"...the greatest
performance of the summer."
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Mark Morris has returned to The Pillow
in the 2001 season, putting on the greatest performance of the summer.
He brings with him a varied collection of dances that show his range and
genius.
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Mark Morris Dance Group performing Lucky Charms during their 20th anniversary
performances at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, July 24-29 Photo by: Marc
Royce |
July 27, 2001 performance
reviewed by Connell McGrath
Morris choreographs his work by
beginning with a piece of music, and creatiung movement from what he hears.
Typically, his dances are tightly in-sync with the music, which they express
with sublime fluency.
The evening began with the very funny and
lively Canonic 3/4 Studies (1982) to piano waltzes by various composers
played in situ by Donald Berman. The dancers wore black tights
and white t-shirts and did a variety of spoofs on the classical ballet
genre. Although the piece was amusing and full of not-so-subtle distortions
of ballet, it was neither vindictive, nor nasty.
'Irreverent' was the word that kept coming
to mind, but there was depth and enough abstraction to allow each watcher
to imagine his or her own meaning. This is an early work for Morris
- he created his Group in 1980 at the age of 24 - but it has an insight
and maturity of vision, and is still fresh today. Studies
was a reaction to Morris’s early ballet career which he left because, among
other reasons, he grew tired of pretending to be in love with ballarinas.
Studies was followed by Beautiful
Day (1992) to music that Morris describes as “faux Bach”. Danced
by Joe Bowie and Michelle Yard, this is a serious piece that is remarkable
for many reasons, not least of which is the parity between the two performers.
It may be about romantic love, but then
again maybe not, but it doesn’t fall into the gender role-trap of most
duet pieces. The man isn’t doing strong, masculine things such as
lifting the woman WAY over his head, the woman isn’t flighty and graceful.
They are both all things, and this was a noticable difference from similar
duets by other choreographers.
Lucky Charms (1994) is an hilarious,
strange piece danced by 12 dancers to Jacques Ibert’s Divertissement.
Dancers in sequin tops and white spandex doing mostly rah -rah cheerleading
type routines, it was good for a thoughtful and confusing laugh.
The slow movements had a very different feel to them, with tableaux and
murky, animalistic sequences.
At one point in a slow movement, the lighting
goes dark green, and one dancer rolls others off the stage and pretends
to eat something found underneath them. What is that? Morris
doesn’t try to reconcile everything, which is both interesting and confusing
to watchers.
The Office and Grand Duo
(both to live music), the two final pieces, were brilliant. Morris
dances in The Office, along with six others, to Dvorak’s 5 Bagatelles
for String Trio and Harmonium. The piece was originally
commissioned by Zivili, a troupe committed to “Dances and Music of the
Southern Slavic Nations.” Morris grew up in the midwest dancing Slavic
folk dance, and he returns here to some of its forms and styles.
Grand Duo (1993) is to the music
of Lou Garrison, danced by a large ensemble. They begin in Egyptian
style costumes, male torsos exposed, doing powerful, tribalistic movements
to Garrison’s very fine music. Gradually, the performers change costumes,
getting even further undressed, and the movements become more modern in
style. Like many of Morris’s works, there are strange passages that
don’t seem to relate to each other, and the audience is challenged to provide
their own meaning.
Grand Duo takes this to the extreme,
and at points crosses the line. By the end of the piece, there is
a mysterious reconciliation of the parts due to a return to some of the
forms seen earlier in the piece. Overall, Morris’s performance is
a high point in the season at the Pillow.
Mark Morris Dance Group on the web: http://www.mmdg.org/www.jacobspillow.org
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