Richmond Ballet, Jepson Theatre, George M. Modlin Center for the Arts, Richmond, September 4-7, 1997 - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Dec, 1997 by Julinda Lewis

SEPTEMBER 4-7, 1997 REVIEWED BY JULINDA LEWIS

Streets and Legends, Colin Connor's new work for Richmond Ballet, is a witty and successful blend of the traditional and the contemporary. Charles Schoonmaker has dressed the dancers in a potpourri of little kilts layered over street wear such as shorts, leggings, and shirts tied around waists. The dancers let down their hair, showing off tattoos and neck chains; they flaunt bandannas and bare torsos while alternately strutting with deliberate coolness and rushing with carefree abandon in their hip new black dance sneakers. One dancer dives from the top of a tall black box into a mosh pit of waiting arms.

On the surface, Streets and Legends is a foot-stomping ruckus. But underlying it all is an unseen aloofness, an invisible pull that serves as a metaphor for Connor's burgeoning in interest in his Scottish heritage. The appositional theme is further carried out in the music, which juxtaposes haunting traditional fidle and bagpipe by Alisdair Fraser and the spunky urban folk style of Ashley Maclsaac.

A second new work, Complete Trust, by ballet master Malcolm Burn, is an expansion of last year's pas de deux, Trust. Sheer blue costumes for both men and women give the work a sensuous and contemporary look. The four sections, representing romance, regrets, reverie, and trust (identified in press materials but not in the program), are clearly delineated by changes in mood, movement, and music. The violin and piano score, from music by Johan Svendsen, Henri Vieuxtemps, and Richard Wagner, was played live by Weigang Li and John Walter.

Building upon a theme of snapshots or vignettes, the first section shows the dancers in repose, melting to the floor from bent knees or waiting, with hips cocked, torsos rotated in the opposite direction. The movement motif of the second section features a curiously disturbing retreat by the dark-haired Mateo Torres, who skitters backwards, holding his hands in front of his face, while in the third section he engages his partner, Mandy Phelps, in an intriguing series of encounters an entanglements. The ballet ends with a more traditional, romantic duet, predominantly warm and lyrical, although there is a certain rebelliousness and independence in the way Claire Taber perches on Gary Lenington's shoulder, then slides down just a tad faster than necessary.

Richmond Ballet opened its fourteenth season with a revival of Balanchine's 1956 classic Allegro Brillante staged by Bart Cook. Artist in residence Maria Calegari--a study in controlled expressiveness with her perfectly arched limbs and sculpted wrists--and partner Anton Kunikeyev gave a crisp and refreshing performance supported by an energetic corps de ballet.

The performances were staged in an elegant new venue, the Jepson Theatre on the University of Richmond campus. A richly appointed house, the theater has comfortable seating, good sight lines, and a spacious stage. It also boasts an open courtyard and such intriguing architectural features as winding passages and a moatlike main entrance.