The Independent Weekly’s seasonal arts blog
Images of the world premiere of Flowers of the Bones and a performance of The Rite of Spring by H. Art Chaos at the 2009 American Dance Festival. Commentary by Belem Destefani and Sarah Ewald. Produced by Byron Woods.
“But…it looks really different when it’s placed on ballet dancers!”
That’s what ADF sources told us when we asked about the differences between the version of Decadance that festival goers saw here in 2004 and the version Cedar Lake Contemporary Dance performs this week at DPAC.
Though the company provided us with the 30-second clip above, you can view a 5½ -minute excerpt from the company’s website here.
The work constitutes a potent fast-forward through ten years of choreography Naharin created for his Batsheva Dance Company in Israel. Vivid sequences excerpted from works including Naharin’s Virus and Anaphaza pointedly critiqued the politics of coercion, surveillance, intimidation and religious extremism, while others probed the questionable ethics of erotica. Its original decanting at ADF gave audiences an example of artistic protest as bracing as Maguy Marin’s One Cannot Eat Applause—and possibly more entertaining.
We’ll let you judge the differences between the ballet dancers above, and the original version, below:
Collaboration with Sarah Ewald and Belem Destefani.
Exclusive photo call footage of Emanuel Gat’s Winter Variations at the 2009 American Dance Festival. Dancers: Emanuel Gat and Roy Assaf. Commentary: Dance critic and correspondent Byron Woods. Produced by: Belem Destefani and Sarah Ewald.
Welcome back to the Indy’s ADF blog. This year, we’ve revamped our arts blogging as part of a site-wide redesign. We’re not blogging full-time (yet) about the arts, so we decided to create a “seasonal” arts blog that could be activated on big cultural occasions, such as the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and ADF.
Byron Woods is returning to be our primary correspondent from the stages at Reynolds Industries Theater on the Duke University campus and, for the first time, the brand-new Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).
Last night, Indy arts interns Belem Destefani and Sarah Ewald accompanied me to DPAC to see the technical rehearsal and photo call for RE-, a long-gestating piece by Shen Wei Dance Arts. Of particular interest is the first part, titled “III,” which gets its world premiere this weekend in Durham. Here’s the first of our preview videos.
THEATRE IN THE PARK / RALEIGH—The 1930s quasi-gangland setting for Theatre In The Park’s presentation of Romeo & Juliet allows for certain production latitudes. For example, it isn’t often that the playbill for Williams Shakespeare’s most famous play contains the following disclaimer: “This production contains cigarette smoke.” But, smoke it does, as Evan Rachel Wood graced the stage alongside her father, brother and a terrific cast during the Saturday afternoon, May 16, performance I attended, the second of six sold-out shows that conclude on Tuesday, May 19.
Despite the change in milieu, the play’s characters and prose remains largely untouched. Its tragic underpinning still packs a wallop, even if the Bard’s comic repartee now often flies by on anachronistic wings. Noteworthy performances among the supporting cast include Shaw University grad Rasool Jahan as the Nurse, Theatre mainstay David Henderson’s seamless rendering of Friar Laurence, and Matthew Rubolino’s Benvolio. And, Ira David Wood IV—who also directs—more than embraces the scene-chewing role of Mercutio.
While musical accompaniment is expectantly minimal, several additions by director Wood left me scratching my head. During the famous Balcony Scene, the familiar and somewhat incongruous strains of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” are heard in the background. Later, Ennio Morricone’s Death Theme from The Untouchables plays during the death of Mercutio.
But, Evan Rachel Wood is the production’s star from the moment she first appears as Juliet. Her’s is not the most polished or showy performance. But, she exudes star quality, her radiant red hair, alabaster skin and lithe physique commanding the stage, whether she gleefully prances about in the throes of love, laments the loss of Romeo, or, yes, smokes. The unquestioned show-stopper, however, comes when Wood’s Juliet croons a rendition of the 1930’s standard “My Funny Valentine,” which held an enchanted audience on the edge of its collective seat.
The mercurial history of the Wood family—including the strained relationship between Evan and her locally renowned father, Ira David Wood III—is well-documented. This onstage reunion is partly an effort to continue their fence-mending. So, more than a few knowing chuckles were heard in the audience when Wood III’s Lord Capulet celebrates daughter Juliet’s willingness to finally obey her father and marry Paris by exclaiming, “My heart is wondrous light, since this same wayward girl is so reclaimed.”
Of course, remember that Juliet was pulling the wool over her father’s eyes.
Update (May 11, 2009): Theatre In The Park is announcing today one additional performance of Romeo & Juliet. Tickets ($50) for the Tuesday, May 19, 7:30 p.m. show can be purchased by calling the theater’s box office, 919-831-6058.
Evan Rachel Wood on the set of brother Ira David Wood IV’s production of Romeo and Juliet for Theatre in the Park. The sold-out show runs May 15-17.
(Click photos for larger images.)
Story in our May 13 issue.
Evan Rachel Wood (Photo by Jeremy M. Lange)
Evan Rachel Wood as Juliet with her father, Ira David Wood III, as Capulet (Photo by Jeremy M. Lange)
Evan Rachel Wood as Juliet with Kyle Perren as Romeo (Photo by Jeremy M. Lange)
The bounty offer! Click to read G105's little stunt in full.
Recently, G105 announced a $1,000 “Orlando Bloom Bounty.” Seems that the publicists for MAIN STREET, the feature film now in production in Durham, aren’t returning their calls, so Bob and the Showgram are turning to checkbook journalism: They’re offering one-large to the person who can deliver the actor, of hobbit and pirate fame, to their studios for an interview.
But before readers go hunting for the man who was Legolas, we should inform you that we tripped over him licking his fingers at JC’s Kitchen at Main and Fayetteville Street, put a hood over his head, threw him into our Prius and took him to the G105 studio.
Unfortunately, Orlando never made it inside the studio. Turns out Bob only wanted to check him out under the pretext of a trial interview. When it was over, all we had was this tape.
Photo by Jeremy M. Lange
A police car dropped Colin Firth off at his hotel last night … over and over again.
Downtown Durham was transformed into a rainy, film-noirish set during filming for Main Street. Indy culture editor David Fellerath and photographer Jeremy M. Lange were there, at the corner of Corcoran and Main.
Keep an eye out for a forthcoming story … in the meanwhile, here’s some pics. Click ‘em for larger images.
Photo by Jeremy M. Lange
Photo by Jeremy M. Lange
This excellent Wilmington festival runs Nov. 11-15, 2009. We’ll be there.
You can be there, too—as a filmmaker. The festival issued a call for entries, the text of which is after the jump.
The acid-tongued comedian has strep throat, according to her Web site, forcing the cancellation of three shows this week, including her gig Thursday, April 23, at Durham Performing Arts Center.
No confirmation yet from officials at DPAC.
UPDATE 3:59 p.m.: DPAC confirms the cancellation and says the show will be rescheduled.
UPDATE Thursday, April 23: Word comes from DPAC that Griffin’s performance has been rescheduled for Friday, October 16, at 8 p.m.
