly that it was difficult to determine where one body ended and the other began.

The dancers' movements in TAKE were effortless, but the truth is that maneuvering one's body around the cables requires incredible upper body and core strength. I've gotten flustered trying to dance with props like fans and gift boxes, never mind heavy cables. The aerial movements seemed like something out of Cirque du Soleil and allowed the audience to leave reality behind.

Such fantasy, floating movements in TAKE were juxtaposed by dancer Sally Edwards' performance in Sugar. From my interpretation, Sugar is about overcoming the physical limitations of life. Edwards narrated her performance to help explain the reality of her life with Spina Bifida. I was really moved by how courageous Edwards is, her high level of energy and her ability to dance in her wheelchair. Edwards also had awesomely expressive arms. I hold, and always will, that arms are one of the most emotional, artistic parts of a dancer.

A tourist sitting behind me stumbled upon the performance, but was almost speechless at its end. "I've never seen anything like it," he exclaimed to nobody in particular. I hadn't either.

Performance Preview

I'm crossing my fingers that I can get out of work early tomorrow and go see the Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. (Side note- if you don't already know, the Millennium Stage has a FREE performance every night of the year. Check it out!)

According to their website, Blue Eyed Soul (@BESdance) is an inclusive dance company with disabled and non-disabled artists of all ages. "The Company aims to create a level playing field where people can step over their threshold of perceived possibility."

The videos of Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company's work are really touching and I think they are important for everyone to see. Dance is not only good exercise. It's an outlet for emotional release and artistic expression.

A passion for dance should not be limited to non-disabled persons. It's refreshing to see that companies like Blue Eyed Soul understand the therapeutic nature of the art and encourage all to get involved.

Tomorrow's performance is part of the 2010 International VSA Festival and begins at 6pm. Can't make it? The video will also be broadcast live and archived on the Millennium Stage website.