INTERVIEW: For NY season, Tom Gold Dance is en pointe with ‘Counterpoint’

Tom Gold brings his dance company to the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice March 14-15 for its sixth-annual New York season. Among the the three works on display will be world premiere Counterpoint and company premieres Oasis and Served. The full evening will be one showcasing the realization of Gold’s dreams over the years.

“Well, we’re very excited because we will be doing three New York premieres,” Gold said recently in a phone interview. “Two of the pieces I’ve been working on since last July, so we’re just putting the final touches on them.”

Served is set to the music of Franz Schubert and has an unusual theme for a dance work: tennis. Gold was inspired when watching the U.S. Open on television in 2016, and he started to see connections between ballet and tennis. Both are extremely athletic but still graceful at the same time.

Counterpoint, the world premiere, is set to the music of Steve Reich’s “New York Counterpoint” and “Nagoya Marimbas.” The piece has a more contemporary theme surrounding a modern couple and their love for each other. It’s a duet in four movements.

The final part of the New York season is Oasis, which was first choreographed for the St. Louis Ballet and serves as the third piece in a trilogy for Gold. He has been choreographing work to the music of John Zorn over the years, and now Oasis completes his exploration. The dance piece is inspired by Middle Eastern themes and the desert. The two previous parts are called Shanti (2003) and La Plage (2013).

“So there’s a little something for everyone — something fun, something a little serious, something a little contemporary — so I’m hoping people will enjoy the whole evening,” Gold said.

When Gold was creating Shanti more than a decade ago, he had no idea that the work would inspire an entire trilogy. That original piece was made for the Miller Theatre thanks to George Steel, Gold’s friend who was running the Miller at the time. Steel introduced Gold to Zorn’s music, and the choreographer fell in love with the compositions.

“Anytime I was kind of having writer’s block for a choreographer, I would just go back to John’s music and listen to it, and it kept inspiring me,” Gold said. “Then I created La Plage, and I thought I’d love to have a third piece to complement the other two. And this past year, as I was going back and listening to his music, I found this third piece of John’s that I thought would be perfect. I mean, it wasn’t originally supposed to be a full evening, but now that I have them, I really think it would be spectacular and wonderful.”

PREPARATION

For the New York season, Gold and his dancers began rehearsals Jan. 2. The performers include Daniel Applebaum, Thomas Garrett, Zachary Guthier, Morgan McEwen, Courtney Nitting, Allynne Noelle, Meaghan Dutton-O’Hara, Kristen Segin, Mary Elizabeth Sell, James Shee, Evan Swenson and pianist Xak Bjerken.

“It’s been a very productive year,” Gold said. “We had a European tour back in November, and I kind of explained the whole trajectory of what we’re going to do this year and the pieces. So they had an idea, and then we went into the studio Jan. 2 and started building the works.”

When Gold choreographs, his work revolves around the dancers in the rehearsal studio with him. He tries to use the same dancers for pieces because they develop a solid rapport with each other. That means, when selecting performers, Gold stays conscious of individuality and style.

“When I do go into the studio, I do try to make things that will make them look good because ultimately if they’re not comfortable, the piece is not going to look good, and they’re the ones on the stage,” he said. “I want them and the audience to have the best experience possible, so if something’s not right for them, the audience is going to sense that. And then I don’t think the piece will be successful.”

GOLDEN HISTORY

Gold was a 21-year member of New York City Ballet from 1987 to 2008 and rose to the status of soloist. He actually has been choreographing since a young age. In fact, he created his first dance pieces at the age of 13.

“I went to a performing arts high school, and choreography classes were offered, which was great for me because it was something that I was very passionate about,” he said. “It’s something I love, and I love creating and moving the dancers around in space. So I started choreographing, and then as I was getting close to ending my tenure at City Ballet, I thought, you know, every company in the United States and abroad has a resident choreographer. And for me to try to hock my goods to all these places is a lot of work. Why don’t I just start my own company where I can do my own work and build my vision and what I believe in ballet and my taste and my ideals to show the city and the world, so that’s kind of where the company came from because I just wanted a place where I could experiment and try out my own works and ideas and work with the dancers that I wanted to work with, that I loved and believed in.”

Tom Gold Dance has been going strong since 2008 when Gold’s tenure with New York City Ballet came to an end. The company has appeared in France, Spain, Italy, Bermuda, Israel, Cuba and Bulgaria.

“There’s always new ideas,” he said. “There’s new vision. There’s new music, so I’m always trying to challenge myself and to go in a different direction to see what’s possible, and usually the toughest situation is the one I think is the most productive. … I don’t know that I’ll ever be finished. Ideally I’d love to have my own space that we can plant roots down and not have to rent space all the time and kind of just be a gypsy floating around. More money is always great, and a steady roster of dancers that I can employ 52 weeks a year so that we really have this solidified group as opposed to relying on people’s different schedules to come together.”

These are the goals for Tom Gold Dance, but Gold himself is also cognizant of the fact that he’s living an artistic dream that has achieved many goals already. Of course, it only came after years of hard, sometimes grueling work. After all, he has been an artist in New York for almost three decades.

“A lot of people say, oh, God, it must be so hard to keep a company in New York and survive, but you know we have a great audience,” he said. “We have a great following, and so I just feel like New York is the place where my company thrives. And also it inspires the city. I find new ideas everywhere. I see dancers all the time. For me, I think if I moved somewhere else, I wouldn’t have that same kind of relationship with the place or the environment, and I think most companies starting nowadays are very modern, contemporary focused and trying to break the barriers. I’m still pretty much based in the classical vocabulary and vernacular, so that kind of sets us apart because I do really believe in progressing the dance through the classical movement because that’s my love and passion. I love steps. I love pointe work. I love partnering. I think it is a little bit different than what most smaller companies are doing now.”

He added: “We all believe in the mission — more performances, more work, better salaries, have a better residence in the city — so that’s kind of our goal now is to establish this foundation where we will have a building and offices. And we will have more touring and more performances not just in the city but worldwide because the more performances we have, the more exposure we get, and the more people see the work and I think enjoy it. My main goal with the company is to show people not to be scared of classical ballet.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Tom Gold Dance will present its New York season March 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.