Dance Voyages

May 15, 2017 by 4dancers

Alessa dancing Esmerelda — **Esmeralda and Kilroy’s Pas. Photo by Charlie McCullers**

by Alessa Ashley Rogers

Looking forward, looking back.

On October 7, 2014, 27 dancers waited expectantly in Atlanta Ballet’s sun-dappled studio 1. What we knew: Our resident choreographer, Helen Pickett. And the play, Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real which we had been expected to read.

What we didn’t know was how Helen would transform an obscure, largely unsuccessful play into a full-length world premiere ballet with original costumes, sets and score which would be critically acclaimed for its “sheer magic.”

Flash forward 30-some months later and Camino Real is being re-staged at Atlanta Ballet for the second time. Many things are different in our world of the studio and in the larger world. A new president has taken office. At Atlanta Ballet, change is heavy on our minds as thirteen dancers prepare to depart the company at the end of this season. [Read more…]

Atlanta Ballet to Finish Season with “Camino Real”

May 6, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet’s “Camino Real.” (2015) Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet’s original production of Camino Real will return to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre from May 12-14. Created on the company in 2015 by choreographer in residence Helen Pickett, the work incorporates dance, spoken text, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestra’s live performance of a score by Peter Salem.

Inspired by Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play of the same name, the ballet follows the journey of the fictional former boxing champion Kilroy as he encounters love, desperation, and an eclectic mix of literary and historical characters in Camino Real, a surreal town controlled by a cruel hotelier named Gutman.

Atlanta Ballet’s “Camino Real.” Photo by Charlie McCullers. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

“Kilroy is a strong, humble, and loving character,” says Alexandre Barros, who is taking on the role. “He becomes everyone’s hope for a better life. From the very beginning, however, he is hated by Gutman, who wants the Camino Real to stay the same – hopeless and obedient. Kilroy has this alacrity in his heart and always wants the best for others, which Gutman completely despises.”

Barros says he loves what Pickett did with the ballet: “The play is very complicated to understand and yet Helen found a way to narrate the story so beautifully.”

Tara Lee will conclude her 21-season career with the company in the role of Esmeralda, a character derived from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. “She’s a gypsy, trapped in the Camino like everyone else, but recognizes freedom when she meets Kilroy,” Lee says. “To me, she represents truth. In Helen’s production, reality is constantly shifting for the characters. A tragic scene can suddenly turn a switch and become a Vaudeville-like dance extravaganza. Beauty and poetry live beside ugliness and hopelessness. The audience decides which world they want to see.”

From Atlanta Ballet’s website: “Recommended for ages 12 and up.”

Tickets start at $25. Purchase here.

Review: “Gennadi’s Choice” by Atlanta Ballet

March 18, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet in Gemma Bond’s
“Denouement.” Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

by Rachel Hellwig

Gennadi’s Choice marks a new chapter for Atlanta Ballet as the company is shaped by the new artistic direction of Gennadi Nedvigin. The first mixed bill of his inaugural season, the program provides a glimpse of his commitment to classical ballet and contemporary works with a strong classical basis. It features excerpts of Paquita, Denouement by Gemma Bond, and Vespertine by Liam Scarlett.

Paquita’s sunny foray into classicism showcases Christian Clark’s calm strength and finesse and Rachel Van Buskirk’s precision, musicality, and creativity. Variations also highlight Ashley Wegmann’s long lines, serenity, and sumptuous phrasing, Monika Haczkiewicz’s elastic jumps and balance, and Jackie Nash’s projection and pointe work.

In Denouement, a premiere by Gemma Bond, the company evinces its continuing strength in one-act, abstract, contemporary works. With themes of time and choice as inspiration, Bond constructs a detailed work that casts a quiet, increasing tight spell. Imagery recalling Swan Lake surfaces at times, including frequent, wing-like motions of the arms and bourrées conveying a struggle for freedom. James Whiteside’s costumes also contribute to these echoes as strips of pale fabric forming skirts sometimes appear to be feathers fluttering in the wind. Predominantly cold, blue lighting by Joseph R. Walls coupled with scrims to suggest doorways and distance adds dimensions to the drama.

Vespertine, the North American premiere of a work Scarlett created on the Norwegian National Ballet in 2013, likewise highlights Atlanta Ballet’s adeptness in one-act, contemporary works. In Vespertine, Scarlett is at his most poignant when melding contrasting movement elements—grounded, historically-inspired and naturalistic steps with the abandon, force, and freedom of contemporary ballet. Adding to this is his gift of charging small gestures with intensity and layers of meaning. As in Denouement, the lighting design—here by Michael Hulls– has a leading role in the drama: clusters of lights hovering above stage, most evocative when dimly glowing, represent both chandeliers and a canopy of magnified stars.

Gennadi’s Choice repeats on March 18 at 8 p.m. and March 19 at 2 p.m.

Disclosure: Atlanta Ballet Dancer Alessa Rogers is a contributing writer at 4dancers.

3 Lessons From A Liam Scarlett Rehearsal

March 9, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

by Rachel Hellwig

Alessa Rogers and Christian Clark in Liam Scarlett's rehearsal of "Vesperine." Photo courtesy of Atlanta Ballet. — Liam Scarlett (right) rehearses Alessa Rogers and Christian Clark’s pas de deux in “Vesperine.” Photo by Charlie McCullers. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

A popular meme in the dance community online depicts the diagram of an iceberg—the 20% above the water labeled “The Show,” the 80% below marked “The Rehearsal.” Humor aside, the rehearsal process yields depths of learning and insight.

Liam Scarlett, Artist in Residence at The Royal Ballet, was at Atlanta Ballet last October setting his work Vespertine on the company. The piece, originally created on the Norwegian National Ballet in 2013, will appear on the program Gennadi’s Choice from March 17-19.

Scarlett is articulate, thoughtful, and detailed in his discussion of dance and choreography, smoothly navigating the always stormy waters of translating the language of movement into the language of words.

Here are some ideas gleaned from his rehearsal that can be applied to any dance rehearsal…

Create Safety to Experiment

Scarlett says that a rehearsal should be a place to make mistakes, not be afraid of looking silly, and that when laughter arises in the process, the artists are “laughing with each other, not at one another.”

Filter Movement Through Emotion

Though Scarlett’s Vespertine is abstract, it’s all about feelings, specifically those reflecting the definition of “vespertine”– an “active, flowering, or flourishing in the evening.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Scarlett believes that, in dance, a glance can be more powerful than a virtuosic display like 32 fouettés.

That said, he doesn’t get unrealistically carried away with this idea. After giving a correction that emphasized the importance of a particular glance between two dancers, he added–with good humor–“Don’t get so lost in each others’ eyes that you get behind the music.”

Remember That Choreography Lives Through Performers

As a choreographer, Scarlett admits that he is sad when the creation process is over. Yet, he points out that finishing a dance work is “not like finishing a painting.” Choreography goes on living. Performers bring it to life again and again. He says, “It’s different every night, different for every interpreter.”

Beyond Rehearsal…

Scarlett sees dance as a magnification of the universal language of body language; the age-old reflex of expressing feelings in movement.

As he told The New York Times in March, “The body has automatic reactions […] We cry, laugh, our heart quickens, we hold our breath. Everyone speaks with their hands. Dance is just an amplified version of this.”

“Gennadi’s Choice” will be presented from March 17-19, 2017 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The program will feature Scarlett’s “Vespertine,” selections from “Paquita,” and a world premiere by Gemma Bond. Tickets Start At $25. Purchase here.

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Atlanta Ballet Presents David Bintley’s “Carmina Burana”

February 8, 2017 by Rachel Hellwig

Atlanta Ballet in David Bintley's "Carmina Burana." Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet. — Atlanta Ballet in David Bintley’s “Carmina Burana.” Photo by Kim Kenney. Courtesy of Atlanta Ballet.

Atlanta Ballet’s production of David Bintley’s edgy, contemporary Carmina Burana returns to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre for its final weekend of performances from February 10-11. Carmina Burana is set to Carl Orff’s 1937 dynamic choral work of the same name and performed live by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and The Georgia State University Singers and Master Singers. The texts of the songs are taken from medieval poems about fate, love, revelry, and passion.

The 70-minute ballet, first performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1995, follows the exploits of three seminarians who set off in quest of earthly pleasures. Atlanta Ballet’s Alexandre Barros portrays one of those seminarians and describes his character as “abandoning his position as a religious and pure man and embarking on a journey of self-discovery. In such a journey, he is exposed to drinking and eating excessively and to a bad crowd that teaches him how careless and mean people can be.”

The episodes in Carmina Burana are guided by “Fortuna,” the embodiment of the force of fate sung about in the work’s iconic chorus, O Fortuna. “The role of “Fortuna” represents the wheel of fortune, your fate, and the strength and power behind that,” says Rachel Van Buskirk, who dances the part. “I love that David Bintley has taken such an immense song and pared it down to one female in a vulnerable outfit–in high heels, blindfolded. He’s taken a stereotypical “sexy” look and empowered it from a female perspective.”

Van Buskirk feels that Bintley’s modern retelling of Carmina Burana’s texts through dance gives the work relevance and accessibility. “It’s amazing to imagine monks centuries ago going through the same common issues as us today,” she says. Barros adds that Carmina Burana is one of his favorite ballets. He says, “The production is incredible: ballet dancers, singers, and musicians come together to create something truly mesmerizing.”

From Atlanta Ballet’s website: “Parental discretion is advised.”

Tickets start at $25. Purchase here.

Create Safety to Experiment

Filter Movement Through Emotion

Remember That Choreography Lives Through Performers

Beyond Rehearsal…

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