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The Cincinnati Ballet joined forces with its sister company BalletMet Columbus Friday night in a shared program that featured Balanchine's martial "Stars and Stripes."
But the true choreographic star of the "Come Together Festival" program at the Aronoff Center was found in the choreographer Stanton Welch's "Play." BalletMet performs this work with charged intensity.
"Play," part of a trilogy, "Evolution: Mozart to Moby," is an edgy work set to the progressive electronic music of composer- musician Moby.
Welch's work is set in a hard impersonal urban landscape all suggested in Lisa J. Pinkham's moody lighting designs splashed upon the Aronoff's empty stage. Her lighting is based on David Grill's original designs.
"Play" begins with the BalletMet dancers sitting on the floor in a large block. They begin mechanically dressing, preparing for their day, like robots.
In the second movement, dancers are out in the hurly-burly of the impersonal city. They walk. They rush to their destinations. Everyone moves in a blur.
But there is a certain ever-present sexuality throughout this piece. During the morning rush, one male breaks his channeled focus long enough to cast a lascivious glance at a passing woman oblivious to him in her rush.
Welch's choreography becomes even more engaging as the focus turns to couples probably romantic relationships -- woman to man, man to man, woman to woman.
There is a series of duets that are danced close in. They are quite violent, full of frustration.
One woman grabs a man's tie when he arches backward. Is she helping him up or trying to choke him?
At other times there is shoving. Hands push heads. Then, just as suddenly all these hostile moves end in an embrace. Strange, wonderful stuff.
The final movements of "Play" are not so commanding and intriguing. Welch's choreography segues into ensemble moves without narrative.
But the overall effect of isolation and discontent so dramatically projected by the BalletMet dancers shakes the mind and makes one no fan of city life.
The finale, "Stars and Stripes," set to the marches of Sousa, combines the services of both companies.
This 1958 work, I think, achieves its reputation more because of its spirit than the substance of parading dances.
The first two movements that Balanchine calls "campaigns" feature the Cincinnati and Columbus women in separate dances.
The basic design is a V-formations that both ensembles had trouble maintaining.
The men, combined from both companies, fared better in their jumps and one splendid, leaping circular movement.
In the pas de deux, Janessa Touchet delivered some beautiful and carefully executed arabesques (the long line created by an extended leg) supported by Cervilio Miguel Amador.
Amador, diminutive in stature, nevertheless, has power in his legs. This strength lends buoyancy to his jumps and turns in air.
Also presented is "Lambarena," a fusion of Bach and African music and song. Val Caniparoli's work is focused in torso and hip undulations and shimmering port de bras (carriage of the arms).
COME TOGETHER FESTIVAL, Friday night at the Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St., downtown. Cincinnati Ballet and BalletMet Columbus. Playdates: 2 and 8 p.m. today; $18-$63; (513) 621-5282.
(C) 2006 The Cincinnati Post. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
