Dance

Babel 7.16

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Babel 7.16 dance production. Music by Patrizia Bovi, Mahabub Khan, Sattar Khan, Gabriele Miracle, and Shogo Yoshii with music advisor Fahrettin Yarkin. Choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet. Performed 2016 at the Festival d'Avignon in a courtyard of the Papal Palace. Text from Lou Cope, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Nicole Krauss, and Karthika Naïr. Stars Aimilios Arapoglou, Magali Casters, Navala "Niku" Chaudhari, Sandra Delgadillo, Francis Ducharme, Jon Filip Fahlstrøm, Leif Federico Firnhaber, Darryl E. Woods, Damien Fournier, Benfury, Aliashka Hilsum, Ulrika Kinn Svensson, Kazutomi "Tsuki" Kozuki, Paea Leach, Princess Madoki, Christine Leboutte, Nemo Oeghoede, James O'Hara, Helder Seabra, Mohamed Toukabri, Majon van der Schot, and James Vu Anh Pham. Stage design by Antony Gormley; costumes by Alexandra Gilbert; lighting by Urs Schoenebaum and Adam Carrée; dramaturgy by Lou Cope. Directed for TV by Roberto Maria Grassi. Released 2018, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: B-

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Ingmar Bergman – Through the Choreographer's Eye

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Ingmar Bergman –Through the Choreographer's Eye dance film directed and produced by Fredrik Stattin in July 2016 as part of the Bergman Week Festival. Features four short dance pieces (51 minutes total) inspired by the films of Ingmar Bergman and recorded on the Swedish island of Fårö at an dilapidated airplane hanger near Hammers, Bergman's home. There is also an interesting 39-minute "Behind the Scenes" bonus. The executive producers were Ingmar Bergman Jr. and Marie-Louise Sid-Sylwander of the Swedish Royal Ballet.  Released 2018, disc has 2.0 PCM stereo sound. Grade: B+

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La grande danza

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La grande danza---Aterballettoin Milan triple bill of dances performed 2017 by the Aterballeto Dance Company at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. Directed for TV by Andreas Morell with Director of Photography Henning Brümmer:

  1. Words and Space. Choreography by Jiří Pokorny. Music by Georg Friedrich Händel. Sound design by Sawaki Yukari; costumes by Carolina Mancuso; sets and lighting by Carlo Cerri.
  2. Narcissus. Choreography by Giuseppe Spota. Music by Joby Talbot. Costume design by Francesca Messori; sets and lighting by Carlo Cerri; on-stage video designs by OOOPStudio.
  3. Phoenix. Choreography by Philippe Kratz. Music by Borderline Order. Costume design by Costanza Maramotti; sets and lighting by Carlo Cerri.

Released 2017, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade: B+

 

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Ballet Hispánico

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Ballet Hispánico dance recital performed 2015 at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix). Ballet Hispánico is directed by Eduardo Vilaro and has the mission of celebrating Latino culture through dance. It's an important dance group in New York City and one of the few dance companies in the United States to focus on Latin dance and culture. Pieces performed were CARMEN.maquia, choreographed by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, and Club Havana, choreographed by Pedro Ruiz.

CARMEN.maquia stars Christopher Bloom (Don José), Kimberly Van Woesik (Carmen), Melissa Fernandez (Micaela), and Mario Ismael Espinoza (Escamillo). Cigar factory girls, soldiers, townsfolk, and Gypsies are played by Lauren Alzamora, Martina Calcagno, Shelby Colona, Kassandra Cruz, Mark Gieringer, Christopher Hernandez, Johan Rivera Mendez, Eila Valls, Lyvan Verdecia, and Joshua Winzeler. Recorded music segments, all from Bizet Carmen suites or the Pablo de Sarasate Carmen Concert Fantasy, are stitched together from many resources.  Set by Luis Crespo; costumes designed by David Delfin and made by Travis Halsey and Diana Ruettiger; lighting by Joshua Preston. Because all the music comes from the opera, the ballet must be viewed as a ballet telling of the opera libretto---not an easy task.

Club Havana performers are:

- Son (a Cuban dance popular in the 1930s): Martina Calcagno, Shelby Colona, Kassandra Cruz, Mario Ismael Espinoza, Melissa Fernandez, Mark Gieringer, Christopher Hernandez, Johan Rivera Mendez, Eila Valls, and Lyvan Verdecia. 

- Mambo: Shelby Colona & Lyvan Verdecia; Kassandra Cruz & Johan Rivera Mendez; and Eila Valls & Mario Ismael Espinoza.

- Cha Cha Cha: Melissa Fernandez, Mark Gieringer, and Christopher Hernandez.

- Bolero, Rhumba, and Congo: The Company.

The dances are performed to recorded music composed by Israel López, Rubén Gonzales, A. K. Salim, Perez Prado, and Francisco Repilado. Costumes by Ghabriello Fernando; lighting by Donald Holder.

The Ballet Hispánico group has its home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. "Lincoln Center at the Movies" (LCatM) is a new resource. LCatM promoters seek American dance content that (1) has cultural significance and (2) can be shown in movie houses around the United States (thru Fathom Events in 2015) and maybe other countries. (It helps perhaps if the dance production has some connection, however slight, to Lincoln Center.) Selling an HDVD would be an additional profit center. (This business model was invented, of course, by Peter Gelb at the Met.)  Produced by Andrew Carl Wilk; directed for TV by Matthew Diamond. Released 2017, disc has 5.0 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B

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Alvin Ailey

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dance recital shot 2015 at the David H. Koch Theater (at Lincoln Center) in New York.  Ailey (1931-1989) started his company long ago as a home for black artists. Eventually, he dropped the all-black standard to include dancers and choreographers of all races. Still, as you can see from the artwork above, AAADT remains mostly a black operation, and it is probably the leading such dance group in the world.  The program contains the following pieces:

  • Chroma, choreographed by Wayne McGregor to a score by Jack White and Jody Talbot. Chroma has nothing to do with black experience. Dancers are Jeroboam Bozeman, Sean Aaron Carmon, Sarah Daley, Antonio Douthit-Boyd, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Vernard J. Gilmore, Yannick Lebrun, Rachel McLaren, Akua Noni Parker, and Linda Celeste Sims. By leading off with this, the AAADT claims that they can take on any modern dance assignment out there.

  • Grace, choreographed by Ronald K. Brown to music by Duke Ellington. Brown is black, and his work is rooted in modern, African, and urban styles. Dancers are Linda Celeste Sims, Demetia Hopkins-Greene, Matthew Rushing, Antonio Douthit-Boyd, Vernard J. Gilmore, Grenn Allen Sims, Daniel Harder, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Belen Pereya, Hope Boykin, and Rachael McLaren. Grace is, I think, considered a dance icon of the American black experience.

  • Takademe, choreographed by Robert Battle to music by Sheila Chandra. Battle is black and currently the leader of the AAADT. Apparently nobody knows or cares what "takademe" means other than, perhaps, "a dance telling a story." Performed by Jamar Roberts. It's a frantic solo included, I suspect, as a kind of dance joke analogous to a scherzo moment in a piece of classical music.

  • Revelations choreographed by Alvin Ailey to traditional black gospel music. Performed by the Company and with star roles by Marcus Jarrell Willis, Hope Boykin, Jacqueline Green, Linda Celeste Sims, Glenn Allen Sims, Michael Francis McBride, Megan Jakel, Marcus Jarrell Willis, Yannick Lebrun, Rachael McLaren, Matthew Rushing, Alicia Graf Mack, Antonio Douthit-Boyd, Jamar Roberts, and Kirven Douthit-Boyd. This is considered Ailey's most profound work.

It appears all the music for the dances was prerecorded. Nothing is said on the keepcase or in the booklet about who plays anything. Directed for TV by Matthew Diamond; produced by Andrew Carl Wilk. Released 2016, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A-

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Béjart Ninth Symphony Modern Dance

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The Maurice Béjart The Ninth Symphony on Schiller's Ode to Joy modern dance was performed 2014 by the Béjart Ballet Lausanne and the Tokyo Ballet on the stage of the NHK Hall in Tokyo. Texts by Friedrich Nietzsche (Prologue) and Friedrich von Schiller (Ode to Joy). Music is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Percussion by Thierry Hochstätter and jB Meier (Citypercussion). Choreography and staging by Maurice Béjart (1927-2007) remade by Béjart Ballet Lausanne Artistic Director Gil Roman with help of Piotr Nardelli.  Soloist dancers are Dan Tsukamoto, Mizuka Ueno, Iori Nittono, Aya Takagi, Kathleen Thielhelm, Masayoshi Onuki, Elisabet Ros, Julien Favreau, Lisa Cano, Fabrice Gallarrague, Pauline Voisard, Felipe Rocha, Oscar Chacon, Keisuke Nasuno, Marsha Rodriguez, Cosima Munoz, Mari Ohashi, Kwinten Guilliams, Aldriana Vargas Lopez, Hector Navarro, and Alanna Archibald. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ritsuyukai Choir conducted by Zubin Mehta with Chorus Master Fukiami Kuriyama. Soloists  for the Ninth Symphony are Kristin Lewis (soprano), Mihoko Fujimura (mezzo-soprano), Kei Fukui (tenor), and Alexander Vinogradov (bass). Prologue narration by Gil Roman accompanied by Citypercussion. Original sets and costumes designed by Joëlle Roustan and Roger Bernard; costumes realized by Henri Davila; lighting by Dominique Roman.  TV director was Mari Inamasu; Line Producer was Claudia Krüger; Producers were Masumi Kawaguchi, Junya Yagi, Maryam Nikbin, and Isabel Iturriagagoitia Bueno; Executive Producers were Jan Bremme, Bernd Hellthaler, and Lothar Mattner. Spoken language is in French.  The Ode to Joy is sung in German. Subtitles in English, German, Korean, and Japanese. Released 2015, music was recorded with 48kHz/24-bit sound sampling, and the disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio  sound output. Grade: A+

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Mark Morris L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato

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Mark Morris L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato dance work. In 2014, the Mark Morris Dance Group performs, at the Teatro Real in Madrid, the above-named work to Handel's musical ode of the same name, i.e.,  L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato.  Choreography by Mark Morris. Dancers (alphabetical by last names) are Chelsea Lynn Acree, Sam Black, Max Cappelli-King, Brandon Cournay, Rita Donahue, Domingo Estrada, Jr., Jusie Fiorenza, Benjamin Freedman, Lesley Garrison, Lauren Grant, Brian Lawson, Aaron Loux, Laurel Lynch, Stacy Martorana, Claudia Macpherson, Dallas McMurray, Maile Okamura, Brandon Randolph, Billy Smith, Utafumi Takemura, Noah Vinson, Nicholas Wagner, Jenn Weddel, and Michelle Yard.  Jane Glover conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Real Madrid (Chorus Master Andrés Máspero). Solo singers are Sarah-Jane Brandon and Elizabeth Watts (sopranos), James Gilchrist (tenor), and Andrew Foster-Williams (baritone). Set design by Adrianne Lobel; costume design by Christine van Loon; lighting design by James F. Ingalls; directed for TV and video by Vincent Bataillon; produced by François Duplat, Joan Hershey, John Walker, and David Horn. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A-

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Lang Lang - The Chopin Dance Project

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Lang Lang - The Chopin Dance Project, is a piano recital by Lang Lang supporting a ballet performance for 16 dancers of the Houston Ballet, all live. Choreographed by Stanton Welch, the Dance Project was filmed 2013 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Dancers are Ian Casady, Jessica Collado, Derek Dunn, Karina Gonzalez, James Gotesky, Oliver Halkowich, Nozomi Iijima, Melody Mennite, Allison Miller, Jim Nowakowski, Katharine Precourt, Lauren Strongin, Brian Waldrep, Connor Walsh, Joseph Walsh, and Charles-Louis Yoshiyama.  Detailed notes in the keepcase booklet list the dancers on stage for each of the following Chopin works:

1. Ballade No.1 in G minor op. 23
2. Etude No. 7 in C-sharp minor op. 25
3. Ballade No. 2 in F major op. 38
4. Ballade No. 4 in F minor op. 52
5. Waltz No. 1 in E-flat major op. 18 "Grande Valse brillante"
6. Nocturne No. 1 in F major op. 15
7. Waltz No. 19 in A minor op. posth.
8. Andante spianato op. 22
9. Etude No. 3 in E major opus 10 "Tristesse"
10. Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat major op. 55
11. Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major op. 22
12. Nocturne in C-sharp minor, op. posth. No. 16

Stage Director was Michelle Elliott; Lighting Designer was Lisa J. Pinkham; Video Director was Olivier Simonnet. Produced by Jean-Stéphane Michaux and François Bertrand. Music recorded with 48kHz/24-bit sound sampling. Released 2015, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A 

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Dance!

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Dance! ballet box set. The box includes three titles described in more detail on this site:

1. Chaplin, graded "B+", would please most modern dance fans.
2. Poppea//Poppea in 3D, graded "D+", was an interesting production, but its video quality might be the worst I've seen for a dance title.
3. The Great Mass, graded "C", might be accurately called "The Great Mess."

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LAC (After Swan Lake)

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LAC (After Swan Lake) ballet. Music by Tchaikovsky. Choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Recorded 2013 at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. Stars Bernice Coppieters (Her Majesty the Night); Anja Behrend (The White Swan), April Ball (The Black Swan), Stephan Bourgond (The Prince), Alvaro Prieto (The King), Mimoza Koike (The Queen), Jeroen Verbruggen (The Prince's Confidant), Asier Uriagereka and Asier Edeso (Two Archangels of Darkness), Simone Webster (The Conceited Woman), Gaëlle Riou (The Indifferent Pretender); Anjara Ballesteros and Noelani Pantastico (The Two Libertines), and Maude Sabourin (The Insatiable Woman). Corps members dance the following roles: Hunters by Raphaël Bouchard, Leart Duraku, Ediz Erguc, Julien Guerin, Alexis Oliveira, George Oliveira, Daniele Delvecchio, Bruno Roque, and Stefan Stewart; Hunters' Friends by Sivan Blitzova, Quinn Pendleton, Francesca Dolci, Anne-Laure Seillan, and Kaori Tajima; Chimeras by Anjara Ballesteros, Sivan Blitzova, Francesca Dolci, Liisa Hämäläinen, Vanessa Henriques, Frances Murphy, Noelani Pantastico, Quinn Pendleton, Gaëlle Riou, Maude Sabourin, Anne-Laure Seillan, Beatriz Uhalte, and Simone Webster; and Court by Anjara Ballesteros, Sivan Blitzova, Francesca Dolci, Frances Murphy, Noelani Pantastico, Anne-Laure Seillan, Maude Sabourin, Beatriz Uhalte, Simone Webster, Raphaël Bouchard, Leart Duraku, Ediz Erguc, Julien Guerin, Alexis Oliveira, George Oliveira, Daniele Delvecchio, Bruno Roque, and Stefan Stewart. Leonard Slatkin conducts the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.  Dramaturgy by Jean Rouaud; visual designs by Ernest Pignon-Ernest; costumes by Philippe Guillotel; lighting by Jean-Christophe Maillot and Samuel Thery. Directed for the screen by Denis Caïozzi; executive producers were Antoine Perset and Denis Morlière. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B+

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Poppea // Poppea

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Poppea // Poppea dance piece.  Original choreography by Christian Spuck based on Monteverdi's opera L'Incoronazione di Poppea. Music by Martin Donner, Claudio Monteverdi, Robert Schumann, Emiliana Torrini, Cat Power, John Paul von Westhoff, and Geminiani. Performed for this video 2013 by Gauthier Dance, the dance company of Theaterhaus Stuttgart. Stars Eric Gauthier, Anneleen Dedroog, Miriam Gronwald, Anna Harms, Maria Prat Balasch, Rosario Guerra, Florian Lochner, William Moragas, David Valencia Martinez, and Tars Vondebeek. Choreographic assistance by Renato Arismendi; choreographic collaboration by Alexandra Brenk. Set design by Emma Ryott; dramaturgy by Dunja Funke; lighting by Reinhard Traub. Produced and directed for TV by Nikolai Vialkowitsch at Theaterhaus Stuttgart. The back cover shown above (provided early to the vendors by EuroArts) says nothing about 3D; the back cover on the disc we bought correctly states that the disc will play in 2D or 3D. The vendors' back cover art also says the sound is in stereo only. The back cover of our disc correctly states that the sound is in PCM stereo and 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio. Grade for both 2D and 3D: D+

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McGregor Going Somewhere

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This title includes two films relating to Wayne McGregor:

  • Going Somewhere is an 80-minute documentary about McGregor as choreographer and is reviewed here.

  • A Moment in Time is a 30-minute performance film, offered as a bonus extra, with three short pieces by McGregor. It has nice music from folks like Joby Talbot, Olafur Arnalds, and Kaija Saariaho recorded at 48kHz/24 bit specs. But it will not be reviewed because it only has stereo sound (and the video also suffers from VHS or DVD-level quality).

Going Somewhere considers the choreographic techniques of Wayne McGregor illustrated by recordings of his work with his own dance group, Random Dance. There are also recordings of his work with stars of the Royal Ballet, experimental work with high school students, and several "science" segments. Directed by Catherine Maximoff; photography by Samuel Dravet; sound by François Waledisch and Henri Maïkoff; editing by Emmanuelle Baude. Released 2014, disc has PCM stereo sound. Grade: D+

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The Metamorphosis

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The Metamorphosis, a dance-theatre adaptation after the Kafka short story. Choreographed and directed by Arthur Pita especially for Edward Watson, a principal dancer for the Royal Opera House Ballet. Performed 2013 at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio Theater (where the work was premiered in 2011). Original music composed and performed by Frank Moon, who plays guitar, oud, violin, tam-tam, and sings. Edward Watson plays the role of the main character, Gregor Samsa. Supporting dancers are Laura Day (Grete Samsa, Gregor's sister), Nina Goldman (Mrs. Samsa, Gregor's mother), Neil Reynolds (Mr. Samsa, Gregor's father), as well as Bettina Carpi (Maid, Coffee Lady, Dream Figure, Bearded Man), Greig Cooke (Train Conductor, Dream Figure, Bearded Man), and Amir Giles (Clerk, Dream Figure, Bearded Man). Designs by Simon Daw; lighting by Guy Hoare. Assistant Choreographer was Scarsett Perdereau; Producer was Poppy Ben-David; TV Director was  Ross MacGibbon. Disc has extra features named "Introduction to The Metamorphosis" and "Bringing The Metamorphoses to Life." This title is part of the Royal Opera House Collection Series. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A

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Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance

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Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance dance production by Matthew Bourne. Music by Tchaikovsky. This is a complete rewriting by Matthew Bourne of the libretto and choreography of the classic Sleeping Beauty. Dancers include Edwin Ray (King Benedict), Kerry Biggin (Queen Eleanor), Hannah Vassallo (Princess Aurora), Dominic North (Leo), Christopher Marney (Count Lilac), Adam Maskell (Carabosse/Caradoc), Mari Kamata (Ardor), Katy Lowenhoff (Hibernia), Joe Walkling (Autumnus), Sophia Hurdley (Feral), Liam Mower (Tantrum), Daniel Collins (Lord Rupert), Danny Reubens (Viscount Aubrey), Daisy May Kemp (Miss Maddox), Nicole Kabera (Flossie), Leon Moran (Archie), and Luke Murphy (Bertie) with Pia Driver, Phil Jack Gardner, Tom Jackson Greaves, Kate Lyons, Ashley Shaw and Chris Trenfield. Brett Morris conducts The Sleeping Beauty Orchestra (Leader Gina McCormack).  Sets and costumes by Lez Brotherston; lighting by Paule Constable; sound design by Paul Groothuis. Associate Director was Etta Murfitt; Associate Choreographer was Christopher Marney; Music Producer was Terry Davies. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon; Executive Producers were Todd Austin  and Robert Noble. Producer was Fiona Morris. The dance theater (Bourne's term) runs 158 minutes; there is also a bonus documentary that runs 52 minutes called Imagine---A Beauty is Born: Matthew Bourne's 'Sleeping Beauty'. The keepcase booklet has an especially nice discussion of the piece by Bourne (English only). Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound.

This new Bourne work played on stage starting December 2012 in London, and then went on tour.  Robert Greskovic, perhaps the best-known dance critic in the U.S., saw this live in October 2013 in New York. He wrote a favorable review in the Wall Street Journal on October 30 stating that this Sleeping Beauty is "a prime example of the British choreographer's imagination and originality."

Deutsche Grammophon published this, and they limit their brand (we always thought) strictly to fine-art material.  Still, it appears this is being marketed not as a fine-arts title, but as a fantasy movie. There was initially something wild and crazy about the pricing of this product. So shop around. Grade: B+

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Swan Lake

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Swan Lake ballet, or rather, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Music by Tchaikovsky. Traditional story reinterpreted, choreographed, and directed by Matthew Bourne. The original show was premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1995; the recording presented here was apparently shot, for the first time in high-definition, at Sadler's Wells in 2011.  Stars Richard Winsor (The Swan/Stranger), Dominic North (The Prince), Nina Goldman (The Queen), Madelaine Brennan (The Girlfriend), Steve Kirkham (The Private Secretary), and Joseph Vaughan (The Young Prince). David Lloyd-Jones conducts the New London Orchestra. Set and costume design by Lez Brotherston; lighting by Rick Fisher. Directed for TV by Ross MacGibbon; sound post production by Mike Hatch; executive production by Robert Noble, Fiona Morris, and Todd Austin. Unlike some Kultur titles, this disc plays in all regions. Released 2012, it has 5.1 Dolby sound. Grade: B

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