[NEohioPAL]Berko reviews & previews: EVERT DANCE & BALLET DE MONTREAL

[Roy Berko]

DANCE IN CLEVELAND ALIVE AND WELL; TOM & SUSANA EVERT;
LES BALLET DE MONTREAL; DANCE PREVIEW

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association & Dance
Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--


Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

When the Cleveland Browns football team fled the city,
there was an immediate outcry and efforts were made to
replace the squad.  The club was reconstituted, but
the level of success, at least to date, has been less
than stellar.  

When the Cleveland-San Jose ballet fled town, there
were minor ripples of displeasure, but no great
outcry.  Surprisingly, in contrast to the Browns
experience, the outcome has proven to be positive. 
With CSJB gone, the flood gates were open to smaller
companies springing forth and both Dance Cleveland and
Playhouse Square Foundation bringing in world class
ballet companies. 

On the local level Verb Ballet, recently played to a
sold-out house in its Playhouse Square debut.  It has
developed a large and loyal following as has
Groundworks Dance Theatre which also performed to sold
out houses in its recent Botanical Garden
performances.  Point of Departure, Safmod, Inlet
Dance, Antaeus Dance Company, Neos Dance Theatre, Ohio
Dance Theatre, and Ohio Ballet are all alive and well.

On the professional level, world class dance companies
continue to appear in Playhouse Square venues.  The
Kirov Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Miami Ballet,
Les Ballets De Monte Carlo, Paul Taylor Dancers and
Momix Dance Theatre have all made successful visits to
the city.  There have also been some less than
successful performances such as the Pennsylvania
Ballet’s walking through ‘THE NUTCRACKER’.  Here is
one case where we miss CSJB’s magical production of
that show.  But, as a whole, the world of dance is
alive and well in Cleveland.

Two recent performances warmed up the winter blues for
area danceophiles:  Tom and Susana Evert Dance Theatre
performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
(MOCA) to a standing room audience, and Les Ballet de
Montreal played to a sizeable audience at the Ohio
theatre.

LES BALLETS DE MONTREAL

If you like your dance in little doses, Part I of Les
Ballet de Montreal’s ‘THE STOLEN SHOW’ would have
thrilled you.   The segment consisted of 24 short
pieces,  each lasting from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. 
It was both an exhausting and exhilarating experience.
 The segments moved from solos to duets to the
fourteen members of the company all on stage at the
same time.  The movements covered free form, intricate
stretches, floor contortions, modern dance, gyrations,
lifts, interweaving of bodies, hip hop complete with
yelling and screaming, hopping,  skipping, prancing,
kick boxing, karate, weaving lines, traditional
ballet, twitching, running and movement in place. 
Need stories?  This wasn’t your thing.  Want to see
all sorts of dance in a creative and exhausting
display?  If so, you would have loved “Short Works: 
24.”

Part II, “The Stolen Show” was delightful.  That is,
if you could accept that a world class ballet company
was going to perform with a horde of plastic chickens
that were thrown around the stage and finally
performed as a kick line, and with two female dancers
who performed wearing three high-heeled shoes between
them.  Then there were the cadre of clowns.  In
actuality, this was more performance art than dance,
but who cares, it was fun.   

An intriguing segment of Part II was watching two
dancers simulate choreographing a segment of the
performance before our eyes.  They spoke to each other
in French and English, planned, corrected, reenforced
and then performed the whole piece.  It was both a
creative and pleasant way of introducing the audience
to the world of dance development.

LES BALLETS DE MONTREAL was another of the positive
dance experiences that have been presented in what
might be called a realignment of the area’s dance
scene.


TOM AND SUSANA EVERT

Since 1986, when Tom and Susana Evert founded their
dance company, they have been enveloping their
audiences with dance that fits their mission of
“enlightening and energizing the human spirit through
the creation and performance of original dance/theatre
works.”  What the Everts do is not done by others. 
Theirs is a personal approach to movement based on
their own backgrounds and physiques.

In their recent performance at the Museum of
Contemporary Art Cleveland, they held the audience’s
attention with six varied pieces.

“Bliss/The Conversation,” saw the beautiful Susana,
dressed in a filmy, flowing gown,  sprightfully move
to pleasant music in a state of bliss.  Then Tom
entered in a monk like robe and the dynamics changed. 
They interacted without touching, then touched,
parted, conflicted and combined as one.  The segment
was both athletic and powerful, if not sometimes
overly dramatic.

“Ego Act” was a solo piece in its Cleveland premiere. 
It was both choreographed and danced by Tom.  In the
center of the stage, holding two huge rubber band-like
pieces of material connected to the top and bottom of
the walls on both sides of the stage, he was the
fulcrum  of two huge triangles.  Moving creatively
against the strength of the bands he contorted his
body while stretching the material.  He interwove his
body while standing on, being surrounded by, and
finally being encompassed by the fabric. The entire
exhausting exercise was done to shrill
fingernails-on-the-blackboard music which increased
the tension of the experience.

‘Once More...Not” found Susana on the floor clothed in
combat boots, a flack helmet and fatigue pants.  After
several rounds of firing an imaginary rifle, to the
sounds of music by The Mars Volta and Squarepusher,
she took us through the throughs of death, the
stripping off of her clothing of war, and dancing in
an out of body experience with a strand of prayer
beads.  

“True Water” is a sensual composition in which Susana
writhes nearly naked on a mat in the center of the
dance space.   She does not rise during the entire
piece, using her torso, not her legs as her dance
medium.  Her beautiful body moved in time to the music
creating a sexual energy that, as the program
indicated, “is a discipline that should be mastered by
means of a fully responsible solitary exercise,
without the physical, emotional, mental and physical
factors that are introduced by entering into sexual
activity with another.”

“Olivido” (Oblivion) was a short duet creation which
conveyed an interaction between two ordinary hispanic
people.  It was the slightest of the offerings.

The evening ended with “Satsange” a dance set to the
music of Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar.  It was a
segment filled with harmony and joyfulness.  It
creatively developed the meaning of “satsang,”
Sanskrit for, “true or right relationship” and brought
a very interesting evening of dance to a purposeful
close. 

The evening may have been somewhat flawed by people
sitting in the rear of the performance space as
neither the seating nor the floor was raked, so those
seated beyond the second row had difficulty seeing the
on-the-floor actions.  In the future, MOCA might
consider using a portable raised platform similar to
the one used by Danceworks in their performances.


UPCOMING AREA DANCE PERFORMANCES


‘SWAN LAKE,’ American Ballet Theatre, March 10-13,
Playhouse Square Center’s State Theatre.  Tickets: 
216-241-6000 or 800-888-9941 or visit
www.playhousesquare.com.

‘ALICE IN WONDERLAND,’ Sunday, March 30, Ohio Dance
Theatre.  Stocker Arts Center, Lorain County Community
College, (Abbe Road) Elyria.  Call 800-995-5222 ext.
4040 or 440-366-4040.  Part of Ohio Dance Theatre’s
new Ballet for Children series.  Special 1 hour
ballets developed especially for the very young child,
ages 3 and up.

‘DANCE WORKS 05’--Cleveland Public Theatre salutes
their residence dance companies:  Groundworks (March
31-April 03); Verb Ballet (April 7-10); Inlet Dance
Theatre (April 14-17), and SAFMOD (April 21-24). 
Location:  6415 Detroit Road at W. 65th Street. 
Tickets:  216-631-2727.

‘PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY,’ May 14, Playhouse Square
Center’s State Theatre.  Tickets:  216-241-6000 or
800-888-9941 or visit www.playhousesquare.com.



Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


	
		
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