Isamu Noguchi and Martha Graham collaborated for over fifty years, from 1934 until his death in 1988, and the new Barbican exhibition in part covers their rich artistic relationship. The exhibition also included a live performance of Martha Graham's "Lamentation", danced by Yolande Yorke-Edgell.
Tag - Paul Hindemith
★★★✰✰ Opus 19 feels at once nostalgic, mysterious and dreamy...
★★★✰✰ Both El Penitente and Hérodiade are from the 40’s, a period when Graham was transitioning from exploration of American and Native-American themes to a more mythical mode.
★★★★✰ Vienna Waltzes is a sure-fire hit. It seduces on many fronts: the ridiculously flattering gowns by Karinska (her last for the company), the sumptuous music, the multitudes of dancers...
There is perhaps no better way to start off a season at New York City Ballet than with a performance of Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco.
What most struck me on this particular evening was the transparency, and clarity of intention, that marked each work.
I am happy to report that the biggest discovery of the second program was The Sarasota Ballet, a company founded in 1991 and currently directed by former Royal Ballet dancer Iain Webb...
After the dreary bombast of Alexei Ratmansky's recent Firebird for American Ballet Theatre, the Balanchine/Robbins version, with its blessedly shorter score (Stravinsky's Firebird Suite), heavenly Chagall designs and the great Ashley Bouder in one of her first great roles, was a welcome palliative.
It’s becoming something of a New York City Ballet tradition to start off the season with, if not a whimper, then let’s say a less-than-stellar performance. Perhaps it’s a kind of exorcism, a ritual cleansing. Maybe that’s why the gala usually takes place a few days later...