Up Close offers another spectacle of dance
The Providence Journal, PageF3
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
By Bryan Rourke
brourke@projo.com



Dancer and choreographer Mark Harootian in “A Spektor of Things,” four movements of a work in progress set to the music of Regina Spektor.

PROVIDENCE — Don’t fall for the disclaimer: work in progress.

“A Spektor of Things” looked pretty polished at last weekend’s Up Close, On Hope show at Festival Ballet Providence. The piece, choreographed by Mark Harootian, is one of nine in this two-hour show that ranges from good to very good, with more emphasis on the latter.

You see classical ballet, pop, jazz and modern dance. In fact, you can see a bit of each style in one work: “A Spektor of Things.” Essentially it’s four dances to four songs by Regina Spektor. The first movement is pure pop, with four female dancers, occasionally clapping in unison to a bass beat, and looking a little like Madonna from the ’80s.

The second movement, set to a moving and melancholic song, is arresting in its creative choreography, which appears part ballet, part Cirque du Soleil. Two male dancers, Fan Shi and Nathan Powell, both new to the company, wearing blue jeans and black tank tops, hold two seven-foot poles between them, which Jennifer Ricci uses as a stretcher as though she’s emotionally wounded; as uneven bars as though a gymnast; and as a trapeze as though an aerial artist. Nothing’s static. The men move. And, of course, Ricci follows, going where the poles go, moving fluidly, effortlessly and impressively.

The piece’s third movement is lightly comical, with Vilia Putrius popping out of a box, and dancing somewhat slapstick to the words of a song. And in the final movement, Erica Chipp and Harootian perform a spirited, jazzy and playful duet.

The end of the program is the strongest. Before “A Spektor of Things” is “To Maesto Fellini,” a premiere by Jolanta Valeikaite, a new ballet mistress with Festival. At the core of the piece are three fashionably dressed women — Christine Blanck, Elizabeth Jessee and Ashley Andries — wearing smart black dresses, one with white polka dots, two with red trim. And all wear black high-heeled shoes and berets, looking very Parisian.  The music is French and Italian. The setting is some cafÉ or lounge, as suggested by two chairs. The mood is amusing, with the women strutting about, putting on airs, and, at one point, holding invisible hand-held microphones and lip-syncing the “la, la, la” portion of a song.

The women leave the stage and a male dancer, on this night, Henry Montilla, takes their place, dressed in stereotypical French attire of black pants with red suspenders, a horizontal striped shirt and a black derby. His solo is short and fine, but there’s a disconnect between him and the three woman, with whom he has no interaction or even acknowledgment.

Just before “To Maesto Fellini,” there’s “Je Ne T’Aime Pas” (“I Don’t Love You”), by Gianni Di Marco, a guest choreographer with Festival, that involves a couple, on this night, Leticia Guerrero and Alexander Akulov. She wears a long black dress; he wears black pants and white button-down shirt. There’s low-level tension between them, as indicated when Guerrero pushes Akulov on the shoulder. But where this work makes its mark is in its moments of unusual and amusing movements, most notably when Akulov is bent over at the waist and reaches through his legs and takes hold of Guerrero’s ankles and follows her hunched over backward as she walks away.

“Spring Waters,” a short but bold dance, the kind you might expect in pairs figure skating, featured Guerrero and Eivar Martinez and the music of Rachmaninoff. The piece, choreographed by Asaf Messer, begins with Guerrero running and leaping at a diagonal through the air into Martinez’s arms. And later he tosses her in the air, where she rotates a revolution before landing back in his arms.

However, one distracting aspect of the dance is the costumes. Guerrero wears a light peach colored dress, and Martinez wears a light blue one. Maybe you’d call it a tunic. But in a bare studio without a set or props suggesting antiquity, it certainly looks a dress.

For traditional and classical ballet, Andries and Henry Montilla performed “For Susan,” choreographed by Mihailo Djuric, Festival’s artistic director. It’s a soft, gentle and romantic piece done to harp music.

For more dynamic traditional ballet, Lauren Kennedy and Ilya Burov performed Marius Petipa’s classic “Le Corsaire.” Its opening duet is not notable, but it is followed by difficult and demanding solos, well performed. Kennedy repeatedly pirouettes on one leg while kicking and turning the other without bringing it to the floor. And Burov, though he was reportedly injured, was impressive in his athletic jumps and turns.

“Queen Bee,” by Colleen Cavanaugh, a guest choreographer with Festival, was pleasing and soothing to see, with a nice flow of movements performed by Lauren Menger and Erica Chipp, who wore black shorts with a yellow top. They may have looked vaguely like bees, and sometimes circled each other, and the stage, but there didn’t appear to be a particular message or story.

In other works, “Fairy Doll,” choreographed by the Brothers Legat, and performed this night by Jarvi Raudsepp, who’s new to the company, and Davide Vittorino and Roger Fonnegra, was cute. The two men costumed as mimes, all in white, with white face-paint, vied to dance with Raudsepp in her white tutu. It’s a charming piece, but may go just a little too long. “Vishnu,” choreographed by Harootian, featured music from India and attire, too, with Joo-Hee Beck, a new Festival dancer, showing her great flexibility and extension while partnering with Harootian and Martinez. But the piece appeared more a series of moving poses than a unified dance.

Up Close, on Hope continues this Saturday and Sunday, and Sunday, Nov. 17, at Festival Ballet Providence, 825 Hope St. Saturday’s show is at 7:30 p.m.; the Sunday shows are at 6 p.m. For tickets, $40, call (401) 353-1129 or e-mail info@festivalballet.com.
brourke@projo.com