Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has appointed the third artistic director in its history. Glenn Edgerton previously held the post of associate artistic director with the company. Read The Chicago Tribune article.
The Celebrity Series has presented Hubbard Street Dance Chicago four times: in 2009, 2006, 2004, and in 1985.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Director and choreographer Bill T. Jones' musical Fela!, about the late Nigerian afro-pop musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti is headed to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theater in the Fall following a successful off-Broadway stint and 2 2009 Lucille Lortel Awards: New York Times article.
The Celebrity Series of Boston has presented the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company twice, in 2003 and 2004.
Annie Leibovitz's iconic protrait of Merce Cunningham
Choreographer Merce Cunningham, at 90 years of age, has announced plans for what will happen to his dance company when he passes and how his work will continue to be performed. Here is brief outline from the Associated Press:
"The company and the foundation will close at a date to be determined after a two-year international tour, including a final New York performance with tickets he wants sold for only $10, foundation officials said in a statement. All assets — from costumes and props to audio and video footage — are to be transferred to the nonprofit Merce Cunningham Trust, which he has established to document his cutting-edge movements, sets and costumes."
This seems a blueprint any number of artists could follow. Still a leader after all this time.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Sweet Honey In The Rock in Hope Boykin's "Go in Grace"
David Perkins reviewed Tuesday evening's Alvin Ailey American Dance theater performance at The Opera House:
"When Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returned to Boston on Tuesday, beginning a seven-performance run celebrating the company's 50th anniversary, two things were immediately apparent. One, this is no empty relic of a company: Twenty years after the founding genius's death, its spirit is vibrant, its dancers' commitment to every gesture total (down to the final extension of fingers and toes), and Ailey's choreography as fresh and moving as if it had been created yesterday. Two, it takes a lot of talent to add something of equal weight to a program featuring his work."
Read all of Ailey troupe is as vital as ever
Programs continue through Sunday - good seats available for all remaining performances - visit www.celebrityseries.org for programs, times and tickets.
Keith Powers covered Tuesday's Ailey opening at The Opera House for the Boston Herald. Here's a snipette:
"The Celebrity Series hosted Tuesday night’s Opera House party for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The varied programs for each of this week’s performances, which continue through Sunday, are a tribute to the ensemble’s vigor."
Read all of Dance party: Alvin Ailey company celebrates 50 years of groundbreaking performances.
Go in Grace is the unique new work by Ailey dancer/choreographer Hope Boykin that opens the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's 50th Anniversary engagement at The Opera House this evening. It features the electrifying a capella vocal ensemble, Sweet Honey In The Rock live and on stage with the dancers of the Ailey company.
Check out this video excerpt of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Mauro Bigonzetti's Festa Barocca, which gets its Boston premiere on Friday, May 1 and repeats on Saturday, May 2 at 8pm.
The good folks at Misstropolis hosted a short essay contest amongst readers with the winners receiving tickets to next week's Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 50th Anniversary Celebration at The Opera House, and they were good enough to share the winning entries with us:
"Just a quick note to enter your contest for tickets to Alvin Ailey. We're not terribly graceful in our family. Both of our girls tried dance but just didn't have the right physicality for it. Still we've encouraged them to love dance by making a family tradition of seeing the Urban Nutracker and other performances. And our kids, now adolescents, continue to grow in their body confidence through the sports they've come to love: soccer and martial arts. We parents are also huge fans of Sweet Honey in the Rock and seeing them with Alvin Ailey with our kids would give us a glow that would last for weeks, and years of memories. Hope you'll consider us when you do your drawing."
"I just got the Misstropolis email and I am very excited about this opportunity. I started dancing when I was three years old (my mother put my sister and I into dance lessons) at a very young age. I really believe that our dance preparation and lessons on a weekly basis lead us to be who we are today. I obviously have a strong passion for dance due to my long standing involvement in the dance industry. Although, I think that daily lessons, consistency from dance and expression lead people who have that background to live successful lives. The values you take away from your instructors, the friendships, and the passion for health and exercise live with me today. I go to Alvin Ailey every year, it is a tradition for me and my sister...I would love to win this prize!"
"Here is why I would LOVE to win the Alvin Ailey tickets. I have seen and have been mesmerized by the marketing and advertising for this amazing group of dancers. For whatever reason, I have never been to see them in person. The fluidity of their dance and strength of their bodies, but used in such a manner of grace and elegance is nothing short of amazing. a second reason would be that I would love an excuse to go on a date with my tween daughter and inspire the arts within her soul as well(although i beleive there is a spark there already!)"
"Watching the Alvin Ailey dancers celebrate life, dance, passion, love and the human form would bring me such joy. Seeing them would add a much needed element of hope and celebration during these difficult days.Thank you for considering me."
Last week's NDT2 performance will not make dance critic Thea Singer's list of her favorite things (I can't speak to doorbells, sleighbells or schnitzels with noodle), but she did enjoy one of the pieces:
"Just four minutes long, [Shutters Shut] - danced with crackling wit by Jin Young Won and Anton Valdbauer - brings Gertrude Stein's 1912 poem 'If I told him: A completed portrait of Picasso' to snapping life. Lightfoot Leon's gestural vocabulary - scratches and tongue licks, head wags and he-man posturing - translates Stein's perseverative rhythmic meanderings into a whole new medium. It's not a music but a word visualization - each syllable, each beat embodied and made full-blown."
My only quibble is that the choreographers in question are Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, not "Lightfoot Leon." Though NDT2s materials were quite ambiguous on this point and to date have created numerous Lightfoot Leon's all over the web.
So there, posted for your pleasure, are the positive bits. Here, in the interest of transparency (if you consider linking to something a newspaper has published transparency), is the link to the rest: Their journey stops short.
P.S. - I agree with Thea about the dancers: they're fantastic.
Mark Morris Dance Group in "V"
I offer here, gentle reader, a few observations from this weekend's Mark Morris Dance Group engagement at the Cutler (presented by, ahem, Celebrity Series of Boston):
Thea Singer reviewed for The Boston Globe. I'll post more as the links come my way.
