Dance

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater April 8, 2025

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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 7:30 PM
Zellerbach Auditorium UC Berkeley
Program A

Welcome back!

For many years (more than 30 I believe) the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been appearing in Berkeley. In a short pre-performance talk, Jeremy Geffen, Executive of Cal Performances, remembered that the Ailey company had performed in Wheeler Auditorium before Zellerbach was built. He, and Matthew Rushing, (interim artistic director) welcomed the audience and noted the Ailey summer program at Cal (for kids 11-14) is 23 years ongoing.

The audience joyfully anticipated the company’s performance. Many had attended Ailey events in the past. This reviewer is always delighted to see “Revelations,” Ailey’s masterpiece which closes every show. It is a masterpiece, this 1960 work which incorporates many well- known spirituals and brings a joyous end to the current programs.

The company danced two other works: they dance with wonderful technique and focus…but the choreography for those works were less ‘compact,’ less intense…and made less impact to this reviewer.

“Grace” a Bay Area Premiere of a new production by Ronald K. Brown is performed to several well-known songs, e.g. “Come Sunday”, “Rock Shock” and “Shakers” among others. The dancers wear lively white or red costumes, interact with one-another in large and small groups interspersed with solos. They are skillful, wonderful to see and all transmit great pleasure in their dancing. But, for this reviewer, the choreography was a primarily a pleasant group event, a good opening work.

“Al-Andalus Blues”, choreography by Jamar Roberts to music by Roberta Flack and Miles Davis was more dramatic and made more impact. The company is costumed in black with gold trim on the jackets. There is tighter ensemble in the various sections; hand gestures prevail. Men dancers dominate this work; men and women wear similar costumes.

Again, the choreography consists of groups, duets and soloists coming and going on and off stage. It is an energetic and cinematic. I do believe that audiences needs to watch the dance segments repeatedly to ‘get it’. This did not happen for me in “Al-Andalus Blues” although the dancing was great.

The company continues its run at Zellerbach through Sunday April 13. It is always with great joy that audiences welcome the Alvin Ailey company. If only to see “Revelations” over and over and watch superbly accomplished dancers, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is the season’s hit!

The complete information on the dancers and the repertory for this week’s performances can be found on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater website.

Performance, Theater

ART – Shotgun Players

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“ART” a play by Yasmina Raza
Shotgun Players
Thursday, March 27, 2026 7:30 pm

“What sort of friend are you?”
The sentence above is on the cover of Shotgun Players current production of “Art”. Three men, actors Woody Harper (Yvan), Benoît Monin (Serge) and David Sinaiko (Marc) portray friends who meet to view Yvan’s acquisition…an all-white painting. The painting provides the opportunity for them to discuss their friendship, their life stories and a wide range of personal, problematic and “art” concerns. It is troublesome and very funny.
The actors are all very good (although Stagebridge ‘miking’ of actors often distorts their lines).

Yvan has bought the painting. Seeing it gives Serge the opportunity to ‘decompose’ his life on stage; Marc, objecting to the painting, provides ‘critical’ judgement on art…and his friends. The play moves very fast, through dialogue, stage activity, furniture moving and ‘scotch tape’ repairs to the set. Beneath the humor and the interaction, the characters offer their various stages of ‘mid-life’ reflections and critical observations.

Serge’s life crisis involves his ‘forthcoming’? marriage and all the interference of the participants. Yvan defends his painting with his particular ‘vision’. Marc, the ‘older mentor’ comments wisely (?) on the others. The play gives the audience an unusual opportunity to deal with men’s ‘crises’…a scenario not often handled in the theater among men themselves. (More often these crises are set in family contexts.) There is humor and irony in the text of “Art”, providing an important perspective and lots of. (but often) grim fun.

“Art” is translated (from French) by Christopher Hampton; Directed by Emile Whelan. It first appeared in Paris, (1994), then London then New York (where this reviewer saw a more sedate production). Stagebridge offers a delightful opportunity to see three fine lively actors give you “Art”.

 

Dance, Uncategorized

SF Ballet – Frankenstein

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San Francisco Ballet
“Frankenstein”
March 20, 2025. 7:30 PM
Opera House, SF

The Legend: Dance/Drama

The “Frankenstein” story goes back to 1818 when Mary Shelly wrote the novel which, in later story and film history, became a well-known film. Boris Karloff, playing the monster, is considered the most popular portrayal of “Frankenstein.” The ballet gives us greater dimension: the family history of Victor Frankenstein, his scientific studies and the ‘monstrous’ results.

The cast includes Joseph Walsh as the student, Frances Chung as his fiancé, Ricardo Bustamante as his father, Sasha Mukhamedov, his mother… and the amazing Wei Wang in the role of the ‘monster’. The ballet’s, world premiere in London, (2016) had its San Francisco premiere in 2017. The choreographer for both these events is Liam Scarlett. The composer is cited as Lowell Liebermann.

As with complex story ballets, all this takes careful attention since the events go back and forth in time. The leading characters are danced as children bringing charm and amazement to the future events. The children were delightful danced by; Santiago Stack Lozano (young Victor) and Luka Simone Keiko Ganaden (young Elizabeth). It is crucial for the audience to follow these characters as they all appear in later scenes. One prop is central to the plot: the student Frankenstein is given a “red” book of scientific information. That becomes the source book of his experiment and all that follows. As a student in the anatomy lab, still in shock with his mother’s recent death, he experiments with “creating a living creature”. What follows are many scenes that haunt him and every character in the complex story.

The cast shows amazing skill in their portrayals as the various characters. Although the 19th century ballet vocabulary is the basis of all their technique, they are extraordinary in the range of movement they perform and the subtle acting that the parts demand. Victor and Elizabeth (Walsh and Chung) dance several duets: in one Walsh collapses in Chung’s arms. In further scenes, the Creature demands a mate and is refused. By Act III, his revenge is achieved, the leading characters are all dead.

All this ‘acting’ and dramatization demands not only superb dance technique. but also focused acting projection in order to portray the complex characters and story line. Walsh, Chung and Wei Wang have developed strong acting abilities to accomplish this. ”The most important feeling in this ballet for me is self-discovery. The creature is trying to find answers for himself and find out why he is not loved and left behind by his creator and society.”

We, the audience follow these remarkable events and the cast’s performance with admiration and amazement. The San Francisco Ballet cast, in “Frankenstein” has achieved a level of theater that cannot be surpassed. Bravo to all!

Credits include: Scenic and costume design: John Macfarlane; Lighting: David Finn: Projection Design; Finn Ross. And of course, we are continually delighted by the SF Ballet Orchestra and Martin West, its conductor.