Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, 2006 Spring Home Season
April 17, 2006
By
ALLAN ULRICH
allan@voiceofdance.com
VoiceofDance.com 2006
Laurel Keen of LINES Ballet. Photo by Dikayl.
It's a truism in the dance world that no season is complete without a premiere. Novelty (even in the guise of a rare revival or reconstruction) is the coin of the booking realm. So last week, when Alonzo King's Lines Ballet delivered a brief, holiday weekend San Francisco home season with three tried-and-true company repertory pieces, chances were taken. King, as choreographer, is frequently engaged elsewhere these days (a Royal Swedish Ballet gig looms in the immediate future). Linestouring schedule is substantial; the company is heading toward a 40-week contract for its dancers.
But fears of "been there, seen that" were rapidly allayed Saturday (Feb. 14) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, where a capacity audience found itself captivated by what it saw on stage rather than by the dates in the program. The ostensible news of the evening was the Lines premiere of Following the Subtle Current Upstream, made by King for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2000 and seen in Berkeley the following year.
But the real news was Lines itself. With the recent retirement of Greg Dawson, the roster has now completely turned over from its configuration of a decade ago. Last year, Aesha Ash, former New York City Ballet corps dancer, signed up; and this season, there's a new man, Benjamin Wardell, who hails from a classical background, principally at the Cincinnati Ballet. Noticed, too, this season is Meredith Webster, who hasn't yet been trusted with too many solo outings. In addition, Chiharu Shibata and Maurya Kerr, company stalwarts laid low by injury, have returned to the performance arena.
The 10 dancers add up to the slickest, sleekest, most alluring collection of movement virtuosos in this area. Lines has never been stronger. But, more important, is the manner in which the dancers have all absorbed King's ideal of skewed classicism. Personalities remain distinct, while the dancers heed their colleaguesbalances, weight shifts and sensibilities. Lines looks like a dance company, in the finest sense of the word, a living breathing organism prepared to absorb any stylistic idiosyncracies tossed its way.
Prince Credell of LINES Ballet. Photo by Dikayl.
The obvious difference between the Lines and AAADT version of Following the Subtle Current is that Ailey's barefoot wonders have yielded to the shod Lines team with the women performing on pointe. All this raises the center of gravity. The King dancers don't quite muster the muscularity in the torso or the incredibly eloquent shoulders of the New York company, so the impact of the weirdly structured suite, set to music by Zakir Hussain, Miguel Frasconi and Miriam Makeba, looks a bit blunted. Nevertheless, one discerns the motif of a quest, of surmounting barriers, in the exceptional opening for the men, wherein John Michael Schert attempts to penetrate what looks like a secret male society populated by Wardell, Brett Conway and Prince Credell. Drew Jacoby's elongated promenade seems exploratory in its spiky traversal of the stage. Laurel Keen launches battements with the clarity of inhaled oxygen, while Schert finds comfort in a precarious duet with Shibata. Credell stands out everywhere; his speed and articulation (he appears to phrase more elegantly as ratchets up the velocity) continue to astonish. Still, with Lines, Following the Subtle Current looks like a dance that must be gloriously dispatched. With Ailey, it looked like a growth experience.
Soothing the Enemy (2000) is an intentionally oppressive experience. Leslie Stuck's electronic score wheezes and roars like the next earthquake, Axel Morgenthaler's rows of industrial lamps descend on the dancers, so that, eventually, they are moving in a ribbon of light. Nevertheless, from Shibata's opening solo, it is a territory explored with uncommon tenacity. Conway and Schert's unison spins are impressive, but the semaphoring arms come from nowhere and verge on stylistic parody. The lights attached to Keen's body, in one episode, may have a symbolic meaning, but they tend to trivialize the movement; we get ground down in special effects. What fascinates most about Soothing the Enemy is the group choreography. En masse, the dancers cluster in sculptural configurations, in semi-darkness, limbs intertwined and they assume a character that is more than the sum of the parts. King usually resists this kind of expressionist ploy, and, from the evidence here, one wishes he would explore it more often.
It was easy to enjoy the shifting balances of power in the revival of the 1990 Without Wax Pas de Deux, set to a piano and orchestra score by Bohuslav Martinu. As Conway revolves at an angle on his heels, Ash seems a protective angel, supporting him. Later, he dominates in typical manipulation of limbs. There is no real resolution, but the ambiguity of gesture keeps us riveted.
Lines Ballet next performs April 21-23 at the Edison Theatre, Washington University, St. Louis.
