 |
| Butler, Quirk and Luksik, in Who Cares? ©SKepecs 2014 |
by Susan
Kepecs
I was dazzled by Madison Ballet’s Repertory II
concert at the Bartell last weekend (March 21-22). I attended the Saturday matinee. What a thrill, after this bitter winter (and too
many dull, formulaic performances by other companies) to see dance that was
magical and uplifting. The Repertory II program
delivered three substantive short ballets that set the company’s strong,
polished dancers free, within the neoclassical canon and the parameters of the
choreography, to let loose and dance for joy.
Artistic director W. Earle Smith’s airy La Luce
D’Amore, a pure ballet piece done to a set of Neopolitan folk tunes, premiered
in 2006. The updated version,
choreographed for the company Madison Ballet’s become, is much more sophisticated. Done slightly tongue-in-cheek in soft, peachy
tones and a painterly, late Romantic look, La Luce’s eight short sections – all small or large ensemble works, save one solo and one pas de deux
– evoked the ethos of George Balanchine, who often made ballets inspired by
traditional dances.
 |
| © SKepecs 2014 |
A mirage of simplicity made
these witty little lookback pieces seem repetitive, but in fact La Luce is diverse – sprinkled
among four flowy, circular waltzes are a sassy, crisp march, two tarantellas
and a pas de deux – and many-layered,
each dance building on the last, weaving new steps and patterns into the
picture.
The dancers in La Luce’s
six ensemble sections (six of Madison Ballet’s seven women, plus three of the
School of Madison Ballet’s highly advanced level six students) came through as
individuals while moving in utter harmony – the mark of a solidified,
Balanchine-based company. The pas de
deux to Caccini’s “Ave Maria,” by company veteran Rachelle Butler and newcomer
Richard Glover, gave this ballet a centerpiece; while the rest of the sections depend
on each other, this luxurious dance can stand on its own. Choreographed on and for Butler in 2008, it benefits
today from the maturity of her craft. She
flaunted epaulment, wrapped an attitude dangerously around Glover’s back, flung
herself with abandon into a dip – all with breathtakingly elongated phrasing.
“Funiculi, Funicula,” merging into the final
“Tarantella,” gave La Luce a high-energy, Broadway-esque finish. The full
corps marched out in two lines and kicked like chorus girls; when the music
switched to 6/8 time Butler and Glover reappeared, punctuation for a plotless
story. In the midst of a stage alive
with fleet-footed movement, he swept her into a final fish dive.
 |
| Quirk, in Who Cares? ©SKepecs 2014 |
It’s impossible not to fall in love with
Balanchine’s sexy, slinky 1970 Who Cares?, with its stunning neoclassical
vocabulary, its jazzy syncopations, its complex, rhythmic footwork, its sassy
humor. It’s easy to see why Smith wanted
this American masterwork, with its lush Gershwin score, in his company’s repertory;
its influence on his own choreography is incalculable. Some of his best contemporary works – notably “Night Dances,” with a jazzy score by local composer Taras Nahirniak (2004),
and “Expressions” (2011), to a set of standards performed live onstage by Jan
Wheaton’s trio, are odes to it. So it
comes as no surprise that the concert version of Who Cares? (pas de deux and
variations only, without the ensemble sections in the original), set by
Balanchine Trust repiteteur Michele Gifford on Madison Ballet’s Butler,
Marguerite Luksik and Shannon Quirk with former New York City Ballet principal
Charles Askegard, fit like a glove.
 |
| Askegard, in Who Cares? © SKepecs 2014 |
Images from this brilliantly
happy, Broadwayesque ballet were strong enough to sear themselves forever into my mind's eye. In “The Man I Love” pas –
so deliciously all that jazz -- Luksik channeled her inner Betty Boop, bending her knees, pushing her butt back and batting her eyes. Askegard reached for her; she pranced around
him, then lept onto his back. Locking
eyes with Butler in the title piece, Askegard took her hands and pulled her
into a half stag leap, back leg bent skyward at the knee – a singluarly
eye-catching move that segued into a slinky sequence of hip swivels and
tap-like footwork. In “Embracable You,”
Askgard twirled Quirk into a slow attitude turn that ended in a tender hug. In her “My One and Only” variation, Quirk flew
across space with her trademark long-limbed Italian pas de chats, eyes sparkling with
delight. In “Liza,” Askegard, loose and easy, spun and pirouetted, and circled
his forearm like a hipster twirling a keychain in a jitterbug break.
In the finale – “I’ve Got Rhythm” – they all
flew.
Smith, who’s applied the language and nuances of
neoclassical ballet to popular American dance forms from jazz to rock n’ roll (Dracula) and urban contemporary /
hip-hop (“Street,” which premiered in the company’s spring, 2013 repertory
concert Exposed), took on a new
oeuvre – the ‘60s – in Groovy, the grand finale for Madison Ballet’s current
season. Bare bones accoutrements adorned the exposed side walls – lava lamps,
peace symbols, drapey cloths, a butterfly – turning the stage into a hippie
crash pad. The women wore bright mod
mini dresses; the color-loaded lighting was trippy.
The piece wasn’t perfect.
The Four Tops’ Motown classic “I Can’t Help Myself” was on Smith’s hippie
playlist, but nobody danced on the backbeat, where the soul resides. And Smith sometimes used the song lyrics
literally, which didn’t always work. Butler,
in a solo to the metaphorical marijuana song “Green Grass,” revealed sharp,
comic wit that the audience adored – but people stoned on pot move like cats.
The silly, stumbling steps Smith choreographed to this tune seemed boozy
instead.
 |
| Stohlton, in Groovy ©SKepecs 2014 |
Mostly, though, Groovy
was – well, groovy. This was the company
having fun, showing off its chops, reveling in its own good vibrations. Everyone got a chance to sparkle. To the Byrds’ version of Dylan’s immortal “Mr.
Tambourine Man” Quirk danced alone, hair swinging, loose as a goose, one hand waving free. Courtney Stohlton cavorted
to “Turn Down Day,” leaping, prancing, flicking her feet, sailing attitute
turns. Luksik bounced joyfully through “Red Rubber Ball,” jumping and spinning,
arms and head unfettered. For the
finale, the full company, including the level six students, danced their hearts
out to Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels’ “Devil With a Blue Dress.”
I loved this music, and Groovy’s
generous spirit. I left the Bartell high
as a kite.
 |
| © SKepecs 2014 |
No comments:
Post a Comment