[NEohioPAL] Berko review: VERBS BALLET (Fusion Fest)

[Roy Berko]

VERB makes
quick recovery….they are back on top of their game!
 
Roy Berko
 
(Member,
Dance Critics Association)
 
--THE TIMES
NEWSPAPERS--
 
Lorain
County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times  
 
COOLCLEVELAND.COM
 
Last April my headline for Verb Ballet’s dance concert read,
“‘VERB good, but needs to step up their game.”  I went on to say that “I
consider Verb Ballets to be one of the best dance companies in the area.  I have watched in pleasant joy as the
company matured.  Unfortunately, in
the last year, I’ve seen what I consider a stagnation setting in.  They haven’t upped their game.”
 
Little
did I know that Dr. Margaret Carlson, the company’s Chief Executive Officer and
the Board were looking for a solution to situation which one Board member called, “stopping the careening train by pulling the
emergency cord.”  In contrast to
such organizations as the Ohio Ballet and Cleveland Ballet, which went belly up
because of poor management, this group was on top of the issue and took
swift action.  From the looks of
the company’s recent showing at Fusion Fest, they identified the problem and
provided a solution.  They replaced
the artistic director, have gone out to find new male corps members, and
changed the course of the company.  Congrats to all who brought about this transition.
 
Their
Fusion Fest program consisted of two acts.  The first, a mélange of short pieces, included ‘VESPERS,’ a
company staple, which examines the passion and the spirituality of women with
faith.  The piece, as choreographed
by Ulysses Dove, has been restaged by Dawn Carter.  It is one of the offerings that I panned last year for
lacking discipline.  The precision
of this year’s version attests to the change of attitude and the improved focus
of the company. The crisp and swift movements as six female dancers moved
between two sets of chairs, sitting on, moving under, jumping astride and
flowing around the seating devices, was intense and impressive.
 
‘ONE,’
as choreographed by one of the company’s newest additions, Michael Medcalf, the
former artistic director of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre,  was outstanding.  Medcalf and Brian Murphy, one of the
area’s top male dancers,  displayed
strong muscularity in developing a contemporary ballet vision,  to Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for
Strings.” The dancers flowed as they moved together and apart to create
beautiful stage pictures.   
 
‘THE
NATURE OF THINGS:  BROWNIAN
MOVEMENT,’ was also choreographed by Medcalf to music by J. Swinscoe and J.
Ellis.  Starting slow, the dancing
evolved into a joyous free dance echoing the musical sound.  The costumes, women in softly flowing
white and aqua material, and the men, bare-chested in white leotards, helped
create  appealing visual allusions,
which were highlighted by Trad Burns’ lighting.  The choreography clearly reflected botanist Robert Brown’s
theory of the random movement of tiny particles mingling in a multitude of
ways.  The dancers’ facial
expressions displayed a joy of freedom of movement and positive attitude.
 
The
evening’s highlight was an original piece conceived by Dianne McIntyre.  ‘IN THE GROOVE AND OVER THE TOP,’ is a
conversation of music and dance.  It combines the fine jazz offerings of a trio consisting of piano, bass
and drums (Drene Ivy,  Glenn Holmes
and Robert Hubbard, Jr.), with vocal offerings (Mariama Whyte) and dancers
(Michael Medcalf, Erin Conway Lewis, Catherine Meredith Lambert,  Antwon Duncan, and Telly Fowler) to
create what appeared to be an improvisational blending of sound and movement.  In reality, the improvisation was finely
developed and rehearsed.  The
results were involving and sensational.  The number consisted of a series of different blendings.  First just jazz music, then music and
full company dance, then singing and dancing, then drum and dance, piano and
dance,  vocal scatting and dance,
music alone, then a capella dance, and finally the blending of all
elements.  Wow!
 
Capsule
judgement:  Verb Ballet is back to
its former level of excellence in a big way!  Congrats to Margaret Carlson and the company’s visionary
board who made changes when changes were needed!
 
The company’s
next performance features the revival of Heinz Poll’s Elegiac Songs and new
works by Gary Pierce and Ginger Thatcher at Cain Park, August 6.  For tickets call 216-371-3000 or go to
www.cainpark.com.
 Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2009, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info

His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)