Word: feld
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...atmosphere was jubilant when Feld unveiled his seven-minute romp through Americana at Manhattan's City Center last week. It was the first Broadway run for the troupe that Joseph Papp has housed at the Public Theater for all of its nearly three-year existence. This time the company danced to a real orchestra, playing in the pit, instead of to a solo piano or a tape. The stars were Christine Sarry, Feld's favorite ballerina, and Guest Artist Mikhail Baryshnikov...
...Eliot Feld's new ballet, Variations on "America," is a series of opinions. "This is what I think. Isn't that surprising?" asks Feld, 34, a brilliant choreographer who seems mildly baffled by his witty, ribald new dance. "This ballet concerns some of my feelings about us, about America. It's [he tests the word syllable by syllable...
...flamenco. Allusions to country and flag abounded in Thomas Skelton's starry light projections and Willa Kim's red, white and blue costumes. Pinching years into seconds required lightning transformations by Sarry and Baryshnikov. Pioneers became Indians, who eventually turned into Central Park joggers. More than ever, Feld's choreography demanded speed and lucidity. Darting here and there in prickly little pas phrased right on the music, Sarry would suddenly spin out in a phosphorescent series of turns. Then she and Baryshnikov led a smart cakewalk. He threw a snappy salute and then, breaking free, rocketed through...
...good-natured fanny squeeze-his own derrière-and a figure in which Yankee Doodle scoops up Sarry to ring the Liberty Bell. Compression and speed obscured some of the complexity of the choreography. Baryshnikov, as always, appeared to be dancing steps as they occurred to him. Occasionally Feld overreached. When the orchestra struck up a flourish reminiscent of the old Pathé newsreel finale, Baryshnikov lofted Sarry high in a grand one-handed Kirov lift. Majestically, he floated her on a cushion of air, then plunged her straight to the floor in a resounding split. It looked more...
Variations on "America" is "a blue-sky, apple-pie kind of ballet. If it misses the intensity of some of Feld's longer works, it also lacks their some times disturbing undertones. A circus of bravura set pieces, it may well join Le Corsaire, Don Quixote and similar pas de deux as staples of gala pro grams. Variations is bound to tempt other virtuoso pairs. There are two reasons, however, why it may not look quite the same: Christine Sarry and Mikhail Baryshnikov...