Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, a 24-year-old
San Francisco company that appeared at City Center’s Fall for
Dance Festival last month, is now bringing two New York premieres
to Midwood’s Walt Whitman Theatre.
LINES Ballet is headed by Alonzo King, a choreographer recognized
by a Bessie award, five Isadora Duncan Awards, and works shown
in the repertoire of the Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem,
and the like.
Although the titles of the new works – "Migration"
and "Sky Clad" – sound like two takes on the same winged
theme, they are quite different compositions.
"Migration," recently praised by the San Francisco
Chronicle as "King at his best," is a piece about the
constant evolution of form explored through birds’ passage from
the egg shell to the sky.
"In this world, everything is trying to fulfill itself,"
King told GO Brooklyn. "Animals are trying to express themselves;
humans are trying to reach realization. All living and non-livings
things are evolving in some kind of realization."
While the plasticity of dancers in "Migration" is based
on the visual imagery of life changing form, "Sky Clad"
is built around a more abstract notion of sound.
Here, music is everything. Accompanied by live music from Hindustani
vocalist Rita Sahai, and "tabla" (a small hand drum)
and violin players, the dancers respond to two types of sound
known in classical Indian music – the one heard by the human
ear and "anahata," a vibration of the universe echoed
by the heart. "Sky Clad" is built around the conversation
between dancers and musicians.
"Rita Sahai is wonderful," says King. "When things
are live, there is the possibility for anything to happen. [The
musicians] can play with intensity, which really affects the
dancers and allows them to go deeper."
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts presents Alonzo King’s
LINES Ballet on Nov. 18 at 8 pm at the Walt Whitman Theatre,
2900 Campus Rd. at Hillel Place on the campus of Brooklyn College
in Midwood. Tickets are $15, $20 and $25. For tickets, call (718)
951-4500 or visit www.brooklyncenteronline.org.
