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Ballet makes tough stuff look easy
If there are canyons, bring them on. We will leap and clear the chasms with ease.
If there are challenging moves to make, we’ll do those, too, then take them apart and do them backwards. Take that.
And when the hard work is over, we’ll play nine innings of baseball.
Can’t say the Dayton Ballet is closing 2008-9 by taking it easy. The company’s season-ending program at the Victoria Theatre, which opened Thursday, March 19, is jammed with dance and entertainment.
First, the dance. The first half of the program belongs to Karen Russo Burke. Oh, sure, “D-Construction,” Septime Webre’s four-man aerobic workout, has been revived for a cast including the admirably quick and laser-precise Eduard Forehand.
But it’s sandwiched between two pieces by Burke, the company’s ballet mistress and (unofficially, if ever more deservingly) resident choreographer. One of those is “Freudian Slip,” her all-female answer to “D-Construction,” danced for the first time by Jennifer Grund, Christy Forehand, Keenan McLaren and Halliet Slack.
A revival of the same choreographer’s recent Native American-flavored “Canyons,” which opened the program, makes a strong impression for both the dancemaker and the dancers. Like a waterfall of leaps and spins, it’s truly a showcase of what makes ballet dancers special. Look what they can do and see how easily they do it.
Another revival, Christopher Fleming’s comic baseball and battle-of-the-sexes romp, “Play Ball!”, is done after intermission. An intentionally broad canvas of baseball and ballet cliches, it sparkles with tiny personal details.
The Dayton Ballet will perform again at 8 p.m. Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20-22, at the Victoria Theatre, First and Main streets. Tickets are $31-$63 at (937) 228-3630, (888) 228-3630 or online at www.ticketcenterstage.com.
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