A Conversation with Lar Lubovitch

When we heard that Lar Lubovitch Dance Company was coming to Cleveland, we called DanceCleveland to arrange a phone interview with the man himself. Lubovitch (center) is widely recognized as one of the top 10 choreographers in the entire world; top companies perform his work and top dancers line up to audition for his company. But the Lubovitch Dance Company hasn't toured for over a decade. Their last performance in Cleveland was in 1993; Lubovitch's work was last seen here in 2006 when the Limon Dance Company previewed Recordare at Playhouse Square. His conversation with Cool Cleveland last week covered a lot of territory:

Cool Cleveland: Why did you stop touring?

Lar Lubovitch: We had been on tour for 30 years and I felt that creatively we were moving sideways and that all of our energy and financing was going into maintaining and supporting touring programs. I didn’t feel that as a creator, a choreographer, I was having an opportunity to stretch my own imagination. I thought it was a good idea to get off the road for a while, spend some time at home creating new work.

I’ve maintained a company during all of this time but I thought of it as a creative center, a production company, and we did a lot of projects during those years both in NYC and in combination with other companies.

What did you do during your hiatus? (Note: We knew that LL’s hiatus from touring had been highly productive and nearly invisible to us and the rest of Cleveland’s dance audience. Before Recordare, of which we’ve spoken, we knew that he broke in his new title of Guest Artist in Residence with Limon by setting Concerto 622, his milestone AIDS-awareness piece, on them).

A three-act ballet, Othello, which was first choreographed in cooperation with ABT and San Francisco Ballet and by now has been performed by several other companies. Joffrey ballet will perform Othello next year. Also a number of new pieces in cooperation with other companies; for instance, a piece in cooperation with San Francisco Ballet to Dave Brubeck’s music…

Oh, Elemental Brubeck. (And so thru the decade, 1 – 3 dances a year, many of them standouts like Men's Stories, Little Rhapsodies and, most recently, Dvorak Serenade and Jangle, both of which are included in the Cleveland program.)] What dances have you chosen to revive for your tour and why?

For this 40th anniversary tour I’ve chosen to bring back an important piece from each decade. One of the pieces we’ll be doing in Cleveland is Concerto 622 (1986), a very important piece along the way, a piece that became a watershed moment in my own involvement. It’s been done by many, many companies; probably more than any other dance I’ve choreographed.

(Allow us an editorial aside, readers: 622’s been done by so many companies for a number of good reasons. Not only did the central Adagio danced by 2 men – ahead of its time for concert dance -- perfectly embody its AIDS –awareness theme. LL’s music visualization for Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 is wonderfully fun, funny, and life affirming. As Anna Kisselgoff put it in her rave review, “There is something to cheer about when an already good choreographer comes gloriously into his own, and that is exactly what Monday night’s audience stood up to do in Carnegie Hall at the local premiere of LL’s Concerto 622. New steps, new movement, new patterns, new twists on highly sophisticated formal structures, and all with a vibrantly alive human passion that emanates from the dancers at every moment. This is very exciting dancing and this is what dance is really about.”)

Tell us about Jangle, the newest piece on the Cleveland program.

Jangle has not yet been seen in New York. It is set to Rhapsodies 1 and 2 for Violin and Piano by Bela Bartok who threaded his music liberally with gypsy and Hungarian folk music ideas and folk dance motifs. As with everything I do, I set out to paint the picture of the music, to make the music visible. This music called for almost a folk dance response as Bartok does in his music, mixing folk dance motifs with very contemporary 20th century musical ideas. My description to the costume designer was to create a look appropriate to Budapest in about 1936. A group of people are walking down the street on a warm summer night; they come upon a band of street musicians and they spontaneously begin to dance.

That gives us a wonderful window into the piece.

Your dancers are highly thought of. The current buzz is about Rasta Thomas, but reading a list of company alumni is like a who’s who of dancers and choreographers. Mark Morris, Doug Varone, Danny Ezralow. How is it that you consistently attract such good dancers?

I think they know my work is about them. I love good dancing and I love to work with top dancers. Sometimes just having a beautiful dancer in front of me is reason enough to make a dance.

Lubovitch offers a program including Dvorak Serenade (2007) set to Dvorak Serenade in E major opus 22 movements 1, 2, 4, & 5) this Saturday, November 1 at 8PM at the Ohio Theatre in PlayhouseSquare. The program is co-presented by DANCECleveland and Cuyahoga Community College. Tickets are available by calling 241-6000 or online at http://www.playhousesquare.com. For group tickets, call 991-9000.

From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas vicnelsaATearthlink.net
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