Blurring the Lines.

THE NZAMBA LELA, an Aka Pygmy troupe, joins Alonzo King and his company for a world premiere

ALONZO KING'S HOUSE IN SAN Francisco is empty, except for a couple of chairs (he is remodeling) and a huge portrait of the late Paramahansa Yogananda, whose The Autobiography Of a Yogi spread Eastern knowledge to the West almost sixty years ago. It's a book that, King says, "changed my life." [] Choreographer King, his Modigliani-shaped face these days framed by a short beard beginning to show flecks of gray, is something of a philosopher himself. Whatever the specific intent of his pieces, they are buttressed by his belief that beyond appearances exists an order that is real even though we may not be able to access it, since, as he says, "We have lost the key." For King, dancing is a sacred act; it creates "deep communication" and facilitates "receiving information," much the way early dance rituals did. Dance, he believes, can provide glimpses "of how life can be lived."

With People of the Forest, which premieres in October at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville, Florida, and then proceeds on a six-week cross-country tour, King is stepping into what may look to us like new terrain. But to him it is both familiar and fresh. The work is the result of a collaboration between LINES Ballet, which King founded in 1982, and sixteen musicians and dancers of Nzamba Lela, a group of Pygmy artists from the Aka clan of the Mbuti tribe that reside in the Central African Republic. He will have to merge the different cultures and ways of being of the twenty-eight artists of these combined companies. This is one of the biggest ensembles he has worked with; until very recently, he assembled most of his pieces serially, in units of two and three dancers each.

If he had any concerns in July about what lay ahead, it didn't show. Excitement and warmth colored King's reflection of his encounter with the Aka artists two years ago (see "Dancers' Rep Goes the Extra Mile," Dance Magazine, September, page 72). He was overwhelmed by "the beauty and the naturalness of these people." What also struck him as sad was that "everyone wanted to be Western. The indigenous hairstyles and looks are so beautiful, but you see very few people do them. I guess they are considered backward."

King knew the Akas' music, having loved it since 1975, when he set an ensemble piece, Zulu, to music of the Pygmies. And in 1991, he created the solo Songs of the Aka for dancer Sylvia Martins to a mix of Pygmy and gospel music. So when Nancy Martino, performing arts curator of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, approached King about the possibility of working with the Aka, he was thrilled. (Martino had heard Nzamba Lela perform at a MASA conference and festival, where African artists are given international exposure, in Abidjan in February 1999.) Still, encountering in person what he had heard only on tape moved him deeply:

"I was so at ease with them because I recognized what they were doing. When Westerners encounter groups like the Nzamba Lela, they sometimes feel uncomfortable because they are so natural that, in a way, they are guileless. They are who they are, and that makes people uncomfortable. They also may not come out to entertain you or try to win you over. What they do is have a personal dialogue with themselves, like a musician trying to get into a sound or dancers who step into a feeling, a vibration to transport themselves into another world."

The meeting, short as it was (just a few hours, since a planned second trip did not materialize for various reasons), was not without poignancy. King had to choose the artists he wanted to bring to this country. "That was awkward," he admits. "Some didn't want to come; some couldn't because they might have families; others might get sick. So I just told Mr. [Barthelemy] Etoumba [the company's choreographer] which dancers I thought were exceptional. But that was two years ago; it doesn't mean that those are the people I will get. But I know it's going to be beautiful."

Audiences may not always understand what doors King is trying to open, but they do respond to his sonorous language. Like few others, King is fusing ballet's orderly geometry--he calls ballet a science--with the freedom and individuality associated with modern dance. The company attracts modern-dance watchers who wouldn't be caught dead at a ballet, as well as ballet-goers hungry for fresh takes on a well-loved tradition.

KING HIRES INDIVIDUALS, MORE THAN dancers, even though his company today is technically the best it has ever been. Maurya Kerr, who danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet, moved south in 1994 because, she says, echoing what LINES dancers frequently affirm, "This is right for me. I get to be who I am." His artists, particularly the women, stay for years, many of them well into their 40s.

King's major attraction for dancers is his refusal to shape them into an image of what he thinks they should be. Quite the opposite. He forces them to become more of who they are by putting what he calls "obstacles" in front of them that they have to work their way through. Rehearsals are lab situations in which dancers, under King's constant prodding, investigate movement, ideas, relationships, energy. "I don't want dancers who are imitating, who want to be like this dancer or that, or who think that they are `executing' something," he says. "I want them to discover their own voice. More than technical ability, they have to have receptivity to ideas, because it [the choreography and the dancing] is about ideas. The other key thing is willingness and will. When I see a dancer who wants it, I know anything is possible."

Because of his sensitivity and skill in drawing on an artist's unseen resources, King was in heavy demand as a coach early in his career. World-class performers coming through San Francisco asked to work with him. These days he uses this ability to help "dancers find their own song" in his choreographic process and as a teacher all over the United States. Mostly, he gives those workshops in college or school environments, but in June, Dance Advance, the regranting program of the Pew Charitable Trust in Philadelphia, sponsored a four-day workshop for young, primarily ballet choreographers who had asked to work with him.

Pennsylvania Ballet corps member Matthew Neenan has set three ballets on his home company, and last year, he and other company members started Phrenic Ballet. Neenan is one of the choreographers who enrolled in the workshop, and he was enthusiastic about the experience. "Alonzo is wonderful because of his words of inspiration. He believes in the importance of simplifying, and believing in yourself. He also is that rare combination of being spiritual and scientific at the same time. It's your job, he says, to make science beautiful and human."

While he has thought deeply about People's structural and thematic possibilities, and has listened to the music the company has sent, King was not ready to commit to the exact nature of the collaboration in June. Like much of King's other work, it will examine concepts of ritual. He has written: "I repeatedly return to folk forms from all cultures to uncover the original ideas of humanity that inform all technique, as ideas are primary and technique simply facilitates those ideas." Much as he loves the individuality he finds in his dancers, ultimately, he says, "What we are is consciousness.

"I do know that I want to try everything, to see what's possible because I want this to be a true collaboration," King explains. "I want to see what things can merge or spill over because everyone will have to be honored. I want to try not to divide into `us' and `them,' this section and that section." His major worry is one that plagues every American choreographer: time. "We only have two weeks. So my chief concern is not the dancing, but how do we get together as humans? How do we learn to trust each other, and laugh and get comfortable so that we can try new things?"

Schedule for the Nzamba Lela

September 14
Nzamba Lela flies from Bangui to Paris.

September 15
Nzamba Lela and Alonzo King's LINES Ballet
arrive at White Oak studios in
Jacksonville, Florida.

September 16
Rehearsals begin.

September 30
Company travels to Gainesville for the premiere.

People of the Forest tour schedule

October 5-6
World premiere,
Phillips Center for the Performing Arts,
University of Florida, Gainesville

October 12
Flynn Center, Burlington, Vermont

October 14
Victoria Theater,
New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark

October 19-28
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

November 2-3
University of Washington, Seattle

November 7
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, Oregon

November 18
Bass Concert Hall, University of Texas, Austin
Alonzo King's LINES Ballet
50 Oak Street, 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
415/863-3360
415/863-1180 fax
www.linesballet.org
[e-mail]

Artistic Director: Alonzo King
Associate Artistic Director:
Robert Rosenwasser
Ballet Master: Arturo Fernandez
Ballet Mistress: Debra Rose
Executive Director: Pam Hagen

ALONZO KING'S LINES BALLET was founded in 1982, and the affiliated San Francisco Dance Center opened its doors in 1989. LINES's repertoire consists entirely of King's works. Recent works include The Heart's Natural Inclination, Following the Subtle Current Upstream, Soothing the Enemy, Riley, and Tango.

King received the NEA Choreographer's Fellowship and the 1999 Irvine Fellowship in Dance. He has choreographed for the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Alvin Alley American Dance Theater. His works appear in the repertoires of Frankfurt Ballet, Dresden Ballet, BalletMet, Washington Ballet, and Hong Kong Ballet. In addition to his choreography, King teaches master classes for companies around the world.

* 12 dancers

* 32-week contract

* Non-union company

* Dancer profile: The company is known for its diversity of body types.

* Auditions: Send resume and video to ballet master or arrange to take company class.

* Affiliated school: The San Francisco Dance Center, offering classes in ballet, flamenco, hip-hop, modem, tap, jazz, Brazilian, lambada, body alignment, and body work. Classes are open to the public.

* Scholarship: The Samaritan, a $2,500 tuition award, open to anyone with financial need and demonstrated dedication to any dance form. Application is through the San Francisco Dance Center; the deadline is August 31.

* Venues: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Mountain View, California; Spreckles Center for the Performing Arts, Rohnert Park, California

* Performs to live and recorded music; scores are often commissioned. Collaborating musicians have included jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, gospel artist Bernice Johnson Reagon, and tabla master Zakir Hussain.

* Touring: Throughout the United States and abroad. Previous tours have included the Third International Festival for Peace and Culture in Guatemala and festivals in Bytom and Warsaw, Poland. Tours include master classes and post-performance talks.

* Outreach: San Francisco Dance Center offers a free summer program of dance, audition preparation, and body-care classes for pre-professional teenage dancers. Application is through the school; auditions are held in May.

Rita Felciano is dance critic for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and a California dance writer and critic for Dance Magazine.