What's the point of performance?
Plus, the bad boys of the Royal Ballet.
Over the past few weeks, I watch American Ballet Theatre’s Othello and Firebird (two different casts for the latter—the thrilling Catherine Hurlin and the ethereal Chloe Misseldine), New Jersey Ballet’s triple bill of Serenade, In the Night, and Nine Sinatra Songs, and Hubbard Street Dance’s first program of its two-week run at the Joyce (you still have plenty of time to catch its second program).
Hubbard Street, I think, could be the most underrated dance company in the country. Its dancers are individually so different (in style, personality, even height) yet uniformly excellent in technique. I first saw them in New York City Center’s annual Fall for Dance Festival, where they were a clear standout. On Tuesday, they delivered again, with three piece—Gnawa by Nacho Duato (2005), Sweet Gwen Suite by Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon (2021), and Blue Soup by Aszure Barton (2002)—which demonstrated their artistic versatility and the adventurous breath of the company’s repertoire.
So often, when watching Hubbard Street, I marveled at how it seemed like the dancers were pulling off moves that no one had ever thought to do before. Innovation can exist in the ways we move our bodies, truly. I also had the thought, while watching the invigorating final number of the night, that Gap really ought to cast these dancers in its next commercial.
Almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I realized the uncomfortable prospect it suggested: why was it my impulse to figure that commercial viability could be an indicator of artistic success? Are earnest intersections of art and commerce possible to execute without the dilution of the former? Or can performance exist as art only without the specter of having something to sell, lest it become merely entertainment?
It’s my feeling these days that there could be some advantage for the arts to consider such commercial opportunities—and brands looking to stand out as arbiters of taste, the buzzword of the moment, would do well to consider how they could prop up the artists who are already doing cool work.
In absence of promising paths to funding and limited means of broad public exposure for these artists, a few commercial gigs could present a partial remedy—albeit not a full-on solution—to an ongoing challenge: getting more people to care. Consider it the top of the funnel.
Big drama continues in Boston as fans of the Boston Symphony Orchestra—and its members—struggle to process the dismissal of conductor and music director Andris Nelsons, who, by all accounts, was beloved. For his first appearance at the podium since the news broke earlier this month, members of the orchestra wore single red carnations as a show of solidarity for their Latvia-born boss, the Boston Globe reported. As we discussed below the paywall last time, Nelsons will continue in his role for another year and change; he’ll finish after the 2027 Tanglewood summer music festival.
Friends of the BSO who reached out to try to get some explanation for Nelsons’ dismissal were met with an opaque response, recognizing the “difficult time,” from the membership organization’s director, Peter Schlaht, Slipped Disc reported. It read, in part: “I’m sorry that I’m unable to share more context around the Board’s decision. I’m going to pass your comments along to our leadership team and would be happy to direct you to the appropriate contact at the BSO to share our board confidentiality policies in more detail.”
Well, there must have been enough pushback that the trustees of the BSO finally felt they had to address the issue. In an open letter, the trustees cited a number of issues—none of them all too surprising—with the orchestra. Those include declining audience sizes (down 20 percent since the pandemic), rising operating costs, and a general need to “[reimagine] how orchestral music reaches broader audiences, [deepen] our roots as a civic institution across Boston and the Berkshires, and [invest] in Symphony Hall and Tanglewood…” the Berkshire Eagle reported.
It’s not clear how Nelsons’ dismissal will help the orchestra achieve those latter goals, especially because a beloved conductor can play a huge role in generating excitement about an orchestra—just look at how amped everyone is for Gustavo Dudamel in New York. Even the leaders of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra have spoken out about the dismissal and shared their concern for the fact that musicians were not consulted about the decision, Slipped Disc reported. I guess we’ll see…!
In any case, people are already speculating about who could replace Nelsons. Boston Classical Review pointed to Dima Slobodeniouk as a contender, given his frequent appearances with the BSO, as well as Susanna Mälkki, another Finn who serves as chief conductor emeritus at the Helsinki Philharmonic and is generally in-demand worldwide (she’s also conducting the highly anticipated Kaija Saariaho opera Innocence at the Met next month).
Finally, an opera about economics—is Bloomberg’s incredible headline for senior writer Stacey Vanek Smith’s piece about David Lang’s oratorio (meaning, an orchestra work that also features singers), the wealth of nations, which the New York Philharmonic debuted last week, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. It is, in fact, inspired by Adam Smith’s 1776 treatise, and featured the writing of Smith, as well as that of other American writers—including Frederick Douglass and Edith Wharton. The piece, Vanek Smith writes, is “like going on a journey into the heart of the economy.” The New York Times said that Lang “has a gift for finding epiphanic poetry in texts that may seem mundane or downright boring.”
Lang was inspired by Handel’s Messiah when it came to structuring his oratorio. That work, in a different form, came to Ohio last weekend with Cleveland Ballet’s Messiah by choreographer Robert Weiss (founding director of the company), an “ambitious production” that Cleveland.com notes involved a full orchestra, singers, the dancers, and more than 120 costumes.
“Visually, the ballet often resembles a moving painting, with large ensemble sections filling the stage and multiple layers of action unfolding at once. Each of the 42 segments offers something different—shifts in color, lighting and choreographic style ensure the production never settles into a single tone,” writes Paris Wolfe. Here’s another thing we love to see: tickets began at just $36, and the company also offered pay-what-you-wish tickets for a final rehearsal.
Some more interesting happenings at regional ballet companies: Fort Wayne Ballet in Texas put on a performance featuring the choreography of its dancers. Dancer’s Choice ran at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art this weekend.
Students at Pacific Northwest Ballet also had the unique opportunity to debut a new ballet. Momotaro, which opened last weekend, is an adaptation of a Japanese folktale, described as being “one part Wizard of Oz, one part Tom Thumb.” The show, by resident choreographer Jessica Lang, is just an hour long and geared toward families. This is her first full-length narrative ballet, and it’s a personal one—the idea to tell this story came from Lang’s husband and frequent collaborator, former Alvin Ailey dancer Kanji Segawa, who is from Kanagawa, Japan, the Seattle Times reported.
The Seattle Ballet has been gradually expanding its family matinee repertoire—a smart move for ticket sales and the company’s longevity. Start em young!
How are you supposed to eat before a five-hour opera? Dan Walden said with “a hearty Italian dinner and a glass and a half or so of good red wine.” kate wagner (who just wrote a great post on said opera) noted, “the best way to prepare for Tristan is to be balefully in love with someone who would never give you the time of day.”
Still, the New York Times shared how several theater-goers prepared—physically—for Yuval Sharon’s virtually sold-out production of Tristan und Isolde at the Met. Answers included: yerba maté, contraband candies, gelato, and espresso martinis (which Eater recently discovered are on tap at the Grand Tier). I must point out that they are like, $25, and not as large as they are at Cafe Fiorello across the street. Do with that information what you will.
Did you know that David Hockney made opera sets, too? Soon you’ll be able to see them at the Tate Modern in a massive exhibition on the artist, set to open in the fall of 2027, The Guardian reported. Earlier next year, the Tate will also put on its first solo exhibit of Monet’s works, opening in February 2027.
Hockney, 88, also recently did an interview with The Times, in which he spoke about abstract painting (there’s “too much of it” right now), the Bayeux Tapestry (which he likened stylistically to “a Chinese or Japanese scroll”), and what the filmmaker Jean Renoir said to him upon the news of Picasso’s death (“What a very un-Picasso thing to do.”). He also apparently sang a full aria to interviewer Andrew Marr!
Below the paywall: More updates from British museums, the Greek play we can’t get enough of, the men of the Royal Ballet, a big legal change that could make it easier for families to recover art that was lost or looted during the Holocaust, and more.
