MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP & YO-YO MA.

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP & YO-YO MA WITH GUEST ARTIST, MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV THE WANG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, BOSTON FEBRUARY 25-28, 1999

The world premiere of Mark Morris's new work, The Argument, was an auspicious occasion even though a nor'easter snowstorm forced the cancellation of the opening performance. The piece was unfurled the following night, with world-class cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Ethan Iverson placed stage right at the Wang Center. The musicians thus could see and be seen by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Morris (who cast himself in the work), and four other members of his troupe. The music, Robert Schumann's Funf Stucke im Volkston ("Five Pieces in Folk Style"), and the choreography alluded to the kind of impromptu dancing performed at weddings or christenings, especially the Slavic-looking solo for Morris packed with stamping foot movements. But he had something else in mind.

The Argument is a work about a series of skirmishes in the war between the sexes. Three men partnering three women--Baryshnikov and Marjorie Folkman, Morris and Tina Fehlandt, Shawn Gannon and Ruth Davidson--enact a sequence of wordless emotional dramas that veer from anger to tenderness, exasperation to acceptance, and every other nuance encountered in the name of love. Baryshnikov was fastidious and elegant as he locked his gaze on a fierce, independent Folkman, who was every bit his equal in aggression. Tiny and compact next to the increasingly girth-challenged Morris, Baryshnikov made every step and gesture a complete statement, leaving no doubt as to his intentions. Still a compelling performer, Morris threw himself into the music and the space with a joie de vivre that telegraphed how much he enjoyed being back on the stage.

The three couples intertwined and, at certain moments, moved close enough to the musicians to visibly take energy from Ma's ecstatic playing and toss it back again. But the focus of all of the dancers remained glued to their partners, as if to ensure that only at death would they part.

The Argument is stunning, and so was the performance by this all-star cast. The program also included the Boston premiere of Falling Down Stairs, originally created for Ma's film series based on Bach's six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, which premiered on the Public Broadcasting System in 1998, and Rhymes with Silver, choreographed by Morris in 1997 to a commissioned score by Lou Harrison.