On Dance
GRESKOVIC, ROBERT
OnDance THE JOFFREY COLLECTION by robert greskovic JL ^^obert Joffrey commands attention with the number of seldom performed ballets he has amassed over the years for the repertoire of his...
...Britain's Anthony Dowell was present as a guest artist—to galvanize the proceedings, I suppose—but his delivery proved pale, unconfident and somewhat bewildered...
...Jazz, a freshly revived work by Jerome Robbins...
...reconstructed and orchestrated by Hershey Kay) is a witty, brilliant duet of competition...
...But it doesn't work out that way in this case...
...This loving look at 19th-century ice-skating manners has a tuneful, robust score by Meyerbeer and was thoughtfully reconstructed and staged by the Royal Ballet's Brian Shaw only last year...
...Despite the number of laughs at the premiere performance, I trust it safe to surmise Preludes is no joke to Araiz...
...Moreover, here the cast of 16, casually clothed in sweatshirts, sneakers and sweatsocks, dances appropriately relaxed and knowingly tough...
...This 1847 Saint-Leon dance (reconstructed by Ann Hutchinson Guest) is one of the rarest of Joffrey's revivals, and ever since its reintroduction by the company last year I have been curious about its scholarship...
...A few other ballets also fell short, though not because of the dancers...
...and Offenbach in the Underworld—a rarely seen dance by Anthony Tudor...
...A Wedding Bouquet (1937)—the most recent Ashton acquisition—has a double score: a musical composition by Lord Berners, who also did the cheerful sets and costumes, and a spoken text by Gertrude Stein...
...If they didn't have Arpino to contend with, they might do this well more often...
...As rendered here by Ann Marie de Angelo and Glenn Dufford it was a joyless business...
...The occasion is a French provincial wedding, consisting of family, friends, household servants, and pet dog...
...Having begun his association with Joffrey as a dancer, he is now the resident choreographer and might best be defined as the flip-side of the company coin: Whereas Joffrey sets his sights on the past, both immediate and distant, Arpino is concerned with the "now," constantly producing new works— sometimes two or more per season...
...One thing that remained particularly unchanged was the lack of a notable performer in the role of "Death...
...The fault was all too apparent in the first half of the Joffrey's recent six-week New York season...
...Ashton's Les Patineurs (1937) was typical...
...And yet the unfortunate fact is that his group's performances do not always live up to the importance or interest of the pieces...
...After just one year in the company, Mark Goldweber—who is not yet 20 and performs the leading role of the "blue skater"—was extremely exaggerated and coarse where he used to exude a carefulness and sweetness: He whacked into jumps and contorted his line merely to stick his arabesque leg a few inches higher...
...What a horrifying experience it was, then, to see its intricacies and virtuosity undone by a forced, overattacked performance...
...In theory at least, programs that combine the historical with the original should help balance a company's personality...
...the pas de six from La Vivandiere—a reconstruction of a mid-19th-century work of Arthur Saint-Leon...
...Because it comes out of the period when pointe work was just beginning to develop, one expects the use of sustained pointe positions to be at a minimum...
...His was, one suspected, a good example of what happens to a young dancer reared on a diet of Arpino next to Ashton, or any other major choreographer...
...De Angelo, owner of two of the most powerful and unsightly legs in ballet, executed the leg and foot work of her part with an emphasis on attack rather than on articulation...
...ooss' The Green Table—with a subtitle of "Danse Macabre in Eight Scenes"—with its broad emphases, was happily more appropriate to the Joffrey style...
...De Angelo and Dufford were even more misplaced and misshapen as the lead couple in La Viviandiere...
...Thus when a hard-edged performance was for once actually called for, the Joffrey provided a mushy light-weight...
...For Arpino requires dancers to contort and/or splay academic positions, often at breakneck speeds that undermine their classical schooling...
...This season's new production, supervised by Jooss' daughter, Anna Markard, did not differ much from the company's previous readings of the work...
...OnDance THE JOFFREY COLLECTION by robert greskovic JL ^^obert Joffrey commands attention with the number of seldom performed ballets he has amassed over the years for the repertoire of his company...
...It was not unenjoyable, but neither did it reflect the elaborate care that went into it...
...Although both dancers are young and possess certain physical strengths that should enhance their art, they nevertheless managed to exemplify the Joffrey at its most misguided...
...Yet the four demisoloists and the lead ballerina strike balances and turns on pointe with a frequency that is questionable...
...Then some change partners while others are left out (seething in fits of jealousy, presumably...
...And one's suspicions were confirmed upon viewing Goldweber slashing his way—with sautes that flipped midair, grands jetes that split wildly, and arabesques that penched by kicking—through Suite Saint-Saens, an Arpino work that premiered last season...
...The Big City, Pavane on the Death of an Infanta, Ball in Old Vienna, The Green Table—all early and mid-20th century expressionist pieces by Germany's Kurt Jooss...
...Conserva-toriet, and the pas de six from William Tell—by Denmark's August Bournon-ville...
...Still, suspicious as I was about the accuracy of some of the steps reproduced, I was left totally incredulous by de Angelo as the ballerina...
...The finger-snapping, foot-stomping choreography was complemented by the smartly executed versions of Ben Shahn's sets and costumes, and by Robert Princer's moody score...
...The butler, of course, gets to have "his" from both sides...
...This, in turn, warps their abilities to execute creations by choreographers with different, less driven, outlooks...
...Oscar Araiz' Chopin Preludes (set, appropriately, to Chopin) was considerably more disappointing...
...Christian Holder, who has danced the part more or less exclusively of late, continued to pussyfoot his way through it as if he were a drum-major strutting through a half-time routine...
...Facade, The Dream, Monotones, Jazz Calendar, Les Patineurs, A Wedding Bouquet—the largest sample of Frederick Ashton's choreography outside England's Royal Ballet (his home company...
...De Angelo ruined the effect by accentuating the leg work...
...The choreographer has his cast of "relationshippers"—heterosexuals and homosexuals—take turns at duets...
...Even if you find some of the "alienation" overtone a worn cliche, at least the well-designed steps and formations tell you you're in the presence of a dancemaster...
...The one occasion where it all came together for the Joffrey was N. Y. Export: Op...
...When one adds to this list early creations by Jerome Robbins, a few nuggests by George Balanchine and some specialties by Twyla Tharp, one realizes how discerning Joffrey's collector's eye can be...
...Dufford has a low waist, shortish limbs, an extremely long, thin neck, and an exceptionally free hip joint—all of which contributed to making his dancing look loose and rubbery where it should have been long and fine...
...Her gargouillades aimed more for jacking-up her knees than for circling her feet, and her em-boite and temps de fleche kicks clawed the air instead of springing from the floor...
...By focusing on playfulness for the feet, the dance tries to achieve a certain lightness...
...As performed by Patricia McBride and Edward Villella, for whom it was created, it can make your head spin from delight...
...Tarantella, a 1964 pas de deux by Balanchine (with music by Louis Gott-schalk...
...Even a partial list testifies to the singularity of his accumulation: Parade, Le Tricorne, Pulcinella—all of Leon-ide Massine's ballets with decor by Picasso...
...It involves 10 "characters," color-coded by costumes: white for innocents, black for meanies and a black and white combo for a go-between, who is really the butler...
...Stein's words rhyme, pun and repeat rhythms as the characters dance and mime numerous details of inconclusive incidents...
...The man responsible for this is Gerald Arpino...
...As for Dufford, complex as his partnering feats and solo moves were, he need not be forgiven for overjumping his air turns and entrechats...
Vol. 61 • December 1978 • No. 25
