Edinburgh International Festival: Miami City Ballet.

Edinburgh International Festival: Miami City Ballet Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh August 15-20, 1994 Reviewed by Christopher Bowen

The dance program at this year's Edinburgh International Festival was notable on two counts. First of all, there actually was one--the world's biggest arts festival has never been renowned for its dance programming--and secondly, the sheer range and quality of works elevated the event into a major festival in its own right, as a celebration of North American dance representing some of the most influential choreographers of the twentieth century.

Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham, Lucinda Childs, ancl Jean-Pierre Perreault presented their own companies, with Childs and Perreault making their British debuts. But, of course, no festival of American dance could be complete without the work of George Balanchine, and his torch was borne with enthusiasm and immense style by Miami City Ballet.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in the company's opening program, a complete performance of Balanchine's great symphonic trilogy, Jewels. From the romanticism of "Emeralds" to the jazzy, urban wit of "Rubies" and the cutting edge of imperial classicism in "Diamonds," the Miami dancers not only display the speed, clarity, and attack so essential in Balanchine, they also project an infectious joy in their dancing.

True, they perhaps overplay the alternating moods of melancholy and gaiety that waft through "Emeralds," and the corps doesn't quite breathe as one with the Faure score, but Marjorie Hardwick's solos are beautifully phrased, and the supremely elegant Sally Ann Isaaks and Christopher Roman lend a dreamlike quality to their achingly lovely pas de deux.

The propulsive drive of Stravinsky normally comes as a shock in "Rubies" after the restraint of "Emeralds," but never have I seen a more overtly sexual reading of this ballet. Balanchine's thrusting hips, showgirl poses, and great prancing steps are delivered with precision by the ensemble, who also attack the work with an almost wanton relish. This aspect is epitomized by Myrna Kamara's seductive solo, as her long legs rocket skyward with casual aplomb.

After such a steamy performance, the Tchaikovsky "Diamonds," with its progression of geometric formations, is bound to seem cool. But there is grandeur in Balanchine's echo of Petipa, and in the central pas de deux Iliana Lopez and Franklin Gamero dance their poem of solemn vows and noble promises with a dignity bordering on gravitas.

The second program included a swooning, evocative Serenade, and the company's sassy, rip-roaring debut in Western Symphony, but the weight of the evening was borne by The Four Temperaments. And it is here that Edinburgh--and Europe--saw most clearly what Edward Villella has, achieved in eight short years in Miami. In the exposed lines and unadorned forms of one of Balanchine's most severely testing works, here was dancing that not only possessed the requisite dynamic, control, and innate musicality, but also--most exciting of all--a sense of danger. These are dancers who take enormous artistic risks, and the spectacle of dancing without a net is thrilling to watch. The roars of approval that greeted their performances in Edinburgh are testament to that.