The Fall for Dance festival is a yearly dance festival held in the New York City Center. The purpose of the Fall for Dance festival is to introduce people to dance. As someone who has had little, if any, exposure to professional dancing, I would have to say that the performance on October 3, 2009 certainly opened my eyes to the world of dance.
The night began with a performance of Le Spectre de la Rose, a ballet of a woman who has fallen asleep and dreams of dancing with the spirit of the rose that she holds in her hands. The woman awakens from her dream when the “rose” leaps out the window and out of sight. This ballet was nicely executed, as the “rose” had very precise movements. At times, he would make large leaps that made me wonder how it was possible to leap that far. The clothing of the dancers was interesting, as the woman wore a large dress and the man wore very tight, bright clothes. However, the clothing fit the situation because the woman was be returning from a ball, and that is proper clothing for a ball. In the case of the “rose,” the tight and bright clothing made him look as if he were, in fact, a rose. Overall, this was a great performance that got the crowd ready for the rest of the show.
The second performance was called Snow, and was performed by Sang Jijia. I must say that this piece was my least favorite of the night. Although the snow that was falling on the stage was fascinating, the performance was not. I felt that it was dragged on for quite a lot of time, as it appeared to me that Jijia continually repeated the same movements. In addition, I could not see Jijia for about a quarter of the time because he would at times move to the far right of the stage, which made it impossible for me to see him.
The third performance called The Dying Swan was a very short ballet that depicted the final moments in the life of a swan. Although very brief, the performance was very nice, with Diana Vishneva making very specific movements. The musicians that provided music for this piece did a wonderful job, making this performance even better.
The highlight of the night came when Alvin Ailey stepped on stage to perform Revelations. It seemed as if the entire audience had a new burst of energy once the performance began. From the start, everyone knew Alvin Ailey was going to be different from the preceding pieces. The music was upbeat and the dancers were very into the movements. It was interesting how when one piece ended, I thought the next piece could not be more interesting, but as the performance progressed, the pieces grew increasingly livelier and culminated in the final piece, Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham. The female dancers wore flamboyant yellow dresses and used stools as props. The music was lively and the dancing was powerful, very different from the preceding pieces earlier in the night.
At the end of the show, I was glad that Alvin Ailey performed last because it allowed me to leave New York City Center in a happy mood. It was nearly impossible to not be at least somewhat happy after watching a performance like that. However, I did not forget about the pieces that preceded Alvin Ailey, which were also very interesting. Nevertheless, I do not think I would have left the theater that night as happy as I did if Alvin Ailey had not performed.
