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To April 14. 8pm. Premier Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W. $25-$35/$20-$25 for students and seniors. 416-973-4000. www.balletcreole.org.
Watching a performance of the Ballet Creole is an electrifying
experience that will have your heart racing, your stomach lurching and
your head spinning in reaction to the pure energy and astonishing force
of the troupe.
In this, the 17th year of the Ballet Creole, the company continues
to fuse Caribbean and African dance with ballet and modern dance. The
current program consists of four short pieces, beginning with the
premiere of the title piece by internationally renowned Alvin Ailey
choreographer Milton Myers. Divided into five sections, Contemporary Voices is set to music by the West African composer Famoudou Konaté.
With the sparse white lighting, a plain black-painted set and simple
black-and-white costumes, the traditional rhythms driving the movements
of the dancers are entirely the focus. Through this fusion of sound and
motion, we see a collision of cultures resolve itself into melodious
accord.
Suspended: Desire in Time, choreographed by Gabby Kamino, uses music by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
for a sensuous, heart-wrenching duet by Sharon Harvey and Kevin Ormsby.
Kamino’s other piece, St. Elsewhere (actually a collaboration with
Colleen Freeman), is set to a trio of tunes by Gnarls Barkley. Apart
from the fact that some of us were wishing to never hear “Crazy”
again, this was the most accessible and whimsical portion of the
evening, with the dancers in shorts and superhero t-shirts looking
truly happy during their strenuous display of endurance and talent.
Ballet Creole’s founder and artistic director, Patrick Parson, dedicated his piece, Ritual, to Katherine Dunham,
the pioneer of African-American modern dance and the originator of the
Dunham technique, who died at age 96 last year. Dressed in flowing
white, the dancers explore dance as an essential element of ceremony
and custom. Ritual starts slowly but — fuelled by the live percussion
that accompanies it — builds into a frenzy of emotion. This beautiful
dance is a fitting tribute to the woman once known as “dance’s
Katherine the Great.”