White Bird
presents aero/betty Aerial Dance Theater
Portland
Community College, Sylvania Campus, 12000 SW 49th Ave.,
8 pm Thursday-Saturday,
April 6-8; 2 pm Sunday, April 9
224-8499
$10-$20
Aero/betty is
Daniel Addy, Michael Barber, Tracy Broyles, Jae Diego, Shalene
Eve, William Holden Jr., Suzanne Kenney, Stephanie Lanckton,
Cayleb Long, David Oury, Shaun Simpson and Rhonda Summer.
Aero/betty is one of only a handful of aerial dance troupes
in the United States. Others include Philadelphia's Trapezius
Aerial Dance Company, San Francisco's Capacitor, AirDance
New Mexico and Hope College's Aerial Dance Company in Michigan.
DANCE REVIEWSince its inception in 1996, aero/betty has
performed its strenuous, breathtaking mix of gymnastic dance
and trapeze acrobatics in uncommon local venues: suspended
from trees above a fern grotto in Sherwood, for example,
and among the concrete industrial buildings of the Portland
Shipyards. While the unconventional sites capitalized on
the company's risky movements, the troupe's latest performance
proves aero/betty's astonishing aerial feats can fly in
any space, even the comparatively refined concert auditorium
at Portland Community College's Sylvania campus.
The evening's program of six works--choreographed by artistic
directors Michael Barber and Suzanne Kenney, with company
members Jae Diego, William Holden Jr., Rhonda Summer and
Daniel Addy--reveals the 12-member company in incredible
form. Technically strong and conceptually sophisticated,
the pieces move from lush, poetic pendulum sweeps and elegant
sensuality to stark, uncomfortable imagery, aided by the
haunting musical compositions of onstage trio walk DON'T
WALK (guitarist Tim Ellis, percussionist Jeroan Van Aichen
and violinist Aaron Meyer), and pianist Dan Caruthers and
soprano Dorothy Sermol.
Jae Diego's opening piece, Surfacing, exemplifies
the care this company takes with lighting design, shifting
from a deep red sunrise to crystal blue skies, while the
musical score ranges from buoyant elation to the haunting
echoes of a desert prairie. The piece begins with a lonely,
grounded image: ballerina Shalene Eve moving in slow, classical
lines. Diego's choreography fills the space quietly at first,
reflecting her fluid mood-crafting sensibilities. As dancers
emerge above the stage (and, in one magic moment, above
the audience), the solo movement becomes a stream that builds
in force along with the music. Three women simultaneously
sail and tumble on trapezes crossing above the stage, while
four male dancers sweep the floor with elegant arcs. Though
the movement is abstract, the piece achieves what its title
suggests, evoking the impression of breaching the ocean's
surface.
Where Diego's work is euphoric, Michael Barber's 7th
Period, the best on this overall excellent program,
is uncompromisingly stark, mirroring its dark score. Punctuated
by spotlights and blackouts that freeze potent images, the
piece's effect is cinematic, intriguing both visually and
emotionally. The ominous opening image is full-impact: Shaun
Simpson sits in a filled bathtub grasping the feet of Barber,
who dangles above him on trapeze, struggling to escape.
Danced by five men (Barber, Simpson, Daniel Addy, Cayleb
Long and David Oury), the piece is infused with violent
images, such as a locker room scene, in which Barber is
tormented by the others, and a crucifixion scene in which
a dancer's head and arms are suspended from straps. Unlike
the graceful trapeze work of the evening's other works,
Barber uses aerial props dramatically--his dancers collide
and engage in midair battle--and the piece is dense with
complex gestures: The dancers manipulate their own bodies
with aggressive force, shield their eyes, wash themselves,
draw cryptic lines with their hands. In a final jarring
scene, three dancers, hanging precariously from one arm,
spin above the black stage, then drop into three bathtubs
filled with water.
Contrasting the nightmare of 7th Period is Suzanne
Kenney and William Holden Jr.'s love story, Les Chemins
de l'Amour. Their duet, spanning four movements entitled
"Search," "Finding," "Loss" and "Reuniting," is set to the
gorgeous strains of Rachmaninoff, Piazzolla and Poulenc
(played by pianist Caruthers) and Sermol's ethereal soprano.
Kenney first appears as an angelic specter hovering above
the stage, suspended in long folds of white silk that cascade
to the floor. Holden climbs the silk to reach her. The two
then sail around each other in luscious swings, finally
intertwining in a sensual aerial ballet. The piece ends
with the two dancers, each holding a rope of silk, spinning
in a dazzling midair waltz.
The three other works on the program--Summer's Solaris,
Barber's Waltz and Addy's Dark Carnival--are
equally indicative of this company's expressive range. Solaris'
silk-clad dancers run to catch trapezes and vault toward
the audience, filling the air with expansive, lyrical motion.
In Waltz, the dancers enact a sanguine yesteryear:
sporting suspenders, bow ties, flouncy summer dresses and
colorful purses, they flirt, gossip, seduce and reject,
using the trapezes as swings. And the program's foreboding,
dimly lit final work, Dark Carnival, evokes the dusky
underbelly and mysticism of carnival life, Addy's use of
enigmatic gesture and physical restraint giving weight and
depth to his shadowy world. At the piece's end, the dancers
twirl in mesmerizing aerial circles, unfurling streamers
below them, casting a spell that lingers.
The sole drawback of this innovative program was its length--nearly
three hours, during which many audience members left. Yet
even if it surpasses some attention spans, the originality
and variety of work displayed by the company serves as impressive
evidence of aero/betty's ability to generate stimulating
work in a hybrid dance form.
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Willamette Week | originally
published April 5,
2000
|
