Boston Ballet is presenting two world premieres during Mirrors’ May 6-28 run at the Boston Opera House, including a new work from pioneering choreographer Karole Armitage, the “punk ballerina” who went from dancing under George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham to choreographing Madonna’s video for “Vogue.” Her new piece—which has the cast stepping into costumes from fashion designer Peter Speliopoulos and letting its hair down with some brightly colored extensions—is set to Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.” We asked Armitage to sound off on her choice of music and more.
HOW DID YOU LAND ON THIS PARTICULAR PIECE OF MUSIC? [Laughs.] I’m laughing because [artistic director] Mikko Nissinen has known me for a long time, and he knows that I have very eclectic interests, from theoretical physics to pop culture. He loves Miles Davis and he said, “You’re the only person I could think of who could choreograph to Miles Davis.” He picked a different piece of music… but I said the piece that I think might be possible is “Bitches Brew.” It’s got this psychedelic side, plus the cool jazz—I mean, it’s like cultural collisions are going on.
WILL THE EXPERIMENTAL NATURE OF THE MUSIC INFORM THE MOVEMENT? I must admit it’s much more challenging than I realized. It’s about mysterious forces that push and pull on us. There’s a very joyful side and there’s a dark underbelly, so I’m trying to capture both. It was the first time jazz had ever used electronics; it was the first album ever recorded entirely in a recording studio and re-edited. It was groundbreaking in so many ways, and I admire it for all of this. It kind of encapsulates a whole era.
HOW DOES YOUR CLASSICAL TRAINING AND MODERN BACKGROUND INFLUENCE YOUR CHOREOGRAPHY? I’ve always felt like the artist’s job is to create a picture of the world on the stage, some kind of essence of what it feels like to be human in our time…. I was the rock ’n’ roll generation. I felt like I could put modern dance and its intellectual thinking with the refinement and poetry of ballet, plus the raw visceral energy of rock, and this would be a really vital dance form. Even to this day I would say I’m still using those three ingredients.
***
As for Mirrors’ other world premiere? That’d be the first major commission from former principal dancer Yury Yanowsky. “It feels like I haven’t left to tell you the truth,” says the 22-year Boston Ballet vet, who retired after the 2014 season. And while he misses performing, he admits, “The day-to-day, seven hours of killing yourself, no, I don’t miss that.” He and his wife, current principal dancer Kathleen Breen Combes, found out they were expecting while visiting Yanowsky’s family in Spain this past summer. That visit was also when inspiration for the new work struck, thanks to Yanowsky’s mom—herself a professional dancer—who brought out her grandmother’s corset during their stay. “I thought, if in the concert I put real handles the guys could grab, the partnering would be different.” Yanowsky says the resulting costumes allow for enhanced lifts that are “nutso.”
Spring into Action: Dance
A preview of the jam-packed arts season ahead!
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credit: Eli Akerstein | March 12, 2016
DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE REST OF OUR SPRING PREVIEW!
Fresh Perspective
Urbanity Dance is giving audiences a new view on April 9 with Bach Reinvented, which features a dance set to the Baroque composer’s The Contest between Phoebus and Pan as well as Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, a “sung ballet” following sisters who travel the country and encounter a different sin in each city. Accompanied by Emmanuel Music’s orchestra, it’ll be performed on six stages erected over pews in Emmanuel Church for a unique theater-in-the-round experience. “Out of all the works we’re doing this season,” director Betsi Graves says, “I’m most excited about this.”
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credit: Karole Armitage: Marco Mignani; Yury Yanowsky:Varga Images
A Heady Brew
Boston Ballet is presenting two world premieres during Mirrors’ May 6-28 run at the Boston Opera House, including a new work from pioneering choreographer Karole Armitage, the “punk ballerina” who went from dancing under George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham to choreographing Madonna’s video for “Vogue.” Her new piece—which has the cast stepping into costumes from fashion designer Peter Speliopoulos and letting its hair down with some brightly colored extensions—is set to Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.” We asked Armitage to sound off on her choice of music and more.
HOW DID YOU LAND ON THIS PARTICULAR PIECE OF MUSIC? [Laughs.] I’m laughing because [artistic director] Mikko Nissinen has known me for a long time, and he knows that I have very eclectic interests, from theoretical physics to pop culture. He loves Miles Davis and he said, “You’re the only person I could think of who could choreograph to Miles Davis.” He picked a different piece of music… but I said the piece that I think might be possible is “Bitches Brew.” It’s got this psychedelic side, plus the cool jazz—I mean, it’s like cultural collisions are going on.
WILL THE EXPERIMENTAL NATURE OF THE MUSIC INFORM THE MOVEMENT? I must admit it’s much more challenging than I realized. It’s about mysterious forces that push and pull on us. There’s a very joyful side and there’s a dark underbelly, so I’m trying to capture both. It was the first time jazz had ever used electronics; it was the first album ever recorded entirely in a recording studio and re-edited. It was groundbreaking in so many ways, and I admire it for all of this. It kind of encapsulates a whole era.
HOW DOES YOUR CLASSICAL TRAINING AND MODERN BACKGROUND INFLUENCE YOUR CHOREOGRAPHY? I’ve always felt like the artist’s job is to create a picture of the world on the stage, some kind of essence of what it feels like to be human in our time…. I was the rock ’n’ roll generation. I felt like I could put modern dance and its intellectual thinking with the refinement and poetry of ballet, plus the raw visceral energy of rock, and this would be a really vital dance form. Even to this day I would say I’m still using those three ingredients.
***
As for Mirrors’ other world premiere? That’d be the first major commission from former principal dancer Yury Yanowsky. “It feels like I haven’t left to tell you the truth,” says the 22-year Boston Ballet vet, who retired after the 2014 season. And while he misses performing, he admits, “The day-to-day, seven hours of killing yourself, no, I don’t miss that.” He and his wife, current principal dancer Kathleen Breen Combes, found out they were expecting while visiting Yanowsky’s family in Spain this past summer. That visit was also when inspiration for the new work struck, thanks to Yanowsky’s mom—herself a professional dancer—who brought out her grandmother’s corset during their stay. “I thought, if in the concert I put real handles the guys could grab, the partnering would be different.” Yanowsky says the resulting costumes allow for enhanced lifts that are “nutso.”
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credit: Maria Baranova
First Steps
With Court/Garden, Brooklyn-based choreographer Yanira Castro and her company, a canary torsi, takes audiences back to the beginning of ballet, Louis XIV-style. On April 8-9 at the ICA, the three-act spectacle featuring mirrored panels, video screens and elaborate costumes will have viewers taking on the role of royalty for the evening. PS: Also mark your calendar for the following week, because Brazilian contemporary hip-hop troupe Companhia Urbana de Dança, which draws its young talents from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, is making its Boston debut at the ICA on April 15-16.
By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credit: Maria Baranova
You Oughta Know
Ways to stretch your dance knowledge beyond familiar territory.
-Alvin Ailey swings into town for its annual visit to the Wang on March 17-20, but one of its former principal dancers will be showcasing his moves on another stage. Between managing his company Complexions (founded with fellow Ailey star Desmond Richardson), Dwight Rhoden has worked with greats like Prince and received an honorary degree from Boston Conservatory. That’s where students will perform one of his pieces—and works from three other celebrated choreographers—in this year’s Limitless program. April 14-17 at Boston Conservatory Theater
-Chicago’s best-known dance name may be the Joffrey Ballet, but it’s also home to the no-less-impressive Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which broke ground there decades before the Joffrey’s ’95 arrival. For its Celebrity Series appearance, the contemporary company shows off William Forsythe’s N.N.N.N.—it’s the only U.S. troupe with the rights to perform it—and Crystal Pite’s Solo Echo, another exclusive it brought stateside this winter after its 2012 premiere in the Netherlands. April 15-17 at the Shubert Theatre
-What do Madonna, Natalie Portman and former Martha Graham Dance Company director Christine Dakin have in common? They’re all among the many dance mavens who trained underElizabeth Weil Bergmann. Now in her 70s, the Juilliard grad and retired Harvard dance director is returning to the stage as one of the talented ladies performing in SOLA: Women Dancing Women, a program curated by Andee Scott, who’ll also be sharing her own self-choreographed solo. May 6-7 at the Dance Complex
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