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Reviews The Marriage of Ballet and Modern Dance Amelia, a revolutionary work by choreographer Édouard Lock, has the potential to change dance as we know it today...The harmony, lyricism, restraint, verticality of pointe work, classicism, proportion and balance of ballet wedded to the horizontally frenetic pace, sexually charged atmosphere, truly contemporary zeitgeist, highly detailed gestural work and unique hyperkinetic artistic vision of Lock's former work, predict a future of unlimited horizons... Full review, by P.J. Dwyer, in the Summer, 2004 issue of Dance International magazine. Memorial Tribute Performance for Hortense Kooluris, October 1, 2007 For almost 70 years, American Hortense Kooluris was an Isadora Duncan dancer and a direct link to the Isadorables, the six adopted daughters of the pioneer of modern dance. The Isadorables carried on Isadora’s choreography and teachings. Toronto happens to have a strong Kooluris connection. Her daughter Linda and her husband Kildare Dobbs live here, as does Isadora historian and dancer Paul-James Dwyer. It was Dwyer who put together the very moving tribute to Kooluris, who passed away in February. I certainly had tears in my eyes watching the video that panned through Kooluris’ glittering career. The concert featured Adrienne Ramm and Gemze de Lappe from New York, Reiko Morita from Japan, and Dwyer performing actual Isadora dances as well as homage choreography. There is something precious about the flimsy Greek tunics and head wreaths of the Isadora aesthetic, but the joyous freedom of the movement is where modern dance all began, and that is to be treasured. It was a very emotional evening, and beautifully organized. Paula Citron, arts reviewer for CLASSICAL 96.3 FM. Paula Citron, "Paul-James Dwyer is an exponent of the expressive dance style of pioneer Isadora Duncan, and uses movement to capture the spirit of music while dramatically depicting a theme." Reviews dance: Toronto, A programme devoted to the style and technique of Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) takes the audience back to the beginnings of modern dance at the dawn of the 20th century. As Duncan's choreography glorified classical music, an Isadora programme also pays homage to the greatest of the great composers. Thus, the latest concert of Toronto's resident Isadora-based company dance OREMUS danse (dOd), Featured the scintillating music of Rameau and Gluck, as well as dances by Isadora and recent works "in-the-style-of" by dOd's co-artistic directors Paul-James Dwyer and New York based, Jeanne Bresciani (Jane Mallett Theatre- September 30-October 3). The ambitious programme called Zéphyr, Vent de l'Amour, also included four dancers, two singers and a 16-piece early music ensemble. As a theorist, Duncan wanted to free both the dance and the body from the strictures of Russian ballet and was inspired by the apparent freedom of the figures on ancient Greek friezes. Thus her bare-footed dancers - hair flowing without restraint garbed in flimsy tunics and gauzy draperies - skip lightly and rhythmically over the stage on tip-toes, breaking out from time to time in the "Isadora hop" or her trademark swivel turn with arms delicately carving space in expressive eloquence. As well, emotion is never far from the surface. In large measure, the pieces were created for gracious airs and dances from Rameau's opera Les Boréades and four of Gluck's operatic works. Occasionally, pieces broke away from the gamboling nymphs motif to display a greater range of movement. For example, Japanese Michiyo Sato - fingers distorted into claws and body pulled by gravity into a flat-footed deep plié and rigid with rage - was a magnificent manifestation of the Furies in Gluck's instrumental masterpiece from Orphée et Eurydice. Another highpoint was Bresciani's seductive Bacchanale from Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide. Similarly, Dwyer self-choreographed movement in Suite des Vents from Les Boréades was an effective portrayal of distress amid the lightning and thunder. Excerpts from Les Boréades (1763) made up the first half of the programme. Canadian soprano Isabelle Desrochers and tenor Colin Ainsworth, replete with baroque costumes, sang the roles of Alphise and Abaris respectively. Based in Paris, Desrochers is a stunning new talent with a charming, sweet sound, formidable coloratura, gorgeous fluidity and a delightful stage presence. Ainsworth has enormous potential but showed some pitch problems. Nonetheless, his robust and clear sound should take him far. Veteran conductor Michael Feldman was brought in from New York to weld the group of mostly young, early music players into a cohesive whole, appropriately called, for a French baroque programme, Ensemble Les Muses réunies. While not in danger of taking on Tafelmusik at this point, the players did a creditable job with difficult music, and Feldman certainly found colourings of drama to keep up interest. dance OREMUS danse deserves praise for mounting this ambitious concert, if for no other reason that the importance of Isadora Duncan in the history of dance. When taken in the context of a legacy that is almost 100 years old, the dances shine as the embodiment of physical freedom. Vaudeville ŕ la cour, La présence de la soprano Natalie Choquette aux côtés de l'ensemble de musique baroque Les Idées heureuses annoncait déjŕ ŕ quelle enseigne logerait le spectacle "Marie-Antoinette, quand les reines étaient divas…" …Elle brosse le tableau fantastique d'une reine qui baigne dans l'opulence mais qui s'ennuie et ŕ laquelle aucune extravagance ne résiste: des hordes de luxueux včtements confectionnés par sa costumičre Rose Bertin, des bijoux, des opéras, des musiciens qui jouent pour elle et un danseur (Paul-James Dwyer) dont l'excellente prestation a pu passer pour burlesque aux yeux de la majorité… Baroque Music and Modern Dance: Isadora Duncan, mother of modern dance, liberator of the body, worshipper of nature, was not one to turn her back on the past. She was inspired by Greek sculptures in the British museum and created dances to be performed to classical music. Some of her dances, performed in loose, diaphanous Greek tunics, are for baroque music originally composed for heavy costumed, highly stylized opera-ballets in the 18th century French court. So it is that dance OREMUS danse, a company equally devoted to baroque music and the Duncan tradition, comes to present, through tomorrow at the St. Lawrence Centre's Jane Mallett Theatre, a show featuring barefoot dancers weaving around singers in formal dress from the Louis XV era and the live music of a baroque ensemble. The last opera of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), Les Boréades, might well have inspired Duncan. The characters are from mythology and the story is of female rebellion. Tradition dictates young Queen Alphisa must marry a son of Boreas, god of the North Wind. Instead she chooses Abaris, a protégé of Apollo, but an unsuitable suitor. Alphisa abdicates, but is carries off and imprisoned by Boreas. After Abaris rescues her, he is revealed to be a son of Apollo, and the marriage is sanctioned. Tenor Colin Ainsworth and soprano Isabelle Desrochers sing excerpts from the opera as dancers Catherine Tsuji, Michiyo Sato, Jeanne Bresciani and Paul-James Dwyer perform choreography by Dwyer and Bresciani. The music, conducted by New York conductor Michael Feldman making his Canadian debut, is a modern edition of the Rameau opera and sets the stage for the unusual juncture between the barefoot dancing and the stationary singers. In the second half of the program, the dancers resurrect four works choreographed by Duncan, each created for music written in the late 18th century by Gluck for dramatic works based on ancient stories. This is dance that stresses open arms, natural movements, a lot of upward motion and the briefest of gestures. At first glance it appears to be very free form, but on closer examination, Duncan's adherence to classical form and baroque repetition becomes clear. With this ambitious program dance OREMUS danse makes an entertaining evening that encapsulates more than three centuries of dance.
Dance Weekend a filling smorgasbord, …Paul-James Dwyer, artistic director of and principal dancer in dance Oremus danse, is a one of a kind. This androgynous performer of feathery modernist solos made a wraith-like appearance dancing to the songs of Wagner and Wesendonck sung by mezzo-soprano Nina Scott-Stoddart. If the steps seem a little random, then blame it on Isadora Duncan, of whom Dwyer is a passionate disciple. Guest performer Jeanne Bresciani, the foremost interpreter of Duncan's dance in North America, danced a 1911 work of Duncan's to 13 waltzes by Brahms. Perhaps there is a style known as modernist neo-classical; if so, Bresciani is the embodiment of it… Liszt Ferenc magyarsága "...Az idei ünnepi megemlékezést egy különleges szép muvészi élmény tette maradandóvá. Paul-James Dwyer táncmuvész és Jun Fujimoto zongoramuvész azért jöttek Torontoból, hogy eloadáskkal az 1956-os forradalom után a hazájukat elhagyni kényszerülo magyarok elott tisztelegjenek. A musor elso hallásra talán meghökkentonek tunik: tánc Liszt Dante-szonátájára. ...Dwyer érékenyen mutatta meg az egyes formahatárokat, mindegyiknek sajátos karktert komponálva. Az általa használt szimbólika világos és egyértelmu volt. Szuggesztiv eloadasmódja mindvégig meggyozo volt, megjeleníto erovel érzékeltette az emberi szenvedést, a valsahonnan kitörni akarást..." Konkolyné Kovács Ilona, Zenetörténész Comments "The Duncan Dancers of today, for the most part, have the form only. It is not enough to know the dances, or have the technique. You Paul-James have internalized the work of Isadora." "The emotional authenticity of your dance overwhelmed me." "Your dance is a living art" "The dance to Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus brought to
mind Fra Angelico's art." "Thank you for such a beautiful introduction to a
wider reality." "A reflection of history. As the lights in the stained
glass panels dimed the figures seemed to emerge into
life." "Beautiful, inspiring & memorable! Thank you." "I have never seen any form of dance that was so
expressive in the usage of the human face. The ballet
has nothing of your art." |