http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/arts/dance/fall-for-dance-festival-is-short-but-packed.html 2016-10-10 00:19:29 Fall for Dance Festival Is Short but Packed This event at New York City Center lasted only two weeks but was a cornucopia of works by new artists and renowned names like Alvin Ailey. === Let’s begin this account of Fall for Dance’s final two programs just by dropping names. Each year’s Fall for Dance season is short — two weeks at New York City Center — and each of its five programs contains four pieces. At best, the season is a true festival, full of renowned artists, enterprising juxtapositions and horizon-expanding experiences. At worst, each quadruple bill is a harmless, broad-minded sampler that makes most of us several degrees less ignorant. Program Five (which I saw on Friday) proved especially well chosen: two contrasting examples of Asian dance, the McGregor world premiere and the American premieres of a work by another European choreographer. Until now, I have had strong reservations about Ms. Shivalingappa; and I still don’t find her one of the greatest spellbinders of Indian dance. But her performance of “ Accompanied by four musicians, she showed the most precise responsiveness to music of both these City Center programs. If you did not know about the classical Indian principle of commuting between Abhinaya (expressive dance) and Nritta (pure form), her performance made a perfect introduction to that. Near the end of her solo, she made rhythm by standing on a brass dish — one of the best-known and most charming Kuchipudi specialties. “Witness,” the world premiere with Ms. Ferri and Mr. Cornejo, was the first time Mr. McGregor’s choreography has given me scarcely alloyed pleasure. As a rule, Mr. McGregor’s style involves physical excess; here for once he showed restraint. The music — “Immerse,” by Nils Frahm — abounded in subdued hints of tango; Ms. Ferri showed her characteristic blend of bravery and adult vulnerability; Mr. Cornejo’s grace and chivalry registered potently. Clifton Taylor’s lighting installation — a column of neon lights upstage right, a single neon light downstage left — created unusual atmosphere and helped to chart space. No dance detail stands out in memory (though the famous arches of Ms. Ferri’s feet always make a memorable impression), but the frank, quiet, investigative mood of “Witness” cast a novel spell. In seasons by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, I’ve usually seen only the final section of “Cry” (1971). Here, however, was the whole thing. Ailey “ Ms. Cojocaru’s qualities of frailty and pathos remain exceptional; and, since she specializes in adolescent girls, it’s a welcome change to see her playing a sophisticated adult. Mr. Vogel is a handsome, appealing, tall dancer whom I hope New York comes to know better; and Mr. Kobborg brings to the role of Armand’s father much of the economical authority that made Mr. Somes’s performance memorable. Ashton’s choreography has eloquent moments — notably Marguerite’s walk backward on point in Armand’s arms, timed marvelously to the music. Still, this is one of Ashton’s most sentimental and thin creations; I can’t enjoy the way Marguerite continually abases herself to both Armand and his father; and why are the surrounding men such milksops? Although individual costumes and performers and décors helped, the other dances of each program were unimportant. These were the New York premieres of Jessica Lang’s “Tesseracts of Time” (danced by her company) and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Fall” (danced by Royal Ballet Flanders) and the United States premieres of Marco Goerke’s “Woke Up Blind” and Cheng Tsung-Lung’s “Beckoning” (Cloud Gate 2, from Taiwan). Each showed various quick-thrill use of kinetic excitements and showy visual imagery — “Woke Up Blind” seemed a nonstop sequence of bizarre physical cadenzas — without creating any deeper coherence. As always, the Fall for Dance audience greeted everything with rapture.