Michael Korsch

BalletX: Fall: 2024 Season

October 1, 2024

The final work of the evening was Takehiro Ueyama’s “Heroes,” dedicated to the brave, hard-working citizens of Japan who helped pull themselves out of the devastation of World War Two. Set to darkly emotional music by Kato Hideki and Ana Milosavljevic (played live) and a recording of John Adams’ moody, but energetic “The Chairman Dances – Foxtrot for Orchestra,” “Heroes” was filled with a wide range of emotions beginning with a long duet, a portrait of a deeply emotionally involved couple who, heartbreakingly, wind up parting, Ueyama’s choreography skillfully, but subtly illuminating a wealth of emotions. [more]

Momix’s Alice

July 11, 2022

Pendleton, in a program note, assures us that "Alice" is not a retelling of Carroll’s book. Rather, he used some of the events and characters from the book, dividing the evening-length work into twenty-two sections with titles like “A Summer Day,” “A Trip of Rabbits,” “The Cheshire Cat,” “The Queen of Diamonds” and “The Wolf-Spied-Her.” Although characters reappear—Alice, the Rabbits and the various playing cards queens—the episodes don’t particularly flow one into the other. The takeaway is a series of fanciful images rather than a cogent whole work of theater. [more]

BalletX: The Little Prince

October 3, 2019

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s "The Little Prince" (1943) has been studied, analyzed, and staged as any number of plays, ballets, musicals and an unsuccessful film. So, it was with great interest that I went to BalletX’s The Little Prince choreographed by fast-rising choreographer Anabelle Lopez Ochoa to a brilliant score composed and miraculously played by Peter Salem. BalletX, directed by the forward looking Christine Cox, is a modern ballet troupe stationed 90 minutes south of New York in Philadelphia. The troupe combines classical ballet with modern dance and, in the case of the Little Prince, mime, singing, speaking and twisty modern dance. [more]

Complexions Contemporary Ballet: Program A

February 28, 2019

In “Star Dust,” a 2016 ballet tribute to David Bowie, Rhoden displayed his mordantly campy side in a series of scenes, each devoted to a famous Bowie number, beginning with Brandon Gray leading the company in “Lazarus,” setting the format for the rest of the ballet. His face streaked with makeup, his hair aglow with color, Gray prowled proudly about the stage mouthing the words that Bowie sang. He seemed very satisfied with himself. [more]

Complexions Contemporary Ballet 2017 at the Joyce

February 15, 2017

“Star Dust,” Rhoden’s tribute to rock original David Bowie forced Rhoden to study and use each of the nine chosen songs as vignettes to comment on Bowie’s magic, the superb quirkiness of his dancers and display subtlety in his use of steps sometimes missing from his wham-bang, jet engine choreography. Rotating lights and disco balls beamed mood-changing pools of light on the stage (designed by the hard-working Mr. Korsch with psychedelically colorful costumes and makeup by Ms. Darch which exposed a lot of skin.) [more]

Momix: Alchemia

July 21, 2015

The suite of discrete scenes, distinguished by quasi-poetic lines in the program notes and a series of obvious theatrical gimmicks—tall columns that become ancient weapons; ultra-violet light revealing intricate patterns of blood vessels; women gliding about in floor-length gowns that later cocoon them; young lovers floating about each other; mirrored booths that confuse who is where; etc.—paints a vivid portrait of a constantly shifting land populated by gorgeous creatures dressed in astounding costumes by Phoebe Katzin. [more]