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Greetings,
Why add dance to a finished piece of music?
(Choreographers dread this question: it leads to self-doubt and existential crisis.)
There are, of course, a million reasons for adding dance to music, and another million for not doing so, but my favorite is to imagine music so austere it needs the dance.
And so, this fall, I'm imagining again: a piano piece so sparse it craves movement; while neither what we hear nor what we see could stand on its own, together they're complete.
Needless to say, our performance in three weeks has much more to offer. See the details below, read on about other NCB news, and join us at City Center on November 7th and 8th!
Warmly,
Miro Magloire
Artistic Director, New Chamber Ballet
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Upcoming Performance - Program II
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 November 7th & 8th, 2009
One more performance weekend before the inevitable holiday season begins! Featuring a revival, two solos and a world premiere, all by Miro Magloire.
The world premiere: a trio (to a piano score, also by Magloire, of sparse texture and scintillating rhythm.) Dance and music in a dynamic interplay...
Sonatine, a three-part, epic solo to music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, created on (and performed by) Madeline Deavenport, and "marked by handsome contrasts: dancing and walking, lower and upper body, looking one way while proceeding the other." (Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times)
Moments, a solo - or perhaps a duet, since the violinist is on stage with the dancer, playing Salvatore Sciarrino's fascinating music. A spellbinding encounter!
Silk, a revival of an audience favorite not seen in nearly three years. Sweeping choreography to Giuseppe Tartini's baroque violin music. (The current version, in fact, could be called Silk 2.0, with added choreography for new cast members Emery LeCrone and Vanessa Woods.)
Don't miss it! Tickets are on sale already - reserve your seats today!
Saturday, November 7th at 8pm &
Sunday, November 8 at 3pm
New York City Center Studio 4
130 West 56th St, 4th floor (betw. 6th and 7th Ave)
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NCB Portrait: Madeline Deavenport
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 The Excitement of Performing
Anyone who has seen Madeline Deavenport tear through space in the final moments of the daunting solo Sonatine can attest to her stage power. "I love the excitement of performing," she says.
Madeline started ballet at age four, emulating her older sister: "I was really into playing dress up, so I loved dressing up like a ballerina." She trained at the California Ballet School in her native San Diego, and later at the Rock School in Philadelphia, PA.
After a stint at North Carolina Dance Theater ("Patricia McBride was incredibly inspiring to me. She is such a beautiful person, and was always really encouraging!") Madeline moved to New York, where she soon debuted with NCB, filling in for an injured dancer. She joined the company later that year.
"There are less than ten dancers, so we get to dance a lot. The style of contemporary ballet is also unique," Madeline explains her attachment to the company. "I love the closeness of our group, and the incredibly talented dancers I get to collaborate with."
But one of the main reasons is the experience of live music: "I love that we always dance to live music; it really helps me as a dancer to connect to the musicians."
While life as a dancer has its challenges ("It never gets any easier," she admits), Madeline is by now a key member of the company. In November, she will take up the ten-minute Sonatine again, which Magloire choreographed for her last year. "It is an extremely challenging piece, but I love all the different ways I can express myself throughout the solo. "
Click here to read the complete interview...
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Road Trip Report - Philadelphia
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 Coming Soon To A Place Near You?
Can NCB's successful model of informal performances in intimate venues be transposed to other cities? To find out, the company dancers and musicians recently squeezed into a rented mini-van and drove to Philadelphia, with the season-opening program in their luggage. In the vast main studio of the Rock School for Dance, the company performed Romantic Pieces, Sonatine, Dreams, All the Rage, Moments (photo) and Echoes. After the performance and an audience meet-and-greet, everybody squeezed back into the mini-van for a return trip punctuated by very un-balletic food stops. The bottom line? We know now that our performances travel easily - and successfully. We loved Philadelphia and will be back - hopefully on a regular basis. And we will expand these one-day tours to include other cities, towns and colleges in the Northeast. If you know of a place where we should go, contact us! |
New Dancer
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 Vanessa Woods
At this point in our previous newsletter, we were talking about injuries. We'e at it again: with Emily SoRelle Adams still injured, and Elizabeth Brown newly so, we are introducing another dancer to our New York audiences.
Vanessa Woods (photo) is not entirely new to NCB - she performed with us in Bermuda this summer - but the November shows will be her City Center premiere. Prior to NCB, Vanessa has danced with the Colorado Ballet Studio Company, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet.
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Forsythe Workshop
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 Jill Johnson at NCB
Dance technique keeps evolving, and so do dancers: today's experiments are tomorrow's lingua franca. Earlier this month, NCB welcomed former Forsythe dancer Jill Johnson for a workshop with the company.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, a group of NCB dancers, choreographers and alumni (photo) spent several hours in the studio with Jill, exploring movement language drawn from the work of choreographer William Forsythe.
An inspiring, illuminating, not to mention fun afternoon, leaving everyone hoping for more!
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NCB on Facebook
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Become a Fan!
 NCB is now on Facebook! If you're among the growing number of adults who depend on Facebook to relax, stay in touch, procrastinate and conspire, this is good news. Visit our page, become a fan, we'll reward you with up-to-the-minute information on our performances, preview videos, photos and other goodies!
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Sale! Sale!
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 NCB Posters On Sale...
How is your holiday shopping coming along? If you haven't started yet, maybe today is the day you should. Our fall poster sale is still on, and NCB's poster (photo) is a perfect holiday gift - unless you prefer an NCB t-shirt, a CD or all three! For a limited time only you can get the poster for only $9.95 (that's over 50% off). Don't wait - it's a beautiful 18" by 24" poster on coated high-quality paper, and every cent of the sale price will support our winter season!  |
The Buzz
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 News From Our Artists...
Here's what New Chamber Ballet's artists have been up to since the last show:
Miro Magloire recently appeared on two panels: a discussion at Dance Theater Workshop about "Institution Independence" in the dance field, and a round table on "The Power of Dance to Renew Culture" at the Center for Faith and Work... Company member Emery LeCrone is currently performing at the Metropolitan Opera in Aida, with choreography by Alexej Ratmanski... Erik Carlson's New York Miniaturist Ensemble recently celebrated its fifth anniversary with a performance (photo) at the Bruno Walter Theater at Lincoln Center; this month, Erik also appeared with the International Contemporary Ensemble at NYC's Miller Theatre in an evening of works by Iannis Xenakis...
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