Masters of the Universe
Although it's been three years since Eliot Feld suspended operations of his full-time company, Ballet Tech (which had existed under various names since 1974), he's had premieres at Juilliard (the epic-scaled "Sir Isaac's Apples") and New York City Ballet (his beloved 1969 romantic ballet "Intermezzo No. 1"). Between these uptown projects, Feld's been rehearsing his fluid, flexible current troupe, Mandance Project, which performs for two weeks at Chelsea's Joyce Theater. Don't be misled by the name-this is not choreography for he-men. (Think of it as "man" the species, not the gender, Feld suggests.) There are two terrific female dancers, Patricia Tuthill and the exquisite Ha-Chi Yu, for whom Feld has created a new solo set to the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony, with the intriguing title "Pursuing Odette."
That musical choice is an anomaly for Feld these day; his focus is usually on contemporary (primarily American) scores, or folk and popular selections. The other two premieres are "Sacred Steel," set to Sonny Treadway's acclaimed steel guitar, and "Op. Boing," to music by Iannis Xenakis. Also of recent vintage is the quirky solo to a John Cage score, "Ugha Bugha," in which the intrepid Wu-Kang Chen leaps and rolls with a bunch of metal cans attached to his tights (see picture above). Feld describes Chen, a Taiwanese dancer who performed with Ballet Tech, as "an extraordinary dancer." He adds, "I'm so appreciative of his gifts, because he's liberated me to try things that I wouldn't have known I even had in me."
Feld's return to the Joyce is a reminder that it's in large part thanks to him (and Cora Cahan, his company's visionary executive director at the time) that this busy year-round dance venue exists. Nearly 25 years ago they launched the project to transform a forlorn, sleazy movie theater into a gleaming, efficient dance showcase. "We realized that our need, which motivated us, was shared by a myriad of companies," Feld recalls of the pioneering venture. "It was that communal need that made it possible."