Allemande: a brisk, busy work of small, precise ballet-based actions
By Nelson Daily Editor
Allemande — MOVE: the company
@ The Capitol Theatre, Saturday, Nov. 19, 8 p.m.
- Tickets: Adult: $20, Full Time Student: $16
Constructed largely of duets, which shift in mood and design, Allemande is a brisk, busy work built of small, precise ballet-based actions, seasoned with a sharp contemporary aesthetic.
Josh Beamish’s choreographic talent lies in how he is able to make a series of fast, disparate isolations flow together into logically connected phrases that add up to larger and profoundly expressive movement statements.
In other contexts this sleek, technical style of contemporary dance is often executed with a detached quality, Beamish’s dancers perform with passion and relate to one another in an almost haughty manner, lending an interesting emotionality to an already intriguing dance.
Set to a poignant assemblage of Johnny Cash recordings, Simone Orlando’s “Studies of Cash” employs heartrending video footage (by Lynne Spencer), a comic karaoke scene that leavens the sadness, and a marvelous choreographic fusion of raw athleticism, folk-dance elements, and classical lyricism to portray the grim sentiments associated with Cash’s music and life.
Allemande also features a new work, Marcato, for the company’s five male dancers that premieres in New York in September 2011. Virtuosic movements illustrate a series of the complex power dynamics that unfold amongst the group.
The program is completed by black tent on the plains, a deconstructed woman’s trio en pointe set to a score by rising British composer Charlie Usher, who’s works have already been played at Lincoln Centre and by the BBC Orchestra.
“Hardcore might best describe the speedy, aggressive, no-nonsense dance style.” – Lori Ortiz, Explore Dance
- New York http://www.movethecompany.com
