Ballet Hispánico, the premier Latine dance company, founded by tour-de-force Tina Ramirez in 1970, and now led by the incomparable Eduardo Vilaro, presented their Palante Junior Ensemble, ages 17-24, at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville, NY, on Saturday, March 22. A capstone of their weeklong residency, the Palante Ensemble offered four dances that included two world premieres, a work-in-progress, and a work from the repertory. Pa’lante translates as “moving forward,” and that the dancers did by expressing the high standards expected of the Ballet Hispánico organization.
The evening opened with internationally renowned Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Nube Blanco (White Cloud), 2008, a dance for twelve. The work showcased the young dancers strengths: a centerstage male solo to the sounds of plinking water, bright red heeled dance shoes worn by both men and women to augment rhythms clapped and body struck, a barefoot couple, a humorous quartet for four men, one-shoed dancing, shoe as a telephone for a woman castigating her boyfriend in Spanish, and a twirling woman piled high with fluffy white tutus illustrating the white cloud image of the title. This dance has pleased audiences the world over and it’s no wonder.
The world premieres, led by Vilaro’s Estoy Aqui (I’m here), is a gentle and elegant dance featuring standout Mariano Alexander Hurtado Velasco and four encircling women. With under-stated bravura and breathtaking spiral tours and leaps, Hurtado is a dancer to follow.
Living the dream..., a piece by Ballet Hispánico’s School of Dance director Michelle Manzanales in collaboration with the cast of 13, followed. The iconic song, “New York, New York” begins with “Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today...” and ushers the pedestrian clad dancers into a long diagonal. They accentuate the words with kicks, arches, jumps and falls, a cacophony of spirited movement until all lie still on the floor. The animated dance ends with a repeat of the beginning except now the cast stands. Their uprightness is a proclamation to the sacrifices it takes to make it in New York, New York. After all, “You make it there, you make it anywhere.”
The final dance, Luna Negra (Black Moon) for the 23-member Palante company, revolves around a love story and color prejudice found within Latin culture. This
work -in-progress explores African inflected dance and the shifting of large groups. A tunnel-like structure created by the dancers’ bodies in which other dancers slither through was particularly memorable. The choreographer, Telmo Moreira, a winner of numerous awards for his dancing, was born in Portugal to African parents. In addition to Portugal, he has danced and lived in Russia, NYC, and Florida and now runs a ballet academy in Philadelphia. There is much for him to share with young dancers.
This week, the Passion Fruit Dance Company, through Works & Process and the American Dance Festival, is in residence at the Catskill Mountain Foundation. The all-women Hip-hop company, founded by Haitian born and Swiss raised Tatiana Desardouin, “layers projections, 3D mapping, live DJ, dancing, and on-stage painting. To calibrate and weave together these components, a tech residency is necessary,” says Duke Dang, Executive Director of Works & Process.
Passion Fruit previews this new dance for the first time at the Orpheum on Saturday, March 29. The next evening the company performs a Hip-hop duet, Dance Within Your Dance that includes film at Stissing Center, Pine Plains.
Catherine Tharin danced with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company touring nationally and internationally. She teaches dance studies and technique, is an independent dance and performance curator, choreographs, writes about dance for Side of Culture and Interlocutor, and is a reviewer for The Dance Enthusiast. She also writes for The Boston Globe. Catherine lives in Pine Plains, New York and New York City.
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