(Medea belongs to both categories.) Wild Up’s mastery of the surging Samuel Barber music may have represented the ensemble’s most indelible achievement on Saturday, and periodically the dancers rose to the occasion - especially Ben Schultz as the heroic, heedless, self-infatuated Jason: a monument ripe for demolition. Led by Anne O’Donnell and Lorenzo Pagano, the dancing stayed grimly dutiful, and a sense of the work’s obsessive fervor could be found only in wild Up’s playing of Carlos Chavez’s score and, in particular, Andrew Tholl’s soulful violin solos.īased on Euripides’ tragedy “Medea,” the dance drama “Cave of the Heart” (1946) offers a timely warning about the dangers of underestimating wronged women and immigrants. But on Saturday the company offered Eilber’s 20-minute suite of what she called “highlights” - over the objections of the Graham estate. In Graham’s lifetime she reportedly allowed only the “Sarabande” section to be excerpted. Graham’s “Dark Meadow” (1946) was originally a challenging, immersive, 50-minute ritual linked to the ancient Greek myth of Persephone. With that priority neglected, shallow moves inevitably generated shallow emotions, and that’s one reason why the power in wild Up’s playing kept reminding you of exactly what was missing on the stage. Graham said executing her movement fully and completely gave a dancer the intensity needed for a particular role. Movement that should come from deep within the back or torso seldom does, and this superficial physicality often causes severe expressive consequences. Twenty-six years after Graham’s death, company Artistic Director Janet Eilber has trivialized Graham style by bypassing the late choreographer’s unique body sculpture in favor of picture-perfect lineups, well drilled unison footwork and brisk athleticism - a reassuring professionalism that’s often all you get in the lighter works.
The problem: passion that could be heard but rarely seen. Celebrating Martha Graham’s commitment to new American music, an ambitious five-part program at the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge on Saturday found the Graham Dance Company accompanied and outclassed by Christopher Rountree’s chamber orchestra wild Up.
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