Dance Review: Sir MacMillian, Duato, and Young Soon Hue…. Oh My! -Tulsa Ballet at The Joyce

August 14, 2009 by iDANZ Today
Filed under Ballet, iDANZ Critix Corner -Dance Reviews, iDANZ Features

Sir MacMillian, Duato, and Young Soon Hue….
Oh My!

Tulsa Ballet is tearing through New York City right now, and I have had the pleasure of seeing their brilliance Tuesday Night at the Joyce Theatre. Although they have not been seen in NYC in over 20 years, I wish to say this . . Tulsa Ballet better not make us wait another 20 before coming back to town because it has spectacular performers that need to be seen with the chops to perform very difficult work with veracity, technical perfection, beautiful precision, and personality!

The evening starts with Sir Kenneth Macmillian’s, Elite Syncopations. Though I found that most of the choreography itself to be a little lack luster, the company members of Tulsa sold it. With such over the top performances which matched their eye popping costumes, I am immediately seduced by the quirky and fun piece simply because the company holds nothing back, and share all they have right up front. Group sections are danced in synch without missing a step; duets and solos are performed with honesty and connection to each other and with the audience. They are a breath of fresh air and I couldn’t wait for more.

Nacho Duato, one of my favorite choreographers, has his piece up next. Originally set on Compania Nacional Danza in 1996, Por Vos Muero seems as though it is created for this company. Each dancer of the Tulsa Ballet embodies the aesthetic of Duato’s intricate work perfectly … especially the unstoppable and gorgeously ferocious, Serena Chu.

Where to begin with such a fierce piece???

The opening, dancers slowly running in place in flesh tone tights, accompanied by old Spanish music and text, immediately sets an entirely different tone of the previous work. Before you know it, you have women, with hand-held masks running dressed in 18th century looking dresses, flowing beautifully throughout with gorgeous dancing and choreography, then in come the men in velvet capes, with old church incense burners hanging from chains encircling, hiding, and revealing a soloist. The piece completely takes my breath away. It is a whirlwind of ferocious dancing, and phenomenally performed neo-classical work! I am left totally breathless by the piece and Tulsa’s deep understanding and performance of it.

Finishing off the program is This Is Your Life, choreographed by Young Soon Hue on Tulsa in 2008. An interesting take on the 1950’s game show, the piece begins with the characters sitting in chairs across the stage and an MC talking to and interpreting for the "contestants" on the "show." After hearing a brief synopsis about each of their stories, you get a performance from each of them, solos, duets, group sections. It is another display of the company’s virtuosic dancers excelling at contemporary classical work. For This is Your Life, it goes beyond just dancers doing the steps well; these artists have quality and fire. Each dancer brings themselves to the marley and leave nothing unexposed. I feel that I know each one of them so well by the end of this piece; I am a little sad for it to be over.

I have never left a ballet performance feeling so enraptured and inspired by not only the showmanship, but also the life the dancers bring to the work. These divas are NO JOKE!! Watch out because Oklahoma has a little secret and, thanks to the performance I just saw at The Joyce, the cat is out of the bag. Tulsa you can hide no longer, and NYC hopes to see a lot more of you.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio
Performance: Tulsa Ballet Company
Venue: The Joyce Theater, New York City
Date: August 11, 2009
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