Opening the program, No, No…Yes, Yes… (New York Premier), this piece is a feast for the senses.  Energetically athletic and disturbingly perfect, this dance shows off their masterful technique and ability.  They enter and exit the stage as if they are “The Secretariat” attempting to achieve the Triple Crown.  Well, I would have to say, break out the history books and take note…  It’s a success!

In A Pebble In The Field, a commentary piece about the senselessness of war with music by Simon & Garfunkel and Jimi Hendrix, Jose Limon Dance Company member and Purchase alumni, Kathryn Alter, is simply delicious. Showing off her ability to convey a story, I’m ready for popcorn, a soda, and skip the previews, on to the main feature.  Watching here, I am embraced in a nice warm blanket!  Boy, do I like this feeling.  I am totally engrossed in this epic performance.

Next on the bill, is Chrysanthemum And The Sword.  A a rollercoaster of excitement, this piece explores Japanese actor, playwright, and poet, Yukio Mishima, who is most remembered for his ritual suicide after taking over  Tokyo’s military headquarters in order to restore his nation’s prewar imperial glory.  With an equally exciting score by Philip Glass, this is a true revelation.  Intense, heart wrenching, EMOTIONAL, a runaway train of beauty and precision…  I want more!  Dressed in beautiful costumes by Elena Comendador, the dancers are fine-tuned, like a baby grand piano, all in perfect pitch.  Leading this performance is Daniel Madoff (courtesy of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company) who performs like a meticulous craftsman wielding a Samurai sword with impeccable musicality.  Bravo! 

Saving the best for last, a real dance legend takes the stage.  In Haiku, Sarah Stackhouse (Jose Limon Dance Company) is an absolute vision.  Her mature, tender, and gentle approach is what all dancers should strive to achieve.  Like watching clouds on a perfectly warm summer day lying on a beach with a warm ocean breeze gently engulfing you, her performance quality makes you forget all worries of the world.  …Oh why can’t all days be this beautiful?

Overall, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater shows off their maturity and precision with welcomed detail and seasoned grace.  I leave this performance as if I have just seen the most amazing movie of all time.  With mature and youthful characters in all the leading roles, KHDT most definitely sweeps my Academy Awards!!!!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Devin Pullins
Performance:  Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater
Venue:  Ailey Citigroup Theater, NYC
Show Date:  October 10, 2010, 3pm
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I don’t know about you, but whenever I see the words “dance theater” at the end of a company’s name, I think to myself “please don’t let this be a combination of dance and bad acting.”   Companies can get away with that in the classical ballet world, but modern dance… uh, no!

However, contrary to my personal beliefs, Kazuko Hirabayashi has a refreshing approach to modern dance theater.  Her evening of both old and new works, Return to the Roots, at the Ailey CitiGroup Theater is a true testament of this.  The company members’ ability to display raw emotions and allow their movement to tell the story without overdramatizing their expression is what makes this show a real treat.

Despite the fact that the opening number, Mudai (1971), lists it’s premier date as nearly four decades ago, the movement still has an innovative quality that keeps the audience at a heightened level of curiosity. Hirabayashi incorporates unthinkable ways of lifting, partnering, and descending to the ground that is anything but traditional… I never know what to expect next!  The dancers are definitely on their leg in this piece as they maintain balance during long holds in arabesque and tilts.  Stacy Martorana sets the standard for the evening with her eye-grabbing stage presence and beautiful lines.

Speaking of the unexpected, Bereft, the second work of the evening, is just in a category within itself.  Unlike the first piece, Bereft is all about sex, love, seduction, and lust.  So, you know this one is clearly my personal fave…  This piece tells a slightly twisted tale of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden; however in this version, instead of Eve being tempted by the apple, she’s tempted by the devil himself- if you know what I mean.  And boy is he tempting!  Adrian Silver, who dances the character of the devil, is a force to reckoned with when he hits the stage!  Be ready for full out movement paired with all encompassing emotion. 

Now, one of my favorite moments is Eve’s first entrance onstage in a large plastic sphere that she emerges from, like an angel, with the air from the sphere blowing both her hair and top back to reveal her bare chest.  Also, a hot duet, between Eve (Kathryn Alter) and the devil (Adrian Silver), leaves very little to the imagination with vividly suggestive gestures. The not so elusive underdog, Adam (John Hindrichs) is anything but an underdog in his performance quality, focus, and ability to make the audience relate to his emotions.

Next on the program is Haiku, a premiere solo performed by Sarah Stackhouse. After seeing a series of high legs and jumps and bare chests, the last thing I thought to see would be an older, wiser, and more serene woman grace the stage.  When the lights come up, I see two large rocks placed at opposite corners of the stage.  Sarah Stackhouse silences the audience the minute she steps on stage and begins to move.  She gives “full out” a brand new meaning as she creates an atmosphere of humility and reflection that pulls the audience into her world.  Stackhouse performs as if every movement made is informed and precise in intention.  This piece is definitely a highlight of the evening.

Hirabayashi ends the first half of the show on a bright note with another premiere, Light is Calling.  This piece is just pure fun to watch! The dancers all seem to move solely for the joy of dance.  Despite the jazziness of the piece, Hirabayashi had very quirky moves and gestures that gave the piece an interesting edge.  Janelle Smith particularly caught my attention in this piece with her energy and never ending lines.  Get it, girl!  Yaaaas.

After a brief intermission, the evening ended with a premiere of The Spring, a piece based on the Japanese Ainu bear sacrifice ceremony.  Performed to Le Sacre du Printemps by Stravinsky, The Spring is a superb modern day rendition of the original Rite of Spring – a daring but successful feat for Hirabayashi.  In this company piece, the entire cast turns it up a notch and really delivers strength, uniformity, athleticism, and musicality.  Selena Elaine Chau, in character of the bear, steals the Ms. Fierce/Sexy Beast award for the evening with her standout performance!  Not only is she wholly present in her role with her animalistic nature, but she also gives "the leg," gives more vert in her jumps than most basketball players, and pulls it all off wearing a net unitard!  Yes… WERK!

Return to the Roots is an eclectic display of Hirabayashi’s artistry.  She has a unique voice that sings strongly with individuality and reinvention.  She keeps her audience fully engaged with the element of surprise and the unknown.  I’m curious to see what she has up her sleeve for the future.  As a heads up…be prepared for the unexpected.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Simone Sobers
Performance:  Kazuko Hirabayashi
Choreography:  Kazuko Hirabayashi
Venue:  Ailey CitiGroup Theater
Show Date:  Friday, October 23, 2009

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Friday, October 23 – 9pm
Saturday, October 24 – 8pm
Sunday, October 25 – 3pm

 
Ailey Citigroup Theater
Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th Street at 9th Ave.
New York, New York 10019

The Spring (WORLD PREMIERE), a large ensemble piece set to Igor Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps”, explores the traditional ritual of the “iomante” ceremony celebrated by the Ainu, the indigenous inhabitants of Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan. Deities such as the black bear, who delivers fur and meat to the Ainu, are indispensable to their lives. The Ainu bear sacrifice is a ceremony to send the spirit of the bear back to its own world, thus ensuring a bountiful hunt.

Haiku (WORLD PREMIERE) is a solo for Sarah Stackhouse, a former lead dancer with the Jose Limon Dance Company, about whom Jennifer Dunning wrote, “Her gifts have been forged in the fire of dance history.” The accompaniment is "Two Haiku" by Basho set tothe music of Joji Yuasa, “Koto Uta Basho’ s 5 Haiku.”

Light Is Calling (WORLD PREMIERE) is a joyous escapade for six dancers to a section of music of the same title by contemporary composer Michael Gordon.

Mudai (1971) is a revival of a quartet to an organ score by the late German-Argentinean composer Mauricio Kagel features performances by Daniel Madoff of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Jeremy Nedd, formerly of Hubbard Street 2. In a 1978 review in the NY Times, Jennifer Dunning wrote: Mudai is “a work of clarity and invention…one of Miss Hirabayashi’s more sculptural dances, and like many of the works she choreographed then it grants… the same rare sense of vitality to the space between shapes as does a formal Japanese garden.”

Bereft (2008) is an ensemble piece featuring eleven dancers Kathryn Alter of the Jose Limon Dance Company, set to the documentary film score, "Koyaanisqatsi", by Philip Glass.  Based on the story of Genesis, Bereft proceeds from the point when Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden of Eden.  Jennifer Dunning called the work "a dark, swirling maelstrom".

DANCERS—–  Sarah Stackhouse, Kathryn Alter, Daniel Madoff, Selena Chau, John Hinrichs, Stacy Martorana, Jeremy Nedd, Adrian Silver, Alenka Cizmesija, David Claps, Giovanna Gamna, Kyle Gerry, Kathryn MacLellan, Hanan Misko, Luke Murphy, Rio Tasia Smith, Jessica Stanelle, Meggi Sweeney, Hiroko Yanagawa

For reservations email KHDTinfo@gmail.com or call 212-966-6414

Tickets: $20/$15 student

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Formed in 1971, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre’s work is drawn from Ms. Hirabayashi’s unique background.  It combines her firm base in classical and modern American dance with her Japanese heritage and its Eastern philosophical and artistic assumptions.  She appeared with the Martha Graham Dance Company as a dancer, and also served in many capacities at the Martha Graham Center.  Ms. Hirabayashi currently serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Alvin Ailey Dance Theater School.  She is the graduate program director at SUNY-Purchase; and is the director of dance for the Burgos Summer Program in Spain, which has expanded this past summer with the implementation of a Paris program.  Ms. Hirabayashi is a recipient of the Doris Humphrey Choreography Fellowship, and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council for the Arts.

This program is made possible in part by the Soar Grant from the Asian American Arts Alliance.

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