Hidden Rites (Ailey, 1973) opens the evening's art. Set on an inventive, polyrhythmic score by Patrice Sciortino that restricts itself almost exclusively to percussion instruments, the dance is a multi-cultural entertainment. There are hints of dervish dancing, the costumes suggest an Australian dreamtime painting, and there is even a whiff of Nijinsky's Faun in the geometric movement. Unfortunately, the signification of these rites remains hidden.

It's hard to read Love Stories (Judith Jamison with Robert Battle and Rennie Harris, 2004) at first look because the piece goes through an evolution of styles as it progresses. Beginning with a tender, questing solo by the sublime Clifton Brown, the piece moves from a collaborative, improvisational section through a street- and hip-hop-inspired middle, closing with a more abstract and sophisticated aesthetic that reveals wider, more diverse influences. Scored by a heavily remixed suite of songs by Stevie Wonder, the piece is a fitting tribute to Ailey.

The evening closes with Revelations (Ailey, 1960), about which I've said all that I can say.

posted: 7:13:01 PM  

Ducks are nesting in the park already! We have one box in use by a Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) with 10 eggs in it. That means that she's been laying since before last week's snowstorm. Wild speculative hypothesis (well, question): do cavity-nesting birds nest earlier and/or farther north than their counterparts who don't use holes in trees? Compare, for instance, the hoodie to Red-Breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator), which nests (according to Baicich and Harrison) in a more exposed location, like a thicket or in the shelter of a pile of driftwood.

posted: 6:34:11 PM  

I'm not really trying to stick my oar into the Lawrence Summers flap about women in the sciences, but I felt compelled to correct some statistical misreasoning that is, alas, all too common.

posted: 6:21:18 PM