SFB's New Works Festival (Program B)

San Francisco Ballet
New Works Festival, Program B
Saturday, April 26, 2008, 2PM

The city’s been abuzz with chatter surrounding San Francisco Ballet’s New Works Festival, a three-program, multi-week spectacle of new choreography created by some of ballet’s most loved and well regarded dance makers, and Helgi Tomasson, looking to knock everyone’s socks and slippers off, seems to have delivered. At least, if Program B is any indication, I should be walking barefoot through the city for months to come.

Due to some personal scheduling, I started the Festival out of order, yet my gut tells me this shouldn’t be a problem. Ideally, each program should be able to stand on its own, yet as a festival, they should complement each other, too. In addition, each program’s individual works should also balance one another, yet Saturday’s matinee didn’t quite achieve my own expectations. Part of that may have been my fault, as who knows what to expect from something titled “New Works Festival.” Similar to the new InterContinental Hotel down on Howard Street, you’ve got to see it to believe it. And so I did.

The evening’s winner was a tie: Mark Morris’ continuously leg-kicking “Joyride” worked my brain into overtime while James Kudelka’s “The Ruins Proclaim The Building Was Beautiful” forcefully sauntered forward. With eight dancers clad in Isaac Mizrahi’s metallic unitards, “Joyride” takes no prisoners. The work highlights kicks, sharp arabesques, and wonderfully executed in-sync pirouettes, just as John Adams’ score (with him conducted the orchestra on this sunny afternoon) punches along at breakneck speed. Sarah Van Patten and Gennadi Nedvigin, dressed in shiny gold, led the way, steering everyone down a pulsating path of skill and gusto. Young corps member Jennifer Stahl, swathed in gunmetal grey, showed amazing control, and Rory Hohenstein flowed through the ever-challenging movement with a sexy naturalness.

Kudelka’s “Ruins” explores the social undertones of humanity, and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, under the direction of David Briskin, brought Rodney Sharman’s score, based on pieces by composer César Franck, to life. The darkly lit corps of women, adorned in pink sliced-and-diced tutus and nests of wispy hair (potentially by Helena Bonham Carter but credited to James Searle), waltzed like rosy waves from corner to corner...

For more, go here.

Sarah Van Patten and Gennadi Nedvigin in Morris' Joyride.
Elana Altman and Aaron Orza in Kudelka's The Ruins Proclaim The Building Was Beautiful.

All photos © Erik Tomasson

street ho

on my way home the other night from PT, i ran across santa's motorcycle. guess parallel parking that giant sleigh in the city's a b!tch...

Doug Varone and Dancers @YBCA

Doug Varone and Dancers
At Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Presented by San Francisco Performances
Sunday, April 20, 2008, 2PM

Doug Varone and Dancers, a fixture in the New York City dance scene and modern dance departments at various New England colleges for years, graced San Francisco with its presence this past weekend. The company, plus Mr. Varone himself, skipped across the stage and back into our hearts, reminding us that dance is an everlasting feeling, even when sitting upright in a well padded chair.

The evening opened with Varone’s shining “Lux,” a visual kaleidoscope of Philip Glass’s minimalist “The Light.” The ever-introspective Eddie Taketa opened the work with soft jumps and a thoughtful look upon his face while a round, yellow moon began to rise in the background. The seven other dancers, dressed in Liz Prince’s elegant black separates, sprung out of the wings to join Taketa in this intelligent yet deceivingly simple-looking romp. They circled about in pairs, trios, and groups, continuously growing and retreating with the pulsing music until everyone burst into a glowing lit of bodies against the darkness behind.

For more, go here.

"Boats Leaving" Photo © Richard Termine

a seller's market it ain't

does anyone else find it odd that you can sell babies and kids on craigslist? i mean, ebay doesn't even allow it!

eye see you

i got my eyes checked last monday, and the eye doc (probably one of the nicest ones i've ever met, even convincing me to let her dilate my eyes and make my pupils all anime for the day) suggested i get reading glasses. she said it'd alleviate some of the strain on my eyes and make up for the slight discrepancy between the two. 5 years ago i had lasik, and, ideally, i thought that i wouldn't need glasses for another 30 years.

so last week, i had to face the music and decide whether to order specs or continue my frame-free existence. i debated going back to the lasik master herself, but hey, my vision was a total disaster beforehand. i couldn't shower without my glasses, which was a massive problem with the bathroom fog, sharp razor blades, and wide array of shampoo, conditioner, and bathroom cleaning products. driving at night, i had zero depth perception, and distinguishing colors of yellow, white, and asphalt felt like taking one of those ink blot tests. in hindsight, perhaps glasses for only reading and computer work wasn't too bad...

with the wind blowing like a she-devil from the west, the end of the world arrived yesterday. or perhaps it's the beginning of a whole new world. i went and picked up my new cocoa-colored metal frames of visionary bliss, ones promising distinct text popping off my computer screen for 8 hours a day, every day.

the huge downside, though, was last night, which went something (sort of) like this.

todd: ahhhh!
becca: what?
todd: take. them. off.
becca: why are you cowering behind the door?
todd: those glasses! ahhhh!
becca: they're just reading glasses. they won't bite you.
todd: you look like a grandma! ew.
becca: well i'll get you, deary. and your little dog-- er, cat-- too! muahahaha!

it's not rocket science

this is probably the best comment to a recipe i've ever seen on the food network website. it's in response to rachel ray's recipe for... wait for it. wait for it. wait for it. a root beer float.

"YUMMO
03/13/2006 at 01:31pm
User: Anonymous User Rating:
This is the most creative recipe. I couldn't find root beer at my regular old grocery store, so I just used regular beer, and I don't like ice cream, so I left it out. It was really refreshing and delish"

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi @ YBCA

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
“Les écailles de la mémoire (The scales of memory)”
Friday, April 4, 2008

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi have collaborated on “Les écailles de la mémoire (The scales of memory),” a full-evening length work centering on identity, family, and history. I’ve seen both companies before, albeit separately, and this unique union proved that collaboration is a good thing.

The dancers begin by reciting their names and their ancestors: parents, grand parents, great grandparents, etc. There’s a connection, even if just by blood, that we can’t deny. “Memory” tackles many of the same issues as Company Ea Sola’s “Draught and Rain, Vol 2” did, but with much more choreographic development and success.


The men of Compagnie Jant-Bi easily compare to Urban Bush Women’s dancers. These strong men display presence and fortitude. Had I not known these were two separate groups, I would have assumed the dancers formed one complete troupe. The men strutted across the stage early on wearing red shirts that they later pulled off and slapped the floor with. The images of the bright red striking against their backs and then the ground as they hovered in a low squat lingered in my mind, and while I consciously knew they were up on a stage, dancing, performing, I still cringed and tried to look away. These men were enjoyable to watch, but their shapes and motions felt haunting all the same...

For more, go here.

Photos by Thomas Dorn and Antoine Tempé

A Tribute to SF Ballet, Program 6

San Francisco Ballet
Program 6
Featuring:
The National Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet, and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
Tuesday, April 1

San Francisco Ballet’s Program 6, billed as an international salute to the company’s 75th anniversary, doesn’t even showcase SF Ballet. Or at least not directly. Three companies have traveled to San Francisco with the goal of honoring SF Ballet, presenting works reminiscent of its rich and varied history while also showcasing their own strengths. Probably unintentionally, the evening also focused on relationships.

Traveling the farthest yet almost making the greatest audience impact, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, hailing from the tiny yet regal country of Monaco, presented the U.S. debut of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s “Altro Canto,” a smorgasbord of shapes, pairings, and dramatic imagery set against a never ending backdrop of rising and falling candles. Haunting baroque music played on as the 20 dancers explored ideas of loneliness and tension of relationships. Gender didn’t appear to be much of an issue at first, but as half of the dancers (male and female) were wearing trendy bubble skirts and the other half are wearing corsets and pants (all designed by Karl Lagerfeld), the androgyny question took on the role of white elephant...

For more, go here.

spritz and rip

last night i went to the opening performance of sfb's program six, which actually features other companies (national ballet of canada, nycb, and les ballets de monte-carlo; yes, a city with a population of 3,000 has a world-renowned ballet company). i flew solo, and sat down a few minutes before curtain to read the program, get myself in order, etc. i noticed that the audience in general edged on... well... older isn't quite right. for our hip, trendy, and 49-square mile city, we were bordering on ancient, but i didn't think much of it at the time. as the lights dimmed this octogenarian woman behind me started spraying perfume on herself (it smelled like lilies and baby powder: blech!) and then again DURING the performance. and she did it at the end of the evening, too.

even better, though, was her neighbor and male counterpart, who kept letting 'em rip (perhaps this is how she rationalized the perfume? or perhaps she hoped it would cover up the stench. alas, no) and giggling after every one. finally she said, "honey, you just can't do that! you need to say something or just stop!" so everytime he did it afterwards, he'd then say, "oops!" in this little kid's voice.

let me tell you, it's really hard not to breathe during a 2 hour and 5 minute performance, and i blame these two ballet goers on my congestion today.