There are some - a few - choreographers active today who truly LISTEN to
music. To such established masters as Paul Taylor and James Kudelka, add
the former bad boy of dance, Mark Morris. There are, to be sure, others
in his age group who have the knack (just locally, among up-and-comers,
Val Caniparoli, Julia Adam and Yuri Possokhov come to mind), but Morris
is increasingly the one who sets the standard. In his hands, music is
transformed into three-dimensional, kinetic art with consistency, flair
and sheer joy.
In the same Berkeley run that brought back Morris' amazing version of
Rameau's "Platee," a group of his already known delightful and vital
works served as preparation for a special event on Sunday. It was the
introduction of a Morris masterpiece, which reveals Schumann's Pianto
Quintet in E-flat major in a manner that George Balanchine's work honored
Igor Stravinsky.
The world premiere of "V" is due in London next month, but Zellerbach Hall
served as the place for a preview performance, the first public viewing of
the work. After Sept. 11 and on the day the official "war" began, it took
a powerful master choreographer, the magnificent Mark Morris Dance Group
and five extraordinary instrumentalists to bring not just smiles and
pleasure, but optimism, joy and catharsis to a full house in a city as
deeply involved in world events as Berkeley.
Fourteen dancers, divided in two colorfully-dressed groups, brought the
music to life with fidelity, insight, imagination. Other choreographers
set the dance and then pick up some music at the corner Tower Records or,
worse, slavishly follow the music, a step per note. The latter wrong
approach came to mind in the second movement when Morris had the dancers
crawl to the halting, stammering, grief-stricken music, but the way he
carried through the idea from crouching to "standing up" and reaching high,
worked wondrously. He put his stamp on Schumann so that these images will
always accompany the music from now on for those who saw "V."
Morris' tools are simplicity, following the music's "text," providing
images both highly individual and yet universal, human and humane. In a
long, wonderful crescendo spanning the concluding Allegro, Morris' dancers
reached high and for each others, their embrace encircling the audience at
the end, even as the music permeated the hall warmly, forgivingly, in
triumph. This is the power of dance rooted in, illuminating and honoring
great music.
Morris and his dancers were supported by the musicians' luminously clear,
emotion-filled but unsentimental performance. Lisa Lee (who was about 15
when she first commanded attention at San Domenico School here) was the
first violinist, along with violinist Andrea Schultz, violist Jessica Troy,
cellist Wolfram Koessel, and pianist Ethan Iverson. Lee also played,
wonderfully well, in "Dancing Honeymoon" and the Dvorak bagatelles for
"The Office" (with Schultz and Koessel), Iverson participated in "Dancing
Honeymoon," played the harmonium in the bagatelles, and provided a
thoughtful, beautifully articulated solo accompaniment for "Silhouettes"
with Richard Cumming's ever-surprisingly simple and rich music.
"Dancing Honeymoon," one of Morris' most endearing and funny works, uses
British music-hall songs, and the singer - Eileen Clark - was just one of
the evening's wonderful discoveries.
Janos Gereben/SF
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