Spectrum Dance Theater.

SPECTRUM DANCE THEATER 

SEATTLE, WA FEB. 19-22, 2004

Donald Byrd presented three very different works in his first full season with Spectrum Dance Theater. Virtually all of the dancers are new (Allison Keppel and Paula J. Peters, the rehearsal director, are the veterans) and most are classically trained, Byrd began working with this particular lineup in September. Five months later, he delivered.

The three dances on the "Fado, Hip-Hop & The Blues" program share a common characteristic: the musical legacy of the African Diaspora. The most physically challenging piece on the program, Short Dances/Little Stories, performed to hip-hop and rap, is unforgiving in its rapid changes in level and percussive gestures (a double pirouette into a flat-foot stop; leg gestures en croix and then coming to a full stop). It features very physical pas de deux (with a lot of pushing, pulling, and tossing) and attitude so visible it almost dominates the dance.

In Da Blues, Byrd works with variations on two movement phrases to tell a story of post slavery oppression, set to the music of Driftin' Slim, Little Walter, and Bo Diddly. The sections "I'm Hunting Somebody," "Mellow Down Easy," and "Standing Around Crying" give different parts of the story, each with characteristic gestures, bringing out the personalities of individual dancers.

The last piece on the program, Byrd's soulful Fado, was the show stopper. Entitled and their souls will understand ..., with music by Mariza, Dulce Pontes, Cesaria Evora, and Waldemar Bastos, the dance has the drama and staging reminiscent of mid=twentieth-century modern pieces, but with far more complicated rhythms.

The piece opens to a stage adorned with three different-size chandeliers and thirteen dancers, in long, dark dresses, seated in a semicircle. Early in the piece, the dancers more mostly as an ensemble with backs stooped, elbows flexed, and hands clasped together. Even when they leap, they stay close to the floor, as if a huge weight were bearing down on them. When seated, the dancers rock side-to-side, their gaze following the flinging movements of a center couple. The staging is indeed powerful.

Byrd's work is not new to Seattle--just two years ago he premiered his Seven Deadly Sins set on Pacific Northwest Ballet. In this program, Byrd transforms the musical language of oppression into personal statement and challenge for the Spectrum dancers, who give his work legibility. Byrd also has brought one of his own dancers to Seattle for this performance--the riveting Prince Credell (on temporary loan from Alonzo King's LINES Ballet).

In working with the emotive music and wildly different tempos, Byrd brings out the best in the Spectrum dancers. With this program, he has created a real spectrum of rhythms, attitudes, and styles.

See www.spectrumdance.org.