FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2004

CONTACT: Mark Fleisher

Festival Ballet Providence, 401.353.1129

Up Close, On Hope charming, memorable and even groovy
BY BRYAN ROURKE
Providence Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Up Close, On Hope can't easily be categorized.

It's mournful, joyful, laughable. It's a lot of things -- seven to be precise.

The Festival Ballet Providence show, which opened last weekend and continues this weekend, is seven short and generally pleasing diverse dances. They range from the dramatic to the operatic to the comic.

That was "Ain't Misbehavin'." Mark Harootian, a Festival Ballet dancer, choreographed the work, which involved seven dancers, including himself. However, it was Leticia Guerrero who brought playfulness to the piece.

As with many of her past performances, Guerrero communicated attitude and emotion so well with her face and her body. And what she said here was funny.

Guerrero tripped. She fell. She clumsily hung onto Harootian. Yet all the while, she did some difficult dancing.

This piece told a story about Guerrero losing and finding a partner. The movements merged modern ballet with jazz. The music, from Fats Waller, was lively. The women wore sequined short dresses. The men wore black. And the net effect was charming.

The shortest piece of the program, "Solor's Variation" from the 19th-century work La Bayadere, lasted only about 30 seconds. But Andrew Skeels, a new member with the company, made them memorable. He rapidly leaped and turned around the perimeter of the stage in an impressive presentation of athletic, classical ballet.

Using operatic music from Norma, Piotr Ostaltsov, a Festival dancer, choreographed a new and notable work, "Casta Diva." It was actually more staging than dancing. Four men -- Cameron Baldassarra, Gleb Lyamenkoff, Skeels and Harootian -- took turns lifting, passing and tossing one woman: Jennifer Ricci, who wore white and let her body go elegantly limp. The music was mournfully moving, although the high notes of the soprano's aria seemed too much for the stereo system to bear.

Caitlin Novera, a Festival dancer, created a simple but subtly cheerful new work, "Commons," involving the music of Jethro Tull and seven dancers in striped shirts. Sometimes they moved together, sometimes alone, coming and going from the sides of the stage. Sometimes they strode in erect, other times slumped. But in the end, the upbeat body language won out.

Colleen Cavanaugh presented two works: the multifaceted and graceful "Schumann Songs," which premiered last March at Up Close, On Hope; and a "work-in-progress" premiere of "Little Girl Blue." It could be called the "Wonder of Woodstock." It featured the music of Janis Joplin. Karla Kovatch, the work's sole dancer, wore a groovy rainbow-colored scarf and moved in a free-form '60s sort of way. However, she wore also pointe shoes for periodic classical touches, lending refinement to her do-her-own-thing dance rebellion.

Up Close, On Hope takes place in Festival Ballet's studio, turned into a 90-seat black-box theater, at 825 Hope St., Providence. The emphasis is on dance, not sets. The show is performed again Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, which are $30, call (401) 353-1129.