New York, USA - NYU Steel has been turning heads and breaking new ground for a while now. Unafraid to challenge the norms and traditional Western music and performance thinking - from its inception, NYU Steel has simply been a game-changer. This week (February 24 to February 27, 2016) NYU Steel is being featured in the World Premiere production of the New York Theatre Ballet performing to Philip Glass’ Piano Etudes, choreographed by Steven Melendez and Zhong-Jing Fang.
Josh Quillen and Jonathan Haas
Under Jonathan Haas, Director of the NYU Percussion Program—himself a virtuoso timpanist—NYU Steel in a relatively short time has gone on to become one of the respected performance-oriented music ensembles not limited by superficial limits and boundaries. The impressive growth and success of NYU Steel have been well documented by When Steel Talks (WST). In 2011 NYU Steel recorded Philip Glass’ Piano Etudes with arrangements done by their musical director, the multi-talented Joshua Quillen.
The union of NYU Steel with the New York Theatre Ballet is a continuation of the vision of Professor Jonathan Haas to capture the imagination of an international audience while challenging the members of NYU Steel to be innovative, creative and expressive.
New York Theatre Ballet
New York Theatre Ballet’s mission is to perform small classic masterpieces and new contemporary works for adults and innovative hour-long ballets for young children, all at affordable prices. The mission is carried out in the work of the Professional Company, its Ballet School NY and its LIFT Community Service Program. Together these divisions reach adults and family audiences across the country building a love for dance and diverse audiences for the future.
Jonathan Haas, Steven Melendez, Zhong-Jing Fang and Anna Kepe-Haas
Steven Melendez
Steven Melendez was born in New York City in 1986 and started his ballet training as part of the LIFT Scholarship Program at Ballet School New York at the age of 7. As a teenager he attended summer intensive programs with the San Francisco Ballet Academy, Houston Ballet Academy and Kaatsbaan International School. In 2001 Steven joined New York Theatre Ballet as an apprentice and in 2006 was promoted to Principal. While there he performed leading roles in choreographies by Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Butler, Agnes DeMille, Donald Mahler, Antony Tudor and others. In 2004, while dancing with New York Theatre Ballet, he graduated from the American Ballet Theater Studio Company Associate Program, the program culminated in a performance of Oblivion by Jessica Lang and Continuo by Antony Tudor.
Steven returned to New York City in March 2010 for New York Theatre Ballet’s Signature 10 series as a Principal Guest Artist performing José Limon’s Mazurkas and rejoined the company full-time for the following season. In 2011 Steven worked with British choreographer Richard Alston to create his new work A Rugged Flourish and performed Limon’s Moor’s Pavane for NYTB’s Signatures 12. In 2015 Steven celebrated his 15th season with New York Theatre Ballet performing world premieres in works by Pam Tanowitz and Nicolo Fonte and a U.S. premiere of Richard Alston’s Such Longing. He is a frequent guest artist at the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica and Ballet Palm Beach.
Steven is a faculty member of Ballet School New York and also holds an annual summer workshop in Nagoya, Japan.
In 2008 Steven received a Diploma from the 5th Rudolf Nureyev International Ballet Competition in Budapest, Hungary. He also received special recognition from head jurist Maya Plisetskya for his second round performance of Onegin. Afterwards, he was invited to perform in the gala entitled Celebrating the Classical Male Dancer and later represented Estonia at the 13th International Baltic Ballet Festival in Riga, Latvia. In 2009 he performed in the Johvi International Ballet Gala for Agnes Oaks’ farewell tour and in 2012 performed at the Jacob’s Pillow International Dance Festival Gala The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth. Steven is a Van-Lier Fellowship recipient and was a 2012 Clive Barnes Foundation Award Nominee.
For the 2006 season Steven was invited to Buenos Aires as a Guest Soloist to perform with Ballet Concierto, directed by Inaki Urlezaga. His repertory there included Carmen (Alonso), Don Quixote (Baryshnikov), Symphonic Variations (Ashton) and Borodin (Ariaz). While performing with Ballet Concierto Steven traveled extensively performing in international ballet galas and festivals in Argentina, New Zealand, Thailand, Venezuela, Ecuador, Estonia, Spain and Italy. In 2007 Steven joined the Vanemuine Theater Ballet Company in Tartu, Estonia, as a Principal dancer. With the Vanemuine Theater he has performed Principal roles in Onegin (Medvedjev), The Nutcracker (Isberg), Giselle (Feco) and Peter Pan (Titova). The leading male role in Par Isberg’s Uinuv Kaunitar (Sleeping Beauty) as well as the title role in Ruslan Stepanov’s Kevade were both choreographed on him.
Steven Melendez and Zhong-Jing Fang
Zhong-Jing Fang
Zhong-Jing Fang was born in Shanghai, China, and received her early training at the Shanghai Ballet School where she trained for seven years. Before joining ABT’s Studio Company in 2002, Fang graduated with a major in ballet from the Performing Arts College of Shanghai Drama University. In 2000, Fang was the winner of the famed Prix de Lausanne, and winner of the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Prize at the Ninth International Ballet Competition in Paris. In June 2001, Fang won First Prize in the Junior Division of the Helsinki International Ballet Competition. Most recently, she won first place in the Junior Division of the Shanghai International Ballet Competition. In April 2003, Fang joined the main Company of the American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice and, in January 2004, became a member of the corps de ballet. Her roles with the Company include Aya in La Bayadère, Twig in Cinderella, Prayer in Coppélia, Zulma in Giselle, the Old Mother in The Green Table, Nanny and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, a Harlot and Rosaline’s Friend in Romeo and Juliet, the Fairy Canari qui chante (Canary) in The Sleeping Beauty, the Hungarian Princess and Lead Czardas in Swan Lake, the Prelude in Les Sylphides, Ceres in Sylvia and roles in AfterEffect, Black Tuesday, Continuo, Kaleidoscope, Sinfonietta and Symphonic Variations. She created a leading role in Pretty Good Year. Ms. Fang’s performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Fred and Irene Shen.
NYU Percussion Studies Program
Jonathan Haas, Director
NYU Steel
Josh Quillen, Director
Andrew Adams
Russell Fisher
Adam Kiefer
NYU Steel is a significant performance ensemble within the NYU Steinhardt Percussion Program, where Professor Jonathan Haas serves as Director. Under the direction of Joshua Quillen, NYU Steel is dedicated to exploring the art of steel pans to the fullest, performing rare compositions and arrangements ranging in scope from Philip Glass and Jason Trueting, to David Rudder and Lord Kitchener from Trinidad and Tobago, where the art form was invented. The ensemble presents several unique performances each year, collaborating with composers globally, while enriching the steel drum repertoire. Recent noteworthy accomplishments include the exclusive recording of Philip Glass’ Piano Etudes, arranged by Joshua Quillen, which was released by Orange Mountain Music in May 2011, as well as promotional and tribute performances for Glass’ 75th birthday.
The audience is in for a fantastic treat. WST caught the performance at the dress rehearsal. In a word - impressive.
The collaborative effort of choreographers Steven Melendez and Zhong-Jing Fang brings an added dimension to the Philip Glass’ Piano Etudes not ever experienced before through dance. Their choreography is both highly effective and triumphant. This was no easy feat. They were presented with and met the challenge, producing a world première work utilizing a music medium they were both unfamiliar with - that being the steelpan family of instruments - for a major piece. The range of motion and movements embraced the tonal qualities and colors of the steelpan while remaining congruent with minimalist principles of Philip Glass.
Pan, Glass and Dance - storytelling at its zenith. The sound and the visuals capture your attention from first note and sight, stimulating your imagination. It’s fresh, it’s new and something the world should experience. One feels moments of joy, love, sadness, loss, separation, integration, exclusion and inclusion, as the performers skillfully both change and provide different vantage points for the audience - depending on what you are focusing on - showcasing a masterful command of space that allows for multiple storylines.
NYU Steel music director Josh Quillen’s voicings and ‘spreads’ across the family of steelpan instruments come alive in his arrangements. His command of orchestration for the steel ensemble played a large part in quickly providing a comfort zone for the choreographers in the area of developing creative possibilities for the story they wished to present. Josh understands that the Pan is alive. The steel orchestra is at all times part of the conversation and dance.
Go and live the experience. It will be unique and personal. The vision of Professor Haas has come full circle.
Asked about his overall approach to this unique collaboration in an interview with When Steel Talks, Steven Melendez said in essence that he approached the project with a blank slate. “I kind of let the music speak to me a little bit.” And he enjoyed every minute of it with fellow choreographer Zhong-Jing Fang. “We did everything together,” says Steven of the collaboration. Fang’s take? “I felt very much, almost like giving birth; I felt very much connected.” From her perch in the audience, Fang was on top every aspect of the production, even while Steven himself danced on stage as a member of the cast. Moving around and interacting with the dancers during the rehearsal Fang explained “I wanted to make sure that everything worked, maybe even the parts that nobody would notice.”
This is the first time that either choreographer worked with a steel orchestra. Asked if he would consider doing so in the future, Steven—a faculty member of Ballet School New York, in addition to being Van-Lier Fellowship recipient and a 2012 Clive Barnes Foundation Award Nominee—said “You know, if you had asked me that before we started this project, I would have been a little bit skeptical, because I had not had that experience before – I had never heard a steel orchestra before – sort of a fear of the unknown, a little bit. But now that I know what it is, and what it is capable of, the nuanced sound it can produce, I think it is something interesting for the future.”
Zhong-Jing Fang agreed wholeheartedly with Steven. “I think so too! I was very excited to be here….the [steel] drums, together with the performers – it actually connected so well, and it gave a great opportunity to the imagination [for choreography].”
New York Theatre Ballet director Anna Kepe-Haas was equally thrilled at the collaborative outing of ballet and steel, enthusiastically sharing just before the dress rehearsal, how happy she was that it all came together.
But for Jonathan Haas, it was a continuation of his vision being solidified.
“I dreamt of it, but I never, necessarily, thought that it would, be a reality.” Those were the words of Haas both before, and repeated at the end of the evening’s showcase. “What I believe, that I anticipated would happen - which happened – as we’ve discussed before, there’s a frequency that Pan creates that gets into our brain and for whatever reason, is incredibly uplifting. But when it’s combined - with the emotional content, with the visual – that oftentimes it changes from ecstatic, to deeply emotional and touching.
“I think that the Pan is the key that unlocks the emotions, that, with other instruments, do not have the immediate response and connection, which makes the Pan, still, in my estimation, one of the most unusual musical instruments in the world….I thought it [the New York Ballet and NYU Steel accompaniment] was just the most perfect combination.”
NYU Steel and New York Theatre Ballet
The collaboration of Philip Glass, Steel and Dance is indeed unique and historic - and quite consistent with the great works and presentations of the steel orchestra music genre’s giants like Pat Bishop, Dr. Geraldine Connor and Dr. Dawn Batson that have previously highlighted Pan and Dance.
In speaking with Dr. Batson—Professor of Music, and Chair of Visual and Performing Arts, Florida Memorial University—about the NYU Steel/New York Theatre Ballet collaboration, she noted in part that “Pan music like the music of the ancestors, has never been divorced from dance. Sometimes we in the Western world try to create false boundaries and put music, art, literature and dance into separate compartments, and only with expressed permission do we allow them to mingle. True expression tells a story and in the artistic world of Pan all the elements combine to tell that story.”
Dr. Batson’s distinct experiences with this combination go back several years, including in the late eighties with a show at Queen’s Hall in Trinidad called Pamberi Chimurenga. The production showcased a number of works with choreography by Andre Largen and professional dancers from Trinidad and Tobago. “Some of the works performed were: Aaron Copland’s ballet “Billy the Kid”; an excerpt from Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”; the Congolese “Missa Luba” with choreography by Andre; and an original piece of mine called “Finale” also choreographed by Andre,” explains Dr. Batson.
“Geraldine’s [Connor] Carnival Messiah, of course, stands out in many ways inclusive of dance. Pat [Bishop] with Desperadoes and Lydian Steel performed the musical scores of ballets. Pat, incidentally, was the person who suggested doing “Rite of Spring” to Pamberi [Steel Orchestra].”
“I think that the work of NYU Steel in carrying on the tradition of pan and dance is to be highly commended. The performance of pan is a dance in and of itself.”
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