We went to see Inlet Dance Theatre at Cleveland Public Theatre (Saturday, April 16, 2005) with a medium load of baggage. Victor has known founder and artistic director Bill Wade for decades, studied dance with him at Footpath, admired his success with the YARD at Cleveland School of the Arts. We're predisposed to like his stuff even though we find Wade's out-front Christianity a bit of a turn off for us personally.

The first half of the concert did not go well for us. We'd seen You Are Now Connected (2003) choreographed by Steve Rooks before. We didn't care much for it on the first viewing, and we liked it no better on Saturday night. The Christian rap music by Sean Slaughter did not strike a resonant chord in our questing souls. And the sight of the five dancers earnestly hurling themselves about did not inspire us.

But objectively speaking it's not a bad dance. Ryan Lott's edit of the music created a succinct fast-slow-fast, ABA form. Kristin Wade's costumes, stylized dresses for the women, were effective; no mean feat on what must be a limited costume budget.

The premiere of Mourning to Dancing, a solo for Leila Pelhan, also did not go well for us. The problem for us seems to be the dance's premise, that mourning or suffering after a great loss is shown as changing to joy, with literally zero mediating transition, so one ends up feeling unconnected to the joy. Modern dancers do this all the time, and it just doesn't ring true with either of our experiences of grieving and recovery. This is especially true in a solo a few minutes long. But again, given the premise, the dance is not bad. The mood change is nicely supported by Ryan Lott's music and an onstage costume change from dark grey to bright red and orange.

Our hopes rose for Interns Traveling/Wondrous Beasts, a premiere. We've noticed that much of Wade's best choreography is for student dancers, relative beginners. Alas, for whatever reason the mix of Pilobolus based partnering and Wade's chemistry with the interns produced a dance that failed to move us or, by the sound, the rest of the audience.

After three dances we're seriously bummed, which, we speculate, is probably nothing to how Wade feels in the aftermath of what we understand to be a career-ending knee injury.

But the second half of the program was all that the first half was not, and proved very satisfying. Dream of Sleeping (2004) wins Victor's seal of approval for sleep studies by not treating the subject too literally and introducing extravagant body shapes and dynamics into the mix. Again, Lott's score is a plus. Kristin Wade's pajama costumes let just a little bit of the sleepers' sexiness show through. Wade's choreographic invention and his theatrical timing are in full evidence.

BALListic (2001) is one of many modern dances that employs physio balls. Wade's current dancers have learned their skills well and the vintage choreography has been tweaked to best effect. At one point, a dancer rides a succession of six balls on a long diagonal across the stage; the dancers negotiate traffic patterns worthy of an intricate square dance. All this in the context of a Pilobolus style skit: six dancers in little tasseled caps jealously guard six precious orange balls; a seventh dancer enters masked and amusing hi-jinx proceed. Verdict: skillfully executed and well crafted, with a number of "Oh wow!" moments, and great fun.

The concert closes with the premiere of Winged Opposition. Despite Wade's program note, "What if the wars and natural disasters of this world are the physical manifestations of the spiritual realm?" and a slough of Old and New Testament citations, we fail to be put off (we make note that we object on principle to editorializing/propagandizing addenda to program notes; Wade is not the first local choreographer with whom we've had this problem). Lott's atmospheric music starts with paranoid whispers and eventually rises to support a dynamic scenario. Apocalyptic vision may produce some questionable theology and it may yet produce the world's most dysfunctional politics but it begs for a satisfying theatrical expression. Choreographing for angels and demons is heady stuff.

from Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas vicnelsa@earthlink.net

 (:divend:)