© Heather Thorne Nashville 'Four Temperaments' reviews 'Four Temperaments' reviews recent Nashville Ballet reviews more Pamela Gaye reviews

In the first variation, Melancholic, a remarkable solo by Christopher Stuart, replete with arched grand jetes caught my attention as an introduction of familiar kinetic signposts given by Balanchine to the male dancer to dance expressively in movement engaging arms, torso, and limbs. Led by technically pristine Christine Rennie, Sanguinic featured the performance of one of the company’s strongest male dancers, Eddie Mikrut, whose effortless tours en l’air encompassed the stage leading group formations that emerged in spiral trajectory. Mikrut’s quick-paced performance preceded that of another dancer to watch, Christopher Mohnani, who performed the lead solo in Phlegmatic, opposing limber and light a terre movements to those of Mikrut in the preceding section

The evening’s second work, ‘The Bell Witch’ seemed a perfect display onstage during the classic American season of witches and lanterns. Based on folk tales of Central Appalachia, the performance, rife with classical, modern, and hip-hop movement choreographed by ex-Joffrey Ann Marie DeAngelo, had me imagining a Southern Tennessee storytelling. I was in awe of the collage of dance styles that never failed to challenge the company in their embrace of different ranges of danced drama. The choice of dance idiom echoed story elements: a classical pas de deux for a romantic duet, lithe hip-hop with a few cartwheels thrown in to effect the mood of a Southern hoedown, and modern, Grahamesque movements to portray the presence of the supernatural. The libretto centers on the tale of a prominent Tennessee family, circa early nineteenth century, whose lives were transformed by the haunting of the Bell Witch, a force who eventually conjures the death of John Bell and the downfall of his family. The varying moods of the libretto were deftly captured by dancers capable of embracing vastly different dramatic ranges.

In this ballet, Mikrut’s performance as John Bell; Christine Rennie’s as the haunting ‘witch’ who pursues him; and Sadie Bo Harris as Betsy Bell dominated, shifting dance of varying styles to equally elliptical areas of stage space. Performed in tandem with a folk score composed by native Tennessean Conni Ellisor, whose music, like the dance and scenery, is constantly in flux; a stage of colorful images, performed en diagonal amid moving stage props creates a sea change in repertoire that is exciting to watch.