The Catcher in the Sand

The Boris Eifman Ballet troupe from St. Petersburg is a constant guest of the dance series at the Golda center in Tel Aviv (same hall that hosts the New Israeli Opera). He brought here during the last decade all his important works which made of him the best known Russian choreographer of the day. He is kind of a cult hero in Israel, the ballet audiences here especially the ones of Russian origin adore him, although in the Western media he is quite controversial, some criticizing him sharply for the commercial touch of many of his performances.

(video source yk387)

I have seen today the latest work of Eifman, which is inspired by Pushkin’s ‘Onegin’. I liked the performance,  although I was neither shocked, nor charmed by everything that happened on the stage. There are two tings that I can complain about – one that the show lacked the inventiveness, the spark, the special ideas I found in other productions of Eifman. Second that too little of the Russian soul or Pushkin;s romanticism made it to the stage. Instead the story was adapted to happen in the period between 1991 and today, and talk about the Russian society of today. The music reflected quite well this discrepancy – the combination of Tchaikovsky  and rocker Alexander Sitkovetsky’s music never worked together, and the effect is of rupture rather then of continuity. The dancers were all very good, you would not expect anything less from a first tier troup of Russian dancers, with Nina Zamaitzev especially shining as Tatiana. Stage sets were mostly focused around a circular screen that was used as dynamic background (interesting and efficient) enhanced by masterful light games. Eifman was present at the performance, and received standing ovations from the audience which may have been 80% Russian-speaking.

(video source pointemagazine)

Here are a few professional reviews of Eifman’s Onegin, for these who wish to read more than my amateurish one:

http://me-artsblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/dance-review-eifman-ballets-onegin.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/05/review-eifman-ballets-onegin-at-ocpac.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/arts/dance/01eifm.html

http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_09/jul09/et_rev_eifman_ballet_onegin_0509.htm

source www.batsheva.co.il

The Batsheva Dance Company founded in 1964, under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin since 1990, established itself as one of the most interesting and well known modern ballet companies in the world. We saw last night their last production ‘Bill’ at the Suzanne Dellal center in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, which became in the last decade one of the preferred entertainment areas of the city and a good place to spend a Friday night out with a friend coming to visit home from her remote California location.

(video source batshevadancecompany)

‘Bill’ is created by choreographer Sharon Eyal and takes the style of the company to its extremes. It is one hour of dance in a conception that focuses on the bodies and movements of the dancers, getting rid of many of the other elements that come together with the usual dance performance – narrative, sets, colors. What we see on the stage are only the dancers, in monochromatic costumes and with their bodies painted the same color and lights, and the continuum of the trance – style music guiding their movements. The result is that as a viewer you can focus on watching the dynamics of their movements, which build the whole performance. I liked what I saw on stage, it was permanently interesting, surprising, expressive – with the dancers interacting between themselves and the group in a sort of endless tribal ceremony from an universe that was created in front of our eyes. Even if the concept may seem too abstract and repetitive to some (it was not for me) the talent and effort of the dancers in the hot almost summer-like conditions (with the air conditioning not working for unknown reasons) was rewarded by well deserved applause from the audience.

An extensive interview with choreographer Sharon Eyal can be read at http://www.haaretz.com/magazine/friday-supplement/a-dance-on-the-wild-side-1.291018.

‘Violette and Mr. B.’ tries to break the usual method of doing biographical films about great dancers and choreographers. These are usually based upon archive materials intermingled with interviews of other artists, and students, and critics of the artist who worked with him or commented his work. In this case director Dominique Delouche chose a different method, by bringing to screen Violette Verdy who was the student and dancer of Balanchine. After shortly telling the story of her meeting with the genial choreographer the film moves in the dancing studio where Verdy teaches her students different works of Balanchine, explaining them his art by the very practical means of having them dance his very work.

All looks like a master class in dancing, certainly a high level one. It’s not really great documentary. Viewers who are into dancing or who are are passionate ballet fans you will probably love this film. Otherwise this film is probably not going to impress more than any other professional film in a profession that is not ours.

More information about the documentary by Dominique Delouche, transmitted a few days ago by Mezzo can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303195/

This biography film is one of the two that the French music and culture channel Mezzo screened lately by director Dominique Delouche. It traces the life and career of Ukranian-born French choreographer Serge Lifar who directed for several decades the ballet of the Paris opera and for a few years the Monte Carlo ballet. An influential figure of the 20th century dance history, Lifar was part of the Parisian artistic circles, worked with the most famous dancers, musicians, artists who created the decors of his works. He was a great dancer himself, and as a choreographer created reference versions of many key ballets. The film is quite scarce in biographical details although these are not completely missing and focuses mostly in his principal works which are presented through film clips of the original works, as well as of modern versions, and valuable comments about the artist and his work. It’s a valuable documentary for people interested in the history of ballet and in the life and work of Lifar.

More about the film at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486473/maindetails