Copeland was strong in “Ash,” and breathtakingly so. Rarely has she seemed as womanly, as self-assured — as towering (she’s smaller than you might imagine) — as she was in this soulful, sophisticated performance, unveiled at the first program of City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival on Tuesday.
Wearing a gold leotard under a gossamer tunic by the talented designers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, Copeland shimmered as if in a cloud. Her arms rose and fell as she retreated to the back of the stage and, for a brief moment, undulated like a swan’s wings.
As she glided across the stage, advancing with spins that came to sudden stops or extending a leg to the side in développé, her progression through the steps could be read as an unwavering journey, refined and forthright.
Abraham, a MacArthur fellow who heads his own contemporary dance company, could have a side career choreographing solos for ballet dancers yearning for something different. (He’s worked with Wendy Whelan and Taylor Stanley, both with roots at New York City Ballet.) As precise as her placement was in “Ash,” set to an austere score by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto with Ensemble Modern, Copeland’s steps also felt as soft as whispers.
Copeland, American Ballet Theatre’s first African-American female principal and a dancer idolized by many, isn’t playing a role in “Ash.” Abraham designed it so that the material is her body; she’s in control.
Curatorial authority was less evident in other parts of the opening-night program, which began with Crystal Pite’s “A Picture of You Falling,” a self-conscious duet with moody spotlights and text about a frayed relationship, performed by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. (The company performed it in New York last spring.)
The South African company Vuyani Dance Theater presented the U.S. premiere of Gregory Maqoma’s “Rise,” an optimistic group work about, well, rising up, which featured ebullient dancing to a soundtrack of artists including Drake and Billie Holiday. As the cast took turns bursting into springy jumps and spins within boxes of light — joined from time to time by the lithe Musa Motha, a remarkable performer missing a leg and dancing with the help of an arm brace — the work stuck to the same note. It was adapted for the festival. Did some deeper intention fall away?
The second, more rewarding half of the program began with “Ash” and concluded with a radiant work by the tap choreographer and dancer Caleb Teicher: “Bzzzz.” A collaboration with beatboxer Chris Celiz, the piece is a rich exploration of sound that shows how dancers become musicians with their bodies, capable of creating their own score whether soft or hard.
The playful Celiz began the performance in front of the curtain where he vocalized on a microphone; taps could be heard behind it. It rose on three squares or platforms for dancing, and in this handsome setting Teicher’s spirited, seamless brand of tap flourished. As duets slipped into group numbers and solos into trios, the stage constantly (and aptly) buzzed with life — sunny, sweet, yet full of power.
On Thursday, the festival’s second program opened with the splendid Mark Morris Dance Group in one of the choreographer’s most lilting, idyllic works: “Eleven,” named for the Mozart piano concerto to which it is set and part of his trilogy “Mozart Dances” (2006). Men appear at the start, but they soon abandon the stage to a contingent of women led by the quicksilver veteran Lauren Grant, who is both fleeting and standoffish.
Here, Morris highlights his dancers’ femininity and sisterhood by flaunting their strength, not their daintiness. Whether spinning with outstretched arms or loosely holding the napes of their necks — elbows pointed out sharply before rocking on their heels and letting their arms melt forward — they embody the music’s sweep.
Sadly, nothing else on the program came close to “Eleven,” which was granted the most polite applause of the night. The French hip-hop company Dyptik, led by artistic directors, Mehdi Meghari and Souhail Marchiche, presented “Dans L’Engrenage” (or “In the Gear”) in its U.S. premiere. In this jumbled production, flashes of hip-hop movement and hints of folk dancing took place under Richard Gratas’ spotlights that both illuminated the performers and manipulated the crowd.
The Washington Ballet, under the direction of the former American Ballet Theatre principal Julie Kent, offered Dana Genshaft’s “Shadow Lands,” set to music by Mason Bates — a score more suited to a movie than a ballet. At the centerpiece of this swiftly moving dance, which seemed to have something to say about the individual versus the group, was the Outlier (Katherine Barkman, who has some of Kent’s understated elegance) and her encounter with the Observer (Javier Morera).
“Shadow Lands” was like driving too fast along a scenic road and never stopping long enough to take in the sights; it had polish yet added up to little.
Malevo, a company formed by Matías Jaime, offered the premiere of “Salvaje,” which translates to “Wild,” and on the surface it was. This group specializes in malambo, a vigorous mix of drumming and percussive dance. In “Salvaje,” 13 male performers woke up the stage — and the audience — with sharp stomps and steely legwork.
But was it truly wild? If Malevo seemed like a group you might have seen on “America’s Got Talent,” that’s because it has. As fascinating as the men’s footwork was, the production felt less like an artistic endeavor than a halftime show. The performers even gave themselves an encore.
It’s confusing. Why does Fall for Dance, created as an inexpensive platform to spread the wealth of dance, prize spectacle overall else? I can only hope that someone new to the art form grasped the grace and wisdom of Morris’s “Eleven,” could see why it was so brave for Copeland show herself in such an understated manner and realized that Teicher’s brand of percussive dance wasn’t just a fantastic closer because it made noise. For this festival to maintain its backbone, its needs artistry — in many forms.
This article originally appeared in
.