DCDC concert draws from Harlem Renaissance painter

By Burt Saidel

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company radiates creativity. Their international reputation is earned because they take the works of the most innovative choreographers and dance them to the very walls.

This season features colôr-ògraphy; a concert of ballets by four renowned choreographers drawing their inspiration from the paintings of Harlem Renaissance painter Jacob Lawrence.  

Lawrence depicted the black experience in America in vivid canvasses. To transpose this to dance was a lofty challenge, as the February concert at the Victoria proved, but well within the grasp of the beautiful dancers of DCDC.

Each of the four ballets was quite different. The one which seemed to be most closely tied to the paintings was J Lawrence Paint by Donald Byrd. The scene was enhanced by interesting projection screens.  The figure of Harriet Tubman, often called the Moses of the Colored  People, was dominant.  

We saw, in cinematic projection, Sheri Williams as Tubman relentlessly running toward the audience. The dancing was nothing short of spectacular. Movements, impossible to describe and seemingly impossible to perform, moved the dramatic sections of the ballet.

One section was so unforgettable. To the folk song “Strange Fruit” William McClellan became a lynching victim.  In dance, we saw and felt the agony, the injustice of this tragic and shameful period in our history.

Kevin Ward’s Continuing Education actually did some unusual painting on stage.  Four dancers, Queala Clancy, G.D. Harris, Jaysin McCollum and Crystal Michelle, alternated static poses and unusual lifts to display conflict in its purest form.  At a point, the women began to paint the nearly naked body of Jaysin.  He was then laid on a canvas and his body created a dramatic painting, a colôr-ògr?phy, which was hoisted for all to see.

After intermission, works by Reggie Wilson and Rennie Harris proved that DCDC are the world’s best dancers.  In colorful costumes, through scene after scene, the vibrant energy of the dancers maintained nearly perpetual motion.  No review could describe the complexity and vibrancy of the movements.  Only the spirit can be expressed and then words nearly fail.

The company is at its zenith of physical beauty and continues in the finest dance traditions begun by Jeraldyne Blunden.  “Focus” dancers compel the eye.  Sheri Williams is a dance legend who defies time and change.  G.D. Harris, William McClellan, Julius Brewster-Cotton, Queala Clancy and Crystal Michelle are excitement personified.  Newcomers Rebecca Sparks Vargas, Zachary Scott, Jaysin McCollum and Susanne Payne are already bright stars.  

And, we have these wonderful artists right here in Dayton, Ohio.

Broadway at the Victoria’s Aida

Aida, one of the most popular operas in the grand opera repertory.  Aida, one of the most misunderstood operas in the repertory.

Verdi’s masterpiece has captured audiences since its 1871 premiere. Most people remember, or imagine Aida as a stage full of elephants, horses and other wild beasts marching to the vibrant music of “The Triumphal March.”

In truth, Aida is an opera of intimate moments.  It is a tragic love triangle exacerbated by war between two countries.  A hero, Radames, is promised to Amneris, the beautiful daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt.  He is the Egyptian military hero with a string of victories emblazoned on his sleeve.  Aida is a slave girl, a captured Ethiopian, who is secretly the daughter of the King of Ethiopia.

Radames loves Aida but is betrothed to Amneris.  He is loyal to Egypt but torn by his love for an enemy, a captive, and, he later discovers, the daughter of his enemy’s King.

The very soul of the opera is in the glorious music of these intimate interpersonal moments.  The great arias, the music, are eternal.  

Great art lends itself very well to reinterpretation.  Lyricist Tim Rice and composer Elton John teamed up to create a new musical telling the tragic love story.  In it, they focused on some very engaging ideas.  

How did great hero and future Pharaoh of Egypt fall in love with the captive slave girl?  Better question – why?  In Aida, the musical, this is the central and most appealing theme.  We contrast Amneris, a privileged and shallow princess modeled after what I think would be a California “Valley Girl,” with Aida, strong, resolute and dignified even in slavery.

In the Victoria Broadway production, the love story was played by a young and vibrant and very handsome cast on a most interesting geometric set.  The opening scene was the Egyptian wing of an art museum replete with gilded statues of the ancient kingdom.  As the scenes morphed, the displays were moved about.  Dramatic lighting heightened each moment.  

Interesting time-warped costumes and brief but vivacious dance episodes highlighted the action.  WSU’s marvelous Ebony Blake played the part of Nehebka but understudied Aida.  I am so sorry that I missed her performance, early in the week, in the title role.  No matter, with her wealth of talent, we will have many opportunities to see her in starring roles.

That is the good news, now for the bad.  The producers of today seem to worship volume.  The microphoned principals spat out their lyrics which could not be understood or appreciated.  Songs which I suspect had important messages were lost by the straining audience.

We have finally triumphed over the tyranny of smoking in public.  Let’s go the next step and outlaw artificially enhanced music.  Come to the real opera to feel the difference!

Dandelion Wine

    Photos by Leon Chuck

The St. Paul’s Players of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church presented a play reading of “Dandelion Wine” by Ray Bradbury (adapted from the novel for Reader’s Theater Scott H. Sroney) on Feb. 11. “Dandelion Wine is an unforgettable and moving evocation of a real time, a real place and a real American boy reaching out to his boundless, uncertain future. The season is summer, the place is Green Town, Illinois, and the year is 1928.

The players were “the boys”: Noah Berry and Harrison Davis; “the women”: Jean Berry, Dana Cunningham and Marty Ebeling, and “the men”: Paul Schweizer, Paul Fenwick and Chuck Larkowski. The producer and director was Adele Good.

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February 13, 2007
Volume 16, No. 7

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