New York Notebook
NYCB’s First Fall
For the first time ever, New York City Ballet is mounting a fall season. Now you don’t have to wait for Nutcracker to see some of your favorite dancers. The four-week season will include old faves like Serenade (see page 38) and Stars and Stripes from the Balanchine side, and I’m Old Fashioned and Glass Pieces on the Robbins side. What’s new? A few reruns from the Calatrava season (see “Reviews,” page 62), and a new Millepied (seems like he’s everywhere now). The big news is a revival of Peter Martins’ Magic Flute (1981), with new scenery by David Mitchell, who also designed the beautiful sets for Martins’ Sleeping Beauty. See www.nycballet.com. —Wendy Perron
Bipolar X-press
Fire and ice, grace and clumsiness, artifice and reality. Faye Driscoll bounces between the extremes with funky élan. Last April’s premiere, There is so much mad in me, returns to DTW Sept. 22–25. Our reviewer, Mary Love Hodges, observed that, “in a desperate attempt to keep the overstimulation going, performers switch gears from violence to sex to vanity to voyeurism.” However uncomfortable Driscoll makes the audience, she comes by it naturally. She’s worked with Yasmeen Godder, Doug Varone, and David Neumann. Driscoll, a “25 to Watch” in 2008, is now an artist-in-residence at the Joyce SoHo. The creation of There is so much mad in me was supported by ADF and Kaatsbaan. See www.dancetheaterworkshop.org. —W. P.
Downtown’s Ballerina Roots
The downtown dance community is welcomed back from summer each year by DanceNOW, which mounts a humongous festival of many dance artists. This year it’s called Twenty Ten and presents 40 choreographers. They include old-timers like Marta Renzi, Claire Porter, and Gina Gibney, as well as those new to choreography like Sydney Skybetter, Jamal Jackson, Paul Singh, and Mark Morris Dance Group’s John Heginbotham. The organization has responded to hard times by initiating the DanceNOW Challenge, which will select three artists to receive a modest stipend and weeklong residency at Silo in Pennsylvania. And what is Silo? Glad you asked. It’s the Kirkland Farm, once owned by Gelsey’s father. See www.dancetheaterworkshop.org. —W. P.
Photo of NYCB in
Glass Pieces by Paul Kolnik, Courtesy NYCB.
