Corps extrêmes by Rachid Ouramdane.
Photo: Pascale Cholette
Van Cleef & Arpels Celebrates the Art of Dance with a Special City-Wide Performance Festival
Through mid-December, New Yorkers can experience over a dozen works in venues all over the city, created by predominantly international choreographers and ensembles
Corps extrêmes by Rachid Ouramdane. Photo: Pascale Cholette
Three years ago Van Cleef & Arpels launched Dance Reflections, a program intended to “support artists and institutions linked to the world of choreography” by providing funding to individuals, theatres and dance companies to create new works. The much-lauded results have been presented in festivals in London (2022), Hong Kong (earlier this year) and now, New York City. Through mid-December, New Yorkers can experience over a dozen works in venues all over the city, created by predominantly international choreographers and ensembles.
“We wish to support choreographic writings which contribute to the evolution of an art which over the years has continued to invent new forms. The New York program presents a wide variety of offerings. Dorothée Munyaneza is Rwandan, Ola Maciejewska is Polish, and the Ecole des Sables is in Dakar,” noted Serge Laurent, Director of Dance Reflections. “All these companies have one thing in common: researching, inventing, and enriching the vocabulary of dance.”
Room With a View. Photo: Soulage
Fashion and dance have long been intertwined, and the storied jewelry maison similarly has a long history of supporting the genre. In the 1920s, Louis Arpels, one of the founders and a ballet-lover, would take his nephew Claude to the Opera Garnier, a short walk from the boutique in Place Vendôme. The company’s first ballerina clips – pins depicting ballet dancers rendered in precious metals and gems — debuted in the 1940s and remain in demand to this day. A grown up Claude Arpels met choreographer and New York City Ballet co-founder George Balanchine in the 1950s. The pair’s friendship was originally fueled by a shared love of precious stones, and resulted in Balanchine’s ballet “Jewels,” first performed in New York in April 1967. Each act in the triptych represents a gem and a composer: Gabriel Fauré for Emeralds, Igor Stravinsky for Rubies and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Diamonds.
The rite of spring. Photo: Maarten Vanden Abeele
Takemehome by Dimitri Chamblas. Photo: Josh Rose
Over the next few weeks, dance enthusiasts can experience works by the likes of the late legendary Pina Bausch (The Rite of Spring, November 29 – December 14 at the Park Avenue Armory) to Kim Gordon, perhaps best known as the co-founder of Sonic Youth, who collaborated with artist and choreographer Dimitri Chamblas on takemehome, a work for nine dancers, five electric guitars, and five amplifiers (NYU Skirball, November 17-18).
A complete list of performances can be found at DanceReflections-VanCleefArpels.com
Cover: Corps extrêmes by Rachid Ouramdane.
Photo: Pascale Cholette
