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Show The Salt Lake Tribune ARTS Sunday, December 30, 2001 Diablo Ballet Tells It on the Mountain Dance 2001 phrasing and BY SCOTT C. MORGAN BY KAREN ANNE WEBB THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE Whenever the Diablo Ballet performs on tour, the company is asked whyit named itself after the devil. Where 2000 was a year of emerging artists and programs, Valley. in would help the community embrace us quicker,” Jonas said. Situated in Walnut Creek, northeast from San Francisco, = Diablo Ballet did speedily worked,” said Teri Orr, executive director of the 4-year-old Park City Performing Arts Foundation. “Thefirst year we ked a dance companyit was so well-received by the community, we decided to do it again andagain. Dance can entertain everybody from 9-year-olds to grandmothers.” This year, ballet and modern dance fans shouldfind plenty to enjoy since Diablo Ballet mixes heady doses of both dance styles into its repertory. The creative blend is attractive to the company’s seasoned and classically trained dancers. “We didn’t want a company of young dancers. We wanted accomplished performers who were experienced,” Jonas said. The company’s small size allowsits repertoire to be more adventurous than the typical story-length ballets. put on by major. companies. Diablo per- forms seven to 10 new works each season, many created on the dancers themselves. Surprisingly, Jonas’ main inspiration for modeling Diablo didn’t come from another dance institution, but from a software company. Ashraf Habibullah,president and CEO of the Berkeley-based Computers & Structures, was the company’s other major co-founder, becoming involved mainly from his hobby of dance photography. Habibullah provided groups like Guangdong such a rarity in the People’s Republic. Rep Group Deserving to in the Majors: Taylor 2's “Esplanade” and “Company B”far excelled in energy, precision and artistry the same pieces performed the last time the main companydid them here. good. Getting Back in Touch With its Soul: The main Paul Taylor airplane last New Year's Eve. She was 27. Ballet West ballet master Tina Kay Bohnstedt and Richard Marsden of the Diablo Ballet, which will perform in Park City on New Year's Eveat the Eccles Centerfor the Performing Arts. SomeDiablo dancers run school outreach programs, others work on marketing, some teach company class while others choreograph. forming Arts Foundation presents Diablo Ballet in a special New sion worthy of innovative ge- the seed money and nowsits on the company’s board, while handling photography and graphicdesign. “We formulated [Diablo] much like his software company, where he would gather 16 people from all around the world who were strong engineers and also enjoyed or wanted to be involved in other aspects of the company[such as marketing or design],” Jonas said. “We felt dancers who really had more involvement than just dancing would feel more of an ownership and makeit their company.” Some Diablo dancers run school outreach others work on programs, marketing, some teach company class while others choredgraph. Diablo has drawn dancers from the Kiroy Ballet, the National Ballet of Singapore, the Universal Ballet of Korea, the Bavarian State Ballet, New York City Ballet and Ballet West. Christopher Young, a formersoloist with Ballet West and guest dancer with Utah Regional Ballet’s “Nutcracker” this year, joined the company in 1999. “Thad been with Ballet West for about 10 years and I needed a change,” Youngsaid. “People in the Bay area are more willing to see avant garde works and I like how Jonas is really pushing to expose people to more different things. [With Diablo] I’ve done a few pieces where I’m justin a dance belt. People [in Salt Lake] would freak outat the sight of a bare butt on stage but in the Bay Area it’s nobig deal.” For its Park City perfor- mance, Diablo Ballet presents two regional premieres and the return of Septime Webre’s “Fluctuating Hemlines,” last performed in Utah by the As- pen Santa Fe Ballet in 1998. A 1997 piece called “Bach de Trois” by Diablo associate member Nikolai Kabaniaev is on thebill, which features two women and a man in pointe shoes performing to the music of Bach. “Tt has a jazzy twist andit’s one of his better pieces,” said Young, adding that Kabaniaev HEARING FOOTSTEPS 4 Novel About the Rest of Utah www.hearingfootsteps.com Thomson re- trying their hands at, respec- tively, modern dance andjazz. And Bené Arnold retired Anywhere: The Guangdong with the freedom and phrasing of modern dance, all from a new pieces with Diablo each year. KTNelson,co-artistic director of the San Francisco-based Oberlin Dance choreographed “Walk Before Talk,” an audience favorite that rounds out the performance. Set to the music of Michael Nyman, “Walk Before Talk” features the performers in modern jazz shoes insteadofthe traditional pointe. Alongwith his recent “Nut- cracker”stint in Utah County, Young is looking forward to, West's Christiana Bennett turned in a magnificentTitania in George Balanchine's “A Midsummer Night's Dream” andfollowed it up with stylish, technically secure perfor- mances of both Balanchine's “Allegro Brilliante” and the Sugar Plum Fairy.Is there ari Odette/Odile in her future? Ditto, But for Choreography: graphic depth and emotional complexity; Jiang’s duet was a study of the inner landscape of those wholove. Best Independent Evening: “Seul(e),” which united independentperformers from every dance sub-community in the area for a look at solo work. Growth in Choreography: Stephen Brown, for his SB Dance’s “Frank's Ticker.” Brown, though innovative, has in the past placed his work at an emotional distance. This year’s offering featured substance that touched the heart as well as tickled the funnybone. Best Acquisition of Classic Work: Performing Dance Company’s “Mechanical Organ” by Merce , which. it University of Utah grad student Chia-Chi Chang, while not pro- lific, produces work that is thought-provoking and visu- both visually and artistically ally striking. stunning Best Out-of-the-Mainstream moving. Asian-influenced food Solo: “To Give Everything,” mayleave you hungry an hour later, but every Asian- nice to come back and see how the company has been doing and changing.” jazz solo performed with clean ter” (both presented by RDT) is and emotionally influenced element in this year’s | dance world (including new BW soloist Chao Lemeng)has left this reviewer feeling satisfyingly full. mn: Selection only Utah appearance New Year’s Eve (12/31) of Framed Art! Twiggs & Moore Gallery Gardner Village 1100 W.7800 S. + 255-3004 11538S. State Draper * 619-3775 St. George Blvd. * 435-673-6363 www.TicketWeb.com Aa pete Year's Exe é with the Utah Symphony! \ somes December 31 * Abravanel Hall, 10 p.m. Our aio! Viennese New Year's celebration is back, omplete with the post-concert party’éveryone hasasked for! Begin with an evening of great Viennese waltzes, marches and polkas by Strauss, Lehar, Kreisler and other Viennese masters, featuring vocalists George Dyer and Lynette Arbizu. Scott O’Neil conducts. The GAM Foundation proudly presents Grammy award winning jazz pianist Monty Alexander. Don’t miss this sensational performer who brings the energy of Oscar Peterson, the soulful sounds of Gene Harris and the sensitivity of Ahmad Jamal in a night of spectacular jazz! Jiang’s performed with panache. The Piece That Keeps on Giving: Great as Shapiro and Smith's “Turf” is, Lin Hwaimin’s “Crossing the Black Wa- danced by JamesPierce on the June “Dancers With Day Jobs” bill, and choreographed by Pierce, Staci Wilkinson, and Jacki Dowling, was a lovely performing in Utah and meeting up with his former Ballet West colleagues. “It’s always with Yeager’s look at the cycles that country where innovation itself is an innovation, making for an astonishingevening. Moving Up Quickly: Ballet two ties “Alone” for Utah Ballet. sically trained bodies moved creates Ruud timed too late tomake the drive a tribe had both choreo- Main, Park City. Children under 12 get halfprice discounts. Call typically Bearden/Amy Forest” for Odyssey Dance include a postperformance. reception at the Phoenix, 508 (435) 655-3114. terrific one-time appearance by Katrina Grown: Derryl Yeager’s “ep in March at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden. Perfect, clas- and $50. Tickets at $75 three strongcasts (including a Theatre Modern Dance Company from Guangdong, China, performed Park City on Mondayat 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 nius Alwin Nikolais. Add in review) and wehaveto declare “The Nutcracker.” Performance Available at: PEee leet ler Blot Cle EU MOL e LLC CES Emmy turned to the Midwest. Others madethetransition from oneart form to another: Ballet West alums Stevan Novakovichand Crystal Stone are pany’s annual production of Year’s Eve performance at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, 1750 Kearns Blvd. in New Piece, Acquired: rector ment — she remains as a distinguished professor emerita — andis now directorofthe Ballet West Academy and will continue her work with the com- The Park City Per- that again expressed theartistic visionsata of himself. William Forsythe’s “Artifact II” wins outin a tough field on the strength of an artistic vi- from her position in the University of Utah ballet depart- @ Devil Mountain Company performed two weeks later, with a dynamic Cincinatti; Ririe-Woodbury alum and nascentartistic di- Jiang Qi took a leave for a job in VIURDER, POLYGAMY AND INTERNATIO AL SCANDAL . THIS IS NOT YOUR BISHOP'S UTAH HEARING FOOTSTEPS danced by Ai Fujii, portrayed with stunning imagery the political climate that makes fellow lifting weights who had nevera ballerina, put him with private dance on the last night of the has Shirley Turie’'s “Silken Tears,” Ballet Westalso lost part of its future. Dancer Laurel Foster died tragically in the crash of a from prestigious companies around the world and a comfortable niche in the Bay Area’s busy dance scene. Diablo Ballet gives a New Year’s Eve concert at Park City’s Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, followed by a it Full Force, which deserves its owna' Moving Political Statement: a ballerina, and make it look surrounding community’'s support after its 1993 inception.It has 11 dancers culled thing, year longtime associate Bruce Caldwell) allowed him to run down the street to the gym, grab a “We decided that naming ourselves after the area we live one a gence of American balletas its own entity. He had vision, he gavethe art form visibility, and he had gift that (to paraphrase cally inspired from Mount Diablo in the Californian Diablo “For also those responsible for the emer- company’s name is geographi- year — previous companies were MOMIX, Pilobolus and Tona Pear Dance Theatre. company took the interesting transitions. Willam C. Christensen, the most famous figure in Utah dance, died on Oct. 14, just short of 100 years old. A national fig- risk of including the teen group was ure, Christensen was among Spanish moniker for the prince of darkness, Jonas says the City’s tradition of featuring ing as well as energized. The of It stantly clarifying the company’s name. Instead of taking reception at the Phoenix on ven Street. The company’s appearance continues Park well-programmed and energiz- and strengthening. Diablo Ballet artistic director, co-founder and occasional dancer Lauren Jonas is con- to Repertory “Vive Le Sport” was ‘lively, 2001 was a year of maintaining It didn’t. attention “Big Theparty continues with an elegant buffet and dancing in the BALLROOMoftheSalt Palace. TICKETS Concert & Party: $41, $47, $54 Concert Only: $24, $30, $37 Tickets at ArtTix: 355-ARTS online at utahsymphony.org UTAH SYM Keith Lockhart, Music (© |
