MINH TRAN: A RETURN DANCE PERFORMANCE.

MINH TRAN: A RETURN DANCE PERFORMANCE LINCOLN PERFORMANCE HALL, PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY PORTLAND, OREGON SEPTEMBER 9-12, 1999 REVIEWED BY MARTHA ULLMAN WEST

Teresa Mathern's Evidence of Division was in every way the high point of Vietnamese-American dancer Minh Tran's first concerts in Portland since 1996 when he left his adopted city to acquire an M.F.A. in dance.

Evidence, the duet for Mathern and Tran, has an intelligent, meticulous design that reveals Mathern as a choreographer who knows what she's about. Words like lucid, limpid, and smart come to mind to describe this kinetically fascinating piece. Almost identical in size, the two dancers, whose arms and legs seem at times to pierce the stratosphere, are as finely tuned to the choreography, the sound, and each other as are members of a good string quartet. The music is a collage by Arvo Part, Loop Guru, and Cold Cut. Movement that is both angular and spiraling sometimes dovetails, sometimes contrasts with the projected closeups of leaves and branches. The piece, while cerebral in concept, contains considerable passion.

Forever Fled, a second duet, was created by Seattle choreographer-dancer-teacher Rip Parker after the death of his partner, composer Michael Cava. It is accompanied by Cava's music as well as by a mumbled quotation from Dylan Thomas's "Fern Hill." The occasionally bathetic movement was passionately performed by Cava-Parker Dance member Ryan Corriston, with Tran--who performed seemingly nonstop for two hours--looking appropriately ethereal as the object of grief, and truly eloquent in the tender moments. Forever Fled could, however, do with some pruning.

Tran is like a chameleon. In Indonesian choreographer Eko Supriyanto's From the Time Piece, a fusion of Asian and Western postmodern dance, he looked solidly athletic, a bit like one of Pablo Picasso's bathers as he performed weighted, firmly grounded choreography that took him into deep Second Position crouches while his arms engaged in strongly accented, muscular movement.

Tran's own choreographic abilities have not yet caught up with his brilliance as a dancer. Portland visual artist Christine Bourdelte designed a charming set of hanging glass lanterns for Revisit, which evoked Tran's childhood in a silken, swooping solo, a dancing memoir of his early training in traditional Vietnamese opera dance. Tsunami, for nine dancers, is competent work, showing Tran's developing skill at moving groups of dancers in complex patterns. The opening duet for Michael Barber and Jae Diego was playfully sexy and witty.

Lighting by the always excellent Jeff Forbes was particularly fine for Tsunami, Revisit, and Evidence of Division.