An Unparalleled Evening of Contemporary Dance
Miami was exposed to a rare treat on the weekend of June 7th, 8th and 9th when Brigid Baker and Dancers, along with the Italian Company, Balletto dell'Esperia performed at Florida International University's South campus and at the Lincoln Theatre on Miami Beach. The two companies created a blend of artistry and a program of contrasts that provided audiences with contemporary choreography at its most elucidating.
In the style of William Forsythe, Balletto dell'Esperia's concentration on exterior movement elucidates the strong technique of the dancers. Miami audiences used to Ballanchine enjoyed seeing a contemporary European adaptation where arms, legs, and feet defined the choreography. With little use of torso and very few jumps, the work exudes a cool, detached tone that bespeaks of strong linear movements absent of emotion.
From another choreographic point of view, Brigid Baker uses technique to reveal something deeper. Here the work is defined by line and gesture that serves the emotional content, revealing nothing extraneous, serving the psychology of each piece in the classic tradition. Ms. Baker's cinematic style does not rely on a linear progression of ideas. Each piece reveals an interior landscape, elucidated by complex spatial patterns, a broad and varied movement vocabulary, and dancers who are both beautiful and individual.
The program opened with Balletto dell'Esperia's "Transparenza," choreographed by Immaculada Rubio. Danced with cool elegance, the piece was filled with long limbs and torsos engaging in stylized movements that revealed the strong technique of the company. It was not until the final movement, a duet danced by Victoria Saiz and Miguel Soto to Dinah Washington's "You Don't Know What Love Is" that a relationship between dancers was formed. The two virtuoso dancers found ways to wrap and tangle, with Ms. Saiz's long, thin, rangy body creating loopy lines that reacted well to Mr. Soto' s impeccable partnering.
The second piece was Ms. Baker's stylized work for three dancers, "Grace." Inspired by Anthony Tudor, the master of the psychological point of view (think "Dark Elegies"), "Grace" speaks of the repercussions and possibilities of the essential, wildish feminine nature. The first image is that of a diaphanous tree, which upon a second look, one realizes is comprised of feminine undergarments. Designed by Jorge Galliardo, this image provides the subconscious material that determines the course of the dance. A red hat hangs on the side of the tree. Is it the forbidden fruit from the tree of good and evil? The dancers progress through thirteen variations of " Amazing Grace", each segment moving towards a resolution that for one, ends in redemption. Dancers Soledad Centurion, Lara Murphy, and Tara York injected tension and restraint into everyday life gestures and movements shaped to adapt to the language of the dance. Exaggerated and stylized, the piece displayed a keen observation into the human spirit.
Paolo Mohovich's "Lorca Dances," a tribute to the company's beginning roots in Spain, completed the first act. The strength of the male dancers, bounding like bulls contrasted with the hauteur of the women dressed in graceful black-hooped skirts and grounded by repeated gesture. Though danced flawlessly, the stylized choreography lacked the requisite poetry and passion implicit in the title.
The second act opened with "Philia," choreographed by Brigid Baker. Exquisitely danced by Nancy Raffa and Marcus Shaeffer, the piece is a distillation of images that lead the observer through the emotional terrain of love. With each movement and gesture a reflection of a deeper emotional state, the piece is concerned with the recognition of one human being by another. Here again, Ms. Baker's cinematic formula is revealed. The piece unfolds as a reflection of images, where movement is catalyzed by the interior life of the individuals. Ms. Baker's use of the solar plexus, the seat of the emotions, drives each step as her use of dimensional space leads the dancers to integration and finally, transformation.
Mr. Mohovich's "Distillate Manovre" followed. Choreographed in several movements, the piece unfolded like pieces of a puzzle. Danced to the music of REM, each section revealed a compressed web of abstracted movement, creating images both odd and familiar. Opening with three dancers caged in a rectangle of light, the movements were both static and electric, with each dancer playing off the gesture of the other. As the piece progressed, domination and play provided the context for military patterns and the expression of masculine bravado, especially personified by the powerful Amador Castilla. The final movement culminated with a reactive frenzy of bodies colliding in space like molecules gone wild.
The evening ended with the world premiere of Ms. Baker's "Sweep," inspired by the events of September 11th. This piece, impeccably costumed by Jorge Galliardo, with music by Gavin Bryars, is an expression of vulnerability in the face of duress that is overcome as each member of the group supports the individual with the individual ultimately elevating the whole. The work is a testimonial to mankind's struggle to find its way through pain. The piece goes through all the stages of tragedy, encompassing denial, grief, and finally transcendence. The use of stillness and delicate movement illuminates the absence that is at the heart of the tragedy. It is through the obvious decrease of huge phrases as the piece progresses that we feel that this very absence is the subject of this particular catastrophe, and filling its place, perhaps light.
The three evenings provided Miami audiences with something rare in the dance world today, the cooperative efforts of an American company and an Italian company presenting work with two different contemporary points of view. •