this morning i had the sudden urge to hear an old cy coleman/carolyn leigh tune: i've got your number.
i heard it for the first time years ago-- at the gym, if you can believe it. a cbs broadcast of "broadway under the starts" was cued up on the treadmill and before i could change the channel, i heard cheyenne jackson sing a few bars. the lyrics were what got me--sassy, fun, properly dated--i'm not sure if i was surprised they were written by a woman, but i was surprised that i'd never heard of carolyn leigh-- a native new yorker, member of the songwriter's hall of fame, and famous for "bringing class, sex, and wit to the Great American Songbook." "I've got your number" is not as well known as coleman/leigh's other hits ("witchcraft," "the best is yet to come") but it's surely my favorite.
i don't own a recording of it--i rely on youtube when i'm in the mood to listen to this one. it used to be that even the cheyenne jackson performance was hard to find--i'm happy it's not anymore. but i think i have a new favorite version, not so much for the singing, but for the groovy jazz dance she does about two minutes in.
confession: i have watched and enjoyed dancing with the stars--the first two seasons, then the one with apolo anton ohno, and a scatter of episodes in-between and since. and even though they are unquestionably scraping the D-list celebrity barrel these days, i still contend that the premise of the show is compelling: take a celebrity who's never been schooled in ballroom dance, give them a professional partner, require that they learn 1-2 choreographed numbers inside of a week, and be ready to perform. LIVE. on tv. and then be judged. could you do that? i know i would love the rehearsals, but my hands are sweating right now, thinking about the live bit.
so when "so you think you can dance?!" started a season or two later, i really wasn't interested. seemed to me if they were already trained dancers, what would be the point? i had no interested in another talent showcase/reality show where there would be trumped-up, behind-the-scenes back-biting. a dancing divas show? no thanks. but that was an early misjudgment on my part. SYTYCD?! could have gone in that direction, but the producers have instead crafted a show where the drama is in the challenge to the dancers-- are all talented, yes, but with different levels of training. each has a specialty--tap, ballet, contemporary, hip-hop--but each is required to show mastery of all of them, with the panel of judges assessing technique and performance, and the fans voting for their "favorite" every week.
the competition requirements are tweaked every season, but they consistently recruit some of the best choreographers, across disciplines. they try to broaden the audience's appreciation with cultural experiments, like "bollywood" and tahitian dance (to mixed result. but still, a good effort). from one short season to the next, the pool of dancers that they select from improves, and the demands are more intense--this season, they were challenged to learn anywhere from 4-6 dances each week, as part of a pair, with different partners, plus group numbers. and dancers had to be prepared to offer a choreographed solo, in case they were among the "bottom 3" in the standings for the week. whew. given the number of injuries in the past 2 seasons, they might need to ease up on them a bit.
to be a fan of the show is a 3-hour a week commitment, and i'm not always capable of that. but as i have said before, i rely on my sister's exquisite opinion to guide me toward who to watch (and when). it's amazing stuff.
my sister, my aunt and i caught the 2010 touring group's performance in newark last sunday night. not surprisingly, it was even better to see them up close, their speed and lift and loft--jesus, it's a good thing these dancers are young. i had my g10 with me. it was not easy to get stills, but i was just as interested in testing the video capabilities. these clips burn hot in some areas, and our seats were off to the side so you don't get the full gist. but, enjoy...(you will hear that the audience sure did)
ms courtney wasn't by any stretch the best dancer from season 4, but she was the favorite dancer.
as my sister noted, she's really improved...
i'm not gonna lie. i love it when she pounces on poor little kent...
love jose, love dominic. still not sure about the sword bit, but love everything else they do here. you can hear me oohing during this one...
lauren and billy performing what i think this was the most adorable dance of the season. (choreographed by mandy moore.)
i don't love this song. at all. but the girls behind me did. i wish you could hear them singing along because that was sort of hilarious.
liked the number a lot, choreographed by the dynamic duo napoleon & tabitha dumo ("nappytabs" !) and performed by adéchiké and lauren.
i don't much like this song either--"fix you." but this is a really intricate contemporary piece, choreographed by former sytycd competitor, travis wall. watch how it picks up at the :38 mark. i "wow"ed out loud when i saw this one on tv.
ok, there's a lot of laughing this one and i swear we didn't mean it in a bad way. part of it is the costumes...
this number so cute because disco is so hard--the pace is unrelenting and unlike the disco dancing that most of us have tried in our lives, this choreography is so tight and precise.
and the girls have to do it in those heels...
i know this looks like vegas cheese, but knowing the challenge of it makes me appreciate it very much.
i am not a dance critic.this is now indisputable after spending the week reading the reviews of morphoses/the wheeldon company's recent performances at city center. the three performances presented for the november 1 sunday matinee (the finale for the season) included 2 wheeldon ballets (continuum, and the world premiere of rhapsody fantaisie) and a re-working of a piece choreographed by the team lightfoot/leon, titled softly as i leave you.
continuum, the opening number, turned out to be precisely the kind of modern ballet that i can appreciate, but don't enjoy. mr. wheeldon, in addressing the audience before the performance, said that his goal was to make the music visual. the score, by the hungarian gyorgy ligeti, is a real micropolyphonic spree. it's mathematical, with melancholy chords, in messy clusters. the dancing played all of that up, with precise, acute angles layered into combinations. i suppose you could call it brilliant. but it was also relentless, exhausting and emotionless. i was relieved when it was over. it was not lost on me, though, that i was seeing dancers performing at their peak. the choreography required no less.
the final number, rhapsody fantaisie, was much more to my taste: sweeping, passionate music (rachmaninoff suites for 2 pianos) and dance perfectly matched. intricate, but seemingly effortless. i stood and cheered.
wendy whelan and andrew crawford in wheeldon's rhapsody fantaisie. photo by dave morgan.
wendy whelan and andrew crawford in wheeldon's rhapsody fantaisie. photo by dave morgan.
drew jacoby and reginald pronk in wheeldon's rhapsody fantaisie. photo by dave morgan.
(the only mystery: red harem pants for the men. modern ballet costuming strains.)
but it was lightfoot/leon's softly as i leave you, performed by the ultra dynamic partnership of drew jacoby and rubinald pronk that captivated me, almost completely. and this is where get stumped.
i will grant that the opening sequence of the number, with ms. jacoby thrashing and fighting her way out of a wooden box is a little...overwrought.
but from the moment they engage on stage, out of the box, to bach's soaring (albeit very familiar) air on the g string i was blinking back tears. in fact, i blinked them back on 6 separate occasions. i was awed by rubinald and pronk--her forcefulness, his fluidity and flexibility. their lines and extensions are beyond perfect, their unison and chemistry is undeniable when alone on stage, or dancing in a corps. it is among the most marvelous live performances i've ever seen--hence, the tears.
and yet, the critics (at least in new york and london) HATE it. i don't know that i've read a collection of more negative dance reviews (though it's entirely possible i haven't read enough). but the terms mawkish, unrewarding, unalluring, worst in show are only a small sampling... one ny critic who saw it performed earlier this fall at the fall for dance festival called it "a repulsive piece featuring most of the worst clichés of European postwar choreography."
huh? and, wow.
i just don't see it. and from reading the blogs and facebook comments, neither do the rest of the hoi polloi.
there is no video of that piece yet--but when one is, i will present it here. you can judge for yourself.
for now, have a look at their other work--a live performance of "one" and a clip from a rehearsal with erstwhile SYTYCD? judge/choreographer, mia michaels (she's continuing to endow us with inimitable style on a more intimate, and no less important scale. cheers to that). critics (and you) may take issue with the choreography, but i doubt anyone can argue that their partnership is a riveting, vital one. but then again, i'm merely a fan...
this song, lovely day (aka dan and liz's wedding song, and "the ricky ledée song"--hear it? loveledéeloveledéeloveledée love le-dée) is one of the most played on my ipod.
the bass line, and the cymbals? oh, those cymbals.
feeling blue? it might help.
and here's 30-more seconds of joy, via the gap khaki soul commercial, directed by hype williams and choreographed by fatima robinson.
i've spent part of the morning looking at the series of spots from this campaign-- will post more later...
on the avenue, 164 fifth avenue... nyc. april 2009.
last month while running errands on fifth avenue, i was teased by a huge storefront sign: EVERYBODY DANCE NOW. i stopped outside just long enough to see that it was an AIGA exhibit, which was even more curious: what was the premier design association's interest in dance?
i was in too much of a hurry on that day to stop in--i hit the road again with only the tune stuck in my head...
i returned another day to investigate further: the exhibit is actually called "everybody dance now: 20 years of dancing in print" and is a retrospective of two publications, dance ink (1989-1996) and 2wice (1997-ongoing), published by patsy tarr and designed and art directed by abbott miller, a partner at pentagram.
there is, on pentagram's site, a tidy overview that puts both the exhibit and the publications into context to those of us who are not (yet) familiar with the work, and they have posted some beautiful photos from the magazines.
the merce cunningham dance company photographed by christian witkin for the summer 2002 issue. via pentagram.
if you are able to get to the AIGA national design center, you will see these and many more: there are 40 issues presented in succession, on accordion-style metal displays.
the 2008 issue, false start, featuring jonah bokaer. installation photo by harry zernike. via pentagram.
opening night party photo by federico rodriguez-caldentey. via pentagram.
i don't know if the displays were created specifically for this installation, but it is a wonderful way to experience and celebrate movement--there's symmetry and energy to the exhibit. there are also intact issues of 2wice for folks to peruse, but the ladies that were there when i was were too engaged with them to let me have a look. ah well, i wanted to go back again anyway.
if you would like to check it out, get there soon! it closes may 22. here are the deets:
there is a wonderful quote from merce cunningham that adorns the walls of the gallery, and i've been thinking about it often since my first visit:
"you have to love dancing to stick to it. it gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. it is not for unsteady souls."
of course, one could happily argue that ms. tarr, mr. miller and all the contributors to dance ink and 2wice, have managed to defy this on some level, because they have preserved dance in another form for us to appreciate...
but the essence of his statement is striking...
i recently took a dance/stretch class at my gym with an instructor who encouraged me to take formal lessons. this felt like the scariest, greatest idea in the universe. i'm not sure there is anything that makes me happier or feel most like myself as when i can listen to music and dance around--not in any formal way, at all. i just do it. for hours. and i have taken classes here and there, but never really studied it. i wondered, for me, at this point in my life, what would be the point?
but the cunningham quote reminded me that "dancers" (and maybe this is truer for those who are not now and will never be professionals?) dance precisely for how it makes them feel.
