A selection of not-to-be-missed star-studded affairs
Boston Ballet’s Robbins/The Concert program not only features Jerome Robbins’ The Concert—a comedic romp set at a piano recital—but a world premiere from resident choreographer Jorma Elo exploring his classical roots and tapping music by Beethoven, complete with new costumes from Robert Perdziola. Meanwhile, Boston Ballet II is tackling a work from another notable name: Former Ballet Frankfurt principal dancer and William Forsythe protégé Jill Johnson. The Harvard dance director and self-described radical optimist is creating a work as “an antidote to the stress people are experiencing in life,” debuting as part of the company’s Next Generation series.
May 5-27 and May 24 at the Boston Opera House
Natalie Portman’s better half, Benjamin Millepied, brings his L.A. Dance Project to town for its Boston debut. The Celebrity Series appearance includes On the Other Side, an emerald-inspired collaboration between the former Paris Opera Ballet artistic director and jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels that boasts scenery courtesy of the Rose Art Museum’s 2017 Venice Biennale artist, Mark Bradford. The evening also features Murder Ballades from Millepied’s onetime New York City Ballet colleague Justin Peck, subject of Ballet 422, a documentary that followed him on his way to becoming the second resident choreographer in the storied company’s history.
May 19-21 at the Boch Shubert Theatre
Urbanity Dance closes the season with its Spring Revue, which spotlights works by director Betsi Graves, Boston Conservatory instructor Marcus Schulkind and esteemed choreographer Doug Varone, who during the past 30 years has left his mark on productions everywhere from Broadway to the Metropolitan Opera. All eight company members will take the stage for his energetic work Of the Earth Far Below, and local self-conducted chamber orchestra A Far Cry will join in on the action, performing Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet as dancers throw themselves at one another and the floor for 15 nonstop minutes.
June 2-3 at Boston University Tsai Performance Center
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | COMEDY | FILM
Nice Moves
Your Spring '17 Dance Preview
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credits: Maureen Fleming: Odo; The Opulence of Integrity: Robert Mayer; The Dance Cartel: Maddy Talias | March 10, 2017
Making a Spectacle
With song and dance (and text and glitter), these multimedia shows pull out all the stops.
Born in Japan, American dancer and performance artist Maureen Fleming studied avant-garde art form butoh under co-founder Kazuo Ohno and honed her slow-moving contortions in works like 2013’s B. Madonna. World Music/CRASHarts presents this retelling of the myth of Persephone, which finds Fleming writhing down stairs and swathed in suspended fabric. Audience members can also expect accordion music, taiko drumming, 3-D video projections, text by Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang—and some nudity.
April 21-22 at the ICA
Christal Brown danced with all-female troupe Urban Bush Women and founded an ensemble dedicated to performing works by female choreographers. But the Middlebury College professor and choreographer is working with a cast of nine male performers for The Opulence of Integrity, a look at the life of athlete and activist Muhammad Ali that combines boxing, martial arts, hip-hop and modern dance with audio recordings and monologues, retracing his time with mentor Malcolm X, his stand against the Vietnam War and more.
March 31-April 2 at the Dance Complex
Ani Taj’s New York troupe, the Dance Cartel, has been taking over the Ace Hotel basement with its glitter-filled residency for years, and now ONTHEFLOOR—a 90-minute extravaganza incorporating DJs and video installations—is making its way to Cambridge. Face-painted, funky leotard-clad performers range from Tom Ford models to comedians and writers, emboldening audience members to bust a move themselves (or at the very least belt along to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”).
April 27-28 at Oberon
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | COMEDY | FILM
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credits: Costume illustration by Robert Perdziola, courtesy Boston Ballet; L.A. Dance Project: Morgan Julia; Urbanity Dance: Eli Akerstein
Big Shots
A selection of not-to-be-missed star-studded affairs
Boston Ballet’s Robbins/The Concert program not only features Jerome Robbins’ The Concert—a comedic romp set at a piano recital—but a world premiere from resident choreographer Jorma Elo exploring his classical roots and tapping music by Beethoven, complete with new costumes from Robert Perdziola. Meanwhile, Boston Ballet II is tackling a work from another notable name: Former Ballet Frankfurt principal dancer and William Forsythe protégé Jill Johnson. The Harvard dance director and self-described radical optimist is creating a work as “an antidote to the stress people are experiencing in life,” debuting as part of the company’s Next Generation series.
May 5-27 and May 24 at the Boston Opera House
Natalie Portman’s better half, Benjamin Millepied, brings his L.A. Dance Project to town for its Boston debut. The Celebrity Series appearance includes On the Other Side, an emerald-inspired collaboration between the former Paris Opera Ballet artistic director and jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels that boasts scenery courtesy of the Rose Art Museum’s 2017 Venice Biennale artist, Mark Bradford. The evening also features Murder Ballades from Millepied’s onetime New York City Ballet colleague Justin Peck, subject of Ballet 422, a documentary that followed him on his way to becoming the second resident choreographer in the storied company’s history.
May 19-21 at the Boch Shubert Theatre
Urbanity Dance closes the season with its Spring Revue, which spotlights works by director Betsi Graves, Boston Conservatory instructor Marcus Schulkind and esteemed choreographer Doug Varone, who during the past 30 years has left his mark on productions everywhere from Broadway to the Metropolitan Opera. All eight company members will take the stage for his energetic work Of the Earth Far Below, and local self-conducted chamber orchestra A Far Cry will join in on the action, performing Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet as dancers throw themselves at one another and the floor for 15 nonstop minutes.
June 2-3 at Boston University Tsai Performance Center
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | COMEDY | FILM
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credit: Danza Orgánica: Ernesto Galan
Next Steps
Three ways to explore the dance world post-curtain call
Listen: At a Martha’s Artist Salon, Boston choreographer Rebecca Rice shares stories, photos and video of her family’s far-reaching dance lineage, from her grandmother, a steward of Denishawn technique, to her aunt, a lead dancer with Merce Cunningham.
April 24 at the BCA’s Mills Gallery
Dance: During ArtWeek Boston, get a glimpse of Danza Orgánica’s creative process, jump in on warm-ups and learn a piece of repertoire as the contemporary company builds a new work exploring Puerto Rican and Caribbean identity.
May 3 at the Tony Williams Dance Center
Watch: Documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s Crazy Horse follows rehearsals as choreographer Philippe Decouflé revamps a show at the world-famous Parisian cabaret club, all while the dancers continue with multiple daily performances.
June 2 at the MFA
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: VISUAL ARTS | THEATER | MUSIC | COMEDY | FILM
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