Be There or Be Doubleplus Ungood

A little bird told me that Freneticore will be presenting its newest work, George Orwell's 1984, at Helios on March 24 and 25 and April 1, 2, 8, and 9 at 8:00 pm.

Contemporary Baroque (Dominic Walsh Dance Theater), March 18, 2005, Miller Outdoor Theater

The nice thing about free performances is that you don't feel guilty seeing the same works over again. You also don't feel guilty if you have to leave early to pick your friend up at the airport. Last night I caught the first half of the encore performance of Contemporary Baroque (see post from January 8, 2005). It's so wonderful to see dances more than once - you catch so much more the second time, even if it's been two months since you first saw it. The movement vocabulary for Bacchus's Cup is almost entirely gestural. This fact struck me so strongly last night that I don't understand how I could have failed to mention it in my last post. The use of gesture inspired the movement throughout the piece in a very unifying fashion. With an exquisite arch of his back at the beginning of his solo, Dominic Walsh showed us how masterful his dancing can be. I found myself studying his torso to see how he used it to characterize his movement. Sadly, the lighting design for this piece was nowhere near as effective as it was at Zilkha Hall. I can't get excited about lighting that fails to illuminate all the dancers, at least not when that clearly isn't the choreographer's intent. And while I'm all for postmodern deconstructivism, someone needs to tell these choreographers that theaters have drops and wings for a reason! It would be nice to leave them there once in a while - don't always count on the backstage area to define your space for you. It can be an effective tool, but it's overused in this show. That said, this effect really made sense for Quartett Letters. Quartett Letters was restaged to some degree, with the dancers in white reading the text instead of an actor. This made the piece come together for me, as they now had a purpose besides apparent window dressing, and it integrated the text with the dancing. Either the shiny white pants were replaced with dull ones or the lighting was totally different; either way, I have to say I kind of missed the effect.

Rock, Roll, and Tutus (Houston Ballet), March 4, 2005, Wortham Center's Brown Theater

Get ready for the shortest.... review... ever!

Nosotros (Stanton Welch): Overall a lovely piece for 11(?) couples, but with a few weak points. Sara Webb's dancing made tears come to my eyes; she appeared in one of the moments in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini that makes you think "I know that tune!" and danced with all the joy and abandonment of true love. Beautiful flowy dresses on the women; I need a dress for a wedding in May, and one of these would be perfect! Rooster (Christopher Bruce) I never knew I liked the Rolling Stones so much until I heard this collection of songs, which seemed to stick close to the beginning of their career. This is a period piece and really evokes the feelings of the swinging 60's. Some great character dancing, especially from Erin Patak, Cleopatra Williams, Chavo Killingsworth, and Randy Herrera. Suite En Blanc (Serge Lifar) A new addition to Houston Ballet's repertory. Get rid of it.

Martha Graham Dance Company, February 25, 2005, Jones Hall

[3-19-05] I'm finally going to admit defeat on finishing this and just post what I have! If I had to pick one word to describe both Martha Graham and her style, it would be "powerful." If I had to pick one word that did NOT describe Martha Graham's work, it would be "fluffy." Friday's performance of the Martha Graham Dance Company showcased four powerful, unfluffy works from the first half of Martha Graham's career. The show opened with Diversion of Angels (1948), the lightest piece on the program. Set to music by Norman Dello Joio, this piece was danced by three couples plus 5 supporting dancers. The women's costumes were skirted in an unusual manner, with the material at the front of the skirt curling around the inner thighs as though following the edge of a leotard, allowing the full line of the leg to be seen from the front. Katherine Crockety was elegant as the woman in white, Virginee Mecene brought a playful spirit as the woman in red, and Yuko Suzuki was mischievous as the woman in yellow. These women all had male partners listed in the program, but I found it difficult to keep the partners distinct from the supporting dancers since they all wore the same beige costumes. The dance was as close to carefree as Graham dances get. One moment that struck me was when the woman in white started a movement from a pose by simply flexing her foot; that movement put by itself was enough to draw the eye downward, and it was beautiful in its simplicity. Next on the program was Errand into the Maze (1947). Alessandra Prosperi was strong and determined as she journeyed "into the maze of the heart's darkness in order to face and do battle with the Creature of Fear." This is a difficult piece to get into, as the music is somewhat abstract, but it's worth the journey. Kudos to Christoff Jeannot (the Creature of Fear) for not only dancing well with his arms held up by a staff, but lifting Ms. Prosperi without making me fear for the integrity of his bones. Embattled Garden (1958) is a piece for two men and two women set in the Garden of Eden. The roles are Adam, Eve, Adam's legendary "first wife" Lilith, and The Stranger. The set, which consists of a tree-like structure and a low platform with a smattering of long, flexible stakes, reminded me of the works of Joan Miro, and the costumes had a similar Spanish flavor. There was some amazing partnering work in this piece; at one point my head actually went sideways watching one of the women do an assisted hinge. The final piece on the program was Sketches from CHRONICLE.