NEW YORK RESIDENT MAGAIZNE FEATURE – February 20 – February 26, 1998
Arts & Entertainment
Stepping Out Joffrey II Directors Trade in the School’s Stamp of Approval for a Taste of Autonomy with the Self-titled The Edward Morgan Ballet
by Krista Carothers
Last May, choreographer Edward Morgan and his production partner Daniel Scott faced a crucial decision: Should they remain affiliated with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School or take the treacherous leap into running their own independent dance troupe? “It just seemed like the right time to see what we could do on our own,” says Scott, the producing director of the 8-month-old MorganScott Ballet Company. Until then, both men had worked under the venerable Joffrey name. As directors of the Joffrey apprentice company, the Joffrey II Concert Dancers, Morgan and Scott screened and trained potential dancers for the parent company. But then last May, the senior Joffrey company disputed the use of the Joffrey name by the other performing group (even though the Joffrey Il worked out of the Joffrey Ballet School with full joftrey name, they might as well take the opportunity to declare their independence, as intimidating
as that idea was. “People will accept things at face value if there’s a famous name at- tached to it,” Scott says. “The Joffrey has been a source of stability for Edward since he entered the school as a teenager, so this really is going out on our own.” In this era of corporate sponsor- ships and dwindling artistic grants, artists of every denomination — painters, musicians and choreogra- phers of New York City have been particularly hard hit — have to put in their time of worrying and scraping by before they can ascer- tain whether the powers with money will deem their artistic projects worthy of support. So far, Morgan and Scott have been able to support the company with a few performance fees and personal funds: Morgan teaches dance and Principal dancer Jennifer McKelvey and the MorganScott Ballet Company knowledge and approval of its director). Morgan and Scott were offered the chance to continue the company under a different name and keep it tied to the school, but they decided that if they had to continue without benefit of the Scott works as a massage therapist. They hope that their new company’s upcoming New York City debut will attract some attention and eventually get them noticed by corporate sponsors. But the fun part for them is creating the dances. “We’re apprehensive only when we have to figure out how to pay for something,” Scott says. “We never worry about the performance working out. We have the experience and skills to follow through with everything in that respect.” Morgan, the choreographer, predicts that the company will overcome financial woes: “We’re definitely going to need big spirit in these days when we have no money to buy big sets,” he says (perhaps indicating the inspiration for the title of both the upcoming program and its premiere, “Spirit Bound”). But for him, the artistic independence is worth the hardship. “Before, I was training dancers for another company, and now I’m training them to do exactly what I want,” he says. “Daniel always comes up with these great concepts, and now we can just do them. We don’t have to worry about whether they fit the company’s style.” Indeed, almost everything seems to fit this new company. Morgan’s choreography is based in ballet but diversely stylized. His only previous absence from the Joffrey company since he started in the Joffrey Ballet School as a teenager was to choreograph for Club MTV six years ago, where he first worked with Daniel Scott, who was a producer for the show. Morgan credits his MTV experience with making him learn to choreograph quickly and to meld various types of dance into the same piece. For example, the dances he worked on there incorporated ballet motions into hip hop rhythms and steps. The pieces on the New York Debut program will include a classical ballet set to “Bach Oboe Concertos,” which features the Artistic director Edward Morgan MorganScott principal dancers, Joseph Alexander and Jennifer McKelvey. It resembles courtly dancing, with its delicate toe pointing and hand motions, but showcases quick and deliberate turns. Another piece on the program is called “Cheek to Cheek.” A tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Kogers, this whimsical ensemble piece uses four couples and almost reminiscent of synchronized swimming, with its smiling poses and dominoeffect motions. “Fiesta de Aranjuez,” the program opener, is a festive Spanish-themed piece that incorporates dramatic arm gestures and passionate embraces. Conveying emotion to an audience is Morgan’s foremost intent when choreographing his pieces, and in rehearsal he sounds as interested in getting his dancers to display passion and emotion as in pertecting each technical step. He is constantly telling them to revel in their movements, feel more emotion, not be afraid. “I’ve seen you have more fun than that dancing in the nightclubs,” he says to Alexander, trying to get the dancer to relax. Morgan and Scott do like to go out and see how young people are dancing casually. “We aren’t ballet snobs,” Scott says. “We like to dance to club and house music, to see what’s being expressed and to feed off of that.” Most of the company’s 10 dancers are quite young, and Morgan relates easily with them. He says he does not envision the company ever growing to more than 15 or 20 people, because he likes the close knit feeling the company has now. The dancers are always laughing, but they also respond to the subtle pressure to improve. The general feeling of comfort among the MorganScott members is a salve for the wounds that Morgan and Scott, and some of their dancers, have suffered at the hands of bigger companies. The new solo Alexander will perform at the concert, called “Spirit Bound,” came directly from Scott’s and Morgan’s experience of the past year: being disappointed by the Joffrey company, making the difficult decision to start their own troupe and then struggling to make it work. “Spirit Bound” has all tha energy of everything we’ve gone through,” Morgan says. The curtain rises on the piece to reveal Alexander physically suspended from the ceiling in ropes. He frees himself and, as the piece progresses, he becomes more energetic and unrestrained. How this metaphor will play out for the MorganScott Ballet Company remains to be seen, but it is surely a sign of positive thinking on the part of its founders. As Scott says, “We like happy endings.”. “Spirit Bound” debuts in New York on Feb. 20 & 21 at the John Jay College Theater (899 10th Ave. at 58th Street). Tickets are available through Ticket Central at 212-279-4200.
