Superb Aspen Santa Fe Ballet excites audience at E. J. Thomas Hall

Dance Cleveland opened its 59th season in spectacular style with a performance of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet at E. J. Thomas Hall, on the University of Akron Campus.  The company, which was founded in 1996, has two official schools, one in Aspen, one in Santa Fe, and a year-round Mexican outreach program.

The huge audience, which filled the orchestra section of the auditorium, was enthralled by the eleven person company’s creativity and discipline.  They lived up to their advanced billing for adventurous dancing.  The style has been credited with “epitomizing the contemporary-classic genre.”

The program opened with “Over Glow,” choreographed by Jorma Elo, and performed to music by Felix Mendelssohn and Ludwig van Beethoven.  The composition was danced with precision, with three male clones and three females who could have been triplets in physical style and appearance.  The dynamic music was perfectly paralleled in mood and temperament by Elo’s dance designs. 

Combining classical ballet moves with modern movements, the body shifts, freezes, lifts, running, slides, spins, and jumps were a master class in combining the two styles.  The finely gym toned bodies of the dancers created enthralling visual and emotional pictures.

If “Over Glow” had been the sole offering on the program, the audience would have been satisfied, but it was only the appetizer.

“Return to a Strange Land,” set to four emotional pieces by Czech composer Leoš Janáček, and choreographed by Jiří Kylián, Czech contemporary dance choreographer, explored the limitations and capabilities of space, body parts, entrances, exits, and contrasts, with some humorous overtones.  The distinctive movements, which incorporated dancers running and sliding across the floor, combined classical ballet and modern dance.  With overtones of sadness and longing, the overarching feeling was that of hope.  

“Square None” was choreographed by Norbert De La Cruz III, a young Filipino-American.  Still in his twenties, the Julliard School graduate is noted for his creation of inventive and haunting characters.  Accented by creative lighting, the dancers thrust their limbs in and out of the squares of lights, parts of their bodies often seeming to disappear.  Constantly changing from intertwining patterns, to unison solo dancing, the performers seemed to be playing a game in which the musical notes set the pattern and tone for point and counter-point movements.   The overall effect was an audience-pleasing experience.

Capsule judgement:  Pam Young, executive director of Dance Cleveland has done it again.  Young has the ability to find dance companies that entertain and delight audiences.  Her selection of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet futher confirms her grasp of the national and international dance scene and makes sure that Cleveland area audiences experience the best.

Next presentation by Dance Cleveland is the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, presented through the sponsorship of the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection, a program of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, on Saturday, November 8 @ 8 PM and Sunday, November 9 @3 PM at the Ohio Theatre.

Dance (Verb), Dance (Groundworks), Dance (Aspen Santa Fe Ballet)

DANCE (Verbs), DANCE (Groundworks), DANCE (Aspen Santa Fe Ballet)

There’s been a lot of dancing going on in Cleveland, with a lot more to come.

VERB BALLETS’ ‘HOMEGROWN” leads to audience enjoyment

Verb Ballets, performing before a Sunday afternoon family audience at the new Breen Center, on the campus of St. Ignatius High School, went back into their repertoire and pulled out some of their most audience friendly pieces. No premiers here, just tried and true pleasers.

The well selected program included an opening mini-lecture by Dr. Margaret Carlson, the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Officer, who gave a capsule summary of each piece. It was an excellent device for this audience, who, it appears, were mostly dance neophytes.

‘LADY BE GOOD,’ a ballroom theatre piece, was a reminder of the new rage of dance shows on TV. The jazz and scat music of George Gershwin was well interpreted by choreographer Gary Pierce, and the dancers.

‘LE CORSAIRE PAS DE DEUX’ exposed the audience to classical ballet. Beautifully performed by Brian Murphy and Jennifer Moll Safanovs, its highlights included excellent toe work, proficient leaps, strong coupling, and sprightly music and movement.

The music to ‘SPEED, THE ICARUS PROJECT’ brought squeals of delight from the children in the audience, familiar with the character of Speed Racer. A little static in movement, complete with some stumbles by Antwon Duncan, the piece did not hold the same fun power as previous enactments by the company. Katie Gnagy and Danielle Brickman were fine as the Wings.

‘VESPERS,’ with music by Mikel Rouse, was a visual enactment of passion and spirituality. The dancers stood and sat on, moved under, crawled beneath, and used chairs as the center point for their emotional feelings. A tribute to Martin Luther King, Ulysses Dove’s intricate choreography, as restaged by Dawn Carter, was filled with symbolism. This is one of the company’s signature pieces, and justifiably so.

The program ended with Pamela Pribisco’s ‘PETER AND THE WOLF. It was charmingly danced to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. The children in the audience verbally reacted to the familiar story and actions.

Verb’s next offering will be ‘CLEVELAND COMPOSERS, CLEVELAND CHOREOGRAPHERS, which is part of Dance Works 2020 at Cleveland Public Theatre from April 8 to the 11th. For information go to cptonline.org or call 216-631-2727.

GROUNDWORKS presents world premiere as part of Breen Center program

The Breen Center was the home to Groundworks DanceTheatre’s most recent concert. Made up of three pieces, the program again highlighted the uniform dancing excellence of the company. The six company members were nearly flawless in interpreting the works of three different choreographers.

‘POLARITY,’ staged by David Shimotakahara to atonal music composed and recorded by Gustavo Aguilar, created an abstract work centering on the internal and external impulses and forces of the performers. Though a little long, the dancers, dressed in striking orange costumes, used angular body moves, straight and bent arms and intertwining of bodies to create visual images of connections and disconnections of thought and action. Highlights of the piece included a mesmerizing solo by Kelly Brunk, who has developed into a premiere dancer since he joined the company 2008, and a duet coupling Brunk and powerhouse Amy Miller.

‘DELAYED,’ another abstract piece, was performed to the atonal sounds of Terry Riley. Supposedly developed as a movement piece which created a distinctive dance vocabulary. The dancing was well performed, but the repetition of movement and theme became somewhat tedious.

‘JUST YESTERDAY’ was an unusual piece for Danceworks. A combination of speaking, singing and dancing, with an excellent concept, some of the impact was lost because the vocalizations by the dancers were not always easy to hear. Too bad there wasn’t a way to individually mic the performers. The general idea came across, but with better audio, the effect could have been greater. Choreographer Dianne McIntyre did an excellent job of creating movement to parallel to the recollection and lasting family impressions of the dancers.

A benefit for Groundworks will be held on Saturday, March 13, at Windows on the River. The company will at the Philomethian Center in Chagrin Falls on February 20 at 8 p.m. and will be at the Cleveland Play House as part of Fusion Fest from April 22 to the 25th. For information go to www.groundworksdance.org or call 216-691-3180.

ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET to perform at the Ohio Theatre

Dance Cleveland and Playhouse Square Center presents the ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET on Saturday, February 27 at 8 PM and Sunday, February 28 at the Ohio Theatre. This fresh young company has established itself as one of America's leading contemporary ballet companies with their eclectic repertoire, musicality, athleticism and all-out dancing. For tickets and information call 216-241-6000 or go to playhousesquare.org.