contemporary Ballet Hispanico
December 2, 2010
ABT’s Herman Cornejo was the well-chosen guest Tuesday night, November 30, opening night of Ballet Hispanico’s 2010 Joyce season. New works on the program show Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro bringing the company up to date.
Herman Cornejo and new dances made a bright opening night
Tres Bailes comprises five dancers in perfect patterns and executing unison, precisely placed steps. The curtain opened on this 2008 dance by Jean Emile, to the music of Astor Piazolla, Alberto Inglesias, and The Gotan Project. The Ballet Hispanico dancers, with their spectacular talent, have us straightening in our seats. After the lively allegro, a graver section, and finally, sadness. Suddenly it ends with equally spaced twosomes, one partner draped over the other, as they were when the curtain opened. Costumes are vibrant red in this clean, cosmopolitan tableau. Like Spanish dancers, they approach the choreography’s jazzy precision with light buoyancy. Though this is not among the premieres, nor is it the most interesting dance of the evening, it serves as a brief familiarization. Rodney Hamilton’s youthful showiness piques our admiration.
Next, Cornejo (and hat) perform a kind of initiation into dance legendhood. He steps onto the stage in black pants, vest, and a black bowler hat for Tango Y Yo, his choreography to Piazolla’s Fuga y Misterio. The tango-inspired solo includes a series of twelve fouettés broken by rounds of pirouettes, and split-leg leaps that are like horizontal pauses en l’air. But when he throws the hat into the center and dances around and with it, he suggests celebration of individual aspiration. He is not appealing for applause for his bravado, thus, we are even more enthralled with his seemingly casual, perpetual movement. We fix on his pointed toes in jazz shoes, and his expressive footwork. Tango Y Yo is an unforgettable treat.
In Puntos Suspensivos, choreographer Maray Ramis Gutierrez has Min-Tzu Li in a wrenching, energetic solo, twisting her body and whipping her long hair around. She springs out from her partner’s arms, pouncing into the air like a cat. Her off-kilter turns also suggest a cat’s balance. It always lands on its feet and this is a feat for someone with only two. The movement comes at us in a friendly way, as we sit on the edge of our seats. The live string trio’s vivid performance of Gabriela Lena Frank’s composition adds a grave emotional backdrop to Li’s dance. Puntos Suspensivos group sections make use of the company’s trademark precise unison. The six, in close coupling, lean on each other, tangle, and pull away. Meanwhile, their cool draws us in. The dancers knee socks add to the feline feel.
After intermission, the company concludes with an eyeful in Mad’moiselle. In this lengthiest offering, a new dance by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Li enters in red platform patent leather boots with stiletto heels, a short red wig, and a mass of red tulle behind her black teddy. Smoke billows from behind her. Her swagger is cool, exacting, and fun. Spanish and Asian flavors are outed here. The women stand facing upstage in plié, displaying two wide-open fans each, signaling both pride and availability. A male, conversely, slaps two closed fans at his side. This is the extent of macho role-play. It is sexy theatricality. The sharpness of Jessica Alejandro Wyatt’s turn into her partner’s arms shows that she is no easy prey. The music and spoken score includes versions of the West Side Story song "Maria." Inevitably, religious transformation comes with "Ave Maria" at the end. The emotion is almost too much to bear— but please, bring it on! Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s mad Mad’Moiselle— indeed, the whole program— brings new and welcome definition to the word contemporary.
