Category Archives: Performances

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Fall For Dance

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I should start this by admitting that I know very little about dance, especially what makes professional dance good. I also went into this event expecting to dislike the majority of the performances, and “Concerto” did little to dispel these expectations. I found Lucinda Childs’s “Concerto” to be overly repetitive, as both the music and the dance seemed to loop. Fortunately, the rest of the performances were very entertaining. “Neue Suite” by Semperoper Ballett Dresden was a great performance because each segment was slightly different. The segments seemed to work from more classical ballet to more modern ballet, as both the dance and the music progressed. “AP15” by Sebastien Ramirez and Honji Wang was an outstanding display of chemistry. Both Ramirez and Wang were so in sync and were able to express a story through their dance. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s “Minus 16” was the most interesting performance because it was not a conventional dance. I felt this performance was designed entirely to convey a deeper message. While the other performances likely tried to convey messages of their own, they seemed more focused on sticking to a more conventional dance style. I would have to say my favorite performance on the night was “Neue Suite” because each segment was slightly different from the one before and each one took an incredible amount of skill.

Anthony Cacchione

Fall For Dance

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I have been waiting to write this post because I absolutely love dance and believe that it is one of the greatest forms of expression of emotions. It is one of my passions! I apologize because this will probably be a lengthy blog post.

I am ever thankful to Professor Drabik for giving Nabila and me Orchestra seats because they were absolutely wonderful. Because we were so close to the stage, we could experience the action happening on the stage. We could feel the dancers’ energy and the emotions that they portrayed with their performance. It was absolutely wonderful! I genuinely wish that our entire class could have had such incredible seats and I am sure that this way we all would have enjoyed the dancing even more.

I found a very interesting review from The New York Times about Fall for Dance by Alastair Macaulay (ironically). However, I do not necessarily agree with the author.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/arts/lucinda-childs-and-alvin-ailey-troupe-at-fall-for-dance.html

Lucinda Childs’s “Concerto” did not impress the author of the article at all and I many spectators disliked this piece as well. In contrast, I really enjoyed this dance because it reminds me of Merce Cunningham, a pioneer of contemporary dance. In the very precise dance sequence, the dancers had upright posture and there were moments of stillness. The dancers wore black attire in order to emphasize the movements of the body. Moreover, the females’ hair was pulled back to make it seem as if there was no difference between the male and female dancers. This further emphasized the bodies of the dancers. Overall, I believe that this was an inspiring performance due to its minimalism. It was a wonderful introduction to the other performances.

Dresden’s Semperoper Ballet did not interest the New York Times’ journalist as well. “Nueu Suite” was actually my favorite performance this evening. Macaulay described it as being “inexpressive,” though this performance was everything but inexpressive. The modern ballet was amazing with all the jumps, footwork and lunges. The performers were wonderful. In addition, I thought that each performance portrayed a different mood and feeling. The first performance had a romantic aura, the dancers in red were passionate, and the dancers in purple seemed to be bickering through their dance and movements. The final performance drew a connection between old-school ballet and contemporary dance. This was certainly an astounding performance that I really enjoyed. I believe that the New York Times’ journalist overlooked this performance.

Sebastien Ramirez and Hanji Wang were fantastic as well. I admire how Ramirez and Wang made their performance seem very casual and natural. They awe-struck the entire audience with their very modern, “circusy” (as Alastair Macaulay calls it) performance.

Ailvin Ailey’s Dance crew made an impressive statement as well. This performance was a favorite this night. The performance combined humor, dance and strong messages. In my opinion, the dancers were making a political and a social statement in two of the performances. In the performance involving the audience, apparently one of the women is an American ballerina that will present her performance later this week and others may have been professional dancers as well. I admired this performance; yet, I believe that perhaps the choreographer tried to combine too many things into one performance.

Finally, I just want to mention that I noticed that all the dancers that danced this evening had a fundamental ballet education. I find this very interesting because contemporary dance tends to distance itself from ballet in order to emphasize other movements.

Anyway, what do you guys think about this article? What you agree/disagree with?

Thank You Professor Drabik for taking us to see this wonderful performance!

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City Center is beautiful!

 

Angelika

Experiences with dance at The New York City Center

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Lucinda Childs Dance Company : CONCERTO

Professor Drabik, I apologize for my abrupt, extreme, unqualified statement that the music accompanying the first dance was horrible. I took the time to listen to a recording of a 1980 performance of Mr. Górecki’s concerto today. I admire the overwhelming volume of the orchestra and the ceaseless fugue on the harpsichord. There’s passion expressed in this music, and it is expressed well. I also discovered what I heartily, passionately disliked about how the dance group handled this passionate piece of music. It sounded like they took a snippet of it and choppily and glaringly looped it. Was it intentional, a workaround for an unexpected failure, or simply a lack of attention to the music? I suspect it was intentional, but then why?

Here’s a demonstration of the choppy looping they did:

I hope you now understand why I was disgusted with the music–not because of the musical content, but rather because of how it was arranged / excerpted.

Semperoper Ballett Dresden : NEUE SUITE

I saw in this performance a progression from classical to modern dance. I can see the emphasis it placed on physical interaction by the sinuous movement of the first dancers.

Sébastien Ramirez & Honji Wang : AP15

This is the dance that I have no reservations about. Everything flowed naturally–the music was smooth and the pair of dancers were fluid. I haven’t seen many forms of dance before; all the performances I saw yesterday are new to me. This dance, however, caught my attention more than all of the others before it because of the complexity and the precise execution of the choreography. It was great.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater : MINUS 16

“The illusion of beauty
The fine line between madness and sanity
The coexistence of fatigue and elegance”

Is the nonconformist insane or sane?
I noticed that as the anthem wore on and the nonconformist kept falling over, the music developed more and more of a minor chord in its undertones. I think that symbolizes some kind of degeneration. So, which group is mad, the conformists to a degenerating system or the nonconformist? Or, is this a false dichotomy–in which case both groups could be insane to different extents?

I’m really interested in delving into the political undertones of this performance. It was completely hidden from my eyes while I watched the scene unfold. How clever!

Fall for Dance at New York City Center

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When I first saw the syllabus, this was something I definitely looked forward to. I always loved to watch people dance. Whether it was the street performers on the subway or impressive YouTube videos. Despite all of that, I was really exposed to dance by my friend who majored in Dance throughout high school and now a Theater major in Taiwan. She loved to dance and took master classes during her whole entire stay in the U.S. with my family. She is trained in modern, ballet, classical, Chinese opera, lyrical and jazz, and even choreographed many of her dance troupe’s performances. She would take any opportunity to dance. We would walk down the street and turn around to she her pirouette-ing or leaping or just moving her body in anyway that doesn’t resemble normal walking.

She taught me a lot about how disciplined dancers have to be. She would start classes at 7:00am and leave at around 9:00pm, or even later if there was a performance approaching. For the entire performance, even if I didn’t understand what the dancers were trying to portray, I was utterly amazed at what they could do with their bodies and thinking back to what my friend told me. These dancers pushed their bodies past breaking points and have achieved so much to be on the stage.

Dance is very much intertwined with the dances and choreography styles of each performance. The music that left the most impact on me was Lucinda Childs Dance Company’s Concerto performance. It had really jarring music that wasn’t my taste, but I can understand why the choreographers had chosen them. The music I enjoyed the most accompanied Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s performance of Minus 16. The music was fun, simple, and soulful.

What I also learned from my friend is the importance of lighting. Her dance troupe would always hire a different lighting designer to come and create the lighting for their specific dance. The way body movements looked in different lightings were extremely important, and even the mood of the dance is partially through the lighting. This was clearly seen in Minus 16, it was bright and well-lighted when they took audience members on-stage to dance with them, creating a really cheerful mood along with their ridiculous body movement. But in the dance when they were chanting, the lighting was from above and cast a shadow over their bodies as they were crouched over, because they wanted to create an intense mood.

The highlight of that night was seeing Sebastian Ramirez and Honji Wang outside the building after their performance. The large crowd was already gone and Sebastian Ramirez and Honji Wang were just talking to their friends. I had to get a picture with them, so I did!

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and then the rest of the class decided to photobomb.

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And a shoutout to my friend Sarah who came with us to the performance!

 

 

 

Discussion: Dance

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I am going to start a general, open-to-all discussion about dance. Feel free to add a comment anytime and pose more questions. These are some suggestions to spark a comment:

What is dance? What is the difference between dancing and everyday movement? If there is a difference, where is the borderline? If not, should dance still be an art? (and if it’s not an art, why is this performance included in our course?)

What do you expect to see at the City Center? What is, if any, your prejudice about this performance?

Le Nozze di Figaro

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Boy, was I in for a surprise Saturday night. Although I had to attend the opera on my own, it did however, provide a whole different experience for me. I walked into that beautiful Met Opera House at Lincoln Center, preparing myself mentally for a long, long night of opera singing. The atmosphere that was created was in a way, exhilarating, with everyone wearing formal and elegant attire. It definitely felt nice just being a part of that environment. My favorite part of the opera was hands down the music being played by the orchestra in the pit. In high school I was a part of the pit orchestra for the school’s musical for 2 years in a row. So, personally I know the level of intensity and the seriousness within the pit to perform well, perfect rather. In my opinion, without the music played by the orchestra, the opera and musicals, would be nowhere near as good as they are. It would simply become a show featuring acappella singing. The orchestra sets the mood, creates the drama, pleases the ear, enhances the story, and much, much more. So, my heart goes out to them, and I applaud the orchestra for doing such an amazing job, which in turn helps the cast do their job better as well. It felt wonderful to simply be able to sit there and rest. I couldn’t help but close my eyes at certain points just to take in each note played by each instrument, enjoy the music, and forget about any sort of worries that were in the back of my head.

Le Nozze Di Figaro Reflection

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Firstly, The Metropolitan was gorgeous and exuded elegance in every aspect. Secondly, the viewing of the opera was a very enlightening experience. Prior to seeing the Le Nozze de Figaro my expectations were based on clips from movies and television, portrayals that presented opera as being long, sleep inducing performances of loud singers reserved for the bougie and elderly. I’m glad to report that I have been proven wrong. Le Nozze de Figaro has definitely opened my eyes and opera proved itself to be one of the highest forms of art. The amalgamation of drama, orchestration, and vocalization into one cohesive performance is an entirely unique experience. Not only was I amazed at the power and beauty behind the vocalists’ voices, but also the interesting plot also pleasantly surprised me. Even from the viewing lounge I found myself captivated by the complexity of the humorous and romantic plot line set to compositions by Mozart. It was at times confusing but overall very enjoyable. I’ll admit I have discovered a newfound appreciation for opera and may be tempted to see another sometime in the future.

Le Nozze di Figaro Reaction

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To be completely honest, I enjoyed our evening at the opera much more than I had initially expected to. I had definitely been excited for the chance of a new experience, but I wasn’t necessarily sure whether or not this one was really going to be for me. I have never really been one for classical music, and I didn’t realize how entertaining the actual storyline would be. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying myself by the end of the night.

As the show went on, I kept thinking about what Professor Drabik said in regard to taking a chance to admire what these people are able to do just with their voices. I think there is something to be said here for the determination and passion instilled in humanity, for there are people out there who have conditioned their voices to be able to be heard from “almost-Siberia”, all the way in the back of the theater, without a microphone. Sometimes during the show I had to consciously remember “Wow, they are doing this without any technological help. This is just them, singing to us”. Every time I remembered that, I thoroughly appreciated the music much more.  I had a similar thought every time I realized that the music wasn’t prerecorded, that there were real people playing real instruments right in front of my own eyes. After the performance, I had a much deeper appreciation for this kind of live music.

The reason that I say that there are indicative of humanity’s passion and determination is that we are not necessarily born knowing how to do these amazing things. It’s something that we have to train ourselves to do, and put in lots of practice before we can consider ourselves good at it. The fact that these people have conditioned themselves to create this music is astounding to me, particularly as someone who has never been musically inclined, and I am incredibly impressed by how beautifully it was all presented.

Le Nozze Di Figaro

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I arrived at the Met Opera a whole hour early and just admired the buildings. The Met Opera House has such an extravagant look to it, even though it was boxy, the interior design was really incredible. You could see the inside of the building through its large windows. The chandeliers, the red carpets, and even the way the windows were shaped gave off a luxurious impression, as any renowned opera house should.

As for the opera itself, I would not have chosen a better opera to watch for my first experience. The plot of the play really kept me from sleeping through the whole thing because it was truly entertaining. I have tried watching a few operas (not soap operas) on PBS when I stumble upon them, but what makes me change the channel is how little movement the opera has. However Le Nozze Di Figaro broke this image I had about operas. Figaro had so many physical slapstick comedy, which really surprised me because I always thought operas were suppose to be reserved for more solemn stories, with long boring musical exchanges between characters. What also deterred me from watching the operas on PBS was the language. Even if the opera had a really captivating plot, I wouldn’t understand a word of it. But since The Met Opera provided subtitles, the audience was able to catch all the jokes and plot twisters.

Although the seating was quite far from the stage and a bit too high, it didn’t take away from enjoying the opera. Now I really understand why Operas are nicknamed The Queen of the Arts.

–Chloe

O is for Opera

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To say that seeing this opera was an eyeopener would be an understatement. Who knew an opera was going to be this intriguing?

This actually is not the first time I’ve come to the Met Opera House here at Lincoln Center. I remember taking a tour here at the opera house in 9th grade when we had a tour of the place. Who knew I would be back again some 4 years later to actually witness an opera!

The word opera never meant much for me. I mean, if you were to ask me to give you a word that begins with the letter “o”, the first word to come to mind with probably be orange or Oreo or something, and I don’t even think I would ever say the word opera before saying Oprah, LOL.

But last week Thursday, September 25th, was a complete 360 for me. I came with the attitude that it would just be snobby rich affluent people watching a four hour show that I would have absolutely no interest on whatsoever.

I was wrong.

Well, there probably were some snobby rich people, but I saw very diverse people there as well. People came from all over the world to see these performances.

And the best part was, I enjoyed the opera. At intermission I just couldn’t believe what I just saw, and there was more after that.

The best part of the opera was probably the fact that it was not in English. It forced me to try to go along with the people who are performing. The subtitles definitely helped, but I felt that I could probably follow along a bit even without the subtitles.

Mozart, I have to give it to you for the music. You, my friend, are a savant. A true talent.

~Christopher Chong

Reaction to Le Nozze di Figaro

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Beautiful. High-class. Entertaining. Culture. Those are a few words that resonate within me when I think about my first night at the opera. Le Nozze di Figaro, a very entertaining comedy, was my first opera, and I saw it at the amazing Metropolitan Opera to boot. It was an incredible experience: meeting by the elegant water fountain, under the daze of twilight hours, everybody dressed in a their formal attire. It is definitely going to be a lifelong memory for me.

The opera itself was, overall, a captivating experience. Admittedly, there were a few moments where my mind drifted (although I did not fall asleep), but I feel that was due to the remarkable orchestra. The music was of such an elegant level that, at times, I forgot about the hilarious plot of the opera, and let my thoughts fuse with the music.

There were specific scenes, however, that truly grasped my attention. The opening scene, with the mind-boggling, rotating castle along with the very familiar classical tune captivated me, and was able to set the stage for what was to come. A few other memorable scenes were the scene in the bedroom, where Cherubino escapes through the window, and of course plot-twisting the scene where Marcellina and Bartolo are revealed to be Figaro’s parents.

My first night at the opera was a grand experience, and has opened my mind to attending future operas and other shows there at Lincoln Center.

Le Nozze di Figaro – Response

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Le Nozze di Figaro is fantastic, but highly confusing with everyone betraying each other, then everyone getting together again, then people switching roles, and heck, there was even a part where a woman wants to marry a man and then she finds out that he’s her son! I do have to agree that the opera was more than enjoyable despite the confusion.

After the opera, I came to a conclusion: We, the majority that haven’t been to an opera until then, did not get the full experience or appreciate the opera to its potential.
The opera has so many aspects of art, the set itself, the acting, the singing, the music and even the timing of lights and other stage props. I doubt that many of us noticed every single aspect at every single moment during the opera.

I know I didn’t. My friends say that I have something called art-ism. My friends joke around saying that its like autism, but with art rather than emotions. I agree with my friends, I know nothing of art. During the opera I was so focused on the storyline that I forgot to appreciate how concise the music was, how beautiful the set is, and how well the actors sang.
Then again, how could I know how well the music was, and how well the actors sang?
This was the first experience of an opera for me and I have no idea what does good music or good singing sounds like.
To a common man, student in our case, we have a general definition for good and bad sounding music.
To a person who is trained or professionally knows music, acting and singing, the definition of good and bad has sub-levels and different categories.
Under that logic, even if an actor sung an octave lower, the common man would not notice at all, but the professional would.
Thus, I feel like all of us, those who had their first experience with opera or know nothing related to singing, acting, and art itself, just couldn’t experience and appreciate the opera to its fullest.

Le Nozze di Figaro

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Le Nozze Di Figaro was much more interesting that I expected it to be. Going into my first opera experience, I was expecting a very boring experience. Moreover, I did not anticipate being able to understand the plot, but the subtitles were incredibly helpful. Instead of being completely lost throughout the performance, I was able to understand exactly what was going on. The opera was actually much funnier that I anticipated, with many well-timed jokes that made the experience much better than just seeing a typical tragedy or drama.

The most impressive part of the opera is that the singers were able to sing loud enough for everyone to clearly hear what they are saying, despite not using microphones. Sometimes the singers would be lying on the floor and still be able to project loud enough for everyone to hear them. They were also able to do this while performing their actions on stage. Moreover, they had to sing over the orchestra, which makes it much more impressive that everyone could understand them.

Overall, I would say that I enjoyed the experience, which is something I did not expect to happen going in.

The Opera

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If you had asked me four years ago, three years ago, two years, a list of all the places I thought I’d go to, the opera would never have been on that list. Going to the Opera this Thursday was an incredibly eye-opening and enjoyable experience.

I went in with the mindset that I’d be bored and I wouldn’t be able to understand anything. I was badly mistaken. The set up at the Met Opera was beautiful. The way the subtitles were shown allowed me to both witness the (incredible) performance on stage, as well as understand what was going on. The sets themselves were another thing of beauty and I was astonished when I saw how they worked.

Everyone involved in the production did an incredible job. The orchestra played very well and you could discern their different sounds. One of the most incredible aspects of the opera, as Professor Drabik talked about in class, was how the actors, unmiked, managed to project their voices to the entire theater over the sound of a full orchestra.

Now there’s the matter of the Opera itself: La Nozze De Figaro. I think I had a great time at the Opera mostly because of how entertaining the narrative was. It was humorous, both in performance and plot. The story, while confusing at times, kept the viewer’s attention.

The Opera was an enlightening experience and, now, if someone asked me where I would like to go, it will definitely be on the list.

All’opera con Figaro

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(Note: I’ve added a category for this opera)

Though I had to leave early, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to attend Le Nozze di Figaro–especially in such good company.

I am always struck by not only the splendor of opera, but at how often the story being told is relevant to a contemporary world. I am familiar with Beaumarchais’s plays, though I greatly prefer the operatic versions. The plays were written during a time of immense upheaval in France — the country was building towards revolution (indeed the last of the trilogy was written during the revolution that began in 1789). At this time, immense tension had built between the ruling nobility and the poor commoners. The Sun King (Louis XIV) had run the country financially into the ground and the people were starving.

Though not entirely the same, this tension between economic classes in France during the 1780s and 90s resonates for me with the current national conversation about the disappearing middle class and the increasing number of citizens living below the federal poverty level. I appreciate Mozart’s opera so much because the struggle between classes is clearly present in the tale.

I’m pleased I got to hear “Voi che sapete” during act II, and bummed I missed one of the other pieces I enjoy immensely:

I’ve already made plans to see Carmen next week with a friend. A fantastic opera if you have the chance to get affordable student tickets!

The Metropolitan Opera House : Le Nozze di Figaro

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The Metropolitan Opera. Right near Lincoln Center, in the center of the city. A huge building with towering entryways. Floor-to-roof windows.

I enter and there is a sweeping staircase, front and center. It’s covered with red carpet and branches both to the left and to the right. The auditorium is a box, furnished with a extruded “U” of seating and a very tall stage. I am sitting in the family circle, and I realize that I am very high up; if I slip on the stairs, very bad things could happen. But we are still not yet in Siberia—that’s over to the left and right. I see the turntable move. This is going to be interesting.

I’ve heard the Overture to the Marriage of Figaro many times since I was in grade school; when the orchestra began playing, I marveled at the clarity of each of the instruments. I can see why surround sound systems and ultra-high-bitrate recordings are in such high demand—the sound coming from the pit orchestra can’t be replicated with a pair of speakers and an mp3 file.

The opera was confusing; I couldn’t keep one eye on the titles and the other on the stage, so I had to choose between understanding the dialogue and perceiving the movement of the actors. There was definitely a lot of humor in this opera, made clear through the liberally translated text and the shenanigans on stage.

Intermission: long lines at the bathroom for both genders, Lindt truffles (yes!), and sesame crunch (high-energy, “reinforcements” in the words of Prof. Drabik). The culture of opera-goers includes ordering food to be served during this 30-minute intermission. Hmm… what kind of occasions can be celebrated with this kind of extravagance? How would it make sense to spend that kind of money?

Back to the opera. A hiding of identities and a swapping of roles take place with the Countess and Susanna to make fools of their respective husbands (and if I may propose this, to elevate themselves over their spouses by requiring them to beg forgiveness for their infidelity).

And out. I can see myself coming back to experience Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz.