'Rite of Spring' Infuses Spring Dance Offerings

In January, Jaime Blanc, an award-winning choreographer and teacher from Mexico, inspired students in the Harvard Dance Program. Blanc taught technique classes, auditioned students, and set excerpts of his version of The Rite of Spring for “Dancers’ Viewpointe 9” in April.

Blanc was Associate Artistic Director, choreographer, and dancer with the Ballet Nacional de México from 1971 to 2006, creating more than 50 works for this and other companies. In 2006 he began his own company, Teatro Coreografico Alternativo. He is a member of Mexico’s Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte, a jurist for the National Cultural Council, and on the faculty of the Universidad
de Querétaro.

In conjunction with Blanc’s visit, FAS is offering a new course,
Rite of Spring at the Nexus of Art and Ritual. The course is taught by Christine Dakin, former principal dancer and Artistic Director Laureate of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and a former fellow with Harvard Radcliffe’s Institute for Advanced Study. In Martha Graham’s celebrated version of Rite, Dakin originated the role of “the Chosen One”; this spring she will make a featured appearance as “the Ancestor” in Blanc’s version at Harvard.

The artistry of Jiri Kylián, the innovative Czech choreographer whose “Black and White” ballets are a playground for human
relationships, will be the subject of the fifth annual Dance Talk on Februrary 5, 7 pm, at the Harvard Dance Center, 60 Garden Street. The informal presentation of dance and conversation, featuring dancers from Boston Ballet and Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen, will center around upcoming performances of Boston Ballet. Tickets are available through the Harvard Box Office, 617.496.2222 (TTY, 617.495.1642), boxoffice.Harvard.edu.

On April 16-18, the Dance Program presents “Dancers’ Viewpointe 9” at the New College Theatre at 8 pm. In addition to Mexican choreographer Jaime Blanc’s Rite of Spring, the repertory includes a premiere by Dance Director Elizabeth Bergmann inspired by her original poetry and accompanied live by the gamelan, an Indonesian ensemble of instruments such as xylophones, drums, and gongs. The Javanese-style gamelan at Harvard was constructed by 20th-century composer Lou Harrison, and has been bequeathed to Jody Diamond, founder of the American Gamelan Institute. When this gamelan arrived at Harvard last year, Bergmann was struck by its beauty and sound, and began a collaboration with Diamond that will culminate in the spring concert.

Also on the Viewpointe program, Visiting Lecturer and longtime Harvard dance instructor Leslie Woodies will set original choreography to Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” inspired by the groundbreaking traditions of the Ballets Russes. (The Ballet Russes is the subject of a symposium sponsored by the Harvard Theatre Collection in conjunction with “Dancers’ Viewpointe 9,” April 15-17 at the New College Theatre.)

Woodies was a soloist with Boston Ballet and played the lead role of “Cassie” in A Chorus Line under the direction of Michael Bennett. She is the former Associate Artistic Director and choreographer for Tony Williams’ Urban Nutcracker, and has choreographed for the Boston Conservatory, Dancers Unite Co., Mark Ruhala Ensemble, and the Central Wisconsin Ballet Foundation. She has also restaged productions of Coppelia, Les Sylphides, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake (Act II). Tickets for “Dancers’ Viewpointe 9” are available through the Harvard Box Office.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]