Oregon Ballet Theatre. - Review - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, Nov, 1999 by Doris Hering

OREGON BALLET THEATRE JOYCE THEATER AUGUST 3-7, 1999

Although its repertory includes old friends like The Nutcracker and Les Sylphides, Oregon Ballet Theatre is better known for its unfamiliar ballets, often by unfamiliar choreographers. In addition, artistic director James Canfield is impressively prolific.

His musical taste is very much of this century, with a generous dusting of rock and hip-hop. His choreographic style is sharp and confident. It also makes spirited demands on the company's excellent (especially on the distaff side) dancers.

The driving theatricality of MTV appeared to be the inspiration for Canfield's cq (charmed quark). A row of lights along the floor, and a field of them suspended from above, flashed on and off, sometimes changing colors. Smoke drifted across the stage while the dancers caught one another in flashlight beams. Hip-hop dancer Mariecella Devine brought the various elements into focus in a solo; her speed and bayonet ferocity turned it into a mysterious rite.

Female eccentrics seem to fascinate Canfield. His Edie deals with Edie Sedgwick, the bedrugged Warhol groupie. In form, the dance resembled an old-time vaudeville adagio act with musclemen swinging and tossing a frail woman.

Tracy Taylor performed with complete trust in Canfield's creative instincts. As the hopelessly enslaved Edie, she allowed Alexandrous Ballard, Christopher DeMellier, and Eric Roberts to literally drag her about. It was a bruising journey, touchingly performed.

Kristy Edmunds's choreographic blender combined The Mamas & The Papas and The Velvet Underground with a film of a little boy cavorting while two young women (Katarina Svetlova and Anne Mueller) danced a clean-lined, unison duet. Called January Postcard, their dance trek had an intimate charm, although I'm not sure what they were telling us as they promenaded arm in arm or fish-flopped on the floor.

Most of the program had the astringent look of deconstruction. Josie Moseley's With offered a poetic change of pace. In their expansive solos, Vanessa Thiessen and Matthew Boyes seemed only peripherally aware of each other, but gradually, inevitably, she was magnetized into his arms.

OBT resident choreographer Trey McIntyre closed both programs with Like a Samba, which blandly interpreted a series of ditties by Astrud Gilberto.

For the first of the company's two New York-debut programs, McIntyre created a duet called Speak, Canfield expanded his roster of female eccentrics with Anais, and Ashley Roland contributed Singe. Like a Samba and cq were repeated. I missed the program, not without regret, for Oregon Ballet Theatre is remarkably steadfast in its probing for fresh choreographic ideas.