![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/concert.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Paul Kolnik<\/p><\/div>\n
As for the male dancers in \u201cThe Concert,\u201d they are reduced to porteurs<\/em>, carrying ballerinas to and fro as if they are store window mannequins. The motivation of the lead danseur, Andrew Veyette, is to kill his wife, Amanda Hankes, and to win the long-legged Kowroski.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Concert,\u201d to Frederic Chopin\u2019s piano sonatas, was made more than a half century ago, but its traditions (and relevance) hold fast. Competition between dancers, the primacy of the ballerina, men hauling female dancers above their shoulders: it\u2019s all very 2012. An all-out audience pleaser, \u201cThe Concert\u201d is a gem for any mixed bill program that needs a little leavening.<\/p>\n Two years before Robbins made \u201cThe Concert,\u201d his younger colleague Michael Kidd choreographed a ballet spoof for Paramount Pictures called \u201cKnock on Wood.\u201d Kidd and Robbins cut their teeth as performers on Russian ballet. Both felt like imposters, being Jewish, not apprenticing to classical dance in their wee years, and failing to cotton to the big fairy tale ballet aesthetic. When Kidd left the ballet world in 1947 and became a sought after dance arranger for musicals, he used his Russian ballet experience to side splitting effect. In \u201cKnock on Wood,\u201d Kidd directed Danny Kaye to duck into a theatre, don a costume of a Slavic hero and ad-lib through a Russian ballet performance to escape from bad guns with guns. Kaye dances the flat-footed fool in some very saggy tights. He\u2019s no aristocrat. Neither was Kidd. \u201cI was never cut out,” he said, “for being the Swan Prince.\u201d\u00a0You Tube currently carries the\u00a0<\/a>Knock on Wood ballet scene<\/a>. It\u2019s a little over eight minutes long, but it feels like a flash.<\/p>\n Danny Kaye in "Knock on Wood"<\/p><\/div>\n Some ballets are meant to be serious, but are best enjoyed as comedy. Such was the case with an excerpt of Jeremy McQueen\u2019s \u201cConcerto Nuovo\u201d (2009). Performed on January 24 for the Dancers Responding to Aids benefit concert at the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Theater, McQueen set his all-female work to J.S. Bach\u2019s \u201cConcerto in D minor for Two Violins.\u201d If ever there was a loaded piece of music in dance, it\u2019s this concerto. Balanchine and Paul Taylor created their masterpieces, \u201cConcerto Barocco,\u201d and \u201cEsplanade,\u201d respectively, to this music.<\/p>\n Photo by Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n Young McQueen not only turns Bach\u2019s concerto into background music for his grab bag of steps culled from ballet, modern, runaway modeling and the competition dance circuit, he states in the program notes that “Nuovo” is inspired by Balanchine’s “Concerto Barocco.” McQueen’s homage and convoluted dance phrases are so tasteless they\u2019re funny. The white ruffled mini dress costumes transform the nine hard-working dancers into identical-looking prom queens. With a good editor, \u201cConcerto Nuovo\u201d could amuse more than offend. Dancing funny to J.S. Bach’s concerto holds promise. Some pieces of music bear too much history to be danced straight.<\/p>\n For more dance writing by Rachel Straus go to rachelstraus.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>