Sometimes refund this is also goodbye. Misty Copeland, first black female soloist American Ballet Theatre, She may be the most famous American ballerina of her generation, but she hadn't actually performed in ballet in five years, even before the pandemic. In the meantime, she hasn't been idle: she's published several books, given birth to a child, and founded a foundation that provides mentoring and ballet training to children in under-resourced areas. Her career and her advocacy for black dancers have had a notable impact on changing attitudes in the field. But something was still missing: a classic ballet farewell. Tinsel, mountains of flowers, tears. So, she'll be back for one final performance on Oct. 22 as part of ABT's fall season at Lincoln Center. David H. Koch Theater (October 15 – November 1).
Illustration by Hayden Goodman
It is difficult to overestimate the effort and willpower it took for Copeland to return to pointe after such a break. As a farewell, she'll perform a rousing pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet and an excerpt from Twyla Tharp's sultry “Sinatra Suite.” And Kyle Abraham, a choreographer who has recently infused the ballet with his seductive, sinuous style, has been tapped to write a farewell piece for Copeland and her longtime collaborator Calvin Royal III. (Royal followed in Copeland's footsteps by rising to the top of the ballet hierarchy at ABT)
The rest of ABT's three-week season is a mix of old and new. One program offers three ballets from the company's earliest years, including Antony Tudor's 1938 Gala Performance, a parody of ballet and ballerina mannerisms. Another recalls Twyla Tharp's long association with the company, which began in 1976 with “Push Comes to Shove,” a showcase of vaudeville humor and bravura that she created for newly arrived Mikhail Baryshnikov. (It will be danced by two of the company's current virtuosos, Isaac Hernandez and Jake Roxander.) Another program combines a new work by Brazilian native Juliano Nunez with one of the most powerful works created for the company in the last decade, Alexei Ratmansky's “Serenade after Plato's Symposium.”—Marina Harss
About the city
Indie rock
Indie rocker from Burlington Greg Freeman quietly released his debut album I Looked Out in 2022, a masterpiece of dark Americana, without a label or a marketing campaign. Influenced by the blue-collar poetry of such alt-folksters as Jason Molina and Jay Farrar, Freeman chronicled union struggles, transatlantic aspirations, communion with nature; his edgy, boyish melancholy attracted the attention of cults. “Burnover,” his latest song, on which he plays ten instruments including a glockenspiel, violin and concertina, is rowdier, siphoning off the rugged exuberance from his live show, where he and his band caught the attention of nineties synth-rock legends. Grandfather, who will be taking them on tour this fall. Freeman thrills the crowd with his screaming, drawling words that threaten to break but never do.Holden Seidlitz (ur.Brooklyn Steele; October 15.)
Off Broadway
In a thrilling bilingual musical for two people “Mexodus“, Directed by David Mendizabal, Brian Quijada and Nigel D. Robinson – virtuoso composer-performers – it tells the story of Henry (Robinson), an enslaved man who flees Texas for Mexico, which is completely emancipated by 1829. Carlos (Quijada), a former Mexican medic who rescues Henry from the Rio Grande, teaches him the phrase: “We're all in this together“And musically, the pair emphasize solidarity, too, using Live Looping technology so two men can sound like a thousand. In their hands, it's all frontier music: ranchera, rap, classical piano, heavy funk. In one stunning, finely tuned duet, their guitars communicate with deft sweetness where not-yet-friends still fumble.—Helen Shaw (English)LEN-LEN; until November 1st.)
Hip-Hop
Photo by S. Prince.