DANCE TROUPE’S THEATER PIECES, REVIVING A HISTORIC PAST
BERKELEY, CA—-Always count on the dean of US modern-dance choreographers, Mark Morris, 67, to pull rabbits out of the hat. The company director has lost none of his mojo.
The Mark Morris Dance Group did a rarity at Zellerbach Hall. Not only was MM’s “Via Dolorosa” a world premiere, but it was the first time in memory that the veteran ever tackled a sacred-religious theme in dance with his troupe.
His dancers—nine of them here, all stellar interchangeable parts—are exquisitely disciplined, with a unique lightness of foot, bobbing weightlessly about stage, playing out the Passion of Jesus Christ in rather abstract fashion. I’d even use that word taboo among dance reviewers, “graceful.” Christ was sometimes male, sometimes female. And various underplayed images caught the moment, whether crowds pointing fingers accusingly at prisoner Christ, or a dancer with arms outstretched portrayed Jesus crucified, or the whole group falling gently to the floor to portray His death.
This was MM playing the supreme classicist, going way back to Biblical references subtly alluded to, with a deft, sprightly corps to show classical dance modes with a minimum of finery or décor, apart from Howard Hodgkin’s blazing/colorful abstract backdrops.
This unusual 40-minute venture into sacred dance was backed by one mere solo harp (Parker Ramsay) rather than a Bach Passion or Verdi Requiem pounded out by an orchestra. To quote the architect Mies van der Rohe, “Less is more.”
One resounding boo had peppered the dance group’s opening night, possibly reacting to the Christ theater piece, with all the walking and stylized reenactments in place of, well, dance. But we still call it the MM Dance Group, no??
Companion piece on the program was Morris’ “Socrates” (2010). This work leaned heavily on painted images on ancient Greek vases, portrayed in two-dimensional fashion by the 15 dancers. Exquisite lightness of foot once again, but without the Satie music for solo piano and tenor (in incomprehensible French), you’d never know it had anything to do with the great ancient-Greek philosopher, his condemnation and his death scene.
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP in two works by the director/choreographer Morris. Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA. For info: (510) 642-9988, or go online www.calperformances.org.
