Oakland Ballet Broadens Horizons.

Oakland Ballet Broadens Horizons Oakland Ballet Paramount Theater Oakland, California November 16, 2001

A preponderance of live music met the art deco glory of the Paramount Theatre on opening night of Oakland Ballet's third fall repertory program. Two world premieres by Bay Area artists flanked a strong restaging of Giselle Act II.

The performance's first moments featured the Marcus Shelby Jazz Quartet rising from the pit and filling the Paramount's monumental chamber with cool. Shelby composed "Un Faux Pas!" and arranged George Gershwin's "Summertime" for Reginald Ray-Savage's premiere Faux Pas, a dance that rhythmically revamped classical ballet.

Ray-Savage, the artistic director of Savage Jazz Dance Company, is comfortable in the ballet idiom, and the pointe work took his composition to the next level. Lacing traditional ballet steps such as grands jetes, sissonnes fermees, and chaines with ball-changes and some tasteful bump and grind, he transformed the pas de deux into a vision of couples dancing at the Apollo. Years of listening intently to jazz music made Ray-Savage hear the rhythms of ballet differently. The expected suspended arabesque took on new depth as it stretched along the driving 4/4 of Shelby's arrangements; a diving penche on the smack of the drum acquired a hipness; and the repetition of tricks four times instead of the usual three was subversive and reverential at the same time. Rather than looking airy, the dancers looked terrestrial, confident, and joyful. Lighting designer Clyde Sheets kept the visuals as simple as Savage kept the steps, serving the dancers in their swing-era atmosphere.

Faux Pas is an unfinished dance in need of another section and more time for the dancers to spend with the musicians. And I'm not sure about Victor Temple's break-dance-style popping section. The street dance-ballet juxtaposition proved less interesting than seeing classical vocabulary through a syncopated jazz lens.

Oakland Ballet had the honor of having dance master and former Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo principal Frederic Franklin restage and direct Act II of Giselle. Franklin worked wonders with the company, producing a corps de ballet that truly looked like one body moving, a testament to Franklin's keen eye. One could recognize the details of Romantic arm placement, low and soft. Erin Yarbrough was quite convincing as the supernatural incarnation of Giselle, despite lacking the opportunity to build up to her role through Act I. Gianna Marinai-Davy was suitably cold in the role of Myrtha, and guest artist Le Mai Linh (of Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley) brought an elegant somberness to Albrecht. With such care given to the choreographic restaging, one would hope that Oakland Ballet would find a way to have live accompaniment for the eerie Adam score. The canned music dragged the ballet down.

The evening closed with former Oakland Ballet dancer Michael Lowe's premiere of Bamboo. Accompanied by the Chinese music ensemble Melody of China, Bamboo featured the company in five sections: "Leaves," "Stalk," "Squabbling Ducks," "Ribbon," and "New Year." Ronald Steger's set design, a five-paneled backdrop of Chinese paintings of bamboo branches and flowers, was brought to life by Mario Alonzo's costumes, unitards of tree-green and earth-brown, and Jose Maria Francos's gentle lighting.

Lowe paid great attention to both visual and rhythmic design in Bamboo. There were moments of great beauty, such as the opening image of a flower blooming and Chih-Ting Shih glorious with a flowing red ribbon in hand. Of choreographic interest were leaps and jumps that had the appearance of sailing, clipped lines that broke with the classical sense of suspension, and quirky partnering sequences. Lowe did a fine job of highlighting the dancers' unique skills, particularly the infectious Dante Adela and the sprightly Phaedra Jarrett. In paying respectful and jubilant tribute to his heritage, Lowe has created a delightful ballet that will only deepen with time.