CriticalDance Forum

<img src="http://www.ncdance.org/images/MILLER_TRIO_copy.jpg" alt="" />
AD Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux,
Associate AD Patricia McBride &
Associate AD Jerri Kumery
Courtesy NCDT

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<small>[ 01 February 2003, 06:34 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

A review of a joint venture with Chautauqua Ballet:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Poignant struggle to save a re-imagined Cinderella'<P>Wilma Salisbury, Cleveland Plain Dealer<P>It took more than the Fairy God mother's magic to get "Cinderella" onstage last weekend at Chautauqua. The $300,000 production, a first-time collaboration between Chautauqua Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre, was supposed to be a dream come true for choreographer Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, artistic director of both companies.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.cleveland.com/artsandevents/plaindealer/index.ssf target=_blank>More</a>

<B>Innovative and powerful, dance theatre impresses</B><BR>By DEAN SMITH in The Charlotte Observer<P><BR>There is no such thing as too much of a good thing when N.C. Dance Theatre presents its annual "Innovative Works" program.<P>Moving from the large Belk Theater into the intimate Booth Playhouse of the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and turning its attention to smaller, contemporary works, NCDT reminds us of the visceral power of dance and the vitality of a still-evolving art that can stir laughter or near-tears in the course of an evening.<P>Not only is this year's "Innovative" no exception but it also doubles the pleasure by presenting two slightly different programs over two weekends. As Program B opens in the Booth tonight, Program A lingers powerfully in the memory nearly a week later.<P><A HREF="http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/3032392.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

Hello all;<BR>I just wanted to write and let you all know that the Elite Dance Network <A HREF="http://www.elitedance.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.elitedance.com</A> has recently revamped their North Carolina Dance Theatre web listing. There are now 8 Cidveo clips for you to enjoy highlighting two seperate pieces of repertoire from the company. If you would like to view any of them just log onto <A HREF="http://www.elitedance.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.elitedance.com</A> and click on the North Carolina Dance Theatre listing. Enjoy!!!<BR>Ciao for now.

Ballet stage and movie screen are sisters under skin
By Lawrence Toppman for The Charlotte Observer

If you're a film critic, watching a stripped-down ballet adaptation of a movie you enjoy is like going on a crash diet that eliminates sugars and fats. What's left may be lean or nourishing, but you do miss the gravy.

I thought of that as I watched a tape of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" -- not a copy of the 1969 movie about brutal dance marathons of the 1930s, but a video of the new piece Mark Diamond choreographed for N.C. Dance Theatre. (That tape came from a performance at the Chatauqua Institute in upstate New York, where NCDT artistic director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux has long led a summer dance program.)

Cutting a 120-minute picture down to a 30-minute ballet requires severe surgery, even if you insert linking dialogue for a master of ceremonies; you must sacrifice subplots and back stories that make the film rich.

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Stellllla! Streetcar puzzles as ballet
By Sharon McDaniel, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH -- For more than 50 years, A Streetcar Named Desire has been acknowledged as an American masterpiece. The title is a household phrase. Adaptations, remakes and translations into ballet and opera as well as film appear regularly.

But at the 320-seat Crest Theatre, how many in the audience could tell you what the Tennessee Williams play is about? Aside from a few often-quoted phrases from the 1948 Pulitzer Prize winner, what they really remember is Marlon Brando.

For North Carolina Dance Theatre's modern-ballet version, all three performances at the Crest quickly sold out. From the puzzled faces leaving the hall Saturday night, it's clear that a quick refresher course -- say, a pre-concert talk or at least a synopsis in the program notes -- would have made the wordless 70-minute version more meaningful for viewers.

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An opportunity for former NYCB favorites to shine again in NYC:

And they did:

Dance program brings a Jersey homecoming
BY ROBERT JOHNSON for The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)

Some beauties run riot, then fade.

But Patricia McBride, a former prima ballerina with the New York City Ballet, has glamour that doesn't quit. Even though the public hasn't seen her much since she retired from the stage in 1989, there's no question what the fuss was about when she was dancing, or why New York City Ballet's founder and chief choreographer, George Balanchine, adored her.

Spotted at Brooklyn College last weekend, McBride, now 60, still has the classic bone structure that made her face a model's dream, and her eyes flash expressively when she speaks. She carries herself modestly, but her willowy figure still seems ready to fly into action at a balletmaster's call.

Originally from Teaneck, McBride now assists her husband, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, directing North Carolina Dance Theatre in Charlotte, N.C. Tonight the company will perform at the Middle Township Performing Arts Center in Cape May Court House.

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In the NY Times:

'Red Hot 'N' Bluegrass': Dance, down-home style
Creative stylization, haunting images grace NCDT production
By MEG FREEMAN WHALEN for The Charlotte Observer

The North Carolina Dance Theatre opened its season Thursday night with hope, courage and joy -- hope in Alvin Ailey's inspiring "The River," courage in Nicolo Fonte's daring "Brave!" and joy in Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux's jubilant "Shindig." An enthusiastic audience cheered, clapped and even joined in the fun in "Red Hot `N' Bluegrass."

Ailey choreographed "The River" in 1970 to an original score by Duke Ellington. Ellington described this work as being "of the wellspring of life." The sections, with titles like "Meander" and "Falls," evoke in sound and movement the water's course.

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BAFFLED IN NEW YORK
North Carolina Dance Theatre / Joyce Theater, NYC / April 13-18, 2004
By Tobi Tobias Arts Journal.com

“It’s a puzzlement,” says the monarch in The King and I. Having witnessed one of North Carolina Dance Theatre’s rare New York performances, I can only agree with the king. The company is led by a pair of former New York City Ballet principals, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride—the latter one of the great dancers of the twentieth century, the originator and/or brilliant interpreter of many a Balanchine role. Why, I wonder, did this energetic and engaging troupe ignore this heritage and offer a program comprising three pieces of middling worth only obliquely related to classical dancing?

My plaintive why is only intensified by the fact that NCDT’s repertory features a goodly number of Balanchine’s major works—all of them staged by McBride.

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