Best Leap Of Faith
Basically Balanchine, Earth Dances
Ballet Arizona
STAFF PICK: Ballet Arizona's Basically Balanchine
concert last fall gave the Old Pueblo a short course in 20th-century
ballet. The three historic Balanchine dances on the program, "Serenade,"
"Four Temperaments" and "Rubies," charted
Mr. B's transition from the old-school Russian tradition to innovative
American neo-classicism. Ballet Arizona sometimes plays it too
safe in Tucson, relying overmuch on old-fashioned romantic ballets,
and reserving its more interesting work for its home base in Phoenix.
Balanchine was a bracing antidote to the 19th century,
and its good reception among Tucson audiences is a sign that we're
ready for more.
Earth Dances, a March concert, was another interesting
combination of works, particularly "Land's Edge," a
piece commissioned from Pilobolus. In this strange conjuring of
the land of the departed, Ballet Arizona's Bonnie Rich danced
the most persuasive dead woman we've ever seen on a stage. "Murmurs
of the Stream," Michael Uthoff's homage to his native Chile,
was a collection of 11 dances. Set to Andean folk tunes, it was
rousing and subtly subversive. We hope to see more such performances--and
enthusiastic audiences--this coming year.
