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Stefania Figliossi, Domenico Luciano and Robert Dekkers perform in the world premiere of Dominic Walsh’s Ancora lá.It’s easy to see why choreographers love Stefania Figliossi.
Equal parts tomboy, nymph and sexpot, she is the mesmerizing heart of Dominic Walsh Dance Theater’s season-opening program, which includes the U.S. premiere of two duets Mauro Bigonzetti made for her along with a world premiere trio by Walsh.
Figliossi’s feet are the first thing you notice (aside from the cool cloud video) in Ho Messo Via, exerpted from Bigonzetti’s Certe Notti. They magnify every move of her pixieish body, projecting fierceness when they’re insanely arched and a forlorn sensibility when they’re sickled, as her toes splay poignantly.
Her whole body exudes gutsy sharpness as she runs, leaps into partner Domenico Luciano’s arms and wads herself up like a wounded spider or lands splayed out, parallel to the floor. Cheeky humor adds another intriguing level to her physicality in Bigonzetti’s Come un Respiro, again with Luciano.
The footsies figure prominently in Walsh’s new Ancora lá, set to music from the 1994 film Farinelli, about an 18th century castrato. Figliossi, Luciano and Robert Dekkers stay so busy with pretzelish lifts and Walsh’s articulated moves — limbs bending as if captured by stop-action photography — that the piece seems overworked. It starts to get interesting when Luciano and Dekkers lock Figliossi between them and she yowls with the high notes of an aria. And there’s a decent duet when Luciano tries to revive her. But the piece loses its focus when Dekkers, who’s been left standing upstage in the dark, moves forward mimicking Figliossi’s movements, only without a partner.
Walsh’s The Whistling, created for Ballet Austin last year to Cuban songs from the 1940s and ’50s, also feels too layered. In one bright section, Houston Ballet’s Allison Miller charms up the stage with Dekkers and Todd Rhoades. In another, all six dancers, including Emily McLaughlin, get to do some much-needed jumping and twirling. But these parts are bookended by mysterious dances in which Figliossi and Luciano seem to be primitive figures. And I have no idea why everyone backs out, whistling, at the end.
Lauren Anderson, a frequent partner of Walsh’s when they were principals with Houston Ballet, blows smoke dramatically and carries herself proudly in his The Dying Swan solo. Katharsis, a 2002 piece about three sculpted figures who come to life after their creator puts them in a convoluted pose, seemed prescient. Walsh was doing the articulated limb thing back then, too. A whole night of it, though, can seem just crippled.
Walsh was a fluid, fantastic dancer — better than anyone in his company since, not counting the visiting ballerinas — and I miss that quality. There’s spinning now, but not much jumping.
In its first 10 years, DWDT has distinguished itself by importing cool contemporary European choreography, including pieces by Mats Ek and Jirí Kylián. Audiences also need a little levity sometimes. We like to see dancers — and their choreographers — soar. That could give us all another decade to look forward to.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 and 15
Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center
800 Bagby
$25-$52 (less for students and seniors)
713-315-2525 or www.dwdt.org
I don't think I really understand the main critique of this review. I've always found the responses to dance theater interesting. In dance we want to see the most beautiful forms of ourselves, and the most understandable. I suppose that happens in art enough, but I feel that it happens in dance in a way that I haven't seen quite the same in other art forms. I can understand it. We project a lot onto the balletic figure, both male and female. It embodies grace, strength, agility, and above all, flawlessness. And I understand the audience member's desire for the showmanship of balletic athleticism. As a fellow artist, and as someone who's taken many different forms of dance, and as a lover of ballet, what I admire most in Dominic's work is his dedication to the conceptual and the psychological, the abstract and the figurative, and the nontraditional narrative while still adhering to ideals of balletic shape and beauty.
I'm amazed that this reviewer didn't see levity, charm and sensuality in The Whistling. I'm amazed that this reviewer didn't see what I saw in Ancora La. I saw a pushing of boundaries - in the choreographic response to the music, which created its own pattern both in line and away from Farinelli's score, and in its pushing towards and against beauty and distortion, the sculptural and the silhouetted.
What I try to do most when viewing any art form - is to push against my own expectations of what that form "should" be. Any sophisticated, exposed audience member comes to any piece of work, particularly work in performance, with lots of baggage. We've seen narrative ballets and conceptual art and operas and films upon films upon films. Even advertising and television creeps into our consciousness as we watch any kind of performance. I think it takes a lot to empty the psyche and the cognitive brain and allow a new performance to be self contained, and let it speak on its own, without the baggage of what it's working against. And it takes a lot not to burden the performance before us with the expectations of what has come before, what has been seen before, what we respond to favorably no matter what. To me, the greatest art, no matter how I ultimately feel about it, is art that embodies all parts of the human condition, even those that don't soar, and even those that take on the darker sides of humanity in exchange for ones that overemphasize flight and athletic bravado.
“Bravo Dominic Walsh Dance Theater’s 10th Anniversary Season!”
What a splendid opening performance for the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater's 10th Anniversary celebration! Having watched Dominic as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and with the creation of his company, I am in awe of the talent and accomplishments of this brilliant, conceptual, brave dancer, choreographer, and director of one of the outstanding modern companies in the United States. It is not easy to survive the economic challenges, and at the same time, be true to the vision of the ever evolving bridge connecting the classical and contemporary energies in dance today. You might say Dominic is updating the "Hallowed Classics." Walsh has successfully accomplished this on all levels as evidenced with the brilliant performances by members of his company- Domenico Luciano, Todd Rhoades, Allison Miller, Robert Dekkers, and Emily McLaughlin. The guest ballerina Stefania Figliossi who partnered with Domenico Luciano, gave Houston audiences a performance that exuded the grace and elegance that bespoke the true aesthetics of each work. Each part of the program thrilled the audience from different perspectives. Domenico, an extraordinary dancer is reminiscent to me of the divine Nureyev- a talent with beauty, passion, and great sex appeal. Don't miss their next performance in the Subscription Series February 9th-11th. Enjoy!
“Bravo Dominic Walsh Dance Theater’s 10th Anniversary Season!”
What a splendid opening performance for the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater's 10th Anniversary celebration! Having watched Dominic as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and with the creation of his company, I am in awe of the talent and accomplishments of this brilliant, conceptual, brave dancer, choreographer, and director of one of the outstanding modern companies in the United States. It is not easy to survive the economic challenges, and at the same time, be true to the vision of the ever evolving bridge connecting the classical and contemporary energies in dance today. You might say Dominic is updating the "Hallowed Classics." Walsh has successfully accomplished this on all levels as evidenced with the brilliant performances by members of his company- Domenico Luciano, Todd Rhoades, Allison Miller, Robert Dekkers, and Emily McLaughlin. The guest ballerina Stefania Figliossi who partnered with Domenico Luciano, gave Houston audiences a performance that exuded the grace and elegance that bespoke the true aesthetics of each work. Each part of the program thrilled the audience from different perspectives. Domenico, an extraordinary dancer is reminiscent to me of the divine Nureyev- a talent with beauty, passion, and great sex appeal. Don't miss their next performance in the Subscription Series February 9th-11th. Enjoy!
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