DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE.

DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE EISENHOWER THEATER, KENNEDY CENTER, WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 11-12, 1998

Turning opera into ballet sounds easy but isn't. Approaches have ranged from something resembling literal translations to substantial transformations. For Dallas Black Dance Theatre's Porgy and Bess, the only dance production planned as part of the Gershwin Centennial Celebration, choreographer and director Hope Clarke has done a translation. The opera's main events and figures, as conceived by librettists DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and embellished by Ira Gershwin's lyrics, are recognizable onstage. The music is a 1958 recording that Gil Evans arranged and conducted for Miles Davis, whose blues trumpet replaces the opera's vocal line. Additional material for this production was adapted and performed by pianist Dick Hyman. Altogether, the music seemed more after than by George Gershwin.

Clarke sets scenes with snap, whether they're outdoors on Catfish Row or indoors in a dive, and it takes her only a few telling moves to establish the melodrama's characters. Once started, the action is legible in a general way, although its specifics aren't always clear. Trying to decipher the details of what's happening becomes tedious in the course of two forty-five-minute acts. Emotions are projected broadly, but motivations remain puzzling unless one remembers the opera or consults the program notes. Disconcertingly, the focus of Clarke's direction keeps shifting: in one scene the emphasis is on action, with characterizations muted; the reverse may happen in the next scene. And performers sometimes have to step out of character to do their dance numbers.

Porgy and Bess shows off DBDT as a small, Ailey-style troupe--strong and likable. The choreography, based on jazz ballet, is peppered with steps that were popular in dance halls during the twentieth century's early decades. Two ex-Ailey soloists star in the title roles. LeVon Campbell, letting a child's innocence and a man's determination shine through his crippled gait and dragging crawl, is an ideal Porgy. Sarita Allen, though too much the grande dame for the character of the weak and fallen Bess, is riveting to watch as she succumbs to sensuality or tries to abstain. The production, functional and handsome, has Kenneth Fay sets, Tony Tucci lighting, and Jeffrey Fender costumes.