Since 2004, the New York City Center has been educating New Yorkers on the art of dance. Fall for Dance is a great show that helps expose individuals to a great way of properly understanding the various facets of this form of art. Every year the show incorporates new works into their show and it makes for a great experience. It acts as a great introductory to the different dance forms and categories, which is especially necessary with today’s fast-paced generation.
While squeezing through the tight aisles to get to our seats, what really caught my eye was the stage. Having been to the New York City Center prior to the event, this time, I felt as if I was in a whole new theatre.
Credits to Metronews
The first exhibition was from Ballet West, directed by Adam Sklute. This particular dance was called “Grand Pas From Paquita.” Paquita is a Russian ballet in two acts and three scenes, founded in the mid 19th century to help shed light on Russian ballerinas. The Ballet West did a great job of carrying on the tradition. Their choreography involved a constant flow of smooth movement that was left undisturbed. All the dancers were in sync and able to follow each other flawlessly. Their costumes were appropriate for their dance and blended right into the atmosphere of the theatre.
The second act was called the “High Heel Blues” brought to us by the Tu Dance Company and directed by Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands. This was, without a doubt, my favorite performance of the night. The dance added an aspect of humor to the show and was greatly refreshing. The darker colors worked perfectly with the general theme, with the black clothes from the dancers to the purple light being cast on stage. As the only dance to provide a voice and words with the movement, it proved as a great way to introduce a generation like mine to the arts. Although the voice was off stage, the dancers did a magnificent job of following the lyrics and guiding the audience through the meaning of the production.
The Nan Jombang dance company, along with their director Ery Mefri, had me wondering if I was in a dance show or a roller coaster. There were moments when I felt I was in the presence of true art and there were moments when I considered walking out. Their piece, “Tarian Malam,” (also called Night Dances) was created just a few months prior to Fall for Dance and came from the group’s Indonesian roots. It started out with a woman of Asian descent almost crying on stage. The depth of her voice conveyed sorrow throughout the theatre. The use of weary orange clothes helped reinforce the idea of humility in the dance, along with Asian influences. Then Mefri made the use of live instruments and even music from the dancers tapping their own bodies. The dancers were jumping over each other to get to the next instrument and the rush in their movement made the production very invigorating, as if it were displaying acrobatics. It was great for someone of my generation, who is used to a more fast-paced form of dance. However, Mefri had the show going with infrequent breaks of silence and additional sorrow from the dancers. For someone relatively new to dance like myself, it was a pleasant experience, interrupted by many unpleasant halts.
Credits to Suite of Moldavian Dance
The final dance was “Moiseyev’s Classics,” by the Moiseyev Dance Company. Director Elena Shcherbakova wonderfully ended the show on an artistically playful note. She decided to focus on the dance of the Kalmyks, the Tartars, the Bessarabians, and the Moldavians. The Kalmyks danced to show their connection to animals, however, that was very difficult to infer from Shcherbakova’s work. The Tartars danced to show life in a small village, which through the dance was easily detected. The Bessarabians wanted to convey a tension between men and women through dance and Shcherbakova did a great job of recreating that on stage. The costumes were far more colorful than the previous performances and helped to keep the production playful and energizing. The final Moldavian dance successfully portrayed the Moldavian folk dance with the dancers forming a “boisterous round dance.”
Fall for Dance is a show that is a great stepping-stone for those willing to get exposed and educated in dance. It provides many elements that keep a fast-paced New Yorker generation like mine interested and simultaneously instills new information in us about the arts. I plan to be there next year as well.
