Peasants and Party People.

Ballet de Lorraine Opera de Nancy et de Lorraine Nancy, France November 28-December 2, 2001

The Ballet de Lorraine's 2001-2002 season opener successfully startled spectators as General Director Didier Deschamps had hoped. The evening's diverse program was like an electric shock, jolting the audience to near power failure. From Beatrice Massin's look at the seventeenth century to the revival of Merce Cunningham's Duets and resident choreographer Karole Armitage's latest piece, Rave, the evening was an eclectic play on the senses.

In this, his second season as director, Deschamps opened the evening with a salute to Jacques Callot, a well-known seventeenth-century etcher from the city of Nancy, the Ballet de Lorraine's host city. Choreographer Massin shared this vision with an exquisitely baroque piece, Noir, du cote de Callot (Black, Like Callot), her first collaboration with Ballet Lorraine.

A macabre exploration of French peasant life, the piece opened with a series of folk dances, the simplicity of which was reinforced by the dancers' flowing, rustic costumes. The atmosphere changed, however, as one by one, the dancers donned ghoulish handcrafted masks, highlighting their exaggerated shoulder and arm movements, seemingly incorporating the breath of death in their rolling gestures.

Bright colors entered the stage with the company's premiere interpretation of Cunningham's Duets. Coached by former Cunningham dancer Catherine Kerr, the company quite capably jumped from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, honoring the integrity of this emblematic and touchingly expressive piece, which is comprised of six distinctive duets. The public was mesmerized as the choreography moved into its final passage, with all twelve dancers reunited in movement. The piece was warmly received, with rounds of "bravos" and whistles of delight.

The evening switched into high gear with Armitage's explosive new creation for the company, Rave. With a subtle play on the words "rave" and the French "reve" (dream), Armitage set the action in the deep dark of the night. The dancers burst onto the scene with flamboyant hand and arm movements, flaunting a fiery assortment of vivid colors painted onto their otherwise near-naked bodies.

With outlandish, skimpy costumes ranging from fur miniskirts to feathered headdresses, Venetian-style face masks and elastic fishnetting, the dancers rocked their way through six rave movements. One of Armitage's most remarkable strengths, evident in this piece, is her ability to liberate her dancers, pushing them to the extremity of their physical expression. The piece was a kind of homage to a host of acclaimed celebrities, from Josephine Baker to Marcello Mastroianni, with a nod to Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, and Andy Warhol.

Rave, set to original music by Armitage's longtime collaborator, David Shea, was inspired by the decadent New York City club scene of the '70s, but transposed to today's ecstatic rave party scene. It was a true delight and left more than one Nancy native with ringing ears and blinking eyes.