Valeria Orani is the Administrative Director of American Dream, a project by Karole Armitage host at Ravello Festival
American Dream by Karole Armitage is an evening excursus from native American dance to the dance of the greatest modern choreographers including tip-tap and freestyle influences.
The programme brings to the stage the stars of the most prominent companies of the States, beginning with the New York City Ballet, who will perform an excerpt from Apollo, the most significant choreography of the neoclassical development of it founder father George Balanchine to the music of Stravinsky, in its 1928 version; the performance of a duet from Agon, again by Balanchine-Stravinsky, which debuted in 1957; as well as Armitage Gone! Dance, who will perform a fragment of Trio from a new version of Agon commissioned this year to the choreographer-director of the London Philharmonic, who is performing a Stravinsky programme conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Finally, the Armitrage group will bring to us Ligeti Essays (2007).
Ailey II, “the next generation of dance”, will perform a repertory piece from their masterpieceRevelations, the piece entitled Wade in the Water (1960), with spirituals, gospel spngs and blues by Alvin Ailey, the Afro-American choreographer of the magnificent company named after him, a company whose aim it is to demonstrate the abilities of his people.
A tribute will be paid to Martha Graham at Ravello by the versatile Richard Move, who is at home both in cabaret and in the theatre, his fame being associated with his great ability to recreate and reinterpret, with wit and bite, the performaces of the “Great Mother” of modern American dance.
“Richard Move Marta @ Ravello” for the choreographer who has left her mark on 20th-century history will be a light entertainment during the whole evening event with its exhilarating contribution to the programme, , and it will demonstrate the finest techniques and repertory, from Acts of Light toAppalachian Spring, together with a 1931 “Grahamian” masterpiece of his company, Primitive Mysteries.
The programme will be enhanced by a Panorama of Graham pieces (1935) made up of Theme ofDedication, Imperial Theme, Popular Theme with dancers from the Rome National Dance Academy and a duet from New Sleep (1987) by the brilliant American author William Forsythe, a maestro of post-classical ballet, performed by dancers of Dresden’s Semperoper.
American Dream will conclude with a choral choreography commissioned exclusively for the Ravello Festival: a choreography from George Gershwin’s Summertime by Karole Armitage.
The spirit of American Dream will be seen in another creative emotional event that opens itselfto the world that and that stands out in the festival programme: the evening event Cubanía en el Ballet, which unites artists from the Cuban national company with European and American companies , all in the excellent Escuela Nacional de Ballet, which brings “the family” together and alongside North American dancers in a felicitousreunion of names from the world of dance.
Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino