Open House Times Two (9/12-13/15)

No, not Open House New York, yet. Saturday found me at the Mark Morris Dance Center Open House, for a three o’clock concert. It’s a great building, with ample, clean, bright studio space and a flexible performance area on the fifth floor. In addition to the concert, there were free dance classes throughout the day, though I didn’t take any. They also had small servings of baked ziti, baby carrots (which aren’t really baby carrots, you know) and dip, and some salty chip-style snacks later on.

Oh, right, the performance. In addition to dance, they also have singing classes, and a small group of youngsters started off the program with “It’s a Hard Knock Life,” from Annie. They did a pretty darn good job, and I was tickled to hear one of my all-time favorite forced musical theater rhymes—“No one cares for you a smidge / When you’re in an or-pha-nage.” The songsters were followed by a pair of break dancing brothers who performed with lots of style and who really got the crowd going. I’m not good at guessing ages, but I’d put the older brother at about nine or ten, with the younger one at about six or seven.

The performance then moved on to two youth companies from the dance program. Student Company II performed The Vault, choreographed by Mireille Obert, which was a nice performance in the modern ballet style. It was mostly upbeat, and the eleven young ladies performed with grace and energy. Student Company I was slightly more advanced, and they performed excerpts from Words, choreographed by Mark Morris. With somber music to begin with, the piece advanced into a brighter tempo, and the twelve ladies performed with style and wit.

Oh, you want style and wit? The performance culminated with “Flowers” from The Hard Nut, also choreographed by Mr. Morris. Clara’s mother oversaw the antics of the flowers—and in this case the flowers were both male and female, all costumed alike in flowing floral dresses while on their heads they wore what looked like flower buds. Actually, they looked more like bathing caps, which was quite appropriate as some of the choreography was reminiscent of a Busby Berkeley, Esther Williams routine! Oh, and they all had on gold lame dance pants. I know this because at some point or another they all had their legs over their heads while lying on their backs. Did I mention that this was humorous? Oh yes, it was most definitely humorous. And yes, the Mark Morris Dance Group is performing The Hard Nut at Brooklyn Academy of Music this upcoming holiday season.

Sunday found me at the Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in Long Island City, just across the East River from Manhattan, in Queens. Go. There. I went on a family Open House day (free), but this museum is worth the price of admission. I went because of the Open House and the free cello concert, but the museum won me over. OK, the concert. Ashley Bathgate, a Bang on a Can Music member, played Stories for Ocean Shells by Australian composer Kate Moore. The music was lovely; the treatment of it, not so much. The cello sounds were beautiful but the electronic sounds and amplification (and loops, loops, loops) did the compositions a disservice. At one point, I just left the concert proper (um, sitting on a concrete floor or a little bamboo mat) and wandered, looking at Isamu Noguchi’s sculptures while listening to essentially background music. I don't usually do background music at concerts. Noguchi’s (1904–1988) sculptures on display were created in granite, basalt, raw marble, and polished marble. Alas, the museum’s sculpture garden is under renovation—I’ll probably go back to see it in its full glory.

That said, both Open Houses were well worth spending time at, and I may seek both out again. I might even take a class or two at the Mark Morris Dance Center next year.

ConcertMeister