New frontier in Houston - Regional Dance America festival

Dance Magazine, Dec, 1997 by Doris Hering

When asked about her teaching process, the late Bessie Schonberg, mentor of choreographers, said, "I meddle." This is in essence what adjudicators do. Their "meddling" is vital to the festivals. Adjudicators (the term originated in Canada) are dance experts whose task is to select the strongest companies and the most interesting choreography and to combine them in balanced programs. It's a hard job, for the adjudicators travel from company to company, usually in the dead of winter. It's also a uniquely rewarding experience.

This time the adjudicators were so close in taste that there was a remarkable, and in a way alarming, homogeneity within the programs. Each region was allotted an evening performance for its stronger companies an a matinee for the less experienced ones. (The Mid-States Region unwisely opted for a single evening performance.) The performing atmosphere was on a consistently professional level, and the technical direction and stage management of Buddy Combs (Jones Hall) and Bill Kickbush (Music Hall) added immeasurably to the quality of the event.

In early festivals the choreographers rarely ventured outside of the nineteenth century in their choice of music. It was gratifying to note a change. Now the majority used twentieth-century composers, with Philip Glass and Henryk Gorecki turning up more than once. There were also forays into folk and improvised accompaniment. In the early days, artistic directors saved money by creating their own ballets. This time there were only nineteen by company directors. Guest choreographers and a few resident choreographers made up the vast majority.

Here are a few of the highlights of the nine festival performances. The Southwestern Region, adjudicated by Bill Evans of the University of New Mexico, opened the festivities with Leslie Jane Pessemier's Les Chansons, a setting of four of Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne for Allegro Ballet of Houston. It had the inner urgency that differentiates choreography from step making. The climactic pas de deux for Keathe Hosemann and John Marshall Sharp was performed with nicely sustained tenderness.

Dianne Maroney's Apotheosis for Louisiana Dance Theatre (Shreveport) contrasted standing and recumbent figures, along with dervishlike turns, to create a rapt, ceremonial tone. It was strongly performed.

Dallas Metropolitan Ballet presented beautifully trained, meticulously rehearsed dancers. Ann Etigen and Bill Atkinson's Let's Dance, while reminiscent of Robbins's I'm Old Fashioned, had great panache.

The second evening was devoted to the Pacific Region, adjudicated by Maria Grandy of Juilliard [see page 78]. Sound training and theatrical taste marked Ballet Yuma's Duendes del Fuego. Codirector Jon Cristofori was responsible for the stylish choreography with Iberian overtones.

Sacramento Ballet's second company brought an alabaster polish to Danielle Martinelli's The Exit, a series of variations on a circle; the title was, however, unclear.

The population of American Fork, Utah, is modest, but observing the members of Utah Regional Ballet, lined up twenty strong in their blue unitards, one would have placed them in a major metropolis. Directed by Jacqueline P. Colledge, the dancers soared through Robert Kelley's Night Tides and just as effectively reined in their energy for its rubato passages.