[NEohioPAL] Berko review: GROUNDWORKS and VERB BALLETS in performance

[Roy Berko]

Area’s premiere dance companies perform same dates,
next to each other

Roy Berko

(Member, Dance Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

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

COOLCLEVELAND.COM

For a period of time our area’s dance aficionados felt
lost when The Cleveland-San Jose Ballet ditched us for
the west coast.  C-SJB’s place was taken by some small
companies, several of whom have matured to the point
of gaining recognition by local and national dance
critics for excellence.  

Interestingly, the two premiere companies, Verb
Ballets and Groundworks, performed this past weekend
on Playhouse Square, each to near sold out audiences. 
Groundworks performed in the Idea Center, Verb in the
Ohio.  Both gave their followers, many of whom saw
Groundworks on Friday and then Verb on Saturday, fine
evenings of entertainment.

GROUNDWORKS (seen 1/25)

The Idea Center at Playhouse Square is a perfect venue
for David Shimotakahra’s up-close and personal
philosophy of dance.  

The program opened with yet another staging of
‘ALWAYS’ as choreographed by Gina Gibney.  The piece
has became a staple in Groundworks performances.  Well
danced by Amy Miller, Sarah Perrett, Mark Otloski and
Damien Highfield, it uses the music of Patsy Cline to
create a country music meets contemporary dance
mélange.  Clever transitions between dance segments,
interesting lifts, creative hand movements, creative
carries and touches led to a pleasant program opener.

‘KNOW,’ choreographed by Shimotakahara, was performed
to the music of Leonard Bernstein played live by the
talented Solaris Woodwind Quintet.   Originally
conceived for two men—Michael Medcalf and
Shimotakahara, it has recently been danced by Amy
Miller and Felise Bagley.  Though different when
performed by two women than by two men, the visual
effect is very positive.  Strong and powerful Miller
is balanced nicely by the cool and delicate Bagley. 
The two create a mood in which music and movements
blend together to create a very appealing
action-reaction cohesive piece of dance.

A musical interlude, “The Golden Cannon,” performed by
the Solaris Woodwind Quintet,  was met with very
appreciative reaction by the audience.

‘DELAYED,’ a world premiere, was choreographed by
Israeli choreographer, Zvi Gotheiner, who has been in
residence and was present at the performance.  The
piece, which was too long, was performed to the
abstract atonal music of Terry Ripley.  The sound,
after a while, becomes unnerving.  The bodily
movements interpreted well Gotheiner’s concept of
established and lost connections, opportunities not
fulfilled and interactions never resolved.  The
company danced effectively, but the music and the
choreography did not always grab and hold attention. 
The audience’s response was polite applause.

Groundworks will next appear at Cleveland Public
theatre on March 27, 28 and 29 at 8 PM and March 30 at
3 PM for tickets and information call 216-631-2727 or
go to: www.notsoobvious.com


VERB BALLETS (seen 1/26)

Verb opened its program with Heinz Poll’s sensual,
precise, mesmerizing ‘BOLERO,’ danced to the music of
Ravel.  The choreography, which was restaged by Amy
Miller, ironically of Groundworks, ended with the
audience screaming appreciation.  Strong dancing by
Catherine Meredith was supported by an inspired corps.

‘DUET,’ another Poll piece, was beautifully danced by
the lovely Danielle Brickman and Brian Murphy, who
seems to have emerged from the shadow of the now
departed Mark Tomasic, to become the powerhouse
performer among local male dancers.  The duo’s
partnering was point perfect.  Their control and flow,
as they moved to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach’s
“Adagio for Organ,’” which was played with artistic
perfection by David Fisher at the piano and cellist
Greg Fiocca, was wonderful to watch.

‘SONGS,’ originally created by the company’s artistic
director Hernando Cortez in 2007, has been reworked. 
The German vocalization of Gustav Mahler’s heavy
Symphony just doesn’t help the audience understand the
tone-poem’s message. Though well performed, the piece
became ponderous after a while.  Highlights included
solo performances by Robert Wesner, Brian Murphy and
Sydney Ignacio.

The final piece of the evening, ‘FRONTROW,’ was in its
world premiere.  Also choreographed by Cortez, it was
a compelling visual creation.  Trad Burns’ iridescent
Mylar columns and creative lighting made the stage
shimmer.  Brittney and Gina Dudek’s brief Mylar
costumes added to the visual excitement.  The well
conceived and danced piece left both the audience and
the dancers happily exhausted.  This is a fine
addition to the Verb repertoire.

Verb can next be seen at “Nature Moves 4” at the
Museum of Natural History on April 5.  For tickets and
information call 216-781-4300 or go to:
www.verballets.org




Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs