Caravan

When the high-spirited Caravan premiered in 1976, Judith Jamison led the cast of 19 through Louis Falco's freewheeling choreography. Amidst a spectacular array of richly textured moving panels, scrims, and curtains, the dancers exploded across the stage in animated bursts of vivacious dancing and frivolity.

According to Masazumi Chaya, the Company’s former associate artistic director, the joyful, spirited mood is the essence of Caravan. "There are not a lot of difficult steps in it—there's no trick in it—so you have to be genuine and show how much fun it is to dance," he said.

That's not to say that restaging such an ambitious and important work in 2001 was not without its challenges. "The most difficult thing in restaging Caravan is that Louis Falco had a really specific style," Chaya explained. “Our Company dancers now are so talented; they can do anything. But at the same time, we really have to show what the original style was supposed to be. When Louis choreographed this ballet, it was unique. At that time, the predominant style was more individual dancing. Caravan involves a great deal of contact among the dancers—one putting his weight on another, one moving back and taking the weight… The dancers had to get used to this style and the type of interaction between them that it requires. It's a different way of moving, but at the same time it's so much fun. It's really dancing together—it's not just dancing on the same stage.”  

Chaya recalls the original production of Caravan fondly. Asked what he remembers of his experience in the cast, he said, "I had a great time, but I didn't know the audience was going to react like they did. I mean screaming! I didn't expect that to happen. At the first performance, the curtain came down and I heard this unbelievable applause and then yelling and screaming from the audience. That was quite a surprise!"