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The Joffrey Ballet
Chicago
(The Joffrey Ballet Website)
Spring Program
April 29, 2009 – May 10, 2009
At
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University
(Auditorium Theatre Website)
50 E. Congress Parkway
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 922-2110
Founders, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino
Artistic Director, Ashley C. Wheater
Executive Director, Christopher Clinton Conway
Ballet Masters, Charthel Arthur, Graca Sales, Willy Shives
Music Director & Principal Conductor, Leslie B. Dunner
Public Relations Services, The Silverman Group/Farrah Malik
Artists of The Company:
Heather Aagard, Matthey Adamczyk, Derrick Agnoletti,
Fabrice Calmels, Raoul Casasola, April Daly,
Jonathan Dummar, Erica Lynette Edwards, Brian Gephart,
John Mark Giragosian, John Gluckman, David Gombert,
Jennifer Goodman, Elizabeth Hansen, William Hillard,
Anastacia Holden, Victoria Jaiani, Stacy Joy Keller,
Calvin Kitten, Suzanne Lopez, Graham Maverick, Erin McAfee,
Brian McSween, Caitlin Meighan, Thomas Nicholas,
Emily Patterson, Alexis Polito, Megan Quiroz, Valerie Robin,
Christine Rocas, Aaron Rogers, Tian Shuai, Abigail Simon,
Patrick Simoniello, Michael Smith, Lauren Stewart,
Temur Suluashvili, Kathleen Thielhelm, Mauro Villanueva,
Allison Walsh, Jennifer Warnick, Joanna Wozniak
Susan Weinrebe
April 29, 2009
Once again The Joffrey reminds us who we are and from whence we come in the world of dance. In their Spring Program, the last of the season, Ashley Wheater reaffirmed his passion for live music and his gratitude to the audience. As Artistic Director, Wheater’s choices of works took the audience on social, geographical, and spiritual journeys, through stunning “historical” works.
Les Noces (The Wedding): Choreography: Bronislava Nijinska, Words and Music: Igor Stravinsky, Original Joffrey Staging: Irina Nijinska and Howard Sayette, Scenery and Costumes: John C. Gilkerson, after the originals by Natalia Goncharova, Lighting: Mark Stanley, after Craig Miller, Costume Supervision: John David Ridge, Scenery Supervision: Campbell Baird, Performed by: Artists of the Company, Bride: Valerie Robin, Bridegroom: Matthew Adamczyk.
Beginning with a ballet that hearkened back to the bad old days of seeing females as anything more than chattel, Les Noces (The Wedding), choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska, portrayed the misery of a bridal couple being crushed under the weight of tradition and the ascendency of the community over the individual. First performed in 1923, the wooden postures and gestures of the dancers are stylized and emotionless, to the point of making the unhappy pair look like a pair of nesting matrushka dolls come to life. It is in that spirit that the ceremony takes place.
Although it might be almost too much rigidity and blocky movement for an audience to bear in one sitting, Nijinska’s Les Noces is a terrific companion piece for the earlier-in-the-season Joffrey performance of the equally stylized and “primitive” statement by her brother, Vaslav Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps.
Round of Angels: Choreography: Gerald Arpino, Scenery: Penelope Curry, Costumes: A. Christina Giannini, Music: Gustav Mahler, Lighting: Mark Stanley, after Thomas Skelton, Featuring: Emily Patterson and Thomas Nicholas, Derrick Agnoletti, Raul Casasola, Graham Maverick, Patrick Simoniello, Temur Suluashvili.
Surrounded as she is by male angels and her partner, Thomas Nicholas, Emily Patterson is the diamond in the setting in Round of Angels. Her perfect little cat-shaped head and huge eyes are the window dressing for this dancer, who is not infrequently cast in the most grieving of parts. Several years ago at Ravinia, Ms. Patterson danced, or rather swung the role of the White Widow. Here again, the principal part is a departed soul in this memorial by Gerald Arpino to a dead friend. If ever hope for a plain beyond this mortal coil were offered, this mourning piece embodies the essence of a loved one soaringly borne to a better place.
Carousel A Dance: Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon, Production Sponsor: Jane Ellen Murray Foundation, Music: Richard Rodgers, Arrangement and Orchestration: William David Brohn, Costumes: Holly Hynes, Lighting Design: Mark Stanley, Staging: Anita Paciotti, Featuring: Matthew Adamczyk, Victoria Jaiani and Artists of the Company.
Always a magnetic and virtuoso performer, Victoria Jaiani appeared in Valses Poeticos, choreographed by San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, and set to music of Enrique Granados, with the ever-imposing and ground-devouring Fabrice Calmels. Later on in the program she also appeared in the Joffrey’s premiere of Carousel A Dance with Matthew Adamczyk. Arguably a favorite in the musical theater cannon, Carousel is an à la mode slice of Americana that cannot fail. There’s melody, fantasy, a merry-go-round and in Christopher Wheeldon’s choreography, a romantic couple that demonstrates the approach-hesitation movements that convey all the youthful longing of the mating dance.
Joffrey Ballet
in "Les Noces"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll
Emily Patterson and Thomas Nicholas
in "Round of Angels"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll
Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels
in "Valses Poeticos"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll
Matthew Adamczyk and Victoria Jaiani
in "Carousel A Dance"
Courtesy of Herbert Migdoll
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