In unison, Yaledancers make leap to the Palace

Missed Ben Harper at the Palace last year? Never made it to the Vagina Monologues in February? There's still time to take in a quality show at one of New Haven's oldest venues this weekend. On Fri., Mar. 30 and Sat., Mar. 31, the Yaledancers Spring Concert 2001 makes its first foray into a truly professional dance space, and provides a series of performances to match.

This year's Spring Concert is notable for more than its emphasis on experimental choreography. For starters, the Yaledancers have—through their own fundraising efforts—secured a venue that provides stadium-style seating and an actual stage, a necessity for any real dance performance. A single-level audience space like the ones on campus makes it difficult to see or appreciate any depth or subtlety of movement. For one number, they have also engaged the talents of a guest choreographer: Steve Rooks, a performer who has danced with both the Alvin Ailey Repertory and Martha Graham's company.

Yale Dancers: Fri., Mar. 30 and Sat., 31 at 8 p.m., Palace Theatre ELIZABETH ARCHIBALD/YH

The real reason to make the journey over to College Street, however, is the completeness of the show, from well-chosen costumes and music to some original student choreography and a dance corps able to perform seemingly as one body at its best moments. The show's opening number, "Take Off with Me," is a high-energy take on the musical Fosse! that strikes a playful and self-consciously sexy note, complete with fishnet tights, bustier tops, and a generous helping of skin and high kicks. Choreographed by Monique Mendez, SY '01, and Alexis Carra, MC '02, the dancers move through a succession of musical moods—from "Mine Herr" (from the musical Cabaret) to the swing favorite "Sing! Sing! Sing!" The choreography changes accordingly, from a teasingly restrained take on the cowboy swagger to a stripped-down (literally) and deadpan line of undulating chair dancers to a final burst of kinetic energy at the end of the number.

From high showbiz drama and energy, the show launches into "Footprints," an intense and spiritual narrative interspersed with a slide montage depicting the African-American experience, from early 19th-century daguerreotypes to a Jacob Lawrence painting and Gordon Parks' famous "American Gothic" photograph. Choreographed by Ibijoke Akinola, MC '03, and Elshaday Gebreyes, PC '02, and set to the music of Sade and Tracy Chapman, the number balances the show's opening with its restraint. The dance is, in part, a meditation on a collective experience, and the corps dances together smoothly in a unified pulse. Yet the choreography here is less interesting than some of the show's other pieces, relying too heavily on static sequences of symmetrical movements in unison and not enough on the transfixing soloists, particularly Akinola, whose body literally shudders with the rhythm pulsing through it.

The show really reaches its potential after the intermission, however. The short piece choreographed by Roots is a tightly paced series of tableaux driven by the back-and-forth energy of mechnical, controlled movements isolating arms, legs, and torsos and kinetic spurts of energy erupting diagonally and unpredictably across the stage. Carra in particular displays a bodily control that combines crisp movement with the impression that her arms and legs are just barely within her control—her energy is natural, not forced.

Roots may have put in time as a member of the Martha Graham and Ailey Repertory companies, but it is the choreography of Sidra Bell, SY '01, on the show's final piece, "Pulse," that displays an originality and unpredictable intensity most reminiscent of Ailey and other truly innovative modern choreographers. The number holds the entire show together, using the strength of the dancers in the widest range possible. The opening sees a subtle, repetitious sequence of movements that are both mechanical and flowing. The piece maintains a constant energy throughout, but modulates the pace, mood, and expression of the dancers to create a narrative that shifts smoothly from jazzy and sensual to frantic and athletic, ending in a flurry to a cacophony of African drums.

Bell's choreography is unique for its high-intensity energy yet understated movement. Dancers momentarily explode from the wings only to be driven out by soloists; pairs and soloists circle each other in sequences that are acrobatic and aggressive. Tara Sugiyama, SY '02, and Gianna Shepard, DC '02, have mastered an effortless grace that is like watching pure motion. Most importantly, the dancers create dialogues with the space of the stage and their bodies, rarely making direct eye contact or using exaggerated mirroring or staging. While such a challenging and complex number reveals some of the weaker dancers and group moments in greater relief, it ends the show with a display of what truly inventive choreography is capable of when given real talent to express it.

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