After almost fifty years, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet has returned to Jacob’s Pillow with a mixed programme that is
as invigorating as it is eclectic, as expansive as it is crystal-clear in its
focus. Canada’s oldest professional dance company has always surprised
first-timers, perhaps because the notion of a major company living and thriving
in Canada’s isolated mid-ground (and with winter conditions that can freeze
event the most passionate artist’s toes) is just beyond easy reckoning.
Perhaps, too, because the Canadian sensibility, as promulgated in American
culture, is self-denigrating and much too ‘nice’ to imagine as tenacious,
driven and pretty good at not taking ‘no’ for an answer.
Full disclosure: I am a Canadian,
living in Toronto, and damn thrilled to have seen ‘my’ dance company
represented and wildly embraced by the crowd last week. My annual pilgrimage to
the Berkshires always includes as much dance action as I can cram into my
schedule, and my earlier reference to American perception must be balanced by
adding that Pillow audiences, almost all of whom are Americans, never
demonstrate a parochial attitude to the international fare that Pillow
Executive/Artistic Director, Ella Baff, brings to the Pillow’s stages.
The RWB presented three dances: “In
Tandem”, choreographed by Peter Quanz, the Canadian choreographer
whose work was also represented earlier in the season with the Hong Kong
Ballet; “Moonlight Sonata”, Mark Godden’s setting to the Beethoven
classic; and the company’s signature piece, “Carmina Burana”, Mauricio Wainrot’s interpretation of the Carl Orff
composition.
Quanz’s exploration of
relationships through space, coupling and re-coupling, is perfectly served by
an ensemble of such vitality, technical precision and effortless buoyancy. The
sextet dazzles with their calm aggression, if that fairly defines how dancers
can propel and explode without appearing to break a sweat. The joy of dance is
in these dancers’ bones and they, and their choreographer, project a delight in
performance that electrifies.
Godden’s understanding of
Beethoven’s sonata is in sharp and welcome contrast to the Steve Reich score
that precedes it. The duet, danced on the opening by Jo-Ann Sundermeier and Harrison
James, offers a
liquid fluidity that further defines the remarkable range of the RWB. The dance
is unapologetically romantic and the pairing of Sundermeier and Harrison
showcases the depth of richness in the company.
“Carmina Burana”, the second half
of the evening, is epic in scale and punctuates the considerable cohesion of
the RWB ensemble. Set to Carl Orff’s cantata, first performed in 1936, the work
dazzles as it builds to frenzy. The technical virtuosity of the company is
tested in this 60-minute dance as the stage fills again and again with couples
moving in tight and precise patterns, always in sync with the power of the
score and the energy they draw from each other. It’s all the more impressive
for me because the score, with its vocal pyrotechnics and extended solo
passages, touches and moves me not at all.
In her introductory comments,
Ella Baff admitted that she couldn’t believe that it’s been almost fifty years
since the RWB was last on the Ted Shawn stage. I hope that they are invited
back again very soon.