Reviews
Ballet to Blush by (Think Sexy Bikinis, Not Prim Tutus)
By Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times
May 14, 2008
Ballet insiders often complain that their art form is misunderstood as prissy and old-fashioned when, really, it is all about sexy, young things and sensual feats. Three of the works Configuration Dance presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater on Monday night seemed intended to underline this fact. [Read More...]
Ballet dancers offer an interesting mix in solid performance
By Steve Sucato, The Buffalo News
May 5, 2008
Configurations Dance Theatre's inaugural performance as a Buffalo-based dance company (formerly Cape Cod, Mass.) in the University at Buffalo's Center for the Arts Drama Theater on Saturday night showed it needed more rehearsal at times, but nonetheless proved a triumph for the nationally recognized contemporary ballet company. Jam-packed, CDT's program offered a gambit of dance styles along with a world premiere work by former American Ballet Theatre prima ballerina Susan Jaffe.In the first of three ballets on the program by chameleon-like choreographer Michael Shannon, "What's The Pointe?" was a sensual and slick ballet with a lead-with-the-hips style a la choreographer Dwight Rhoden. A trio of scantily clad women in short black wigs and pointe shoes turned on their feminine wiles in alluring choreography that had hips gyrating, backs arching, legs fluttering and arms swimming through the air.
Set to J.S. Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, Shannon's ballet looked under-rehearsed, with its half-dozen dancers showing signs they needed more time with its bendy, off-kilter movement language. Beyond that, the work's eight sections offered a satisfying blend of intimate partnering and "watch me strut" dancing.
Switching gears, Russian choreographer Yuri Zhukov's "Levitation," set to music by William Byrd and Antonio Vivaldi, was a well-crafted dance theater work blending mood with unassuming choreographic sophistication. It began with a laid-back series of movement snapshots. Seven dancers came together in brief tableaus before breaking off into male-female couples with dancer Catherine Batcheller the odd woman out.
Costumed in street clothes, CDT's dancers were superb in Zhukov's playful relationship-driven choreography. The dancers voiced dialogue and engaged in show-offish dances that were both clever and engaging. From its carefree moments such as a humorous martial arts-themed men's dance to a poignant window into loneliness where Batcheller sat alone, back to the audience, while the others danced in front of her, Zhukov's contemporary-styled dance work was simply exquisite.
Following Shannon's brief contemporary solo "Yumeji," danced with passion by Batcheller, the premiere of Jaffe's "Novem" took the stage with unease. The pas de deux seemingly built around subtle variances in the pace of composer John Cage's music for it, floundered in fits and starts by student dancer Charlotte Campagnuolo.
Jaffe's ballet, like Shannon's opener, looked under-rehearsed and her own inexperience as a choreographer may have contributed to its awkwardness. On the whole though, Jaffe's choreography seemed to have the goods; they just weren't delivered by a pair of lovely dancers who appeared to be over their heads.
The program closed with Shannon's "Tchaicotic," a contemporary work that reminded one of the contemporary choreographic styles of Mats Ek and Jiri Kylian; perhaps not surprising given Shannon's background working in Europe.
Set to the music of Tchaikovsky, the work had the familiar European contemporary dance look down pat, from the dancer's drab costumes to their tousled hair.
Set in an insane asylum, nine female dancers fidgeted their way through a dense array of movement that had them shimmying on their behinds, marching in lines and tossing out a myriad of pedestrian-style arm movements.
A bit dry at times, Shannon's "Tchaicotic" overall was a captivating and a nice addition to a varied and generally solid dance program by CDT.
Configuration cuts to the core
By Colin Dabkowski, The Buffalo News
June 10, 2007
It's rare that any piece of art cuts to the core instantly.
But Configuration Dance, the eclectic and boundary-expanding dance troupe out of Cape Cod, Mass., seems to be find-ing new avenues to that core with every performance.
The latest, Saturday night in Studio Arena Theatre, saw the troupe embodying a wide array of styles and subject matter that ranged from cuttingly funny to deeply tragic.
The show kicked off with a tight and uproariously funny piece about a relationship on the rocks. The piece, titled "Call It Off," featured dancers Caitlin Mundth and Ted Seymour in a well-constructed pas de deux in which one character rattled on about the inanities of their relationship while the other responded in dance.
Seymour was particularly madcap in his interpretation, his movements languid and then instantly contorted, as if some malicious child had the remote control to his brain.
The unequivocal standout of the evening, however, was a deeply emotional and affecting piece about the trials of termi-nal cancer. Choreographed by Michael Shannon, the piece focused on a woman facing cancer and her loving husband, played respectively by Chloe McKenna and Alexander Glaz. Their interactions are imbued in equal measure with love and tortured fear, McKenna's suffering forcing her to collapse and throw herself at the mercy of Glaz's love.
An encore of April's collaboration with Buffalo gypsy jazz band Babik capped off the evening, a sign that the group's proposed residency in the city is already taking root and flourishing.
Taken in its entirety, Configuration's sweeping performance Saturday was proof, as if we needed any more, that Buffalo would be lucky to have it.