June 1, 2010

Paul Taylor Dance Company highlights upcoming season

The best art tells a story, and CSU Monterey Bay's Performing Arts Series at the World Theater just completed a season that told a variety of them. And there are more to come.

Starting off the theater's ninth season last fall, the colorful costumes and leaping dancers of the Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company exploded across the stage – 80 dancers strong – illuminating a culture more than a thousand years old. The dancers inspired the audience to leap as well – to their feet with thunderous applause at the end of the show.

That was followed by the Woods Tea Company, a lively folk music group that introduced the audience to some little known instruments – including bouzoukis, bodhrans and tin whistles­ – while playing music rooted in the 19th century.

For its holiday performance, the theater offered "A Christmas Carol." The classic Dickens tale was given a new spin by being produced as a radio drama, complete with actors reading scripts, live sounds effects and music. It was the first time many audience members had experienced radio drama, and they were clearly delighted with it. The show was rebroadcast on KAZU 90.3 over the holidays.

Next up was "Mind Boggling: The Show," which brought ventriloquist Andy Gross to the World Theater. Gross blended comedy, magic, illusion, theater and ventriloquism to amuse the audience. It was the first magic show ever included in the theater's performing arts season, adding more variety to an already diverse lineup.

Audience members had a chance to experience Japanese Kabuki theater when master storyteller Brenda Wong Aoki performed "The Legend of Morning Glory – A Boy, A Girl, and A Promise." The poignant love story was staged as a one-woman show and was accompanied by a taiko drumming ensemble, dancers and live music.

Grammy-nominated vocalist Perla Batalla closed out the season with a performance that told the story of her Latin-American upbringing and celebrated Hispanic music and culture on Cinco de Mayo. Batalla enchanted the audience with her easy rapport and soaring vocals, provoking a standing ovation from the delighted crowd.

Dance takes center stage when the theater's 10th anniversary season gets under way in the fall.

On Oct. 21, Madrid-based Noche Flamenca pays its first visit to campus. Famenco is wild and ancient, an art form crafted during the Spanish Inquisition by the country's outcasts: gypsies, Jews, Moors and Muslims. It's the soul of Andalusia, the southern region of Spain, and the voice of an entire nation. "Why (flamenco) exists is why any minority art form exists – which is as a rebel song, a deep cry to be whoever you are," explained Martín Santangelo, artistic director, choreographer and cofounder of the company. Featuring lead dancer Soledad Barrio, the performance group promises flamenco without tricks or gimmicks. It features rapid, fluid guitar playing, heart-piercing vocals, impassioned dancing and a flurry of rhythmically pounding hands and feet. "It's interesting. The further you go backward, the more modern it seems," Santangelo said about flamenco.

The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to the World Theater on Nov. 11 for a very special performance. Taylor has choreographed a new dance called "Brief Encounters," in celebration of his 80th birthday. The piece is set to the music of Claude Debussy's "Children's Corner."

At an age when most artists' best work is behind them, Taylor is acclaimed for the vibrancy, relevance and power of his dances. He continues to tackle some of society's thorniest issues. He may propel his dancers through space for the sheer beauty of it, or use them to wordlessly illuminate war, spirituality, sexuality, morality and mortality. If, as Balanchine said, there are no mothers-in-law in ballet, there certainly are dysfunctional families, ex-lovers, fallen preachers, rapists, angels and insects in Taylor's dances.

And that fits perfectly into the World Theater's mission.

"One of our goals at the World Theater is to present artists who educate and enlighten," said theater director Joe Cardinalli. "We do this by presenting and creating diverse programming to entertain the campus and the community.

"Come for a full evening at the university - have dinner at the Otter Bay Restaurant adjacent to the theater, enjoy a professional performance in the theater and complete the evening by visiting with the performers in the theater lobby after the show," Cardinalli said.

Look for a new season of entertainment, enlightenment and education.

And, take advantage of a special early-bird special: buy tickets to either Noche Flamenca or Paul Taylor Dance Company by June 9 for $25 each, or get a ticket to both shows for $45. Tickets will certainly cost more when they go on sale in August and will likely sell out, so now is the best time to get tickets to the two hottest dance shows of the fall.