N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz (TV Review)

  

17281No comments yethttp://www.parcbench.com/2010/03/24/n-y-export-opus-jazz-tv-review/N.Y.+Export%3A+Opus+Jazz+%28TV+Review%292010-03-24+09%3A31%3A50Greg+Victor

Written by Greg VictorcloseAuthor: Greg Victor Name: Greg Victor
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About: Greg Victor (Parcbench Culture Editor) is a historian, pop culture critic, and theatrical dramaturg and has stage managed theatrical productions on Broadway and on tour, including Billy Joel's "Movin' Out", Monty Python's "Spamalot" and more.See Authors Posts (225) on March 24, 2010

**** (out of 4 stars)
Airing on PBS’ “Great Performances: Dance in America,” Wednesday, March 24, 2010; check local listings @ pbs.org.
Choreographed by: Jerome Robbins

Starring: Members of the New York City Ballet
Directed by: Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes

I love ballet.

OK, not always. But I do love amazingly great ballet. If you are thinking ballet isn’t worth watching – think again. I have a program for you that will force you to cast away every preconceived ambivalent notion about ballet that you ever had. Of course it comes from director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. Who else but the man that made millions fall in love with a musical (the original West Side Story on Broadway, as well as the Oscar-winning film version) could take on the task of making Americans also love ballet. Watch N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz (fresh from the SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for “Emerging Visions”), and you will see the coolest, hippest, sexiest ballet you ever saw.

If you love beautiful bodies moving through space to classic jazz music, then set your DVR, for tonight (Wednesday, March 24, 2010) your local PBS station is airing one of the television cultural highlights of the year: a newly filmed version of the 1958 Jerome Robbins ballet N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz. This film was conceived by New York City Ballet soloists Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi, and directed by Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes.

Immediately following the artistic success of West Side Story on Broadway in 1957, Robbins created N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz. Set to a jazz score by Robert Prince, the ballet received its world premiere at the very first Spoleto Festival in 1958, and premiered shortly thereafter in New York City. If you are a fan of West Side Story, you will appreciate how much of a companion piece to it N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz really is. From the sneakers, to the urban landscape, to the young people that make up the cast, to the emotional brutality and honesty in the search for answers to questions that sometimes only teenagers dare to ask – the ballet is an abstract version of the mood and style of the classic musical.

Robbins also was associate artistic director of the New York City Ballet, working alongside George Balanchine for decades. Working side by side, American-born Jerome Robbins always balanced the Russian-born George Balanchine. Only Robbins could have created a piece like N.Y. Export. In 1959, when the ballet returned to Europe on a triumphant tour, choreographer Jerome Robbins said the piece: “American youth likes to dance. Maybe that’s characteristic of the whole nation….I think that the most important thing with this group is the fact that such a restricted number of dancers was able to master very different techniques and styles.”

As a choreographer, Jerome Robbins had a unique gift for story, invention, wit, precise timing and, above all, a profound understanding of the American character (especially New Yorkers). All of this comes through in this 52-year-old ballet, because the treatment the filmmakers give it is utterly contemporary in its look and feel. They have taken what it usually a linear event and exploded it into space by finding just the right setting for each of the ballet’s movements. The camerawork is not static as is usually the case when dance is presented on PBS’ Great Performances. The filming itself is worthy of a standing ovation. Each segment uses a different technique that fits the mood perfectly, from handheld to steadicam to crane shots and other inventive modes. The camera is just where your eye wants it to be and never gets in the way of letting the choreography lead the way.

It is a rare treat to see the current generation of artists from the New York City Ballet on television in such a worthy piece. Some of the dancers featured in the film are the best there is, and it’s about time the nation outside of New York City got to know them, and to see that there is something actually a bit more artistically satisfying than So You Think You Can Dance. Too often, when dance is presented on TV (which is, frankly, not often enough) the piece being presented rarely counts as something that should be preserved for posterity. Not so here. N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz is an important work of art and deserves to be seen by generations to come. Bravo to PBS for having the good taste to fund something other than another episode of Antiques Roadshow.

Pay close attention to the duet between Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall that was filmed at dusk on the High Line train tracks in the Chelsea area of Manhatttan. They create an intensity that will leave you breathless. All of the dancers standout and deserve to be named. They are: Tiler Peck, Adam Hendrickson, Andrew Veyette, Robert Fairchild, Amanda Hankes, Amar Ramasar, Antonio Carmena, Ashley Laracey, Austin Laurent, Brittany Pollack, Georgina Pazcoguin, Giovanni Villalobos, Glenn Keenan, Gretchen Smith, Rebecca Krohn, and Troy Schumacher.

Urban angst and youthful sensuality in glorious 35mm cinematography, danced by the best there is. What more do you want from an American masterpiece? And not a tutu in sight. I promise.

For a sneak preview, click on the photo below:

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