Juilliard Dance Ensemble.

Juilliard Theater February 16-19, 1995

Choreographed for twenty dancers to music from two Prokofiev piano concertos, Lila York's Rapture is ambitious and grand in scale. It is also thrilling, with rushes of movement that animate every corner of the stage and huge, expansive diagonals that infuse it with visual drama.

It's also a work that is unexpectedly rich in its movement vocabulary. A former member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, York draws heavily on steps from the ballet lexicon, especially its jumps and turns, combining them with the falls, freer arms, and articulate torso of modern dance. There is nothing superficial about her use of these idioms, nor does she juxtapose them ironically. As in the middle section's opening "adagio," where backbends, attitude spins, developpes, and arabesques penchees are woven smoothly together, York gives full value to each movement, insisting upon line and stretched feet in extensions, depth in bends, fearlessness in falls, and lightness in jumps.

Although dotted with brief solos and duets, the work belongs to the ensemble. Small groups emerge from larger ones, then split up again; a soloist emerges from the collective, only to be reabsorbed. There is wonderful variety in the changing spatial patterns and a skillful use of contrast between sequences of speedy, bounding movement and others performed in slow motion. Notable, too, is York's response to the Prokofiev music. Not only is she sensitive to its rhythmic and melodic subtexts, but she is also willing to work against its sometimes bombastic effects.

The all-student ensemble met the challenge of Rapture admirably. The group also did well by Rodeo, the Agnes de Mille classic staged by Terrence S. Orr, where the youth of the dancers freshened up material that in the hands of older, more skilled professionals can sometimes seem hokey. Completing the program was Benjamin Harkarvy's Recital for Cello and Eight Dancers, a genteel classical exercise that revealed the nice manners and modest expertise of its student cast. The solo cellist, Alexis Pie Gerlach, who played the accompanying Bach suite, was excellent.