Review: Accessibility Keeps the FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL a Should-See Mainstay
The annual Fall for Dance Festival runs Sept. 19th-29th at the New York City Center.
If one thing remains consistent about the annual Fall for Dance Festival held at the New York City Center (NYCC), it’s that the choreographic showcase will always commit to showing the diversity of the performing arts. Featuring artists big and small from across the globe in a series of changing nightly programs, the festival demonstrates how dance can be creatively expansive, culturally varied and, perhaps most importantly, affordable.
All tickets for Fall for Dance start at $30. The showcase, which runs Sept. 19-29th this year, takes a “choose your own” adventure approach to programming, allowing audiences to pick which selections of choreographers or companies they'd like to see on a given night. This year, audiences could see performances from five genre-spanning artists, including A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, GALLIM, Gandini Juggling, M.A.D.D. Rhythms, Sara Mearns, and more.
To see so many different artists, both new and noteworthy, in a single night is an incredible deal in a city where show tickets can easily cost upwards of $700. It also means that some programs may fall a bit flat, but every program is guaranteed to have something for everyone.
Programs one from the first two nights of this year’s festival followed this trend. The National Ballet of Ukraine, in its New York City debut, showed audiences that ballet can be so much more than “The Nutcracker” without having to push the artform’s boundaries quite as hard as “Illinoise.” The National Ballet of Ukraine, performing Alexei Ratmansky’s “Wartime Elegy,” was technically perfect. The piece’s three movements, one solemn, one joyous and one hopeful, were filled with impressive turns and leaps, much-appreciated physical humor and a gentle message about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and how it impacts the Ukrainian people. While Ratmansky's choreography was fresh and beautifully staged, what made “Wartime Elegy” memorable was the joy on each dancer’s face as they showed audiences that, even amid great strife, having passion gives life purpose.
What makes Fall for Dance unique is, of course, the opportunity to see global artists like the National Ballet of Ukraine alongside notable names from the states. New York City Ballet (NYCB) Principal Dancer Tiler Peck joined this year’s festival with a solo piece, “Piano Songs,” performed by fellow NYCB Principal Dancer Aran Bell. The work was co-commissioned by the NYCC and the Vail Dance Festival, and featured pianists Derek Wang and Joel Wenhart playing Meredith Monk's "Ellis Island," "Paris" and "Folk Dance," on two grand pianos on stage. Such a fun, intimate premise demanded that the choreography and piano songs fuse into one seamless experience. It didn’t quite get there. Peck’s choreography was lively but too often haphazard. In the rare moments when the dance did embody the ethos of the music, audiences could see why Peck chose this creative coupling. When it didn’t, it felt flat, and not even Bell’s exceptional skill could disguise what a missed opportunity the piece became.
The night’s showstopper -- every Fall for Dance Festival has one -- was Gallim’s “Sama.” Gallim Artistic Director and Choreographer Andrea Miller never shies away from creating works that are incredibly visceral, and even a little scary even. Previous works from Miller and her company of painfully flexible and strong dancers, felt raw and hungry and devilish. “Sama” follows this same model. Animalistic and feverish in tone, each stunt dares audiences to flinch away or catch their collective breath. “Sama” never slows down and it never shows the dancers any mercy. Staged in a bright burnt orange glow, this piece felt like it existed inside a human body where blood flows rapidly and without cease. Particularly impactful, and creepy, was watching dancers drift into the on-stage haze, as if disappearing into thin air, and then reappear just as etherally. Ending with a guttural shout as the dancers hit the floor, audiences quickly leapt to their feets, some people wincing, but almost all clapping thunderously.
The annual Fall for Dance Festival runs Sept. 19th-29th at the New York City Center. All tickets start at $30.
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