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Eileen Sondak
Eileen Sondak writes about
dance for the Union-Tribune.
17-May-1999 Monday
The term experimental dance conjures up images of avant-garde
performances
tucked away in low-tech spaces. Experimentation is rarely
associated with
mainstream ballet troupes or attractive suburban venues.
San Diego Ballet's "Preludes and Poetry" series
(which bowed in last year)
is the happy exception to that rule, as an
enthusiastic audience discovered
when "Preludes and Poetry II" premiered
Saturday night. The site-specific
concert -- held in the auditorium of the
Neurosciences Institute -- offered
Javier Velasco, the company's inventive
resident choreographer, an
opportunity to create an off-beat multi-media
work that swept across the
shallow stage and spilled over into the
audience.
Titled "Loteria," the full-length theater dance was based
on a Mexican
parlor game. Velasco tapped into his Mexican heritage to
create this
complex piece, juxtaposing original music, slide projections,
spoken text
and song into the heady mix.
The performance featured
live musical accompaniment. In fact, the singer
and three musicians in the
group even delivered spoken text during the
concert -- and one of the
dancers sang.
Instead of being relegated to their own space, the
musicians were
integrated into the dance ensemble -- sometimes in
surprising ways. The
opening trumpet fanfare was performed from the rear of
the auditorium, and
some of the dancers entered that way as well.
"Loteria" was an allegory about life, and David Burge (who wrote the music,
scenario and English text) used picture cards from this bingo-style game
throughout the work.
The projections on the back wall invoked images
of the Loteria cards, and
Velasco's choreography amplified the theme in
spades. It was an inventive
approach that led to off-centered stage
pictures and some odd couplings
among the dancers. Sometimes, it meant very
little movement on stage, and
at times, the dancers took a back seat to the
music. This time, Velasco
himself joined the ensemble, but basically in a
supporting role -- except
for the jazzy loose-limbed solo that evoked the
cactus card.
Burge, his long-time collaborator, played the piano and
joined in for some
of the spoken text as well -- rising from the piano
bench to approach the
audience with his witty phrases. Burge's tinkling
keyboard work set the
mood for "The Star" segment featuring Ame
vanBenschoten and the women in
the ensemble.
Eric Geiger had some
diabolical moves as the devil, delivering the most
satisfying dance designs
in the piece, and Corina Fabbroni teamed up with
Peter Kalivas for an
interesting duet before the group converged for the
finale.
Kalivas also performed an eerie duet with a skull earlier in the evening,
playing with a theme that surfaces frequently in Mexican culture.
Non-traditional sounds from the trumpet (performed by Jerry Fenwick)
dominated the aural atmosphere, and mezzo soprano Rolly Fanton had some
fascinating dialogue with the dancers during her segments. At times, she
even pursued them to deliver her vocalizations.
Fanton sang an ode to
the tree ("Nothing More to Say") and a salute to
young lovers ("The Moon in
Love"). Her emotion-packed singing was one of
the highlights of the
evening.
Experimental dance is about pushing back the boundaries and
expanding
horizons. "Loteria" -- with its unique perspective on the
interdisciplinary
aspects of the arts -- was very good at the game. In some
cases, it was
hard to tell where one artform ended and another began.
The San Diego Ballet is planning to continue experiments
that bend or even
break the rules. If you're game for a new experience in
dance, stay tuned
for the next incarnation of "Preludes and Poetry."
Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.