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[DANCE REVIEW] Alonzo King's Lines Ballet at Jacob's Pillow
7.24.08
Corey Scott-Gilbert and Meredith Webster of Alonzo King's LINES Ballet [photo Christopher Duggan]
JACOB'S PILLOW DANCE
ALONZO KING'S LINES BALLET
Ted Shawn Theatre
July 23-27, 2008
PROGRAM:
Migration
Rasa
by Seth Rogovoy
(BECKET, Mass., July 24, 2008) -- It's hard to imagine any other company this summer topping what's taking place at the Ted Shawn Theatre through Sunday.
Alonzo King's Lines Ballet performed two stunning, vital, wholly original works of modern ballet last night, as it will continue to do through July 27. Rarely if ever does this dancegoer immediately wish he could see a dance again, repeated immediately, but in the case of Migration, which opened the program, I wasn't alone in feeling there was so much to take in, so much beauty to absorb, so much color to appreciate, so much athletic grace to marvel over, that it was impossible to get it all in just one sitting.
Two things compete in Lines Ballet for a viewer's attention: the dancers themselves, finely etched classically trained ballet dancers with the musculature and balance of Olympian athletes. They are gorgeous creatures, each with a unique look, and one constantly had to fight off the desire to revel in their individuality at the risk of losing the overall sense of Alonzo King's greater vision of how the dancers, lighting, backdrops, and music all fit together.
This is not at all the fault of the dancers themselves; they do nothing to draw attention away from the dance itself, other than to be their remarkable selves. As soon as one rips one's eyes away from a particular dancer and allows oneself to take in the larger context, one then marvels at how they are all just perfectly etched cogs in the wheel that is King's choreography and overall production.
Migration, subtitled The hierarchical migration of birds and mammals, was a somewhat representational portrayal of evolution from primal sludge through birds, mammals, and humans. Interweaving it all was the soul, or spirit, that infuses all life, and it was the magic of King's direction that created this effect, along with the original score by composers Miguel Frasconi and Leslie Stuck, which at times recalled the score to the film 2001, a movie that dealt with similar themes.
Without a doubt, however, the pas de deux by Meredith Webster and Brett Conway stole the show, and perhaps even the whole evening. In fact, it's only a slight exaggeration to say that this duet was worth the price of the entire evening -- and anyone who is thinking of going to see only ONE dance at Jacob's Pillow this summer should get tickets to this one just to see Webster and Conway dance the most beautiful, sensual, impossibly athletic, romantic pas de deux. Webster will take your breath away both with her rugged grace and beauty and her seeming defiance of gravity, physics, and the human structure.
The second dance, Rasa, featured a terrific, wide-ranging score by Zakir Hussain and Kala Ramnath, which included tabla music and vocals. This piece in particular explored the relationship betweeen music, rhythm, and dance, in a manner that slightly recalls Mark Morris but that is ultimately, uniquely, King -- who garnered the Jacob's Pillow Award for Creativity earlier this summer, and whose name should be as well known as Morris's, as he is clearly a major force in dance with whom to be reckoned.
Seth Rogovoy is Berkshire Living's editor-in-chief and award-winning critic-at-large.
Laurel Keen and Brett Conway of Alonzo King's LINES Ballet [photo Marty Sohl]
7/25/2008
Thank you for such a true review! I have been watching Lines and A. King for many years and have always wondered why hasn't been recognized as such a great artist earlier! To me- Mark Morris does not even hold a toothpick to Mr King and his company.
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7/25/2008
Thanks Seth, for commenting on a stunning pas de deux by the LINES dancers – truly a remrkable piece of work set to gorgeous music. And I noticed Janine Parker didn’t even comment on it in the Globe?! I haven’t cried like that at a show since, well, I guess “AWAY FROM HER” w/Julie Christie was the last time. Hey, BTW do you know where we can get the music from MIGRATION?
Dance fans: a MUST SEE when ALONZO KING next comes to town!
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