KOWROSKI, ASKEGARD GUEST IN PREMIERES.KOWROSKI, ASKEGARD GUEST IN PREMIERES GRAND RAPIDS BALLET DEVOSS HALL GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN “Grand Rapids” redirects here. For other uses, see Grand Rapids (disambiguation). Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 197,800. OCTOBER 20-22, 2000 Grand Rapids Ballet added some extra glamour to its 2000 fall repertory season by inviting a hometown native who had attended the company school and danced in the company Nutcracker to return as guest artist. Maria Kowroski, now a 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. principal dancer, brought a dazzling presence to the program, together with her partner Charles Askegard, also a principal with City Ballet. But even without the two Balanchine pas de deux pas de deux (French; “step for two”) Dance for two performers. A characteristic part of classical ballet, it includes an adagio, or slow dance, by the ballerina and her partner; solo variations by the male dancer and then the ballerina; and a coda, or , performed by Kowroski and Askegard, this "Evening of Premieres" would have been a notable program, with exciting dancing by the company's ten professional dancers, plus a third guest artist, Laszlo Berdo. Engaging choreography by company artistic director Gordon Peirce Schmidt was accompanied by live musicians. There were two world premieres by Schmidt, Djembe A djembe (pronounced jem bay) also known as djimbe, jenbe, jembe, yembe or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin covered hand drum, shaped like a large goblet, and meant to be played with bare hands. and The American Quartet, while two other Schmidt works, Scenes from an Italian Songbook, to lieder by Hugo Wolf, and The Sleep of Reason, received their first Grand Rapids performances. Djembe, which opened the program, was a solo for Melanie Brossiet, set to the onstage African-style drumming of Jimmy Schultz. Schmidt has juxtaposed jux·ta·pose tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. the pointe work of ballet vocabulary and African rhythms with exciting results. Against a surging, nonstop drumbeat See Drumbeat 2000. , the always angular movement seemed to be constantly winding and unwinding as the connection between drummer and dancer kept the tension rising until the final blackout. American Quartet, danced by the company to the Dvorak string quartet of the same name (beautifully played by the DeVos Quartet) exuded a sense of youthful optimism in its spacious, freewheeling movement against a backlit An LCD screen that has its own light source from the back of the screen, making the background brighter and characters appear sharper. cyclorama. The opening allegro crackled with masculine high jinks. A slow movement followed, with a tender duet for two young lovers (Brossiet and Jason Curtis), suddenly interrupted by the intrusion of another man (Berdo), who effortlessly spirits the girl away. Kowroski and Askegard's star quality was always evident in the breathtaking challenges of the Agon pas de deux, while Kowroski's dancing in the "Diamonds" pas de deux from Jewels glittered like a landscape after an ice storm. |
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