The current incarnation of Ballet Folklórico de México, founded by Amalia Hernández in 1952, has been travelling and performing together for the past decade. The dance company has presented resplendent shows worldwide, promoting the rich culture of Mexico, while maintaining a professional dance academy, the School of the Ballet Folklórico, in Mexico City. Although the once modest-sized company was initially controversial for flouting conventional dance norms, Hernández persevered, eventually achieving cross-cultural renown.
The impactful and dynamic dances performed for audiences around the globe are "very strong and versatile [with] contrast among different dances," which provides a striking texture of movement, describes Salvador Lopez, executive director of Ballet Folklórico de México and grandson of Amalia Hernández.
| Ballet Folklórico de México Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center, East Lansing March 4, 7:30 p.m. $15-$28 whartoncenter.com, (517) 432-2000 |
"[Hernández] was able to introduce what happens in our culture and put it on stage, [making] it stylish and elegant," Lopez said. "When you take the dance from the place where it happens and you put it on stage, you have to change [it] in terms of time and space. The challenge is to introduce the essence of a dance that lasts a very long time and make it into three minutes of dance."
The creation of the company began when the highly trained Hernández traveled throughout Mexico and "brought people from [different places] to take what they do and subtract the essence of that dance or ceremony into short song and dynamic dance essence," said Lopez.
Fusing indigenous dance with modern ballet conventions, Hernández shaped an impressive dance sensation, with the troupe garnering more than 200 awards and recognition from cultural figures, including a weekly television spot and visits with presidents, like John F. Kennedy.
The 2010 tour of Ballet Folklórico de México holds special emphasis as it coincides with the bicentennial celebration of Mexico's revolution and independence. Experience firsthand the unique meld of dance that crosses cultures and disciplines, not only pairing historic, indigenous dance styles with ballet, but also blending a wide range of local dance forms together to create a colorful showcase of skilled movement.
Photo: John Kanebug
Pilobolus
Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center, East Lansing
Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.
$15-35
whartoncenter.com,(517)353-1982
Pilobolus is a fungus. It is also the name of a dance group.
"It's not a random choice," said Robby Barrett, an artistic director of the dance group Pilobolus. He had just explained the small fungus of the same name "that hurls spore bags about eight feet."
Barrett continued. "It's an interesting fungus...it seemed like something worthy of emulation."
The unique name and properties of the fungus are matched by the distinctive dance group. Pilobolus has steadily been gaining national attention, having appeared in multiple commercials as well as the 2007 Academy Awards. They have performed across the country and around the world.
Once described as outsider dance, Pilobolus was started in 1971 by four men who were inspired by a class at Dartmouth.
"None of us had any background in dance," Barrett, one of the founding four, explained. "We took a class together and enjoyed the process of making dances. Our teacher proposed that we should make our own dances, and we decided to start a dance company."
Pilobolus quickly gained a reputation for its creativity, humor and what Barrett says is the "most obvious signature...our interest in the way bodies move when in physical contact together. In dance terms its called partnering. We have simply taken the idea of complex partnering to an extreme degree."
The creative process for Pilobolus is not top down. Instead, the artistic directors and dancers have something akin to a brainstorming session.
"It's bodystorming, really, in our world," said Barrett. "We get a group of people together to develop a body of physical material that we can dance to. It's an arts collective with no single choreographer. The material out of which our dance is built is different; we bounce ideas off each other, extracting enough interesting information from everyone we work with...we have our own kind of insider position."
"We need physical material which is almost like an object." continued Barrett. "You can name it, hold it, and build dance out of it. We're talking about...people moving together interlocked in a certain way...it's something very difficult to explain at the early stages.
We'll take three or four dancers and link them and ask them to move through space together. It's always surprising what they will do."
What Pilobolus does has intrigued audiences for almost four decades.
"We have 40 years under our belts that have proven to us that the world we live in is interesting to other people," said Barrett.
The holidays are a time of imagination and entertainment when we all get to embrace the joys and excitement of childhood. Besides busting out the holiday movies, catch a dance performance to put you in the holiday spirit. Throughout the area, there are Sugar Plum Fairies waiting to dance with you.
The Nutcracker Ballet is the world's most popular ballet and a time-honored holiday tradition. Whether it be your first time experiencing the dancing dolls, the Mouse King and the Nutcracker Prince himself or are a seasoned patron of the arts and are looking for some Christmas time nostalgia, here are a few places to check out The Nutcracker:
The Children's Ballet Theatre will be performing the Nutcracker with the award-winning direction and choreography of Gregory M. George in the Cobb Great Hall of MSU's Wharton Center for Performing Arts. The show runs Nov. 27 - 29 with tickets ranging from $10-22.
Also in East Lansing, the young dancers of Greater Lansing Ballet Company will celebrate their 10th Anniversary of performing The Nutcracker under the guidance of internationally renowned choreographer and Founding Artistic Director Barbara Banasikowski Smith at MSU's historic Fairchild Theatre. Smith is enthusiastic about special guest performers Dorothy O'Shea Overbey and John-Mark Owens of the New York Ballet. "They're role models for our dancers and they see them perfecting not only their steps and their movements but also working on their character, because they have to be good actresses and actors as they perform a ballet story. Truly inspiring." said Smith.
The performance can be seen Sunday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults; senior, student prices are $18 and children under 12 are $12.
Another performance that shouldn't be missed is one put on by The Midland Center for the Arts. It will be hosting the Grand Rapids Ballet Company with music played by the Midland Symphony Orchestra, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. Kristen Wuerfel, marketing manager of The Midland Center for the Arts believes this Nutcracker performance is unique because they're "bringing in the only professional ballet company in Michigan to perform and pairing it with our professional orchestra. Tickets are selling extremely fast, because it'll be a great show and put everyone in the mood for the holidays."
Tickets range between $11 - $35, student discounts and family discounts are available.
If dance is the universal language, then the River North Chicago Dance Company (RNCDC) is an expert linguist the world couldn’t live without. This dance troupe performs under the guidance and authority of internationally acclaimed choreographers with unmatched skill and precision.
Whether you’ve dabbled in the world of dance or only learned the box-step from your mother before a sixth grade sock-hop, make a grand jeté into the beauty of this art form by attending RNCDC’s show as it celebrates the Company’s 20th Anniversary.
Michigan State University’s Wharton Center for the Performing Arts is welcoming RNCDC at Cobb Great Hall on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m.
Frank Chaves, Artistic Director of RNCDC for 17 years has seen the evolution of RNCDC. “Certain elements of the Company haven’t changed a bit,” Chaves said. “We’re still a dynamic dance group that connects with our audiences on an emotional level by creating accessible, entertaining pieces. But as the years have gone by, the choreography, the dancing, the feeling you get when you see a show…it just keeps getting better.”
RNCDC is known for its edgy and elegant jazz-based contemporary dance. From its conception two decades ago, it has managed to tour nationally and internationally, and is embraced as one of the nation’s most dynamic companies.
If you have had the pleasure to be in the audience of a RNCDC show, know that for this year’s tour, the company has risen the bar even higher. “We have the best roster of dancers that we’ve had in the Company’s history. Also, to celebrate the Company’s 20th Anniversary, River North Chicago will bring five new works to the stage this season. World premieres in themselves create excitement about moving forward and the Company’s future- which the audience will feel from the stage.”
Tickets are $15 - $30 and a free 30 minute lecture/discussion preview will take place 45 minutes before the show begins. The lecture is led by industry experts in the Stoddard Grand Tier lounge, the third floor of Cobb Great Hall.
River North Chicago Dance Company
The Ruth Page Center
1016 N. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60610
Frank Chaves, Artistic Director
312.944.2888 (p)
