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"Overpartnering"


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I had never come across this expression before until I read Alistair Macaulay's (less than enthusiastic) review of Liam Scarlett's Euphotic. By "overpartnering" he means (what he regards as) pointless manipulation of a women by her male partner. He also makes the same criticism about Christopher Wheeldon. Interestingly, he does not mention Wayne MacGregor whose choreography (imo) includes extreme contortion of the women's bodies. Is overpartnering a criticism which is frequently made? Which other choreographers has it been applied to?

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I have never heard it expressed that way - it is an interesting description - until I read it in the review..  It seems to me that if one is "over partnered" it is no longer a partnership.

 

I have long ago thought that this kind of choreography is much overdone.  I'm really tired of it - not that I ever liked it.  It seems to me I first noticed it in Balanchine's Bugaku - and disliked it then.

 

But that's just my personal opinion.

 

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Aileen wondered about Wayne McGregor in this context.  What Bay Area critic Allan Ulrich calls 'confrontations' in his review of McGregor's new commission, Borderlands, for San Francisco Ballet, Mr Macaulay might well see as 'over partnering.'

 

http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/S-F-Ballet-review-Borderlands-4236279.php#photo-4109520

 

But who can tell?  I'm sure it's all in the eye of the beholder.  If the central pdd in Chris Wheeldon's Tryst is over partnering, then it worries me not one bit.  And what Mr Macaulay would make of some of Cathy Marston's twosomes, I shudder to think - but they certainly work for me.

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