By Doris Diether
Volume 73, Number 24 | October 15 – 21, 2003
DANCE
David Parsons Opens Skirball Center at NYU
October 2, the start of cold weather, saw the opening of the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at the NYU Kimmel Center on the south side of Washington Square Park. Jack H. Skirball, for whom the theater is named, was a rabbi in Ohio and Indiana before becoming a motion picture producer and entrepreneur in Los Angeles for more than 50 years. His film credits include Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt.” His Skirball Foundation also established the a Center for New Media and Film at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Sciences, the Dept. of Hebrew and Judaic Studies in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at the NYU Medical School.
At the 6 pm ribbon-cutting ceremony there were the usual speeches, along with champagne. President John Sexton led off, introducing the former NYU President, L. Jay Oliva who is now Executive Producer for the new theater, and a representative from the Skirball Foundation which put up substantial funds for the new facility.
Chosen to open the theater was the exciting David Parsons Dance Company in a program of many of his best-known works. “Caught,” a Parsons classic and always a crowd-pleaser was danced on this occasion by guest artist Angel Corella, a Spanish-born dancer and former member of American Ballet Theater. For years only Parsons himself performed this work which requires precise timing for the dancer with both the music and the strobe lighting, but Corella managed the feat well.
“The Envelope,” another Parsons classic to a Rossini score, again made precise use of the music. In this comic work the dancers, all in black, try to get rid of an envelope which keeps returning. Also on the program was “Sleep Study,” a work Parsons created for students from Eliot Feld’s dance school. Parsons himself, in velet coat, partnered the ballerina Jenifer Ringer in a delicate, romantic duet, “On a Clear Night.” The finale, tame after the rest of the program, was the group work, “Nascimento,” to a score by the composer Milton Nascimento, the music composed for the company. For this benefit concert, proceeds from half the house went to Parsons Dance Co. The other half of the house seats were NYU seats, free to their guests.
The new theater, designed by architect Kevin Roche from Hamden, Connecticut, is the largest performing center south of midtown. The space itself is quite wide, but shallow. Joel Rubin, from Artec Consultants, theater consultants, stated there are good sightlines from every seat in the house. The 865 seat house is larger than the Joyce Theater, and features an orchestra pit that can contain 40 musicians, a sprung stage especially designed for dance, and state of the art lighting and sound systems. The stage itself is three stories below grade level, with two balconies and racked orchestra seating. The cherry-wood paneled walls are decorated with geometric designs, and the style was described by Wiley Hausam, the executive director, as “Scandinavian baroque.” When queried, the architect, Kevin Roche, said, “That’s as good a description as any.”
The proscenium stage, dominated by two giant gold columns, measures 45’8” between the columns, is 32’ tall, and 29’6” deep plus a 7’ apron which can be raised for additional stage space or lowered for additional seating or for the musicians. According to Rubin from Artec, one of the two gold columns is actually structural so the other was constructed to balance it.
The rehearsal room is the same size as the stage, but with a lower ceiling, and there are three dressing rooms. The storage and set room has direct access via a freight elevator to Third Street. The theater is completely handicapped accessible, even to the sound and lighting spaces since they will be used for teaching students. There are two elevators, and front seats in the balconies and some on the orchestra level are removable to accommodate wheelchairs.
It is planned the theater will be used for both professional and student performances in music, film, drama, new media and of course dance. Already four dance companies are book: Ballet Hispanico (Nov. 11-16), Elisa Monte Dance (Nov. 19-22), American Ballet Theater Studio Co. (Dec. 4-6) and Complexions (June 22-26). Spotted at this first concert were several other dancers checking out the house, including Paul Taylor and Jennifer Muller. There are also four music concerts and a Wagner opera scheduled, plus two musical theater productions.
Since Parsons was their first choreographer to use the theater, his views were solicited. “I love the theater, and feel it will be a major venue for lower Manhattan,” he said. “It is important that downtown has a suitable space.” He likes the idea of an orchestra pit since he sometimes commissions scores. It gives him the option of having a live orchestra. For his performance he used his own lighting crew, but he found the NYU crew good for the rest of the technical work. There were a few little problems. One of the problems Parsons did admit to involved the gold columns framing the stage. Since his work depends to a great degree on lighting, there was some problem with the lighting bouncing off the columns. But he felt any problems can be ironed out later, and the theater itself is conducive to dance.
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