A West Side Story Burlesque Show (2/10/24)

Hmm, from Baroque dance to Broadway. Sort of.

My ticket had ‘from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM (EST)’. So, I dutifully showed up at 12:15 PM and joined a short line. And waited. And waited. Long story short, this was an ‘event’ where we were let into the lobby at about 12:40 PM and were told that we could mill about (swag tables, hot dogs for sale, bar available) until they opened the house at 1:30 PM. Odd, my ticket didn’t mention any of that. Today, I finally found an online description of the event – “A West Side Story Burlesque Show, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) original take on the classic Broadway musical, is … [a] free, hour-long dance celebration of safer sex featur[ing] international burlesque …”

I can’t tell you who performed, because the cast list was only available via a QR code. That said, the fifteen or so dancers presented a high-energy production of a lot of the music (canned) from West Side Story. All of the dancers were great, including most of the male ensemble who were bare chested at times. There were three stately drag queens, who also strutted and danced quite well. The real gals were not too shabby either.

I have never seen a one-hour presentation with as much energy as I saw that Saturday afternoon. But I'm not sure I'd call it burlesque. Yes, there were some wink-wink moments. And some of the dance moves were suggestive/risqué. I'm just not sure that added up to burlesque.

Am I glad I went? Yes. Do I wish they had presented more info ahead of time? Definitely, yes. Would I go again? Maybe, if the schedule were announced ahead of time.

ConcertMeister

The Grand Tour – Dances from England, France, Italy and Spain (2/8/24)

Julia Bengtsson – dance & reconstruction; Patrick Pride – dance; Paul Shipper – music direction, recorder & Baroque guitar; Dongmyung Ahn – violin; Jason Priset – Baroque guitar & theorbo

Here’s the cool low-down. The dances were Baroque dances, which I had never seen before. The steps involved fairly intricate hops, skips and twirls. Alas, I could not see many of the intricate hops and skips footwork because of the single-level seating in the venue.

There was a combination of instrumental works, and instrumentals accompanying dance works. All were very interesting. I won’t bore you with all of the details, but the composers included Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687). Oh, did I mention that this was a Gotham Early Music Scene concert? Other composers, many of whom were new to me, were André Campra (1660–1744), Theobaldi di Gatti (ca. 1650–1727), Andrea Falconieri (1585–1656), Anonymous (two pieces), Henry Desmaret (1661–1741), François Le Cocq (1685–1729), and Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713). How many did you know?

Since the focus was on dance, I’ll focus there, too. Of the eleven works on the program, there was a Marche, an Entrée, a Gigue, a Ciaccona, a Menuet, a Scaramouche, a Passacaglia, a Chacone (see Ciaconna, above), and a Folie. Do I know what they all are? I do not. Did I like them all? I did.

On to the pieces that were actually danced. The Entrée was a solo for female dancer, accompanied by recorder, theorbo, and violin. Stylized hops and skips abounded. A duet, La Bretagne, was interesting in that the female and male were dancing together, sort of. There was interaction but there was no touching or partnering. This was the case in most of the duets.

The Menuet was, oddly, a lengthy solo female dance with violin, guitar and theorbo accompaniment.

The Scaramouche was a very clever male solo danced to solo recorder that included much humor, with an emphasis on mime and exaggerated dance steps.

The Passacaglia was danced by the masked female, which strangely gave her movements more expression.

The closing work, Folie d’Espagne, was a lengthy dance duet accompanied by violin, guitar, and theorbo. The duet included pageantry and humor, and the female dancer also played the castanets. What’s not to like?

I really enjoyed the performance, and I’m lucky enough to have worked with the music director, Paul Shipper, a lifetime ago with a different early music group. It’s a small world after all.

ConcertMeister