Good Dance in Tough Times
Reviewed by Elsa Johnson & Victor Lucas
We drove down to Akron on Saturday night to see Neos Dance Theatre, the first of four companies performing FREE and out of doors in this year’s Heinz Poll Summer Dance Festival.
We’ve been enthusiastic about the promise of Neos ever since we first saw them at CPT in 2005, but it’s a long, rough road for dance companies. Artistic Director Bobby Wesner seems to us like a promising emerging choreographer and he and his wife and company co-founder Brooke Wesner are proficient, charming performers of ballet and contemporary dance. But could the Wesners gather and hold other good dancers around them? Could they fund-raise in tough economic times?
The news on Saturday night was better than expected. Not only did Bobby Wesner show his growth as a choreographer with some solid repertoire and a very nice new group piece, but the concert opened with a dance whose pedigree was good news all on its own.
On the face of it, Lickety-Split is a nice curtain raiser of a dance, 3 men and 3 women in casual clothes dancing to the music of singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart. That music and the first couple’s gestural badinage set the tone for the piece, quick and witty, sexy and flirtatious.
Lickety-Split gave Bobby Wesner a solo that shows off his aptitude for quick, supple movement and Brooke Wesner found opportunities to show her very high and apparently effortless extensions. All 6 dancers exceeded expectations in partnering that was probably harder than it looked.
Lickety-Split had its company premiere with Neos in 2011 but was originally created and premiered on the prestigious Hubbard Street Dance Chicago by HSDC’s first Resident Choreographer, Alejandro Cerrudo. We were – no exaggeration – thrilled that Neos could assemble the funding and the permission to perform such a high profile, current work – and that Neos would perform it so well.
Next on the program, excerpts of Bobby Wesner’s 2010 Dracula piece, Count…The Legend of Dracula. We weren’t expecting much from excerpts-from-a-story-ballet, but we were pleasantly surprised. Slight and sweet though he is, Wesner choreographed interactions that made his Dracula seem inhumanly powerful and a dangerous predator. Brooke Wesner showed the development of her character, Lucy, from the vampire’s victim into a dangerous predator in her own right. Katie Edmonds and David Odenwelder performed the part of the good couple, but it seemed a foregone conclusion that evil would prove overwhelmingly powerful.
That Neos could stage such a compelling treatment of the Dracula legend despite minimal sets and program notes speaks to the effective Choreography and Costume Design by Robert Wesner, Lighting Design by Dennis Dugan, and pitch-perfect performances throughout.
Neos next presented an excerpt from another well-known story ballet, Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas De Deux, using Sergei Prokofiev’s evocative score. Tyler Schnese and Jennifer Safonovs were cast as the star-crossed lovers. We found their performance sweet and credible, especially Safonov’s convincingly youthful Juliet.
Selections of Creole Cinderella (2012) choreographed by Neos company member Mary Elizabeth Fenn was another bunch of excerpts-from-a-story-ballet. The premiere performance at the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield sounds like it must have been fun with live music by the Ribticklers Dixieland Band. In Saturday’s performance the Step Sisters — danced by Anna Trumbo and Brooke – and Step Mother — danced by Odenwelder – provided the expected humorous bad behavior.
We laughed but we were never fully on board. Which of the many meanings of “Creole” was Fenn using? Was she having fun with Creole culture or making fun of it? Maybe we needed to see the complete ballet.
Saturday’s concert ended with Bobby Wesner’s new ensemble piece, Homage. A program note quotes the Persian poet Rumi’s advice to dance in the midst of trouble and pain. Wesner dedicates Homage to “the people of Northeastern Ohio that have carved a path for dance.” So much to acknowledge that it is indeed a long, rough road for dance companies.
In its subject matter, Homage reminds us of Inlet’s Beauty in Tension (2010) with an important difference. Tension depicts the personal stresses of the ongoing financial crisis that began in 2008; Homage alludes to trouble and pain but is more about the consolation of art.
In a recurring theme in Homage, individual dancers abruptly fall but rise up immediately in beautiful, flowering shapes. The falls are beautiful in themselves, stylized and apparently boneless. The music for Homage, a selection of pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos — including the beautiful Bachiana Brasileiras No. 5 for soprano and 8 cellos – provides considerable consolation all on its own.
Neos performed at Hardesty Park on 7/27 and 7/28/12. Go to http://www.akrondancefestival.org to learn about more FREE performances thru 8/18/12. [Photos by Dale Dong.]
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.