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.”
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By Sarah Hagman | Photo Credit: Karole Armitage: Marco Mignani; Yury Yanowsky:Varga Images | March 12, 2016
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.”
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