BALAM Dance Theatre’s Debut of ‘Garden of Love in Miniature’ at Gotham Early Music Scene’s Midtown Concerts

admin April 1, 2022 Dance News USA No Comment

The vitality of Bali combines with Baroque music, dance, and song in BALAM Dance Theatre’s (BALAM) premiere of Garden of Love in Miniature. The original and imaginative program will be presented both live and virtually by Midtown Concerts, a project of Gotham Early Music Scene, at Church of the Transfiguration, on Thursday, April 21 from 1:15 to 1:55 p.m. EST.

The program is open to the public and admission is FREE. The live performance may also be viewed on April 21 at  https://gemsny.org/midtown-live . The concert is dedicated in memory of Gladys Isabel Fajardo Luhrs, a Friend of BALAM, who appreciated and enjoyed classical music and dance during her life.

In this program, gorgeous Baroque period costumes, a striking wooden Balinese deer mask, and Balinese hand carved golden leather bird wings are shown on one stage. “BALAM Dance Theatre’s feel-good program presents light entertainment in the spirit of the Baroque opera entrée act, inspired by the theme of love, that will charm and enchant the audience. This performance embodies the mysterious spirit of Balinese masked dancing and fantasy wings with the bucolic delights presented by Baroque master painters François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard,” said choreographer Carlos Fittante.

BALAM, a non-profit, professional dance theatre company based in New York City, offers a new vision of contemporary cultural dance by combining diverse dance styles from around the world and historic periods with ballet and modern. The company’s new program opens with the stunning Entrée d’Apollon, a notated Baroque dance solo, circa 1701, performed by Baroque choreographer and dancer Carlos Fittante. BALAM dancer Yumiko Niimi performs an Allemande, as a masked bird character, with Fittante reappearing as a masked deer. Eugenia Forteza, guest mezzo-soprano, debuts with the company, as the fictious Madama Amorina, a famous Baroque actress visiting the garden of love to meet a secret admirer

Musicians of BALAM’s Lisa Terry of Parthenia Viol Consort performs on viola de gamba with Ryan Closs from 4&20 Strings and the Lute Society of America New York Chapter on therobo. Guest musicians Kenneth Hamrick of American Virtuosi on harpsichord and Dongmyung Ahn on Baroque violin join the company.

This intimate, imaginative program features the exquisite music of Jean Baptiste Lully’s Entrée d’Apollon transcribed for solo harpsichord by Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, François Couperin’s Concerts Royaux: Concerts 1 and 2, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Sans Frayeur dans ce Bois. Throughout the program, recited text created by Fittante and Inma Heredia is spoken.

Founded by choreographer and movement researcher, Islene Pinder, BALAM Dance Theatre offers a new vision of contemporary dance that is rooted in the dazzling opulence and magical aura of Balinese theatre. Audiences of all ages and backgrounds enjoy BALAM’s innovative movement alchemy where dynamic athleticism, detailed skills, and movement techniques from around world and time periods are fused and enhanced by eclectic music, striking masks, vibrant costumes and fantasy stories.