Saturday, January 23, 1999
Petronio gives audience an 'experience'
BY CAROL NORRIS
Enquirer contributor
The new millennium doesn't really start until 2001 but people are already making plans for celebrating the occasion as soon as the calendar flips over to 2000. Stephen Petronio is well ahead of the curve with his new dance, Not Garden.
The work dances through the 20th century with imagery, music, projected words and abstract movements and an eye on what's been going on for the last 100 years.
The choreographer likes to say his dances don't need to be understood intellectually, but rather experienced. Even so, we'll take a stab at trying to describe them.
He makes explosive, powerful dance phrases with an aggressive attack. There's nothing sentimental or soft.
The dancers, clad in simple beige costumes designed by Ghost, move through the complex work with intensity. There's no fudging when it comes to dancing the demanding, intricate work.
It opens with Mr. Petronio, head shaved, whipping furiously through a solo to the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria (sung by Diamanda Galas). In this and a later duet, there's fluidity in spite of fast, jam-packed movement.
To David Linton's electronic music, Mr. Petronio flashes the names of familiar villains in recent history on a front scrim. Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler lead the list. Like most current artists who make political statements, he includes the likes of Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher — names that those on the left love to hate. It's a cliche; I've seen it done so many times now that I knew when he said he was listing villains they'd make the cut.
He also seems to have a gripe with Disney, Barbie and aol.com — or maybe by the time these words showed up he was in a lighter mood; I couldn't tell. Dancing occurred while words were flying around, but my attention was drawn to the words.
Pictures flashed on an upstage screen to represent the elements caused the opposite effect. With jets, exploding bombs, burning flowers and water skiers, the dancing was more interesting.
There were new faces in the audience of 160, most of them college-age. Comments ranged from “I didn't get it” to “That was fabulous. I loved it.” It's the kind of thing contemporary artists expect — to put their work out there and get people talking.
Stephen Petronio Company continues Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater.
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