The New York Baroque Dance Co.

The New York Baroque Dance Company, guest artist with the Anchorage Symphony
by Anne Herman

…”New York Baroque Dance Company Artistic Director Catherine Turocy re-choreographed the work (Les Petits Riens) to Mozart’s music, using ideas steps and poses from late 18th century dance. The result Saturday was a delightfully silly and beautifully rendered interpretation of Baroque dance.

A rather bawdy romp for Cupid and several young lovers, the ballet captured both the gentility of upper class French Baroque dance and its earthier aspects. When the performers weren’t chasing one another around or flirting madly with the wrong person, they offered up a grace and precision of gesture and step that was lovely.

Their Baroque movements were precursors to Romantic ballet, and this can be seen in many ways- in a male dancer rising slowly on demi-pointe, his other leg stretched elegantly behind; in a female’ dancer’s gentle placement of an upturned palm on a cheek; and in a somewhat demure male glance at a well-placed toe peeking out from under a skirt. Little hops, turns and delicately fleet footwork wove complex floor patterns that echoed Mozart’s musical intricacies.”