We'd heard about Ohio Dance Theatre but this was our first chance to see them. Looking around the theatre before curtain we remarked as usual on the compartmentalization of the dance audience. Each company seems to have its own following with surprisingly little overlap. ODT presented an extreme case; we didn't recognize a single soul in the audience. Still it was a good house; ODT apparently brought their own following from the Oberlin area and a tie-in with Cleveland's Hispanic community brought in a youth group.

Program notes listed 21 dancers counting guest artists and trainees. Damien Highfield of Ohio Ballet was the one name we recognized.

Overall the concert was about what we expected: not up to the standard set by Ohio Ballet and Verb Ballets but good enough in places that we'd go to the next ODT concert in the area. Artistic Director Denise Gula's reimagining of Igor Stravinsky's Firebird was an ambitious reach for the company that pretty much came off for us. We really liked seeing tall, elegant Rejane Duarto as the Firebird though we'd have to characterize her dancing this time as adequate but no triumph. It's hard to put a finger on the many small factors that pull a concert performance up or down; easier by far to complain about the ill fitting wedding dresses in the finale.

Gula's La Petite Morte, the program note explains, concerns the praying mantis, a species in which the female is dominant. Three men and three women dressed in green. Okay, ladies, let's mate with these poor studs, kill them and get on with the program. Unfortunately, it all takes a terribly long while; Gula is apparently trapped by her choice of music. The Bela Bartok piece she's chosen is appropriate enough in tone but longer far than her ideas about mantises can sustain our interest. Not to say that the dancers don't sustain a certain sexual tension with the males clearly aware what's in store for them. And not to say that Highfield and his tall partner, Elizabeth Kocianic, don't pull off some pretty nifty neoclassical partnering that Gula has given them.

Le Corsaire pas de deux performed by guest artists Chiaki Yasukawa and Eddy Tovar of Orlando Ballet was a big highlight. The diminutive pair brought a full measure of classical virtuosity to this nineteenth century showpiece; it was the best Corsaire we've seen in a while.

The shortened version of Who Cares, obtained by the company through the Balanchine Trust, suffered some from uneven performances. Even so it was a heady delight. The Hershy Kay orchestrations of George Gershwin tunes, the elegant costumes (here credited to Boston Ballet but presumably after the Karinska originals), the flirty, pin-up girl choreography for the girls and the backdrops of city lights and stars. Rejane Duarte turned on the charm to excellent effect for her solo; pretty nice brise volee, too. We thought Ericka Shannon was going to ace her solo but a wobbling axis on her stationary turns brought an otherwise stellar effort back to earth.

Sitting in judgment of all these terribly supple young people. Then the concert is over and it's a while before we can stand completely straight again.
from Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas vicnelsa@earthlink.net

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