Georgina Pazcoguin: on the upbeat.For starters, her last name is pronounced paz-KOH-gin. When 20-year-old New York City Ballet New York City Ballet, one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946. corps dancer Georgina Pazcoguin debuted in one of the lead roles in Jerome Robbins' New York Export: Opus Jazz last April, audiences recognized her talent, if not her name. The ballet, a vintage 1950s piece that distills the finger-snapping attitude and cool stealth of West Side Story into a tightly choreographed fugue fugue (fy  g) [Ital.,=flight], in music, a form of composition in which the basic principle is imitative counterpoint of several voices. in sneakers, was one of Robbins' self-proclaimed favorites. (Pazcoguin will reprise the role this month during the company's New York winter season.) Edward Verso ver·so n. pl. ver·sos 1. A left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, as opposed to the recto. 2. The back of a coin or medal. , a former Robbins dancer who appeared as a Shark in the movie of West Side Story, set the ballet during an intense six-week rehearsal period. Pazcoguin was chosen as one of 16 cast members, but she only expected to dance a small part. For the section titled "Statics statics, branch of mechanics concerned with the maintenance of equilibrium in bodies by the interaction of forces upon them (see force). It incorporates the study of the center of gravity (see center of mass) and the moment of inertia. ," where a sassy sas·sy 1 adj. sas·si·er, sas·si·est 1. Rude and disrespectful; impudent. 2. Lively and spirited; jaunty. 3. Stylish; chic: a sassy little hat. girl taunts five teenaged boys, Pazcoguin says, "I was third string understudy." When Jennifer Tinsley of the first cast became indisposed, the ballet masters asked Pazcoguin to do a stage rehearsal with Seth Orza. She just went for it and knocked everyone's socks off. (Lesson to understudies: Be prepared and always dance full out--you never know when your big break is coming.) "The next day casting went up with my name on it. I was blown away," she says. Part of her successful portrayal of the character came from Pazcoguin's life experience. "I thought about my own adolescence and frustrations," she says. "This character is a very feisty girl, very independent. She has appeal and likes to play with it. She also thinks she's just as strong as the boys and wants to get in there and play around. She gets overwhelmed, and the men take control of her." In a company stocked with ivory-skinned, long-limbed waifs WAIFS. Stolen goods waived or scattered by a thief in his flight in order to effect his escape. 2. Such goods by the English common law belong to the king. 1 Bl. Com. 296; 5 Co. 109; Cro. Eliz. 694. , Pazcoguin, with her Filipino background, brings a red-blooded, tautly coiled energy to the stage of the New York State Theater The New York State Theater is part of New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. The theater occupies the south side of the main plaza (at Columbus Avenue & 63rd Street) that it shares with the Metropolitan Opera House and Avery Fisher Hall (home of the New . "I like the darker ballets best--like when the girl dies at the end," she says. In Opus Jazz, she gets what she wishes for. At the end of the "Statics" section, those hoodlums throw her off a rooftop. DM's monthly "Debut" column will highlight the challenges and rewards of learning new roles. |
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