10,000 Dreams: Celebration of Asian Choreography
Program B Review
June 22, 2024 | Kennedy Center – Washington, D.C., USA
The festival “10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography” that took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. from June 18 to June 23 gave center stage to Asian creatives working in ballet.
The goal of this important cultural event was to recognize the talent of Asian artists and to increase diversity and representation in dance.
Over the course of a week, seven ballet companies and dance groups from the United States and abroad shared the stage of the Opera House in two programs. The featured choreographers represented their cultural heritages from the countries and regions of Asia, including China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
10,000 Dreams: Celebration of Asian Choreography Program B Review
The second mixed repertory program included the performance of Houston Ballet in Disha Zhang’s Elapse; the dancers of Ballet West presented Somewhere in Time, created by Zhong-Jing Fang; and The Washington Ballet brought on the stage the company’s signature work Fives by Choo San Goh.
In Elapse, Chinese choreographer Zhang touches upon important themes of the interaction between humans and nature. This dance was commissioned and premiered by Houston Ballet in 2019.
Reflective and though-provoking, Elapse is a thoroughly contemporary piece, both in its concept and realization. (Zhang received her training in modern dance and was a member of the Beijing Modern Dance Company.)
Choreographed for a large ensemble, Elapse is set to a mix of various sounds and electronic music. Dressed in simple costumes – colored long dresses for the women and casual jackets and slacks for the men – and antlers-like headpieces, the dancers often evoke insects, animals, and trees.
Broken, jerky gestures and languid unison movements reign supreme here. The proceedings onstage look enigmatic and intriguing even if not particularly technically and dramatically exciting.
I commend the intrepid dancers of Houston Ballet – one of the most prominent ballet companies in the country – who stoically embraced the peculiar demands of the choreography, bravely sliding and skidding on their backs on the floor and swaying together from side to side as if pushed by invisible forces of nature.
The audience seemed to enjoy this dance, cheering the cast at the end of the performance.
Fang’s Somewhere in Time, choreographed to a commissioned score by Asian-American composer, Deanna H. Choi, is a brand new work – its world premiere took place during Ballet West’s choreographic festival, “Asian Voices”, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City on June 5, 2024.
A soloist with American Ballet Theatre, Fang has been choreographing for various ballet organizations, including ABT’s Studio Company, ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and The New York Theatre Ballet. Somewhere in Time was her first commission for a major ballet company.
Dynamic and colorful, Somewhere in Time has a variety of winning elements, including attractive costumes and imaginative props. The ballet is loosely divided into three sections, which aim “to explore the past, the present, and the future.”
The choreography throughout the piece is brisk and energetic and often involves large ensembles, so the stage always breams with action.
The dancers of Ballet West were excellent in every turn, their partnering skills honed to perfection. But as I was watching the performance, I felt unmoved: the choreographer had interesting ideas but none of them really took flight. And the work as a whole lacked focus and felt disjointed and emotionally empty.
The undisputable highlight of the program turned out to be Choo San Goh’s iconic masterpiece “Fives”, performed by The Washington Ballet.
The Singaporean choreographer Goh (1948-1987) had nearly a decade-long relationship with The Washington Ballet, serving as the company’s resident choreographer and associate artistic director in the 1970s and ‘80s.
With his unique creative voice, he put the company on the ballet map, creating works that were original, inspiring, and forward-looking. Over the course of his short artistic career, Goh created ballets for some of the most eminent companies in the world, including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin AileyAmerican Dance Theatre, Paris Opera, the Royal Danish Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Boston Ballet.
Goh’s Fives, a work of clean neoclassical style and rich emotional ambiance, was choreographed in 1978 to the music of Ernest Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No. 1. A thrilling experience from start to finish, the ballet immediately became a hit with the audience and took a permanent spot in the Washington Ballet’s repertory, becoming its signature piece.
Over the years, I have seen this work numerous times; and it never fails to inspire a sense of admiration and excitement.
To watch the dancers – ten women and five men – creating magnificent geometric designs on stage (true to the ballet’s title, they appear in groups of five) is to appreciate anew the streamlined beauty and cool appeal of neoclassical ballet.
The Washington Ballet’s cast was magnificent during the performance, feeling securely at home with intricacies and complexities of Goh’s ingenious style and dynamics.
The stellar playing of the Bloch’s concerto by the Kennedy Center Orchestra under the baton of Erin Freeman contributed immensely to the success of the performance.
As part of the festival, there was a special one-evening-only performance, on Friday June 22, dedicated exclusively to the genius and legacy of Choo San Goh.
Featured Photo of Artists of The Washington Ballet in Choo San Goh’s Fives. Photo by Teresa Wood, courtesy of The Kennedy Center.
