DANCE REVIEW 'Preludes' stretches the imagination

By Jennifer Poyen DANCE CRITIC March 15, 1999

One of the pleasures of Javier Velasco's choreography lies in absorbing the obvious delight he takes in making up dances. Observing his work tends to provoke a joyful response, just as looking at one of Renoir's red-headed beauties tends to elicit cheerfulness. In both instances, the artist's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious.

In "Preludes & Poetry," seen over the weekend at La Jolla's Neurosciences Institute, Velasco paired that delight with a more serious purpose: presenting challenging, original work intended to stretch his San Diego Ballet dancers' skills and his audience's imagination.

One of Velasco's dances, intriguingly, was set not to music but to a poem. The other, set to William Albright's terrific "Dream Rags," exhibited both exuberance and thoughtfulness. In between, the much-admired composer and pianist David Burge presented "Life Begins at 40," a delightful song cycle, with mezzo-soprano Rolly Fanton.

The evening opened with "Falling," set to the eponymous James Dickey poem about a stewardess who falls out of an airplane into a Kansas field. The poem, read by Doug Jacobs with passion and riveting rhythm, explores the character's often surreal thoughts and sensations upon falling. Taking cues from Dickey's wildly imaginative images, Velasco's choreography, a solo danced with emotion and intelligence by Khristina Kravas, was meditative and moving.

In visualizing her fall, his images often resisted the obvious. At times, she seems small and vulnerable, pecking at the ground like a bird in winter; at others, she is strong and nimble, free in her life's last moments.

Despite the inevitability of the character's death, there was genuine suspense when Kravas crashed to Earth, ingeniously depicted by Velasco against the back wall, rather than the floor, so that she seemed to splat and stick like a bug against a windshield. Moments later, Kravas slid silently off the wall and lay down, and Jacobs, still reading, approached her like a mourner at a grave.

"Dream Rags," performed with lushness and generous wit by Burge, showcased 10 dancers in a series of solos and duets and Velasco's keen ability to find movement in the unlikeliest places. If a sequence is undanceable, Velasco finds a gesture -- a drag of the hand, sweep of the foot, even a shrug -- to interpret the music.

The rags, written for Burge in 1970, vary in tone from sensual to thoughtful, from brash and dense to airy, almost intellectual evocations of the genre's syncopated rhythms. And Velasco's choreography -- which ranges from sharp pointe work to slinking, jazzy cancans -- provokes a keener awareness of Albright's music. Ame vanBenschoten was a sensual, soulful presence. Gabriel Medina was engaging in his hip-swivelling solo, even when his technique wasn't precise. And Ilia Kouznetsov, stretching his classically trained technique in a more modern direction, had energetic appeal.

Burge's song cycle, beautifully sung by Fanton, was a bittersweet meditation on the pursuit of love and the sting of loss. He paired sometimes witty, sometimes poignant lyrics with wonderfully inventive music that evoked various traditions -- opera, musical theater, jazz -- while exhibiting a bold, winning spirit all its own.

As a performer, Burge was a dignified, often deadpan foil for Fanton's spirited character, whose emotions ranged from joyful optimism to wistful regret -- plucky, happy-go-lucky and often unlucky at love. The experimental, thought-provoking "Preludes & Poetry" series continues May 14-15 at the Neurosciences Institute with "Lotteria," another Burge-Velasco collaboration. And the ballet's spring repertoire concert, set for April 22-25 at the Lyceum Theatre, will include Burge's "MOKU," set to choreography by Velasco.

If the weekend concert was a fair measure of what happens when these two artists get together, their upcoming shows should not be missed.

Choreographer: Javier Velasco. Composer and pianist: David Burge. Narrator: D.W. Jacobs. Singer: Rolly Fanton. Dancers: Melanie Ancinec, Elizabeth Apgar, Stephanie Aubuchon, Corina Fabbroni, Jamie Kilgore, Ilia Kouznetsov, Khristina Kravas, Gabriel Medina, Reena Quinn, Nicholas Smith and Ame vanBenschoten.

Copyright 1999 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

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