About the Company :: Reviews
Ariel Dance Theatre In Concert
Ariel finds creative cohesion amid a variety of elements
Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman, December 10, 2001
I glimpsed a sliver of the future during "Ariel Dance Theatre in Concert" on Friday at Ducloux Hall. This 90-minute show consolidated the inventive dance-making of Andrea Ariel, the art music of Austin composers Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski and the first-class operatic soprano of Cheryl Parrish, along with the creative or interpretive efforts of dancers, musicians, designers and visual artists. Together, they advanced toward something remarkable.
Spectators lined two long walls of a room usually employed as a rehearsal hall. Hanging metallic thorns crowned the open expanse while a circular strip of fabric displayed four patches of moody videos. Dignified and cool, but wearing an awed expression, Parrish entered to sing alone, her glorious voice shaded and electronically echoed. Next, coiled like an ocelot, Ariel danced, shaking and twirling to a rattling score before releasing her body -- and her taut look -- with more liberated moves.
The discovery of freedom seemed to animate each section of the show. This theme was emphasized never more graphically than in "The Patriot Priest." Dancer Jim Chappeleaux, dressed in vestment-like garb, first paced inside a lighted rectangle, then whirled dervishly. Too bad Chappeleaux did not invest this dance with sufficient vigor or precision. (He proved more than capable in later scenes.)
"Boxed-In" began with two dancers wearing cardboard cubes on their heads and moving mechanically. Later, an ensemble of six dancers bounded freely to a driving beat, limbs rocketing in every direction, bodies zipping and zig-zagging across the space. Except when directly interacting or slowing down, which interrupted the momentum, the dancers assembled a dazzling matrix of movement. This is Ariel at her best. The second act was given over to "The Silent Circle." Dressed flamboyantly, six dancers moved deliberately, then ecstatically, expanding and contracting their circle. Parrish walked around and among them while warbling the Reynolds/Stopschinski score, a bewitching combination of jazzy impressionism and rhythm-driven music. While few of the individual moves or combinations appeared completely fresh, the artistic whole -- lights, projections, music, motions, costumes, everything working together -- seemed entirely unfamiliar.
Something in it refused to be specific, and instead became evocative, intelligent, but also intuitive. (There was even a dollop of kitsch, as the performance briefly resembled the temple dances of old costume epics like "The Egyptian.") No, there was something here that I couldn't quite put my finger on, something that blended the pre-modern, modern and post-modern into a unified work of art. Considering each of its elements, "Ariel Dance Theatre in Concert" should not have worked, but it did on Friday. And it gave me hope for the future of the arts in Austin.
BYLINE: Michael Barnes American-Statesman Arts Critic
DATE: December 10, 2001
PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman (TX)
SECTION: Lifestyle
Dance review Copyright (c) 2001 Austin American-Statesman
photo by Beverly Barrett
