American Ballet Theatre, Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA
Program 1: Black Tuesday, Gong, Jabula
September 19, 2001

One of America's finest ballet companies performed the second half of its West Coast engagements bringing pieces by two idiosyncratically American choreographers and an unusual and promising piece from Natalie Weir. It was a somewhat uneven program in which the pyrotechnics of the great classical ballets were oddly absent. Perhaps Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie strove to show his troupe's dramatic range instead, leaving the showcasing to the Giselles, which comprise the second half of the run.

The company dedicated its West Coast performances to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11. It might, then, have seemed somewhat appropriate, in light of the catastrophe and the subsequent economic roller-coaster ride, that they opened with Paul Taylor's darkly ironic take on songs from the Great Depression era. Black Tuesday ultimately disappoints however. It has none of the sad elegance of Jiri Kylian's brilliant Moonshine, in which four lonely, down-on-their-luck characters wander through a bleak American landscape, or the biting, sardonic romanticism of Pennies From Heaven, Dennis Potter's 1981 film which pits the dreamy world of relentlessly upbeat musicals against the bleak reality of life in Chicago in the 1930's.

In Black Tuesday, fourteen dancers, clad in tattered and filthy clothes slink through steps recalling the Charleston, musical theatre and vaudeville in front of beautiful sets created by Santo Loquasto. This writer did not live through the period Taylor seeks to evoke, but it has always been my understanding that even in the Depression shabbiness was acceptable, but downright filthy faces and clothes were not. One would hope that even in financially strapped circumstances these people would have enough self-respect to wash up and put on a pair of pants. There is, of course, an immediate contrast between the frothiness of songs such as "Underneath the Arches" and the decrepit state of these characters, but what is Taylor trying to say? Is this melodrama, social commentary, or just a slice of life?

In the end, Taylor's choreography falls into a literalism that robs the dancers of any chance to create truly memorable characters or underscore the irony of their situation. When Michele Wiles dances to "Sittin' on a Rubbish Can" she mimes (what else?) sitting on a rubbish can. The dancers, are obviously well trained and execute the steps cleanly, but they were barely given any dancing to show, and no real direction to take the work in dramatically.

Mark Morris's Gong , set to Tabuh-Tabuhan by Colin McPhee, followed on this program. McPhee spent several years in Bali studying the music which inspired his 1936 work and in the liner notes of one recording, note is made of his attempt to set the more traditional gamelan elements of the score in contrast to the "western" orchestra. Perhaps with this in mind, Morris has chosen to juxtapose the classical ballet tutu with Indonesian motifs in the movement vocabulary.

Morris is an expert craftsman and assembles his choreography with a keen eye for musicality, for integrating ethnic dance styles to ballet and for evoking traditional Balinese imagery. Ten soloists and five corps members, in bright neo-classical costumes designed by Isaac Mizrahi, charge through some fiendishly complex steps with a studied, though occasionally not completely confident air. Perhaps this is why I found this work not particularly exciting as a whole. Morris was at his best in more innovative sections of Gong, such as the beautiful duets performed in silence, or the shadow-dance, in which a serene Julie Kent managed to reflect both the sculptural quality of the movement as well as the crisp precision of the gamelan.

Wednesday's program closed with Jabula, an exuberant piece choreographed by Natalie Weir to the music of Hans Zimmer's The Power of One. Though by no means perfect, Jabula (which means "joyful" ) more than showcased the virtuosity and heart of these dancers, giving us the excitement that had seemed to be lacking all evening. For a dramatic, though slightly distracting opening, the upstage traveller curtain parted in the center to reveal dancers like aliens against a stark white light in the midst of pitch blackness. It was a moment that recollected the ceremonial approach that Ronald K. Brown took in his magnificent work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Grace. There were many similarities between Grace and Jabula , not the least of which was their ability to inspire awe in the audience.

A fine cast included Sascha Radetsky and Eric Otto in a duet that demonstrated not only a well-honed timing, but also a good sense of fall and recover. Joaquin de Luz executed his virtuosic solo with a proper impetuosity. But ultimately, the piece belonged to Sandra Brown, whose strength of line and complete confidence took Jabula from being merely impressive, to being truly joyful. Her duet with a rock-solid Marcelo Gomes was focussed, effortless and dramatically mesmerizing, ably illustrating American Ballet Theatre's dictum that they produce not just good ballet but also good theatre.

Read a review of ABT's Giselle from the same run.

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This review initially appeared on Voiceofdance.com, September 21, 2001.

For questions or comments, please contact maryellenhunt@yahoo.com.