Some things that are old are new again, or never age.
Johann Sebastian Bach, for instance. Some things that are old moulder and vanish, like the harpsichord. Oh, well.
Arkansas Festival Ballet’s “Stepping Off the Canvas: A History of Dance From Rembrandt to Turner” was a highlight reel of old and new, loosely drawn from the inspiration of the Arkansas Arts Center’s exhibit, “Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London,” which are old works new to Little Rock.
The show progressed through several stages of historic periods of dance, from the courts of mid-17th-century London to 19th-century Paris to turn of the 20th-century Moscow. Artistic director Rebecca Stalcup employed music ranging from Joseph Haydn, Johann Pachelbel, Antonio Vivaldi and others for the show’s earliest examples of dance, while Igor Stravinsky alone stood for the latter.
After an intermission, four more dances were staged, all modern and choreographed by Rhythm McCarthy, Emily Karnes, Jenny Lewis and Melinda Tobian.
From it the audience gleaned that bustles are old, but bodices, oh, those have sort of stuck around.
High-pitched lispy English accents with rolled R’s are dated and pretentious, but high-pitched English accents with rolled R’s on stage are timeless and good fun - thank you Mark Hansen, “Louis, Duc de Bourgogne.”
Paddy-cake is certainly old, as in the opening act of the performance. Perhaps at that time paddy-cake bordered on puerile, but that demonstration of sexuality was eventually symbolized by hand-holding, then hands on hips, and now, if the club scene is any indication, full contact simulated … well, you get the idea.
Almost three-dozen dancers filled out the program, played before a mostly full house Aug. 17 inside the arts center’s main performance space - true espirit de corps, considering “it was a puzzle working people into their rehearsals … and pulling the show together over the summer months [when a] majority of the dancers were touring or attending summer intensives,” Stalcup said.
High Profile, Pages 65 on 08/25/2013