'Moors Pavane' reviews 'Djangology' reviews 'Thirsting' reviews Oakland in reviews

The Oakland Ballet, however, has called it home base for nearly two decades of its existence and many of the company's brightest revivals from the Diaghilev and Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo received their openings on the broad narrow stage.

The troupe acquired Karen Brown as its new artistic director the fall season of 2000, but this is her first season of artistic choices with mostly new dancers which she auditioned this past February in visits in the East. The company lists 17 dancers and from the looks of the first program, which I saw twice, Brown acquired some winsome dancers, energetic and versatile.

This initial program came close on the heels of the World Tower Tragedy, but the President of the Board and Ms. Brown reported an increase of 1200 season tickets, one of those bench marks of a well supported company. Its budget is a modest amount above one million dollars. Since the company stopped touring, the season is limited to the September-December period, and it remains to be seen how many dancers are able to continue with such a restricted schedule economically as well as programmatically.

On to the Program composed of works by two local choreographers and one classic, classy revival - Jose Limon's The Moors Pavane to Henry Purcell music, created in 1949, and as vibrant and compact in its format as ever.

The lead off was Val Caniparoli's Djangology, created for the Richmond Ballet in 1997. The music, by Django Reinhardt, stems from the soft shoe tradition, and I can see that it must have been quite a treat for audiences in the Capital City of The Old Dominion. It certainly served to show off the dancers and to allow the audience to become familiar with their youthful charm. There's one small compact fellow by the name of Dante Adela who can do about anything. Chih-Ting Shih, originally from Taiwan, is slender, lithe and bubbles with spirit and adroitness. I never expected to see vintage wine effervesce in an Asian ballet dancer, but there it was Osmani Garcia and Rhea Rhoderick were totally into their assignment, understanding the style and very much at home with it. Samuel M. Pott, a hold over from last year, is tall, blonde, familiar with modern dance, and used all over the place.

The Moor's Pavane was obviously the center piece of the program and deservedly so. Of the two casts, Dante Adela as the Moor and veteran Mario Alonso as His Friend were matched physically and in dramatic intensity. With only one performance it was amazing how quickly they established the tension. With Danae Carter as The Moor's Wife and Phaedra Jarrett as His Friend's Wife, they provided a quartete matched in size, style and impact. No one can possibly match the elegant menace of Pauline Koner and Lucas Hoving as The Friend's Wife and The Friend, particularly in the elegance of posturing and the sweep of that apricot velvet gown. But they rose to the occasion admirably.

Osmani Garcia danced The Moor for the two performances opposite Samuel M. Pott as The Friend. This was a hard one, for Garcia is small and compact, the Pott is a string bean in the Hoving tradition, and the imbalance of physique caused problems in the balancing of tension. Cynthia Sheppard as The Moor's Wife and Yoira Esquivel-Brito were more equally balanced.

Karen Brown has made an effort to provide live music for each of the programs, and for this first one Robert Henry Johnson's Thirsting utilized the magical ensemble called Zap Mama. This was a premiere of a work Brown had commissioned from Johnson, who claims the Bay Area as his home and his training ground.

Johnson came through San Francisco Ballet training and the local school for the arts. He is himself a dancer of enormous skill, suppleness, altogether clever and I suspect impatient as a result. He has magical ideas, of which Thirsting is one, which need pruning and refining. In this instance he utilized Biblical references and the idea of the traveler and the journey to toss in A Samaritan, The Water of Life, Birdman, Ballerina, Pierrot, A quartet called Fence and another Quartet called Road. As those incredible women sang a capella, the dancers went in breakneck speed through a variety of cultures, times and environment with a passing nod to the styles of each.

What initially seemed novel and innovative dwindled into a pastiche without grounding in the styles being used. The work had energy and Zap Mama for support and as a lodestar. But when Johnson elected to send the traveler through suggestions of Kathak and Bharata Natyam, it was clear his knowledge of the styles relied on his observant eye rather than some experience on his own body. If a choreographer wants to mimic Bollywood or the more serious Bharata Natyam, certain ground work is necessary, not the least being the slipping of the neck from side to side. Almost no dancer did it properly, because it probably was not demonstrated by someone who could guide them in the practice. [It was one of the few things I ever learned to do in my own exposure.] A little session in mudras and weight placement would also have done wonders. Johnson enjoyed an ovation, so I doubt when this minority opinion will make much difference. If a chaotic tumble of ideas is the new norm, Johnson is well equipped to deliver. But after the economy and impact of The Moor's Pavane, Johnson requires a little diligent pruning to make his works long lasting.