DANCE REVIEW
For Morris, music melds with dance
By Carol Egan
Special to The Advertiser
Mark Morris frequently is quoted as saying he loves music more than dance. His detractors just as frequently accuse him of creating music visualizations, a term used somewhat pejoratively and associated with the early modern dance choreographer Doris Humphrey, whose works tended to slavishly follow the melodies, rhythms and dynamics of the music, without veering away to create an autonomous statement or rhythmic variation. But Morris does not simply Mickey Mouse the music; instead he digs deeply into its core, using dancers' bodies to express the differing lines played by each instrument.
The Mark Morris Dance Group displayed the multiplicity of its founder's musical tastes Saturday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. The program began with a taped medley of eight Country-Western songs, and the remaining three works were danced to live accompaniment, a tradition Morris insists on continuing despite its costs.
Though primarily a campy romp and rousing opener, "Going Away Party," danced to a collection of songs performed by Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys, included several memorable moments. As the dancers joyfully met and greeted each other, do-si-doing to the center, peeling off to form new units and reforming yet different ones, Morris' penchant for the communal over the individual was apparent.
The piece used a basic vocabulary of walks, skips, hops, and runs — the building blocks of universal folk dance, reflecting Morris' background as a member of a Balkan folk dancing ensemble. Not surprisingly, these movements were also favored by Isadora Duncan, the great revolutionary dance artist whose goal was to break the bonds of the restrictive ballet style, and return to so-called "natural" movements.
If "Going Away Party" left us wanting more dance and less coy miming, the second work, a solo for Morris that premiered last March, reminded us why the choreographer has come to be recognized as one of the principal heirs to the modern dance's rich traditions.
"Serenade," completed after the composer Lou Harrison's death, is lovingly dedicated "to the divine Mr. Harrison," with whom Morris worked on many occasions. Choreographed to Harrison's delicate and subtle composition "Serenade for Guitar," exquisitely performed by Oren Fader on guitar and percussionist Stefan Schatz, it contained subtle reminders of Ruth St. Denis' influence on early modern dance. She is known best for pieces she created "in the style of" Indian, Egyptian, Japanese, and Spanish dance, with considerable success.
Morris, 47, still dances like a dream, displaying extraordinary control.
Particularly moving was the second movement, a dirge-like march, which began where the first section ended, with a silhouetted couple frozen in a lift. As the heavy, somber music resounded, the couple gradually lowered themselves to the floor and began to crawl off stage, passing other dancers crawling on.
Intermittently one or several dancers would stand and continue walking to the funereal march, while others continued to travel from one side to the other in a deep lunge.
