Stepping out onto a limb with YaleDancers

By Siobhan Peiffer

No one expects a YaleDancers show to be consistent. Variety is as important to the group as strong dancing, so musical transitions from Beethoven to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy are all in an evening's work. But in the best recitals, each piece's internal harmony keeps the patchwork quilt from showcasing variety for variety's sake. Such coherence is not always evident in this weekend's show. The dancing is as strong as ever, and there are plenty of choreographic gems. But many of the pieces feel too long, and too many choreographers seem to operate on the assumption that if one idea is good, then any other is just as worthy of serious consideration--in a single piece.

The resulting hodgepodge effect is a bit odd because this spring's concert is, if anything, more uniform than past shows. A kind of YaleDancers formula emerges: create a piece that equally employs three to seven dancers with modern or jazz-based technique. The only solos are for two graduating seniors, Tanya Greenberg, CC '98, and Rebecca Thomas, MC '98, and both are insubstantial. And the only balletic piece on the program, choreographed by Alyssa Rapp, DC '00, is set to a Chopin nocturne, which seems silly for a group as adventurous as the YaleDancers and a choreographer as talented as Rapp; there's plenty of music that doesn't invite loaded comparisons.

The choreographers who stand out, then, are those who can move big groups around the stage in interesting and effective ways. Undergraduate aspirants had a model at hand this spring: guest choreographer Betsy Ceva, whose "Nora's Road" opens the second half and shows how it's done. A vague narrative drives Ceva's piece, providing urgency and lyricism without any simplistic closure. Ceva also divides her dancers, so that at times she can use four soloists in front of a corps: the structure opens up Mary's possibilities, though it's easy to see why it's not employed more often in a troupe so intent on cooperation and support. The shifting patterns of "Nora's Road" use its 12 dancers to maximum effect.

Among the undergraduates, Greenberg's "iter" shows the same assured management of its cast. Greenberg's choreography is sometimes confrontational and hard-edged, but here her combinations are softer and more organic. Dancers bend and grow toward what seem like distant light sources (here and elsewhere, lighting designer Drew Struthers does a superb job), then reconnect with the floor. It's a muted but affecting piece.

Greenberg is graduating, but there are some underclassmen just as talented at making dances. Liz Vacco, SM '00, opens the show with her "Recess," a light but endlessly inventive number for a group of dancers in shorts and T-shirts. Her steps are symmetrical enough to seem inevitable, but with the right idiosyncratic twists--a sudden fall, a group of three dancers manipulating each other's legs. And Emily Levin's, BR '98, "Vortex" works surprisingly well--though it's no shock that Nine Inch Nails and red spandex yield forceful steps; the piece is also genuinely moving. Levin is more technically demanding than most other YaleDancers choreographers, and her cast rises to the challenge.

Other group numbers need more shape to be as clever or touching as they want to be. "Swinging in Style," choreographed by Rapp, relies too heavily on its dancers' personalities; they shouldn't be trying this hard to have fun. Rapp's more modest duet with Levin, "Groove Me," is more successful in its sexy wit. "Journeys," created by Cicily Daniels, DC '98, has some of the best choreography of the evening, but also includes some steps that seem lifted from an entirely different dance. Some imprecise dancing doesn't help the piece hang together.

YaleDancers remain full of talent; worth the price of admission alone is Jessica Hirota's, BK '00, performance in "Recess," or Levin's lyricism in "Journeys," or Dustin Brown's, JE '00, virtuoso turns, or Kirsten Leonard's, TD '00, all-over technical assurance. And the dances that work, even for a few minutes, are genuinely magical. Perhaps the uneven moments seem all the more frustrating because this group has shown that it is capable of perfection.

Back to A&E...