Tag Archives: David H. Koch Theater

SOARING WINGS

Shanghai Dance Theatre celebrates the rediscovery of the crested ibis in Soaring Wings at Lincoln Center

David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza
January 5-7, $22-$167
212-496-0600
davidhkochtheater.com

The Shanghai Dance Theatre has landed in the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center this weekend with the U.S. premiere of Soaring Wings, a new-agey epic modern fable presented in a style reminiscent of the Radio City Rockettes. Written by Luo Huaizhen and directed and choreographed by Tong Ruirui, the lengthy two-hour piece is about the discovery of seven crested ibises, a much-loved bird species thought to be extinct, in Shaanxi Province in 1981. The lavish production boasts more than three dozen dancers in gorgeous costumes by Zhong Jiani, who does an especially effective job with the flowing white wings of the seven women portraying the “bird of good fortune” as well as the dark, ominous, futuristic garments worn by a corp of male dancers who represent pollution and environmental degradation. Huaizhen and Ruirui have a penchant for lining up the performers in Rockette-like vertical and horizontal columns, while Ruirui’s choreography features perhaps all-too-realistic birdlike neck and head movements for the crane women, which manages to be simultaneously completely convincing and disturbingly eerie. The staging is simple, with a perhaps-dead tree with its roots showing that is wheeled on- and offstage, in front of projections of scenes of clouds and mountains on a rear scrim. Principal dancers Zhu Jiejing and Wang Jiajun lead a large cast that perpetually smiles coquettishly as they flirt with ballet and contemporary and folk dance, creating a lush, evocative something that is not quite any of those genres but which had audience members enthusiastically sneaking cellphone photos. And Guo Sida’s syrupy score is far too reminiscent of “Healing Rhythms,” a biofeedback program developed by doctors Deepak Chopra, Dean Ornish, and Andrew Weil — one of the program’s training skills even involves a floating feather, which plays a prominent role in Soaring Wings, continuing through January 7 at Lincoln Center before flying to Boston. And no, there is no kickline at the end.

SHANGHAI DANCE THEATRE: SOARING WINGS

Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its NYC debut with Soaring Wings at Lincoln Center

David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center
20 Lincoln Center Plaza
January 5-7, $22-$167
212-496-0600
davidhkochtheater.com

Shanghai Dance Theatre makes its New York debut January 5-7 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center with Soaring Wings, an evening-length celebration of harmony about the “bird of good fortune,” the Japanese crested ibis. Set to traditional Chinese music, the environmentally conscious work celebrates the interdependence between nature and humanity, building the theme around the rediscovery of ibises in Shaanxi Province in 1981, thought to be in extinct in China and Japan as the result of twentieth-century modernization. Presented by China Arts and Entertainment Group as part of its Image China program, which began in 2009 “as a bridge of cultural exchanges between China and other countries,” Soaring Wings features more than two dozen dancers, including principals Zhu Jiejing and Wang Jiajun. Zhong Jiani’s lush, elegant costumes bring the endangered species to beautiful life; the show is written by Luo Huaizhen, with music by Guo Sida, direction and choreography by Tong Ruirui, lighting by Xing Xin, makeup by Xu Bin, and props by Li Hongchao. The award-winning Shanghai Dance Theatre, which was founded in 1979 and melds Chinese classical dance with ballet and folk traditions, has been traveling the world with Soaring Wings and such other productions as Fragrance, so its New York debut is greatly anticipated.

ALVIN AILEY AT LINCOLN CENTER 2016

Alvin Ailey’s June season at Lincoln Center includes artistic director Robert Battle’s AWAKENING

David H. Koch Theater
20 Lincoln Center Plaza
June 8-19, $25 – $90
212-496-0600
www.alvinailey.org
www.davidhkochtheater.com

In June 2013, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed at Lincoln Center for the first time in thirteen years. The late-spring season has now become an annual event, as the troupe, which takes over City Center every December, will be back at the David Koch Theater for the fourth straight year. From June 8 to 19, AAADT will present fourteen works across five programs, in addition to the opening-night gala. “Dance Trailblazers” consists of the world premiere of new La Scala Ballet director Mauro Bigonzetti’s Deep, Paul Taylor’s Piazzola Caldera, and the Ailey standard Revelations. “All Ailey” brings together Blues Suite, Love Songs, Cry, and Revelations. “Bold Visions” features Deep, Ulysses Dove’s Vespers, AAADT artistic director Robert Battle’s The Hunt, and Revelations. “Musical Inspirations” includes Ronald K. Brown’s Open Door, Battle’s Awakening, Judith Jamison’s A Case of You, and Revelations. And “21st Century Voices” highlights the latest additions to the repertory: Open Door, Battle’s No Longer Silent, Rennie Harris’s Exodus, and the world premiere of Kyle Abraham’s Untitled America: Second Movement.

TICKET ALERT: LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2016

Jonathan Pryce will play Shylock in Shakespeare’s Globe production of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE at Lincoln Center Festival this summer (photo by Manuel Harden)

Multiple venues at Lincoln Center
July 13-31, $30-$125
Tickets on sale now
www.lincolncenterfestival.org

For twenty years, one of the highlights of every summer arts season has been the Lincoln Center Festival, and 2016 is no exception, with another stellar lineup of dance, music, opera, and theater from around the globe. The festival begins with six presentations by Japan’s Kanze Noh Theatre at the Rose Theater in Jazz at Lincoln Center. Led by Grand Master Kiyokazu Kanze, the troupe, which rarely ventures outside its home country, will perform Okina with Kanze’s son, Saburota, and Hagoromo on July 13, Sumida Gawa, Busshi, and Shakkyo on July 14, Hagoromo, Kaki Yamabushi, and Sumida Gawa on July 15, Okina and Aoi No Ue on July 16 at 1:30, Hagoromo, Busshi, and Aoi No Ue on July 16 at 7:30, and Okina and Shakkyo on July 17. From July 13 to 16 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, visual artist Jennifer Wen Ma directs composer Huang Ruo’s Ming Dynasty romantic opera, Paradise Interrupted. Japan’s Takarazuka Revue will bring “All That Jazz” and more to the David H. Koch Theater July 20–24 with an all-female version of Chicago, with a rotating cast, lyrics in Japanese, and Bob Fosse’s original choreography. Shakespeare’s Globe, which recently staged the marvelous Broadway double shot of Twelfth Night and Richard III, will make its Lincoln Center debut July 20–24 at the Rose Theater with Jonathan Pryce in The Merchant of Venice, directed by Jonathan Munby. British company 1927 reinvents a traditional tale in Golem, incorporating animation, puppetry, crazy set design and costumes, and general absurdity July 26–31 at the Lynch.

Japan’s Takarazuka Revue will present an all-female version of CHICAGO at Lincoln Center Festival (photo by Maiko Miagawa and Nobuhiko Hikichi)

The National Ballet of Canada waltzes into the Koch Theater July 28–31 with Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon’s unique take on The Winter’s Tale, featuring music by Joby Talbot, scenic design by Tony winner Bob Crowley, and silk effects by Basil Twist. In addition, Goran Bregović’s Wedding and Funeral Orchestra marches into David Geffen Hall July 15–16; Reich/Reverberations pays tribute to Steve Reich July 16, 19, and 21 with Sō Percussion, Ensemble Signal, and JACK Quartet; C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord’s version of Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme goes for laughs July 20–24 at the Lynch, directed by Denis Podalydès and with choreography by Kaori Ito; musicians Wang Li and Wu Wei team up on July 23 at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse; and a few days later Sō Percussion’s Trilogy takes over the Penthouse, with Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting playing works by Reich, Dessner, and Lang on July 28, Xenakis, Ergun, and Trueman on July 29, and Cage, Lansky, and Mackey on July 30. There are various special ticket packages that can save you between twenty and thirty-five percent if you go for multiple shows, but those deals are going fast.

AILEY AT LINCOLN CENTER 2015

AAADT’s Antonio Douthit-Boyd and Linda Celeste Sims perform in Wayne McGregor’s CHROMA (photo by Paul Kolnik)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will be performing Wayne McGregor’s CHROMA for the last time at Lincoln Center, while also saying farewell to longtime dancer Antonio Douthit-Boyd (and his husband, fellow dancer Kirven Douthit-Boyd) (photo by Paul Kolnik)

David H. Koch Theater
20 Lincoln Center Plaza
June 10-21, $25 – $135
212-496-0600
www.alvinailey.org
www.davidhkochtheater.com

In June 2013, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed at Lincoln Center for the first time in thirteen years. The late-spring season is now becoming an annual event, as the troupe, which takes over City Center every December, will be back at the David Koch Theater for the third straight year. From June 10 to 21, AAADT will present eighteen works across fourteen programs, in addition to an opening-night gala. New pieces include the world premiere of Rennie Harris’s Exodus, the company premiere of artistic director Robert Battle’s No Longer Silent, and new productions of Talley Beatty’s Toccata and Judith Jamison’s “A Case of You” duet from Reminiscin’. Also on the schedule are Battle’s Strange Humors and whirlwind Takademe, Ronald K. Brown’s elegant Grace, Jacqulyn Buglisi’s female celebration Suspended Women, Ulysses Dove’s Bad Blood, Matthew Rushing’s overly earnest ODETTA, Hofesh Shechter’s exhilarating Uprising, and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain Pas de Deux, along with the Ailey classics Night Creature and Revelations. The Saturday afternoon family matinees will be followed by Q&As with the dancers, and Ailey Extension instructor Eddie Stockton will lead a free house dance class on June 11 at 6:00 on Josie Robertson Plaza, with music by DJ C Boogie. The company will also be presenting Wayne McGregor’s physically exertive Chroma for the final time while also saying goodbye to two longtime members, married couple Antonio and Kirven Douthit-Boyd, who will stay with Ailey through a Paris engagement at the Théâtre du Châtelet in July, then become the artistic directors of the Center of Creative Arts in St. Louis.

BALLET 422

Viewers are taken behind the scenes as Justin Peck creates a new work for New York City Ballet

BALLET 422 (Jody Lee Lipes, 2014)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center, Francesca Beale Theater, 144 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave., 212-875-5600
Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves., 212-330-8182
Opens Friday, February 6 (special advance screening February 3 at 7:00 at BAMcinématek)
www.magpictures.com

In Ballet 422, Jody Lee Lipes takes viewers behind the scenes as twenty-five-year-old New York City Ballet dancer Justin Peck choreographs the 422nd original piece for the prestigious company, Paz de la Jolla. One of fifty dancers in the Corps de Ballet, which the film calls “the lowest rank” of NYCB, Peck was named by company head Peter Martins to be the New York Choreographic Institute’s first active choreographer-in-residence for the 2011-12 season, and he is the only current NYCB dancer to choreograph for the company. Documentarian and cinematographer Lipes (NY Export: Opus Jazz, Tiny Furniture) focuses on the fascinating collaboration that goes into creating a ballet. “As a former soloist with New York City Ballet, I had long dreamed about pulling back the veil on the making of a new ballet,” producer Ellen Bar explains on the film’s Hatchfund page, which has raised more than $55,000 for the project. “Even as a dancer who was often part of the choreographic process, I never saw the other artistic and technical elements develop until the very end. Wouldn’t it be amazing to invite audiences into a world they can never visit in person and to let them watch it unfold in real time?” Lipes does just that, showing Peck and ballet master Albert Evans working out specific moves with principal dancers Sterling Hyltin, Amar Ramasar, and Tiler Peck; costumers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung discussing materials with the performers; Mark Stanley detailing the lighting design; and Peck meeting with conductor Andrews Sill, who reveals that the orchestra is not particularly fond of playing the ballet’s musical score, Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s “Sinfonietta la Jolla.”

Sterling Hytlin, Amar Ramasar, and Tiler Peck rehearse with Justin Peck on 422nd original piece for New York City Ballet

There are no talking heads in the film, no experts chiming in on the beauty and intricacy of ballet, no one pontificating on how unusual it is for such a young dancer to already be choreographing his fifth work for the company, following Year of the Rabbit, Tales of a Chinese Zodiac, In Creases, and Capricious Movements. No one stops and looks into the camera, sharing their fears, hopes, or dreams; Lipes doesn’t even identify who’s who, instead allowing the drama to play out sans editorial comment. A few times, the camera goes with Peck as he puts on his backpack and heads home to his unglamorous Queens apartment, and the surprise ending puts everything in fabulous perspective. You don’t have to love ballet or know anything about it to enjoy Ballet 422, an intimate, compelling inside look into the creative process, but don’t be surprised if you soon find yourself ordering tickets for an upcoming NYCB production — perhaps even Peck’s latest work for the company, a new interpretation of Aaron Copland’s Rodeo, which is having its premiere February 4 at the David H. Koch Theater. Ballet 422 opens February 6 at the Landmark Sunshine and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, where Lipes and Peck will participate in a Q&A following the 7:15 screening and will introduce the 9:35 show on February 6. In addition, the film is having a sneak peek February 3 at 7:00 as part of the BAMcinématek series “Two by Jody Lee Lipes,” followed by a Q&A with Lipes.

LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2014

Houston Grand Opera sails into the Park Avenue Armory with THE PASSENGER as part of Lincoln Center Festival (photo by Stephanie Berger)

Lincoln Center and other locations
July 7 – August 16, $45-$175
212-721-6500
www.lincolncenterfestival.org

Although there are only five companies presenting at this year’s Lincoln Center Festival, there is plenty to see at this annual summer event that makes creative use of the otherwise vacated spaces usually inhabited by the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and previously, the New York City Opera, in addition to other locations. The festival kicks off with the welcome return of Japanese Kabuki theater company Heisei Nakamura-za for the first time since the 2012 death of star actor Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII, but the centuries-old family legacy continues with his two sons, Nakamura Kankuro VI and Nakamura Shichinosuke II, leading a rare revival of the nineteenth-century samurai ghost story Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki (The Ghost Tale of the Wet Nurse Tree) at the Rose Theater July 7-12 ($45-$175). To heighten the atmosphere, Josie Robertson Plaza will be home to a Japanese Artisan Village through July 13, selling such items as nihon ningyo (hand-painted dolls), tenugui (cotton towels), and kanzashi (traditional hair ornaments). Award-winning Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker looks back at her past with four of her earliest pieces, 1982’s Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich, 1983’s Rosas danst Rosas, 1984’s Elena’s Aria, and 1987’s Bartók/Mikrokosmos, running July 8-16 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater ($35-$75). Now in her mid-fifties, De Keersmaeker will dance in two of the shows; she will also participate in a talk-back following the July 8 performance, a book presentation with Bojana Cvejić and moderator André Lepecki on July 12 (free and open to the public), and a discussion with Anna Kisselgoff on July 15 in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (free with advance tickets).

Isabelle Huppert and Cate Blanchett team up in Lincoln Center Festival presentation of THE MAIDS (photo © Lisa Tomasetti)

The Houston Grand Opera sails into the Park Avenue Armory July 10-13 ($45-$250) with director David Pountney’s English-language adaptation of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s The Passenger, the story of a former Nazi concentration camp overseer trying to escape her past; the impressive two-floor set consists of an ocean liner above and a prison camp below. Each performance will be preceded by a chamber concert by the ARC Ensemble playing works by Weinberg; in addition, there will be a special screening of Andrej Munk’s 1963 cinematic adaptation of Zofia Posmysz’s source novel on July 8 at 6:00 in the SHK Penthouse (free with advance tickets), followed by a discussion with Holocaust survivors and others. For the first time ever, the Bolshoi’s ballet, opera, orchestra, and chorus will appear together in New York City, beginning with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride July 12-13 at Avery Fisher Hall ($35-$100) and continuing with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake July 15-20 ($35-$125), Ludwig Minkus’s Don Quixote July 22-23 (with new choreography by Alexei Fadeyechev), and Aram Khachaturyan’s Spartacus July 25-27, all at the David H. Koch Theater. The festival concludes in a big way with the Sydney Theatre Company’s adaptation of Jean Genet’s The Maids, directed by Benedict Andrews and starring Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert, and Elizabeth Debicki, playing August 6-16 at New York City Center ($35-$120, partial view seats still available).