Neos Brings It — Again
Cleveland dance audiences know Bobby and Brooke Wesner through their dancing with Verb Ballets. Back in 2005 the Wesners’ brainchild, Neos Dance Theatre, made a promising debut at Cleveland Public Theater and then dropped out of sight.
Last Thursday Neos was back in Cleveland at Cain Park. We went and saw that the news was better than we could have anticipated. The Wesners continue to dance very well and they’ve gathered some excellent dancers around them. Bobby continues to have interesting choreographic ideas and Neos presented convincing versions of Don Quixote Pas de Deux and 2 Heinz Poll dances.
See the same program FREE in Akron this weekend.
Jennifer Safonovs and Bobby Wesner opened the program with an excellent account of the obstacle course known as Don Quixote Pas de Deux, radiating supreme confidence and technical mastery despite the fact that they were the 2nd cast, stepping in to cover for an illness announced at curtain.
Don Q Pas de Deux has been a repertory staple in the U.S.A. since the 1960’s and dancers including Gelsey Kirkland, Cynthia Harvey, Mikhail Barishnikov and Rudolph Nureyev have left some big footprints. We had admired Ms Safonovs in classical roles before, her strong pointes, secure turns, and overall artistry, but we hadn’t seen that much of Mr. Wesner as a classical dancer. His grande pirouettes were not all we might have wished, but otherwise he exceeded expectations at every turn.
The only disappointment in Thursday’s opening number was the lighting. Maybe Evans Amphitheater wasn’t dark enough at 8PM, but Lighting Designer Dennis Dugan — who outdid even himself reproducing Thomas Skelton’s light plots for the Poll dances – took an apparent pass on Don Q Pas de Deux.
Poll’s Summer Night (1974) has perhaps never looked so elegant and effortless as it did on Thursday night, when the double pas de deux was danced by the Wesners and the Safonovs. Poll’s neoclassical choreography provided a showcase for the beautiful pointes and extensions of the women. The men acquitted themselves notably well on the spectrum of lifts and carries that Poll’s choreography demanded. Summer Night reminded us that we have seen too little of Brooke Wesner and Jurijs Safonovs for too long.
Elegant costumes, reconstructed by Janet Bolick after the original designs of Christina Giannini, and atmospheric lighting, reconstructed by Dugan after the original design by Skelton, added immeasurably to Thursday’s performance of Summer Night.
Poll’s Eight By Benny Goodman features the ever-popular music and sumptuous lighting and costume plots after Skelton and Giannini. Costumer Bolick distinguished herself in her reconstruction of the to-die-for black gown in My Old Flame and the little pink tea dress with sweetheart collar and pill box hat.
There’s dancing in Eight By Benny Goodman, too, and Poll’s personal history as a World War II era Swing Kid left him eminently qualified to rework these old swing standards for ballet dancers, alternately wringing the heartache out of one number and sending up the next.
Wesner’s choreography and the Neos ensemble were represented – indifferently to our eyes and ears – by Cities of the Future, a 12-minute preview set to thumping neo disco music by Infected Mushroom and Tool.
Far easier on our eyes and ears was Wesner’s 18-minute Nuevo set to vocals by contemporary Mexican and Brazilian singer / songwriters. We’d describe the dancing as neobaroque rather than neoclassical, with many flamenco-like flourishes at the end of steps and phrases. Wesner’s highly original choreography looked good on the dancers. If unison seemed to present a problem and Wesner’s solo was the only one of the 6 sections that completely fulfilled its promise, give the dancers time to grow into the choreography.
Neos Dance Theater deserves to be seen by anyone who loves ballet, is interested in the past and future of ballet, and has suffered from the dearth of it in Cleveland. We saw them at Cain Park on Thur 7/22/10 but you can see the same program described above…
FREE at 8:45PM this Fri & Sat 8/6 & 8/7 at Goodyear Metro Park in Akron as part of the Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival. Kids program starts at 7:45PM. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. Plan to drive to the park’s main entrance at 2077 Newton St, Akron OH 44305, between Darrow Rd and Brittain Rd. On the web go to http://www.AkronDanceFestival.org
Neos has an extensive, eclectic 2010 – 2011 season planned. Unfortunately it’s mostly in Mansfield. Learn more at http://www.mansfieldtickets.com
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas. Elsa and Vic are both longtime Clevelanders. Elsa is a landscape designer. She studied ballet as an avocation for 2 decades. Vic has been a dancer and dance teacher for most of his working life, performing in a number of dance companies in NYC and Cleveland. They write about dance as a way to learn more and keep in touch with the dance community. E-mail them at vicnelsaATearthlink.net.