VITALITY OF DANCE IN THE SUBURBS
Walnut Creek Makes Itself Heard and Seen
By Paul Hertelendy
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of Jan. 23-30, 2011
Vol. 13, No. 56
WALNUT CREEK, CA---Though
boasting a population of less than 70,000, this city some 25 mi. east
of San Francisco harbors two
professional ballet companies comfortably
housed in the attractive Lesher
Regional Arts Center,
the regional cultural
hub for suburbia.
The
eight-year-old
Company C Contemporary Ballet is the brainchild of Artistic Director
Charles
Anderson, who set up shop here despite his San
Francisco
upbringing and a New York City
dancing career. So far the results have been very good on the product
end, even
though the two-ballet-troupe environment means half-filled houses even
on
weekends.
Anderson’s
good-looking
12-member ensemble is especially contemporary. The scores range from
Elvis Costello
to modern chants to narrative/unorthodox. And if the dancers have any
toe shoes
at all, they are stowed away back in the dressing rooms all night long.
2011
must
be the year of the story ballet in sharp contrast to all the recent
times of
abstractions. The San Francisco Ballet is doing three evening-length
ones in
its season starting Jan. 26, while Anderson
came up with a short one in the expat Maurice Causey’s “Ominous
Rumblings of
Discontent.” This may or may not be about revolutionary activists in
the Che
Guevara mode, but it’s definitely about strife, anger and combat. The
work is
restless and edgy, with moves often contorted. An explosive score
appears to
turn the interpreters into volcanoes of fire and rage, with a mad
figure emerging
in the middle. That fire is tempered by a silent pas de deux, and the
slow, slow
walk group walk off the stage that has turned into a dance
cliché.
Casey
may
want to make some adjustments before his next showing of the piece;
often it’s unclear
whether this is high drama or misfired comedy. And when the ladies all
collapse
when roared on by the ferocious males, you wonder whether it’s a mere
bad-breath problem, easily fixed with a mint-flavored toothpaste.
Anderson
collaborated with
Benjamin G. Bowman in the other premiere opus, the 24-minute jolly-up
“Indoor
Fireworks,” to Costello’s vocal music. Boogie-woogie, couple pairings,
and
solos evolve. Robert Dekkers got the most challenging roles when viewed
Jan.
22, showing both strong agility and solid partnering (opposite
Chantelle
Pianetta and Adilsa Armendariz).
None
of
this is very profound, but it neatly fills the need for a happy closer.
Opening
the
program was Daniel Ezralow’s “Pulse,” with dancers sliding across the
stage,
their arms producing graceful streamlines. And James Sewell’s
“Appalachia Waltz” excerpt featured three
closely coordinated ladies in
long dresses---at times recalling a six-armed Indian goddess, at other
times
recalling the long skirts of the legend Martha Graham (whose best-known
work may have been
her similarly titled “Appalachian Spring”). Was this being derivative,
or was it creating a tribute to that great 20th-century
dance pioneer?
Overall,
the company looked sharp, trim, and well-disciplined. All the music was
prerecorded.
DANCE
DYNASTY?---Anderson is the son of two former S.F. Ballet dancers, the
late David Anderson and Zola Dishong.
Company C
Contemporary Ballet at the Lesher Center, Walnut
Creek,
Jan. 21-22. Future performances also in Castro
Valley, San
Francisco, Mountain
View. For
info: go online.
©Paul Hertelendy 2011
#
Paul Hertelendy has been
covering
the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with
relish
-- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)
will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local
artists as well.
#
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