Repertory at Boston Conservatory

The pre-professional dancers at Boston Conservatory got a workout last weekend in their winter concert of repertory in three totally different styles. They seemed to be up to the technical challenges; the stylistic subtleties were harder to conquer. What makes a Bournonville ballet different from La Fille Mal Gardée, for instance, or Swan Lake or Serenade? How to define the individuality that modern dancers like Murray Louis and José Limón cultivated for themselves?

Companies step through Humphrey, Limon legacy

Save the premieres for another show. Two recent dance performances demonstrated the value of reviving repertory that hasn't been seen in a while. One common denominator was the brilliant legacy of the late modern choreographers Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon. Another was the satisfying spectacle that emerges when large numbers of dancers come together in the same space.

Last weekend, Boston Conservatory Dance Theater, under the erudite artistic direction of Yasuko Tokunaga, offered three works that clearly were intended to challenge the technical and artistic skills of the students. Both the dancers and the musicians succeeded marvelously, though one imagines they were quite exhausted after their fourth and final show on Sunday afternoon.

Shoes, music and integrity
What makes a ballet a ballet? Is it the pointe shoes, the music, the hierarchy of dancers, or some uncertain poetic sensibility?

[Thursday night] at The Boston Conservatory, the student dancers and orchestra forged responses to this big question, offering engaging performances of two premieres along with Fokine’s beloved “Les Sylphides.” Their noble efforts demonstrated that ballet is best when characterized by precision, subtlety and integrity.

A radiant glimpse of talent to come
It is hard to envision a more dazzling showcase for the Boston Conservatory’s students than this weekend’s program of dance with live orchestra. The concert adeptly highlights the breadth and depth of the conservatory’s dance training with the romantic ballet “Les Sylphides” and two world premieres created especially for the students by Luis Fuente and Sean Curran.

Dreaming and remembrance
Boston Ballet’s Midsummer, Boston Conservatory’s Dark Elegies

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Unlike Balanchine, whose main choreographic interest was in form, Tudor was a social critic. His finest ballets are about communities and characters under stress. Dark Elegies is a lament, set to Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder (“Songs on the Death of Children”).
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I thought the Conservatory students danced with clarity and respect, but the Thursday-night cast I saw didn’t have the weightiness that conveys tragedy.

Stepping stones - Tudor and Limón at Boston Conservatory

The great choreographers Antony Tudor and José Limón were no strangers to young dancers. ... . Boston Conservatory director of dance Yasuko Tokunaga studied with both masters at Juilliard, and last weekend the Conservatory honored their centennial birthdays with a program of small and large works.