[NEohioPAL]Berko review: 'NATURE MOVES" (Verb Ballets)

[Roy Berko]

VERB BALLETS AND NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN PERFECT
SYNC

Roy Berko

(Member, Dance Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--


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


How important is it for a performing art company to
have a dynamic and creative artistic director and
executive director.  One only has to look as far as
Cleveland’s Verb Ballets to find out.  It’s only taken
a couple of years for Executive Director Dr. Margaret
Carlson and Artistic Director Hernando Cortez to
transform the little recognized  Repertory Project
into an audience-centered, community-responsive,
dynamic entity.

The excitement the company generates was again
demonstrated at ‘NATURE MOVES!’ a program presented in
collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Natural
History  in the museum’s attractive Murch Auditorium. 
This is a follow-up to the company’s sold out
Playhouse Square performance earlier this year, and
Cleveland Public Theatre’s capacity presentations.

It was exciting to see that the audience of over 300 
who attended the opening night of ‘NATURE MOVES!’ was
composed of multi-age and multi-ethnic groups.  In
contrast to many of the arts companies who are hurting
for audiences since their base is made up of mature
arts patrons who, unfortunately are dying off and not
being replaced, Verb has been able to attract young
people through creative advertising, partnering and
thoughtful programming. 

The segments of the program were chosen to fit the
museum setting.  “The Man and the Echo,” choreographed
by Cortez to the beautiful “Holdberg Suite” by Edvard
Grieg is a contemporary lyric ballet inspired by the
words of William Butler Yeats.  His poem explains how
humans need their intellect and sight to grow before
they “sink at last into the night.”  Clothed in
flowing costumes created by Edward Sylvia, the company
danced in shadows created by the effective lighting
design of Trad Burn.  The company, many of them
dancing barefoot, flowed through the piece with
precise discipline.  The highlight was Mark Tomasic’s
leaping free fall into the arms of the other dancers,
as he floated as an “Echo:  into the night.”

“Jia Gu Sui Xiang:  Inscriptions on Oracle Bones from
the Shang Dynasty,” which featured a solo performance
by Huang Dou Dou, was self-choreographed.  Danced to
music played by Tibetan monks on ancient temple bronze
bells from 500 BC, the piece can best be summarized by
the phrase “Oh, my God!,” uttered by a woman sitting
behind me as Dou Dou performed a series of movements 
which extended the body beyond its normal limits.  
Barechested, and adorned with a tall slender feathered
head dress, the dancer totally mesmerized the audience
which rose to its feet enmasse and screamed their
appreciation at the end of the number.   This was a
virtuoso performance!

The Feathered Dinosaur exhibit is presently on display
at the museum.  As you enter the gallery a large
animated version of an ostrich confronts you.  It was
appropriate, therefore, that the programming include
some reference to that exhibit.  Cortez picked the
gem, “Awassa Astrige/Ostrich.”  The short but
effective piece showcased solo dancer G. D. Harris,
whose feathered costume, and ostrich-like moves gave a
clear image of the elegance of what many consider to
be a strange bird best known for putting his head in
the sand when danger approaches.

Every company needs its “special” piece, one that
elicits an immediate reaction from the audience.  Verb
has theirs.  It’s entitled “The Envelope.”  As
described in the program notes, this is “A farcical
and hysterical romp where the dancers are pitted
against a renegade piece of stationery.” Dressed in
dark glasses and black, body covering loose fitting
costumes, the selection centers on passing an envelope
from dancer to dancer as the company hops, tickles
each other, jumps, grabs, twists, shimmies and does
incredible body bends.  Originally choreographed by
David Parsons, Verb has made it its own through a
restaging by Katarzyna Skarpetowska.    It was a
perfect piece to balance the more serious nature of
the rest of the program.

“Nero’s Fiddle,” in its world premiere, was
choreographed by Hernando Cortez to “Speed,” the music
of Matthew Hindson.  It featured Huang Dou Dou.  The
dancer had requested that he be given the chance to do
a contemporary western piece rather than his usual
Chinese routines.  Though the dancer was wonderful,
the piece did not have the depth needed to show off
his extraordinary talents.  Since he is often called
the young Mikhail Barishnikov, it would have been
exciting to see him totally let loose with the turns
and monumental leaps that he is so well known for.  

The program concluded with the Cortez-choreographed
“Planet Soup.”  This is a dancer and audience
exhausting experience which incorporates African
ritual, Filipino folk and Irish reel dancing, Wayang
Golek puppets from Indonesia, Indian traditional
movements and pole jumping.  The cross-cultural
fusion, with contemporary dance dynamics, is high
energy.  The dancers, clothed at first in sarongs and
then in loin cloths, showed great understanding of the
need to vary their dance styles and body movements to
fit the music and the choreography.  Highlights
included a strong gymnastics segment danced by Bobby
Wesner, Glynn Owens and Jason Ignacio.  Ignacio
ignited the audience with his blindfolded pole dance. 
The piece ended with an emotionally charged segment in
which the dancers, using large white square pieces of
cloth, performed what might be called the Chinese
ribbon dance meets marching band flag twirling.   

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:   Verb Ballets did it again  with
its wonderful performances in ‘NATURE MOVES.’   It is
so exciting to be able to look forward to every
performance of this wonderful group.  If you missed
their Natural History Museum program they will be
performing next at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights on
July 27.  Other dance groups on the Cain Park schedule
include the wonderful Groundworks Dancetheatre on July
1, 2 and 3; Dancing Wheels on July 20; the hip-hop
dancing of Illstyle and Peace Productions on July 22; 
Inlet Dance theatre on July 29; and Karen Gabay and
Raymond Rodriquez’s Point of Departure on August 4.  

For information about Verb Ballets and its future
performances call 216-397-3757 or go on line to
www.verbballets.org.  For Cain Park tickets and
information call 216-371 3000.




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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