thoughts on Southern Lights

[chauffeur]

Southern Lights -- Australian Ballet, Canberra Theatre (Australia) -- May 22, 2004

This program featured three pieces by Australian Ballet resident choreographer Stephen Baynes, as performed by mostly senior artists from the company. Each piece was also a premiere of some sort, either Australian or world (I lost track) but the sense I got from the program notes was that each piece, even if it had appeared elsewhere in some other form, had been reworked enough that its performance here was its first ever. The results, like the program, were a bit mixed, though predominantly very enjoyable and thought-provoking. Baynes is well on his way to crafting an interesting and intelligent vocabulary of his own. I love it when he follows his sinuous instincts, but he also uses stillness and what I would call ?negative motion? (when muscles relax rather than contract) very, very well.

Prior to the performance (which was the second in its run of five nights in Canberra), I attended an hour-long ?chat? with Baynes, lighting director Rachel Burke and costume/set designer Michael Pearce, as mediated by AB education manager Colin Peasley. It was an illuminating program, but I distinctly got the impression that Baynes wished he had had more rehearsal time with the company, and I would agree.

It?s often hard to tell with new choreography whether its success or failure is the result of the choreography or the execution. I?m so used, in America, to seeing choreography that I suspect is quite good but I just don?t know for sure if it is because the execution is less than optimal. With this Southern Lights program, I came away feeling like I don?t yet know if the flaws are the choreographer?s or the performers? doing. But I am certain that more rehearsal would have clarified the issue.

The ironic disadvantage in working with a company?s senior artists is that they?re all so good at what they do, and one of the hallmarks of a really good star dancer (I think) is that dancer?s (often inadvertent) ability to make his or her own mistake look like everyone else?s mistake. You know how a prima ballerina could be just a half-beat off the pace, yet it looks like everyone else on the stage is a half-beat off? Well, imagine a handful of stars like Lynette Wills, Kirsty Martin, Olivia Bell and Annabel Bronner Reid all being their own half-beats off, presumably from lack of sufficient rehearsal. Who, out of that crowd, do you blame, I ask you? It?s very frustrating

All this need-for-more-rehearsal caveat aside, I should focus on what exactly was performed. The first piece was a one-act light bit of entertainment called ?Imaginary Masque.? Performed in six parts by a cast of eight, it was eye candy to the max. Lovely, light, ethereal stuff on gossamer wings (with stunningly beautiful set and light design) set to music by Ravel. In his pre-show talk, Baynes made it clear that he regarded the piece as beauty for its own sake, nothing more, nothing less. I was enchanted by what I saw, but toward the end, the music took a spin through an ever-so-slightly menacing minor key which unleashed an exciting thought in my head: was this Masque (which is a 17th-century ball) the same Masque that Edgar Allan Poe wrote about in his classic short story about Venetians voluntarily locking themselves in a palace and dancing until the Black Plague killed them all off? And Baynes, in the end movement of his Masque, had his dancers begin looking up and around at the stage and themselves as if they were suddenly seeing something new that they had never noticed before.

Right now in Australia, everyone?s all atwitter about Graeme Murphy?s soon-to-be-unveiled new contemporary ballet for the Sydney Dance Company. It?s called ?Shades of Grey? and it?s based on the ?Portrait of Dorian Gray? novel but is also a metaphorical meditation, I?ve read, on the devastating effects of the AIDS epidemic on the dance world of the 1970s and 1980s. I hate to impose ugly seriousness on what Baynes is trying to create with his ?Imaginary Masque,? but I honestly got so excited to think at his piece?s end that he was going to shock and surprise us all as Poe did, that I was mildly disappointed when nothing more than ephemeral beauty developed out of his piece.

I refuse to blame Baynes for my random reaction and expectation, but it still would have been a really kick-ass resolution to what was otherwise simply a gorgeous divertissement. But this reaction marked the beginning of my overall reaction to Baynes? choreography: He can do better and he can aim higher. That much is clear from the step-by-step originality of his choreography. What he needs are better-constructed ?books? for his ballets and, in particular, better, more balanced dramatic structure.

Moving onto the second piece: ?Unspoken Dialogues,? which featured Steven Heathcote and the resurrected-from-retirement Justine Summers. This piece was clearly well-rehearsed (as Baynes acknowledged, pre-show, that it had been). And it was much better constructed and fleshed out than the other two pieces in the program. Basically it?s the story of an estranged couple who are still trying to make it work, yet in the end they find themselves no further along than they were at the beginning. The music was a very stark violin and piano arrangement of an Alfred Schnittke sonata: poundingly good Germanic stuff with a modern edge.

The dancing in this one was muscular and tense without being stiff. I really loved what Baynes, Heathcote and Summers created here. It also had the emotional depth and resonance that I noticed and admired in AB?s Swan Lake a few weeks earlier. And the lighting design was especially powerful. At one point, in the middle section of the piece, the house lights came up a bit. At first, I was very uncomfortable with this and wondered if it was a mistake, but then I realized that the audience was being identified as viewers of this domestic drama and, at the same time, being forced to acknowledge our voyeuristic role in that drama. It was one of those ?a-ha!? moments that makes live theater so damn cool.

My one-word verdict on the final piece, ?El Tango,? came precisely as the final curtain fell: problematic. And I think, but I don?t know for sure, that the problems came in two forms: structure and casting. The score followed along to an eight-part piece that explored small dramas and romances played out in a South American dance club. The atmosphere, as evoked by the Gidon Kremer and Yo Yo Ma compositions, as well as by the set and costuming, were all spot-on. And the first five parts of the piece, which bookended full-cast (of ten dancers) numbers around a sextet, a duet and a trio, worked very well (and seem to have been decently though not rigorously rehearsed).

The last three parts of the piece, though, stranded Lynette Wills and Christopher White on the stage. It was just them, all alone, playing out their little drama of dysfunctional love, and it ended with just them, even though the music picked up and fleshed out to a degree that screamed for a full-cast finale. As a result, this whole last part felt flimsy and anti-climatic, and as if it were a different ballet that had been appended onto the first part. And that was very dissatisfying.

And I?m really struggling with the Wills-White casting. She?s attractive but in a very austere, almost untouchable way. And he?s attractive in a softer, more approachable way. They didn?t match each other well. When he stomped off at the very end, rejecting her, I felt like, ?yeah, so what?? They didn?t engage my emotions as a couple ? not the way Heathcote and Summers did in their piece, even though they were playing an even more dysfunctional couple with an equally unhappy ending.

A few final thoughts: I had the absolute pleasure of chatting after the show with Steven Heathcote who is, I must say, a genuinely nice and a genuinely genuine person. My 10-year-old daughter wanted to go autograph-hunting at the stage door after the show, and he was one of her lucky conquests. But he was also truly interested in wanting to know what we thought of the show. I told him that, as much as I love the sinuous qualities of Baynes? choreography, I was truly impressed with how he uses stillness and how well the AB dancers can execute it. They really can, and I told Heathcote I think they do it better than any major company I?ve ever seen before. I think he liked hearing that, and he also shared how much he enjoys the thinking that Baynes? choreography requires. And it makes me wonder, as Heathcote at 40 years old must undoubtedly be contemplating his next career steps, if Baynes wouldn?t benefit from more input from thinking dancers like Heathcote. I feel like Baynes needs a creative collaborator the way Graeme Murphy has his partnership with Janet Vernon ? someone who can see his work from the outside yet also knows what makes the inside tick. Baynes may grow, as an artist, and eventually be able to see the ?forest? for his dancing trees, but right now I don?t get the sense that he does. And I wish the AB would give him more time with his dancers. He deserves it.

[Leigh Witchel]

Thanks so much for this report, Chauffeur.

We don't get to see much Baynes here, but NYCB did use him for the last Diamond Project; he did a piece called Twilight Courante. It sounds like your reaction to Imaginary Masques was much the same as the general reaction to that ballet; it was pretty but people expected a more individual statement. It's tough road to hoe; proficiency just leaves people wanting more than that.

[chauffeur]

proficiency just leaves people wanting more than that.

Ouch on Baynes' behalf, but I love the succinct-ness of what you say. It's so true.

[Katharyn]

Ahh.. Thats a great review Chauffeur - who i had the absolute pleasure of meeting (and her beautiful - and talented I hear, as I couldn't help questioning her aussie teacher - daughter). Mostly I think you're comments are fair. Baynes always has this great promise about his works but there is always something missing... and i think its too easy to blame it on lack of rehearsal time.

I placed no expectations on the night, but waited with anticipation of seeing justine again. The opening Imaginary Masque started almost before I had a chance to read the programme notes and as such, all I anticipated was a beautiful show. And thats what I got. I interpreted the end as the illusion ending. It was imaginary after all, and eventually such ruminations end...

Dancing was mostly adequate but not outstanding here. Kirsty Martin was a standout for me as few can match her model looks and spectacular line. She is truly a star. There were awkward moments in partnering that distracted the eye and took away from the prettiness. Ultimately I found masque to be the most unfulfilling and I suppose I walked away wanting some meat with my 3 vege.

Unspoken Dialogues was certainly a talking point among the older ladies of the audience. Before the event, anticipation of seeing 'Our Justine' and 'Our Steven' was high... and after: the music caused a stir and any complained about the jarring sound. It’s safe to say that the pas de deux was not the saccharine that the audience was expecting. It was a tussle between them, angular and occasionally ugly. Confronting in that there was no resolution, just a sigh of acceptance and an end. I’ve always found the rapport those two have to be very special… So to see them in this piece fighting against each other yet clinging together was quite difficult for this viewer!

Physically, Justine is the opposite of the long, aristocratic lines we had just experienced in Masque. She is so incredibly petite with an open wide eyed face... And has always paired beautifully with the handsome Heathcote. It was interesting to see the changes in her body – before she was very thin but still soft and feminine looking. Now she is very thin but hard. Her little calves were like rocks stuck in her tights!

As a finale I loved the mood and the spirit of El Tango. I’ve always loved watching classical dancers when they feel they can ‘cut loose’, and providing such a rich latin mood really let them go for it. Lindy Wills was, as I expected, fabulous here. Give her a role with an element of drama and she works it to the end! Surprisingly Josh Horner ended up being sex on legs also. He was the most understated of them men, but he just oozed sexuality. At one stage, I found myself wiping drool from the corner of my mouth… On the same token, I couldn’t watch Matthew Trent because even in this piece he didn’t let go of being the prince. He also has a unique sense of musicality that really goes against the way I feel rhythm.

Its funny Chauffeur, the reason you thought Lindy was not suited in her role was the reason I believed it. For those that have never seen her, she has incredible feet, enormous almond shaped eyes and a long roman nose. She is the most dramatic looking person I’ve ever seen! I thought it worked that she tried to be so self assured and in control when of course she wasn’t. I thought her appearance contrasted with the fragile character and just worked. I thought the structure was odd however, and thought the fugata could’ve come nearer the end… But still, the brilliant set, costuming and music all just worked for me!

In the end, this showcase of dancers in new under rehearsed work was a mixed bag but with further development I think it could be a really great triple bill because it was well rounded and casted