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back to Flash Reviews Flash Review, 3-4: The
Old Master By Tom Patrick Last night, I shared again a night in a dance season that many regard as a veritable rite of Spring: a performance of the Paul Taylor Dance Company at City Center. Only last night, it was from a different side. You see, for the past ten years I was a dancer in the PTDC, and now I am not. I hoped my objectivity would withstand the tugs on my heartstrings that would inevitably come during this series of performances, and I would like to think it's done so.... Leading off tonight was "Aureole," a balm to my heart in its simplicity.... Its musical tuggings to-and-fro, that perpetual surprise of up- and downbeat, the joy in it. It quickly became a favorite of mine years ago, and remains as a crystalline example of what I find appealing in the art and craft in Paul Taylor's dances. The lovely Handel themes (excerpts from Concerti Grossi in C and F, and from "Jeptha") bounce and swirl, providing a secure armature from which is hung the sheerest of fabrics. "Aureole" is, in a fashion, terrain of high-wires, which the cast of five must navigate with grace, speed, and assurance. Using a simple and appealing movement vocabulary, endless variations ensue which many times produce subtle and powerful rhythmic differences. It's a "white" dance, set in a brightly-lit blue-skyed horizon somewhere--is it a sketch of Olympus?-- and its people border on the god-like. Of course, there are challenges galore, for the architecture of the dance demands a naked, unaffected lyricism and absolute musical clarity. I feel "Aureole" is so watchable because its simplicity satisfies.·There is room enough there for one to enjoy the music and the dance and the people involved. For the most part these elements were intact last night. I had the eerie feeling, though, that things were a little TOO Apollonian sometimes. Though very polished, I got a whiff of preciousness once in awhile, reminding me of the temptation to balleticize "Aureole" (it certainly has been widely acquired by ballet companies since premiering in 1962.) That's the tight-wire part: dancing cleanly and strongly without awareness of the steps. The simplicity of the structure stays clear then, but fussiness or over-delicacy can dilute the message. I particularly enjoyed the third section, with it's very high tight-wire solo episodes for Lisa Viola and Richard Chen See. Compositionally they are wonderfully minimal, and were quite nicely done last night indeed. After a bit of a pause, the stage was set for "Big Bertha," also a classic, from 1970. I was relishing a viewing of this creepy dance, lorded over by the plus-voluptuous Kristi Egtvedt in the title role, a demonic carnival dame right out of Tom Swift's late-night sketchbook of "interactive machines"(heh heh heh) Her prey in this installment are the little nuclear family of Mr., Mrs., and Miss B (Orion Duckstein, Heather Berest, and Annmaria Mazzini, respectively.) Ms. Egtvedt's wicked opening prologue bodes ill for the B family, who are quickly seduced by her merry band-machine tunes bought for a small--or is it?--price. Again we see seemingly simple sequences for these three dancing mortals, but a closer look reveals a tricky little family dance tossed off as casually as a gum wrapper. Bertha calls the tune always, and before long her spell penetrates this sunny daydream of familial bliss, casting a shadow over each of them in turn and exposing much more of their underlying psyches. "Big Bertha" wins over a lot of people, who (like me) enjoy its wicked humor swinging all the way from saccharin to sicko, but also can alienate those who easily forget the grotesque momentary prologue and buy into the nice family we've met. All have their dirty little seeds of evil, and in true Taylorian fashion these are fleshed-out(oh, how true!) in due time. The thing really hinges a lot on the acting and timing of the cast, which in this debut outing was terrific. Ms. Berest began as a perfect Olive Oyl mom, a little klutzy (only by design) and oozing that perfect-Mom-ness...we think. Mr. Duckstein continues his ascent with his portrayal of Mr.B, a fun dad who's wound just a little too tightly underneath for any one weekend outing to diffuse. Ms. Mazzini is, quite simply, a dynamo, very right in this role. The whole thing starts spiraling downward, the Achilles-heels are everywhere, and I won't go any further towards giving it away. See it while you can, as it's not in the repertoire too often or too long.... Intermission. Has anyone mentioned the nice renovations and restorations to City Center? It is a very pretty theater, unusually styled, and even nicer these days... Next we had "Syzygy," a cyclone of energetic responses to the individual gravitational fields between all of us. Its rules are simple: avoid symmetry, avoid poses, move from the gut. The dance is very definitely choreographed, but in much more general terms than PT's other works. The structure veers from off-kilter lurches along the vaguest of trajectories, then coalesces into uncanny unison the way a group of fish or birds will find a common direction. It is not, however, the lockstep kind of unison, where everyone loses something for the good of the pretty picture. This is "unison as an idea" (credit to Cochran for the term), more as in nature, the way a waterfall looks: not lined-up drops but SURGES. It's a powerful idea, not enough trusted these days, in my humble opinion. A driving score by Donald York (a Taylor collaborator on several diverse works in the past) puts all the tensions and releases in the right places, as bodies careen and collide. It is an exhausting piece, but exhilarating too, in giving one's organism a good thorough shaking out. I know this having performed it many times, but as an observer too, I am always seized by a very strong sympathy in my own torso as I see it. The rawness of the movements, when they're so done, gives off a real vibe that takes me along for the ride, and I am left in awe again at the evocative power of this whole dancing business. Mostly this performance of "Syzygy" was pretty evocative, but personally I'd rather see it as a closer, when the dancers would be freer to give their all. Ms. Viola reigned as the lone figure, mostly apart, then finding a quiet space in the chaos for a blistering-quick solo, ending with an offhand little flick of her wrist, a period on the end of a very big statement. The facile Michael Trusnovic loped on sideways with his boys, and then erupted into frenzied solo, scorching the marley floor. I also enjoyed a flickering duet for Silvia Nevjinsky and Maureen Mansfield, two swirling beauties striking sparks from one another before yielding to the sweeps of other heavenly bodies. Andrew Asnes, Mr. Chen See, and Francie Huber have a tense trio, of canonic explosions. Really, I think it's a marvelous dance, the way scenes form and deteriorate, the way everyone dances in it as a soloist and ensemble member. Everyone has fine moments in it, and their reveling in the rawness gives "Syzygy" a gut-level appeal. On the down side: I'd recommend some new costumes; this lot looks pretty beat from the re-entry to our atmosphere.... Closing the program was "Company B." I might assume that a fairly large number of us have seen this work, popular as it's been all of its ten years. From the start, the Houston Ballet's premiere performances of this chestful of Andrews Sisters songs has garnered raves, and it's performed pretty widely by PTDC, Taylor 2 (the chamber-sized version,) and licensed companies far and wide. The piece's conceit is to play up the irony of cheery WWII-era America's music and the personal effects of war in terms of loss, camaraderie, and separation. A familiar motif, this, a dark underside, but I think that the positivism overwhelms that nugget of sadness in most of the work. Aside from pangs during "There Will Never Be Another You" (soulfully danced by Ted Thomas and Ms. Huber), it all seems so smiley. So nice, that I started watching all the wrong things. It seemed from time to time, that the commentary had been discarded and we were just left with the fluff and our expectations. Some cast changes to note: Ms. Mazzini and Mr. Chen See engagingly led the "Pennsylvania Polka"...Ms Nevjinsky has brought a piquant mixture of beguiling and contempt for her soldier-boys, served with "Rum and Coca Cola" and a smile. Andy LeBeau steps into my old shoes in the case of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," which feels like a four-minute race with the Andrews Sisters--only they're in a car, and he's on foot. It's a punishing trip, which Mr. Lebeau takes on heartily with his suppleness and huge charm. That said, however, I got that whiff of preciousness a few times in the piece as-a-whole. "Steps" seemed over-polished to dullness, and instead of its layered message last night's "Company B" only left a pretty, energetic, and safe closer. All told, I really recommend this program, for some ingenious choreography and some great dancing. Enjoy! Note: you can find the performance schedule for the remainder of the Paul Taylor Company's City Center engagement here. |
