Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance will collaborate with American Virtuosi: Artistic Director, Kenneth Hamrick, violinist Jane Chung and cellist, Sarah Biber to create an evocative new 45 minute ballet titled "Treize en Jeu" for 13 dancers set to 3 moments of Franz Schubert's Trio in E Flat Major for piano, violin, and cello.
Hello Friends of Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance,
I am Cherylyn Lavagnino the Artistic Director of Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance (CLD). We are a New York City based contemporary ballet company. I am excited to invite you today to be a part of the brand new dance festival titled, Musa, that myself, Zvi Gotheiner and Dusan Tynek are creating for this June.
This will be CLD's thirteenth New York Season, and coincidently we will premiere a new dance Treize en Jeu that features thirteen dancers to sections of Franz Schubert's Trio in E Flat Major for piano, violin and cello. This is a pure movement piece with a character dance flavor inspired directly by this exciting score of Schuert's. The dancers own personalities and qualities always inspire the creation of my work.
CLD has a long history of working with live music. We have developed an ongoing relationship with Kenneth Hamrick's American Virtuosi who will play throughout the festival. Long time collaborator Jane Chung on violin, cellist Sarah Biber and Kenneth on piano.
We are especially excited to announce that the trio will be played on period instruments from Schubert's era. I can't wait to hear how the sound will alter the flavor of the piece. I just returned from Prague and was lucky to hear Vivaldi's Four Seasons on period instruments, to find that for the first time I could actually hear the qualities of the seasons very specifically.
Additionally we will present a recent duet Campadre created to Piazolla's composition of the same name and which hopefully will be played live on the Bandoneon.
We want to thank the Catskill Mountain Foundation who supported a residency for CLD and American Virtuosi where we began this process for Treize en Jeu.
We are in the process of raising money to support all the aspects of this production towards this festival. We would love to have your support in mounting this season. We'd also love to see you at the festival.
Warm Regards,
Cherylyn
Cherylyn Lavagnino
Artistic Director of Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance
Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer
There were no customarily flamboyant costumes and set, just fine dances that triggered off a spectrum of emotions, from lingering surprise to great delight.
The emotional lever was operated by guitarist Samuele Vivian, guest choreographers Eduardo Rivero-Walker, Jermaine Rowe, the NYC (New York City) contemporary ballet company, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, and dancers from the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC).
They performed at a concert titled Cultural Fusion 2011, organised by Artistic Expressions Co Ltd, held at the Little Theatre last Saturday.
Six of the 10 acts were performed by the ballet company, all choreographed by Lavagnino. One of their dances, Fell of Night (excerpt) Memory, opened the show. The dance comprised of two dancers, Sarah Bek and Patrick O'neil, who began to speak the language of movement eloquently.
One accord
Wearing Ciera Wells' simply designed purple and white costumes, the two slowly, timely and gracefully moved in one accord. Beginning from their opening space, upstage left, they manoeuvred their way across the entire stage to the beautiful and mesmerising sounds of Beethoven'sOpus131, String Quartet#14 in C sharp minor, 1st Movement.
But beauty truly came alive at the end of the dance, A Bird Came Down the Walk. At first, the duet of Selina Chau and Joshua Palmer seemed to be repeating the vocabulary of Fell of Night, as they, with more energy and at a faster pace, moved to the rhythm of Toru Takemitsu's music. But in a dramatic twist, standing on the tips of her toes, Chau glided effortlessly from centre stage to upstage left, much to the delight of the fair-size audience.
The beauty of the ballet dance form continued in Bicycle Variation but it was the programme's closing dance Satie Suite (excerpts from Ménage) that presented a jaw-dropping moment and had the audience talking long after the curtains came down.
Relationship motif
As was the case with four of the other dances, relationships seemed to be at the heart of Lavagnino's choreography. When the dance drama began, it appeared to be the typical love affair among two pairs of lovers, had the two men not have appeared to abandon the girls for each other. But that was all it turned out to be - they both returned to their very distraught looking female companions, ending the speculation from the audience.
The dances performed by the NDTC were just as engaging, and highlighted the fusion of some ballet movements in their choreography. Their contribution to the fusion came in the Rex Nettleford-choreographed Jesu Joy (excerpt from Blood Canticles) performed by three female dancers and Monica Lawrence's Freedom, a passionate dance that was well executed by Marisa Benain, wearing white costume.
Eduardo Rivero-Walker's Bella Dancella performed by Stefanie Thomas and the Jermaine Rowe-choreographed and danced piece Affirmation concluded the dance acts.
The ultimate cultural fusion came in the form of Samuele Vivian, the sole musical act on the programme. The Italian-born guitarist performed three selections. His original, a jazz piece titled Mediterranea, El Vito, a traditional Flamingo piece from Spain and another audience delight Bob Marley's Redemption Song, creatively arranged by Vivian.
On a whole, Cultural Fusion 2011 was refreshingly different and delightfully entertaining.
On the night the Sunday Observer attended, it was the New York Based ballet company which presented with the locals.
The presentation by Lavagnino's group was made that more special as her female dancers for the most part performed en pointe — that technique in classical ballet which sees ballerinas dancing on the tips of their toes. This is not readily seen locally and was therefore quite refreshing.
Of the works presented the opening piece an excerpt from Fell of Night featuring Sarah Beck and Patrick O'Neil, and A Bird Came Down to Walk with dancers Selina Chau and Joshua Palmer, were the clear standouts. The latter draw gasps of appreciation and later thunderous applause as Chau ably demonstrated the weightless, sylph-like properties of dancing en point as she gently glided off stage mimicking a bird at the end of the piece...
— Richard Johnson
