by Joel Benjamin

Five programs of four dance companies each in two weeks? A public feast at such reasonable ticket prices at the New York City Center

Five programs of four dance companies each in two weeks?  Where in the world can the public feast on so much dance at such reasonable ticket prices if not the New York City Center’s Fall for Dance 2014?  Each of the programs displayed the wares of four dance troupes, ranging from ethnic to modern to classical ballet and each had a least one stand out.  Programs One and Four, the ones I attended were greeted with the usual ovations and revealed some trends in choreography that were both fascinating and irritating.  A mood of cool detachment ruled, with a few exceptions.

Photos courtesy of City Center

Program One began with a bang.  Black Grace from New Zealand presented “Minoi” and “Pati Pati,” combining modern dance with traditional Samoan movements.  The vision of hunky men and women stomping and gesturing to pounding rhythms with split-second timing was quite exciting, even if the visceral thrill covered up the lack of choreographic variation.

The San Francisco Ballet contributed Hans Van Manen’s way-too-bland “Variations for Two Couples” to music by Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, J.S. Bach and Astor Piazzolla was exquisitely danced by Sofiane Sylve, Luke Ingham, Vanessa Zahorian and Carlos Quenedit.  In front of Keso Dekker’s simple hanging set piece which evoked a horizon, they moved smoothly through Van Manen’s elastic partnered steps, coolly showing off extensions, knotty lifts and classical line.  The couples rarely interacted so it was difficult to see in the movements why these people were dancing together, but, the pictures they made were pleasant, if not sensual.

Ralph Maliphant/Sadler’s Wells London’s “Two x Two” to quietly repetitive music by Andy Cowton presented its two dancers, Fang-Yi Sheu and Yuan Yuan Tan in separate spotlights moving as if doing T’ai Chi Chu’an.  They were controlled and intense, suggesting grief, but “Two x Two” was basically a  wisp of a dance.

The highlight of this program was the world premiere of Mark Morris’s “Words” danced by the Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble to a selection of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Songs without Words.”

With just the simplest of movement palettes he created a little community out of which emerged flirtatious, sad, romantic and mature couples.  Using a large swath of cloth moved quietly across the stage as a way of clearing off one section and bringing on the next, “Words,” though a tad long, was smooth and sweet, refreshingly musical in the way only Mark Morris can be.

Program Four began with Brian Brooks Moving Company joined by Juilliard Dance in a large scale work, “Torrent,” to Max Richter’s electronic reconsideration of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”  The dancers kept spreading out in long lines which broke up sequentially into unconnected solos and mini-group sections.  The line-up was the recurring theme which gave “Torrent” its loose form.  The movements were generally curved and smooth with occasional quick position changes or jagged legs.  They rarely formed duets, making this a picture of an alienated urban community, exaggerated by the bare to the back wall setting.

“Ostinato,” choreographed by Tim Harbour to shimmering, Satie-esque piano music (played beautifully by Brian Cousins) was the work representing the Australian Ballet.  A cool boy-girl-boy trio in subdued light, “Ostinato,” a world premiere, began with the two men wandering about in their pale outfits, soon joined by a woman whose presence barely registered as a sexually provocative—or even a sensual—intrusion.  Despite a pretentious program note promising “mystery,” there was none.  The three dancers stuck to modern classical ballet with its fluid upper torso and sudden turning in of legs, but never were permitted by the choreography to generate any heat.

One of the new and glamorous choreographic wunderkinds, Benjamin Millepied provided his “Closer” to the program, danced by members of BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Céline Cassone and Alexander Hille with Brigitte Poulin on the piano playing the quietly pulsating Philip Glass score.  Dressed in what looked like chic workout outfits (by Simon Bélanger & José Manuel St.-Jacques), the pair kept entwining their limbs with little passion.  Despite his flinging her about occasionally they generally made pretty pictures as the duet plodded on seeming to exist only to pay respect to Philip Glass’s music.  Just as in “Ostinato,” nothing really happened, but it happened prettily.

The final work, “Students of the Asphalt Jungle” by Dr. Rennie Harris was danced by his Rennie Harris Puremovement troupe of beefy, bare-chested men who paraded about until exploding into an attention grabbing hiphop competition full of popping, spinning, flipping, somersaulting and pirouettes on their heads!  Despite a pretense of “social significance”—Martin Luther King, Jr. was quoted at the beginning—“Students” was the most exciting work of the evening.

Fall for Dance 2014 – October 8-19, 2014
New York City Center
131 West 55^th St. (between 6^th & 7^th Aves.)
New York, NY

Tickets and Information:  212-581-1212 or www.nycitycenter.org