Preview: Spectrum Dance Theater.Spectrum artistic director Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (born December 9, 1932) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter, born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Cass Technical High School. He performed with Lionel Hampton before finishing high school. is known for his darkly aggressive contemporary works, but he has also deconstructed ballets from the classical repertory, including Giselle and The Nutcracker nutcracker, common name for a small crow of the genus Nucifraga in the family Corvidae (crow family). The Old World nutcracker (N. caryocatactes) is found throughout the colder regions of Europe, including high mountain forests. , and now Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty sleeps for 100 years. [Fr. Fairy Tale, The Sleeping Beauty] See : Enchantment Sleeping Beauty enchanted heroine awakened from century of slumber by prince’s kiss. . He takes the work apart in The Sleeping Beauty Notebook, questioning our definitions of beauty and classicism classicism, a term that, when applied generally, means clearness, elegance, symmetry, and repose produced by attention to traditional forms. It is sometimes synonymous with excellence or artistic quality of high distinction. . In a workshop performance last spring, some of his changes seemed harsh: Aurora's christening christening: see baptism. appeared to be set in the hurly-burly of a Brueghel painting, and her birthday was celebrated in a high-class brothel, where her suitors tossed back shots between promenades. Later, Aurora and the prince changed places--he became the sleeper and she the one to wake her beloved with a kiss. The result is an essay in class distinction, with the fairies sometimes literally on top, perched on a mechanical lift and imposing their will from above. But salted away within Byrd's signature movement style are excerpts from the original choreography, shining with a renewed vigor in their chaotic surroundings. April 7-10, Intiman Theater, Seattle, WA. www.spectrumdance.org |
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