New York Notebook

August 2, 2009

Maestro Morris

For Mark Morris, a musical score is both inspiration and blueprint. Any new Morris piece promises a level of musical interpretation that one expects from a great conductor or instrumentalist. This time the choreographer and the Mark Morris Dance Group probe two radically different masterpieces: Charles Ives’ eccentric, visionary Trio (Empire Garden) and Beethoven’s soaring Cello Sonata in C Major (Visitation). Completing the Mostly Mozart date is V, Morris’ heroic reflection on 9/11, set hauntingly, if improbably, to Schumann’s Piano Quintet. Acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax, frequent Morris collaborators, will add their luster to the program. Aug. 19–22, Rose Theater.

See www.lincolncenter.org. —Allan Ulrich

 

Forever Duato

Making its Joyce Theater debut, Tulsa Ballet reveals its affinity for Nacho Duato’s style in the contemporary choreographer’s signature work, Por Vos Muero (For Thee I Die). Inspired by a Spanish love poem, its striking images, shifting shapes, and propulsive rhythms invoke the spirit of dance in 16th-century Spanish life. Also featured is Tulsa Ballet’s recent commission, Korean choreographer Young Soon Hue’s This Is Your Life. Hue’s edgy tango of human relationships taps into the individual voices that define the company’s multinational identity. Scott Joplin and Max Morath’s ragtime piano tunes give impetus to Kenneth MacMillan’s saucy, exuberant Elite Syncopations. Aug. 10–15. www.joyce.org or www.tulsaballet.org. —Cynthia Bond Perry

 


All over the map


A formalist with great wit, marvelous inventiveness, and a passion for ballet, Ben Munisteri created the new Catalog to Radiohead music. He filled the piece with layers of movement as if cataloguing his choreographic arsenal into a beautifully structured dance. But that sounds dry. A more apt description of it would be sublime, while the highly charged Turbine Mines, set to Vangelis’ ominous soundtrack for Blade Runner, might be called omnivorous, and the dreamlike Tuesday 4 a.m., choreographed to Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, ebullient. On Aug. 15 at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, he shares a program with the newly formed Dendy Dancetheater. —Valerie Gladstone

 

More Free Dance Outdoors

At various parks all over the city, CityParks Dance presents many groups this month including Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Hip Hop Generation Next, Ballet Noir, Soul Steps, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, Tania Isaac Dance, and nathantrice/RITUALS. See www.cityparksfoundation.org/arts.