Dorrance Dance: The Joyce does it again!

Josette Wiggan-Freund
plays Clara's Mother and Sugar Rum Cherry
in The Nutcracker Suite.
(photo: Matthew Murphy)

Dorrance Dance
The Joyce Theater
December 17-January 5

The Joyce closes out the 20-Teens with another tap triumph--this time, a three-week run by Dorrance Dance, the superb troupe headed by 2015 MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance. Dorrance has been showing three separate programs, each crowned--I can find no better word for it--by the world premiere of The Nutcracker Suite, set to the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn arrangement of Tchaikovsky and designed like you've never seen it before.

The actual title--as rendered in the program notes, if not on the Joyce's website--is as follows:

WE PRESENT TO YOU: THE NUTCRACKER SUITE OR, A RHYTHMATURGICAL EVOCATION OF THE SUPER-LEVIATHONIC ENCHANTMENTS OF DUKE AND BILLY'S SUPREME ADAPTATION OF TCHAIKOVSKY'S MASTERPIECE THAT TELLS A TALE OF A MISUNDERSTOOD GIRL WHO KILLS A KING AND MEETS A QUEEN AND DON'T FORGET OOOO-GONG-CHI-GONG-SH'-GON-MAKE-IT-DADDY AND THAT IT AIN'T SO BAD AFTER ALL

Okay?

But we'll certainly call it The Nutcracker Suite for short.

In the program I saw (B), it followed the cool and spacious Elastic Time, also a world premiere, by the company's Associate Artistic Director, Nicholas Van Young, who is also a drummer, with sections of improvisation by the dancers and wonderful live music. Elastic Time and The Nutcracker Suite are like night and day. The first: abstract, rhythmically complex and transparent so that you marvel at the spare, dynamic architecture of its design and zoom in on its dancers' clean technical abilities, with Warren Craft bringing spunk and playfulness to an exciting tap suite that feels, nevertheless, to avoid the element of swing. The second: all swing all the time, winkingly queer, drenched in and bursting with color (lighting by Kathy Kaufmann, costumes by Andrew Jordan, scenic design by Christopher Marc--all of whom, like Dorrance, should clear a shelf for awards).

Dorrance's jazzy charm offensive starts right off centering a jitterbug couple and proceeds to woo us with a pocket-watch-hypnosis chorus line and a trio of Sugar Rum Blossoms (Elizabeth Burke, Carson Murphy and Maddie Murphy, led by Sugar Rum Cherry Josette Wiggan-Freund) who evoke Harlem showgirls. With its mayhem (seriously brawling rats) and bustling merriment (Russian trepak dance with some b-girl moves from Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie), this Nutcracker is non-stop, over-the-top entertainment giving good value for the price of your ticket.

Dorrance has the skillz. See this show, and you'll see why she could (and should, if desired) follow Camille A. Brown to Broadway. You will love The Nutcracker Suite, and you'll want to see it again and again. May this show become an annual tradition. Make it so, you geniuses at Dorrance Dance and The Joyce. Make it so.

Dorrance Dance continues through Sunday, January 5. For program and schedule information and ticketing, click here.

The Joyce Theater

175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street, Manhattan

(directions)

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve as Senior Curatorial Director of Gibney. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Is it too soon to be thinking about The Nutcracker?

Photos from Dance The World Nutcracker Festival
courtesy of JP Dance Group

Maybe, even though Rockefeller Center's Christmas tree is already in place!

But JP Dance Group wants you to start thinking about its Dance The World Nutcracker Festival, devoted to New York's exciting diversity.  Three programs (December 15-20) will present dance forms from a wide variety of cultures represented in our city--Chinese, Bulgarian, Middle Eastern, African, Caribbean, Mexican and Indian.

For a complete schedule of festival programs, click here. For tickets, click here.

The Secret Theatre
44-02 23rd Street, Long Island City, Queens
(map/directions)

Bejart's "Nutcracker"

Not nearly enough Nutcracker variations? Really? Well, try this, free, courtesy of Classical TV.

"Nut/Cracked" at DTW

The Bang Group in Nut/cracked
(photo: Yi-Chun Wu) 

One balalaika plinging! 

Two thumbs a' sucking!

Copious vodka flowing! 

Four tap shoes tapping! 

Sunglasses gleaming! 

Ellington a'jazzing!

Bubble wrap a'popping! 

Xmas tree erecting! 

Uh...where was I?

How fun to hang out with David Parker's jazzy, sassy, goofy and yet quite meticulous Nutcracker variation, Nut/Cracked (2003) in the final performance of The Bang Group's DTW season!

As much fun as a harmless slip on skating rink ice and an irresistible waltz with flowers that make you sneeze.

As much fun as finding you've got Tchaikovsky looping in the brain but with considerable help from the likes of Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller.

The kind of fun where nothing's sacred but everything's beloved--ballet and vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood, dancers of every shape and talent. Let's hear it for fun!

Jennifer Sydor and Aaron Mattocks in Nut/Cracked
(photo: Yi-Chun Wu) 

And so, thank you, David and company, for the fun and the sugar plums and the smiles on an almost-winter night.

All it's cracked up to be

See a live performance of David Parker and The Bang Group's Nut/Cracked, streaming live!

Watch tonight, December 20, 7:30-9pm ET. Click here.

Now in its fourth appearance at Dance Theater Workshop, Nut/Cracked incorporates an enterprising mix of tap, ballet, contemporary, disco and even toe tap. Tinged with whimsy, Nut/Cracked is a comic, subversive neo-vaudeville danced to novelty and popular arrangements of the score as well as the traditional orchestral suite. This year, each of the performances will feature students from all of five New York City boroughs.

Neville's Nutcracker

The Nutcracker according to Brenda R. Neville is a cozy affair set in contemporary, high-rise Manhattan. Since her amiable Drosselmeyer (Yasu Suzuki) is a well-traveled, open-minded diplomat, she can rightly give him friends and associates of diverse races and nationalities and even have young Clara (Ally Taylor Sacks) get dreamy over an NYPD cadet (Christopher McDaniel) who happens to be Black. What's more, Neville Dance Theatre's Nutcracker puts out the red carpet for a bustling world of dance—from tango to Tinikling, from hip hop to Fayzah Claudia Chisolm's superbly crafted "Arabian" solo. Each of the non-ballet dance forms presented in the party celebration emphasizes carefully executed authentic movement rather than the usual balletic stylization of a sprinkling of light ethnic flavors. 

This past week, NDT brought its Nutcracker to Chelsea's Hudson Guild Theater, where--on Saturday's matinee performance--the floor gave dancers a few scares. The choreographer and troupe nevertheless made the best of cramped stage space, filling it with gaiety and flourish.

I never grew up a Nutcracker fan. (Sorry! At Xmastime, my family headed to Radio City for the movies and Rockettes.) But I can certainly get behind a project that indulges my love of world dance. Neville is onto something whose development could be supported and enhanced, I think, by nicer, more adequate space.

Click here to learn more about Brooklyn's Neville Dance Theatre.

Holiday dancing at WFC

arts>World Financial Center dance events for Holiday 2009

New York Theatre Ballet in The Nutcracker
Tuesday, December 1 (12:30pm and 6pm)

Hour-long version. The 6pm show will be preceded by the annual Winter Garden lighting celebration.

ETHEL and Annie-B Parson: Wait for Green
Friday, December 18 (12:30pm and 7pm)

Choreographer/director Parson once again joins forces with postclassical string quartet ETHEL, restaging their 2008 collaboration, Wait for Green.

Ase Dance Theatre Collective
Monday, December 28 (12:30pm)
Dance and song in celebration of Kwanzaa

All events take place in WFC's Winter Garden and are free; no tickets required.

Map and directions

For a complete schedule and information on all Holiday 2009 events in the arts>World Financial Center series, click here.

"Nutcracker" sales down

Ballet Companies Report Slower Sales for ‘The Nutcracker’
by Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, December 19, 2008

Brenda Neville: Body and Soul podcast

This season, Brenda Neville's Neville Dance Theatre brings a contemporary Nutcracker with a world of difference to Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts (Long Island University). With a Brooklyn-based setting that features techie toys for kids of all ages and a party mix of capoeira, tango, Irish dancing and more, this production puts a fresh spin on the beloved winter classic.

(c)2008,Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

This season, Brenda Neville's Neville Dance Theatre brings a contemporary Nutcracker with a world of difference to Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts (Long Island University). With a Brooklyn-based setting that features techie toys for kids of all ages and a party mix of capoeira, tango, Irish dancing and more, this production puts a fresh spin on the beloved winter classic.

Thursday, December 18th, 2008 (Gala) at 8pm
Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 20th, 2008 at 3:00pm (Family Performance) and 7:30pm

Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts
1 University Plaza, Brooklyn
Information and ticketing: 718.488.1624 or Web site

Brenda R. Neville (Director/Choreographer), has spent the last two decades performing and choreographing ballet, modern, Argentine Tango, Flamenco and other ethnic dances in over 18 different countries with companies such as the Milwaukee Ballet, Indianapolis Dance Company, AllNations Dance Company, Marc DeGarmo & Dancers, Covenant Dance Theatre and in numerous musical theatre productions. Her expertise covers a vast array of dance styles giving her choreography exceptional diversity and color. She has trained and performed with some of the top talents in dance today, including Juan Carlos Copes, Soledad Barrio, Sean Curran, Elizabeth Parkinson, Marjorie Mussman and Graciela Kozak.

An active dance teacher in the New York City area, she is a current faculty dance instructor at The Ailey School and Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn. Her students have been accepted by some of the most reputable dance programs and schools in the country, including American Ballet Theatre, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and LaGuardia Performing Arts High School. An expert ballet pointe shoe fitter, she has assisted in the development of the Gaynor Minden pointe shoe and currently works with Freed of London. She is a cum laude graduate of Butler University, receiving a B.A. in Dance Pedagogy, and is a co-founder of World Dance Theatre.