Alonzo King LINES Ballet at YBCA Theater, April 8, 2015

Alonzo King LINES Ballet
2015-04-08
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater
701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
8:00 PM, Wednesday, April 8, 2015

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[7:38 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [7:40 PM] Allegro

• Katherine Heater: harpsichord;
• Noah Strick: violin;
• Tanya Tomkins: cello;
• Lisa Weiss: violin.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for Two Violins, Strings and Continuo in D minor, BWV 1043 (ca. 1723)

1. [7:42 PM] Vivace
2. [7:46 PM] Largo ma non tanto
3. [7:53 PM] Allegro
   [set ends 7:58 PM; applause and bows until 8:00 PM when the lights go up for intermission]

• David Daniel Bowes: viola;
• Maria Caswell: violin;
• Katherine Heater: harpsichord;
• Maxine Nemerovski: violin;
• Noah Strick: violin;
• Tanya Tomkins: cello;
• Lisa Weiss: violin.

• Alonzo King: choreography (2013);
• Axel Morgenthaler: lighting design;
• Robert Rosenwasser: costumes.

[8:21 PM lights down]

Biophony (World Premiere)

1. [8:25 PM] Consilence
2. [8:27 PM] Tempestas
3. [8:31 PM] Mare Nostrum
4. [8:34 PM] Winds Across the Tundra
5. [8:40 PM] Still Life at the Equator
6. [8:43 PM] Elephant Stories
7. [8:47 PM] The Frog Who Desired Moonlight
8. [8:52 PM] A Gift of Bees
9. [8:56 PM] Nunaniq
   [show ends 9:00 PM; applause and bows until 9:02 PM]
    
   Post-show Q&A Session with Alonzo & Bernie
10. [9:04 PM] [yappin']
    [session ends 9:37 PM]

• Babatunji
• Robb Beresford
• Adji Cissoko
• Madeline Devries
• Shuaib Elhassan
• Courtney Henry
• Yujin Kim
• Michael Montgomery
• Laura O'Malley
• Jeffrey Van Sciver
• Kara Wilkes  
• William Couture (guest artist)

• Alonzo King: choreography;
• Bernie Krause and Richard Blackford: sound design & music;
• Axel Morgenthaler: lighting design;
• Robert Rosenwasser: set design.

I guess I was kinda confused about the arrangement of the pieces tonight, because it took me by surprise when we got to the set break…I'd misinterpreted the program and thought they were opening the evening with the entire Handel work instead of single section. Anyways, the dancing was great, but the costumes were a bit on the boring and less than flattering side. Minimalist to an extreme, and in the case of the darker ones, hard to make out the dancers bodies when the lights were dim. Fading eyesight on my part? Maybe! Guess I should have sprung some extra cash to fit myself in downstairs for a better view.

The second set was interesting, but I had a hard time connecting with the dancing. Maybe because much of their motion seemed to me to be a bit contrived. I imagine Alonzo telling his corps: “move, but abandon your human ways – listen to the sound and respond to the essential spirit that it expresses” …. and we get something quite different from regular dance. Not bad, but it was strange enough that it didn't really engage and hold my attention throughout the forty minutes duration of Bernie's soundtrack.

Randy McMullen posted a favorable microreview for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Allan Ulrich posted a much longer piece on SFGate, which includes some very nice pictures by Quinn Wharton.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!