Anka K. Palitz (24th Anniversary Chair), Janice Becker (Dinner Chair) and Lisa Niami Swayze
“This is the greatest show,” boasts a balletomane sitting next to me as I flipped through my program waiting for America Dances!, Career Transition for Dancers’ 24th anniversary jubilee and celebration, to begin; and with a roster filled with the world’s most legendary dancers, I couldn’t imagine anything less.
For a jubilee, no better Master of Ceremonies could be found than the ebullient Jacques D’Amboise. He gave the opening remarks with effervescence and grace as he demonstrated the origins of the flexed changement in George Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes Pas de Deux (apparently this particularly famous segment was inspired by muscles cramps mid-performance). So magical was he in that one minute that I could have seen nothing else on stage and I would have left with my thirst for dance quenched. (Mr. D’Amboise, you are a treasure.)
What did follow however, were New York City Ballet’s stunning Ashley Bouder (affectionately referred to by us young ballet-fanatics as “The Bouder”) and Andrew Veyette in the aforementioned Balanchine piece. The pas de deux was a perfect way to salute to our dance heritage by mixing the classic choreography with the dynamic bodies and strength of a new generation of dancers whose leaps, jumps and arabesques seem to reach beyond the dance soldiers that preceded them.
Other stand-out performances among the myriad presented that evening were Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Dance Company in The Dance of the Furies. With strength and execution reminiscent (I imagine) of Isadora’s rich lyricism and tension, the movements depicted Rodin’s Gates of Hell, washed in flowing red fabric and abstraction.
Not much could top Mr. D’Amboise’s impromptu petite allegro, but Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet came close with Jason Kittelberger’s and Acacia Schachte’s performance of Cold Song. The entire theater seemed to hush as they swept the floor with poetic movement, permeating an icy chill that left us frozen in wonder.
Sprinkled throughout the show were accolades. The Career Transition for Dancers’ Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the World of Dance were given to Lawrence Herbert (presented by Jock Soto) and the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deustsch Foundation (presented by Valerie Harper). The Rolex Dance Award (Rolex was the sponsor of the event) was given in honor of our beloved Patrick Swayze. Presented by Dwight Richardson to Lisa Niemi Swayze, you could tell that she accepted the award in an audience full of friends and family. And that seems par the course in the dance world. Making sure that Career Transition for Dancers not only celebrated our sparkling heritage, but our uplifting future that evening
And it seems that the dance community will always find a way to inspire hope even in the most desperate of times, whether it’s with generous donations, audience cheers, a magnificent fundraising gala, scholarships, or with the art itself. And that, surely, is the greatest thing of all.
