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Oakland BalletOctober 2005 Oakland, Calvin Simmons Theatre by Renee Renouf |
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After more than a year’s hiatus, Oakland Ballet commenced its 40th anniversary season with a retrospective which included the gathering of alumni dancers, choreographers and ballet masters on stage. Artistic Director Karen Brown, draped in a slinky one-shoulder black garment acknowledged her predecessor Ronn Guidi and the dancers who brought the modest company into national prominence with an adroit attention to Diaghilev-era classics and some modern gems from Eugene Loring’s choreographic career. Brown then acknowledged a host of donors and sponsors. Oakland Ballet has been long on spirit and this opening of three season programs was no exception. Seven dancers remain from the company’s last active season with eleven new dancers, including Preston Dugger III from the inactive Dance Theatre of Harlem. Energy, focus and performing level was consistently high, creating a hopeful harbinger for continued interesting autumn programs in the East Bay. Karen Brown’s selection of replacements proved particularly adroit; the sixteen dancers exchanged corps and soloist assignments with consistent ease. The upside of using Calvin Simmons Theater is its size and warm ambiance, plus its having been named for the late charismatic conductor of The Oakland Orchestra. The down side is that it is slightly tricky to access by car, though within sighting distance from the Lake Merritt BART stop. For Oakland Ballet’s size, it cannot be bested for repertory program use; opening night the auditorium reached near capacity. Revivals included scenes from Les Noces (1923) and Les Biches (1924), the two signal Bronislava Nijinska works which Oakland pioneered in US revivals. There was the complete Eugene Loring Billy the Kid (1938) which Loring himself set on the company and parts of Michael Lowe’s engaging Double Happiness (2002) with The Melody of China Ensemble in the pit. Donald MacKayle contributed the evening’s premiere, Ella, with vocalist Ledisi and the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra providing a vibrant finale to the evening. Noteworthy was the Andantino from Les Biches with Yuko Omori and Matthew Linzer, both providing clear execution and the requisite deadpan expression, Omori small and precise, Linzer with a contrasting height and body mass, plus sculpted profile. The Rag Mazurka came off well with Preston Dugger III and Gabriel Williams lending their smarts to the portrayal of the two vacant-minded beach boys and Ilana Goodman towered over them as The Hostess. It was a good role for her, but her energy could use a little shading for the role of a world weary hostess; her reading currently is very Southern California beach club with Hollywood hints. Mariko Takahashi and Gabriel Williams did an engaging reprise of Gold Rush Folk in Double Happiness, but the prize of this work went to Phaedra Jarrett and Preston Dugger III in Passage, a singularly acrobatic pas de deux with Jarrett fearlessly submitting to the masterful partnering of Dugger. Gabriel Williams’ portrayal of Billy the Kid was another evening highlight, well foiled by Matthew Linzer as Pat Garrett, the role created by the late Lew Christensen. Williams’ transitions from awkward boy to inadvertent killer and gradually to serial bad man were extremely well drawn: it is a stellar role for any artist and he made the most of it. Linzer’s Garrett was equally the stalwart Westerner, pre-John Wayne, more Gary Cooper, tall, elegant, understated. The Dance Hall Girls and Cowboys provided the right hint of recreational sex, and Carlos Venturo’s Alias echoed the sinister strains of Aaron Copland’s score. The opening and closing passage of the company moving across the acrid frontier remains just wonderful. The work itself wears its 57 years well, and I always look forward to it and the accomplishments of its interpreters. Donald MacKayle has a remarkable choreographic history; he is quite familiar with the particular Sheen and despair of night club life which the selections for Ella highlight in this premiere. The musical support of Marcus Shelby’s ensemble and the full-throated vocals of Ledisi couldn’t be better. Mario Alonso’s costumes provided just the right combination of sleazy chic, and the dancers tore into their respective assignments with almost alarming energy. Preston Dugger III outdid himself as a woman hopper in Begin the Beguine and in the solo In My Solitude, while One for My Baby enjoyed an excellent quartet swapping partners with Cynthia Sheppard, Gabriel Williams, Jennifer Tierney and Carlos Ventura. One could almost draw a picture of the roadhouse from the movement.
It’s safe to say the evening deserved its bravos and almost hysterical ovation by an audience grateful to see Oakland Ballet back in business.
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