Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Benedum Center, November 24-26, 1995.

When Patricia Wilde assumed directorship of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 1982 she made a firm commitment to enhance the thirty-two-member company's repertoire with pieces commissioned from both young dancemakes and seasoned contemporary ballet choreophers. Understanding that premieres are a box-office gamble, especially in staunchly conservative Pittsburgh, she has strategically positioned untried ballets on mixed bills alongside existing works, usually drawn from the Balanchine repertoire, reflecting her own background with New York City Ballet. Among these new works have been fewer gold nuggets than rocks, but her admirable penchant for experimentation has challenged the company's versatility, developed confidence, and furthered artistic growth.

Since 1992, however, premieres have been noticeably sparse owing to financial considerations. This season Wilde, who plans to retire in 1997, has put the company back on the experimental track. In an unprecedented and daring programming move, she commissioned Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Monica Levy, and Lisa de Ribbre to create works exploring American faith and thanksgiving.

Of the intriguing results, on view at the Benedum Center November 24 to 26, 1995, the most accessible was Taylor-Corbett's Ballad of You and Me. The thirty-minute tribute to singer-songwriter Pete Seeger successfully encapsulates forty turbulent years of American history with insight, humor, and reverence. Each of the eleven songs is presented as an individual vignette, with only Seeger's distinctive and moving voice serving as a common thread. Projections on four suspended screens supplement and comment on the live action onstage. Despite the diversity, the work is clearly focused, its components defined, uncluttered, and concise.

The beautifully crafted "We Shall Overcome" section captures the essence of the civil rights movement with symbolic choreography. For example, a brief hand-in-hand duet for principals Laura Desiree and Nanci Crowley later evolves into a hand-over-hand line stretching across the stage. Whether by design or by chance, soloist Jiabin Pan's soaring soubresauts, controlled multiple pirouettes, masterful leaps, and riveting presence served as a unifying force.

Solidarity of another type is featured in "Takin' Union." A strutting protagonist, Terence Marling (a likable dancer with burgeoning abilities) whispers news to one dancer, who passes it along to another, and so on until the action by the full cast intensifies with jumps, leggy battements, cartwheels, and air turns. The evolving solidarity of the community consolidates into a pinwheel. As the piece resolves, attention reverts to Marling, who gestures with self-satisfaction.

"Engineer" is a jovial romp that uses classical steps to enhance characterizations: Fifth Position and arabesque voyagee are synonymous with femininity, pas de cheval and brise with reluctant conformity, and air turns define masculine roles. Cast as the budding feminist, Desiree pertly bounces from dutiful daughter to housewife to (household) engineer, while Willy Shives, a versatile performer, is appropriately supportive as her husband.

Shives's powerful McCarthyism solo to "Die Gedanken sind Frei (My Spirit Is Free)" demonstrates his agile athleticism and dramatic intensity. The ballet's other solo, "Livin' in the Country," is a breezy characterization for ebullient Cassandra Seeger (granddaughter of the composer).

The high-energy showstopper finale, set to "If I Had a Hammer," builds momentum--small groups of dancers appear in turn, repeating stylized ann gestures--until the personable sixteen-member ensemble bursts into unison, eliciting an elation that lasts after the curtain comes down.

With a score by Pittsburgh-based composer David Stock, Levy's American Dream springs from the poetry of William Butler Yeats into a briskly paced twenty-five-minute abstraction of America's melting-pot culture.

Pulsating to the music's inherent urgency, the movement-dense opening, section hurls various groupings of seventeen darkly attired dancers through contemporary passages punctuated with classical accents. Effecting a sharp contrast, a woman clad in a pearl-gray unitard intermittently intervenes. Her movements, characterized by hops on pointe, passes, and attitudes derriere, are focused and deliberate.

Lithe and intense, Desiree performs the principal role with control, precision, and a sense of acceptance. Sleek and elastic, Crowley, who alternates with Desiree, moves authoritatively through the choreography with pristine clarity. Ensemble execution is not always uniform, but the men attack the dispassionate choreography with athletic ferocity, the women with secure pointes.

Interesting imagery highlights the middle section of American Dream. For example, the woman ascends the graduated, cupped palms of three men as if climbing stairs. They catch each ensuing footfall firmly in their hands and permit her to tread over hunched backs, but prevent her pointes from touching ground until she is gently logrolled to the floor.

Elsewhere, the principal woman and the female corps simultaneously execute backbends, firmly planting their right palms on the floor for upside-down promenades.

Tautly spread-eagled, the woman is positioned directly over her partner's head (rock-solid Shives with Desiree; capable and trustworthy soloist Kip Sturm with Crowley) as the couple hypnotically spins into blackness--a stunning effect, reinforced when he is revealed revolving in place, empty-handed. The finale delivers a similar jolt as the male ensemble tosses her arched body upward-followed by a blackout.

Amazing Grace, de Ribbre's fifth ballet for PBT, was developed in collaboration with resident composer Michael Moricz. The gospel hymn is introduced by bagpipes and is later augmented with African chanting and sound effects that include bells and thunder, but is most poignant when delivered vocally. The cliched choreography pales against the grandeur of this familiar and powerful music. Despite a rudimentary modern dance vocabulary--a wide, relaxed-knee stance, contractions, crouches, prances, and open-palm arm gestures--ensemble passages never really speak this language convincingly.

A contemporary adagio for the principal couple fares better. The woman longingly leads the man toward her, only to push him away, her hand covering his face. Later, he stands before her as she leans into him, her forehead pressed against his chest. Performed on opening night by Desiree and Shives, the choreography was shaded with tension and ardor. The alternates, principal Ying Li and soloist Alexander Nagiba, added luscious fluidity, softening the tension but enhancing the sensuality.

The second cast appears more competent and confident with de Ribere's uncomfortable choreography. The ballet's saving grace is the versatility of its principals, especially Nagiba, a commanding stage presence with a razor-sharp technique. As the "wretch" who is found," his innate theatricality rises above the material, imbuing it with nobility.