Stone Cold Pimpin'

By TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 24, 2007 8:42 AM
There was nothing stuffy about the way The Beatles approached classical music. They might have been flag-bearers of youth culture in the '60s, but their hunger for an ever-widening sonic palette never led them to separate themselves from musical history. And with George Martin as producer, a former classical student who could knock out complex arrangements as The Beatles could melodies, the band indulged in copping licks not just from Chuck Berry, but also from the compositions of Vivaldi and Stockhausen.
So when a crack Beatles tribute band, backed by the Santa Barbara Symphony, played the Arlington Theatre on Saturday, there was nothing of a concession about it. This wasn't the Longines Symphonette Society plays "A Hard Day's Night." This was an exceedingly faithful recreation of a mostly studio-bound oeuvre, and something that, even if they had not decided to stop touring in 1965, the Beatles may not have been able to pull off, had they wanted.

With Richard Kaufman conducting this evening of pops, the symphony dabbled in other British Invasion offerings, allowing the orchestra to shine by itself. The evening opened with Malcolm Arnold's "English Dances, op. 53, second set." Mr. Arnold, who passed away last year, was best known for his score for "The Bridge on the River Kwai," but his "Dances" are pleasant and lightly humorous work.
Mention the "River Kwai" music, and most people think of the tune that Mr. Arnold didn't write, the "Colonel Bogey March," composed by Sir Kenneth Alford during World War I. Mr. Kaufman encouraged the audience to whistle along, and they did, all in the playful spirit of a pops concert. John Barry's "James Bond Theme" followed, and all that was missing from that iconic work was the surf-guitar lead, despite the four guitars waiting for their musicians at the front of the stage.
The headliners then appeared. Technically called the Classical Mystery Tour, although the name alludes to both band and orchestra, the tribute band included Jim Owen as John Lennon, Tony Kishman as Paul McCartney, Thomas Teeley as George Harrison and Chris Camilleri as Ringo Starr. Being only four years since this band's stiff competition, The Fab Four, played a winning set at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, some in the audience could not help comparing the two.
While Mr. Owen makes a serviceable Mr. Lennon (and is the brains behind the whole evening), Mr. Kishman is the band's trump card. Not only does he bear an uncanny resemblance to Mr. McCartney, but he aces the vocals, even though I suspect his range is higher than the real Mr. McCartney. Mr. Teeley proves he handles Mr. Harrison's sliding guitar work, and he even steps in to handle a solo that originally came from Eric Clapton on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." There was nothing to be forgiven in these four musicians, and no one needed to squint to make the illusion work.
The real stars of the show were in the good-humored orchestra (who often gamely sat and listened when not playing). Also shining was Martin Herman, the California State University, Long Beach, composer who faithfully transcribed the original arrangements by George Martin.
Seeing the orchestra play Mr. Martin's arrangements on such songs as "Eleanor Rigby," "All You Need Is Love" and "I Am the Walrus" illustrated his radical use of instrumentation and his sense of variety. The double string quartet on "Eleanor Rigby" makes no concessions to pop, and its trio of dueling melodies are solid drama. The live performance also allowed the full majesty of "All You Need Is Love" to come to the fore.
Usually hidden behind a tinny mastering job on compact disc, the orchestra revealed a number of Mr. Martin's musical jokes, including a moment when about eight members would separate from the whole and play a different song entirely, like a radio fading in and out. "Walrus" gets a lot of its general effect from its seasick strings, with their deep dives into cello runs and an ending that uses Shepard's Ascending Tones to give the illusion of ever-ascending notes. How thrilling it was to see the first strings in full, shivery tremolo near the end.
More proof, if needed, of Mr. Martin's talents was the comparison to Phil Spector's arrangement for "The Long and Winding Road," from the only album Mr. Martin didn't produce. For "Road," the strings do what they usually do in pop music -- a honeyed wash filling out the empty spaces left by the group.
Though the evening ended with a rousing "Twist and Shout," and the orchestra closed with the appropriately titled "The End," there is no doubt the shining moment came with the rising discord of "A Day in the Life," probably one of the most recognizable yet avant-garde sounds in 20th century music, and whose closing crashing piano chord seals off its chaos with resounding mortality.
And to hear it live? Well, it was fab.

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 20, 2007 12:00 AM
"The TV Set" takes on prime time TV, and misses
By Ted Mills
Jake Kasdan, son of Lawrence Kasdan ("The Big Chill"), has never gotten a fair shake in Hollywood.
His 1998 film, "Zero Effect," was originally all but ignored, but has slowly gained a cult following by those lucky enough to have seen it. "Orange County" turned out to be the one Jack Black comedy nobody went to see. And Kasdan directed episodes of the ill-fated but cult-followed "Freaks and Geeks," before it was cancelled.
Some of his apparent bitterness comes across in "The TV Set," which takes on prime time TV much like "The Player" or "The Big Picture" took on the studio system.
But maybe "The TV Set" isn't bitter enough. There's little rage directed at a system designed to reward mediocrity. Nothing stings as it should, even though all the pieces are in place.

David Duchovny plays Mike, who we meet just as the suits at a Fox-like network gather to consider casting the pilot he is writing and producing. The project is autobiographical, a tale of a young lawyer returning home after his brother commits suicide. And it's a "dramedy." Uh-oh.
Mike wants the humor low-key, but the suits, led by Lenny (Sigourney Weaver), want it big and broad. A young British executive (Ioan Gruffudd) brought in to oversee the show and give it a bit of that BBC touch, tries to defend Mike's choices, as does Mike's manager, Alice (Judy Greer). When Mike considers digging in his heels over script changes, his wife (Justine Bateman) points to her pregnant belly. They need the money.
The opening scene spells out a lot of what's wrong with the film. Mike's choice of actor is a nervous, bearded mumbler. But, well, so is Mike. His character is introverted and rarely angry. He stumbles through the film with a series of ailments, including a head cold and a slipped disc.
Instead of garnering sympathy, we look around for characters with more vigor, which is why Greer -- among her many comedic roles, the crazy secretary/mistress in "Arrested Development" -- steals her scenes, even while portraying a character type we've seen in many Hollywood-eats-their-own films.
Fran Kranz also grabs laughs as conceited actor Zach Harper. His character's best performances come in rehearsal, but once the camera rolls, he chews the scenery. Cameos by Andrea Martin, Willie Garson (''Sex and the City''), and Philip Baker Hall should also be savored.
"The TV Set" doesn't tell us much we don't know about the creative bankruptcy of network television, and seeing Greer is just another reminder of how executives have no idea what to do with originality and intelligence (See: the pitch-perfect "Arrested Development," cancelled after three seasons).
The target audience for this film has probably moved to HBO and DVD rentals anyway. Trouble is, it feels like Kasdan has given up on TV, too. Instead of a brilliant kiss off, his film feels like a resignation letter.

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 20, 2007 10:32 AM
In 2004, "Shaun of the Dead" successfully transplanted the George A. Romero-spawned zombie genre, setting it within London's slacker pub culture.
Unlike the minds behind most parodies, "Shaun's" Edgar Wright (writer, director) and Simon Pegg (writer, actor) loved the genre they were ribbing, and they never let humor get in the way of good filmmaking. To this end, "Shaun" can be counted among the best of the zombie-film genre. Their latest collaboration, "Hot Fuzz," does the same for the buddy-action film.
Pegg plays it straight this time as Sergeant Nicholas Angel, a London cop so good his superiors reassign him to a rustic village just so he won't make the rest of the Metropolitan division look bad.

Sandford, Gloucestershire, is the kind of quiet, one-hotel, one-pub community where the biggest crime is loitering in the village square on a school night. Police officers here spend their time tracking down lost swans from the local farm or helping church raffles . . . until people start turning up dead. Things don't get better for Angel when the man he arrests his first night in town turns out to be his new partner, Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), the son of the chief inspector (Jim Broadbent).

In interviews, Wright and Pegg cite their extensive research, watching every action film of the past two decades: Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, John Woo and his Hong Kong contemporaries, et al. It shows in the film's breezy confidence and tighter-than-tight plot, not to mention its car chases and gun battles. In fact, Wright knows how to shoot action and build suspense better than most Hollywood directors working within the real buddy-action genre.
While "Hot Fuzz" doffs its bobby hat to "Point Break" and "Bad Boys II" with explicit references -- Butterman and Angel bond after watching these films in a drunken stupor -- the film also drops in homages to "Le Samourai," "High Plains Drifter," "Infernal Affairs," "Lethal Weapon" and many more. By poking fun at, and yet celebrating, British provincialism, Wright and Pegg wisely pay tribute to such films as "Passport to Pimlico," "Straw Dogs," and "The Wicker Man." Pegg even bears a passing resemblance to Edward Woodward from "Wicker," and Woodward turns up in "Hot Fuzz" as a rifle-toting villager.
Apart from Pegg and Frost, who have made a successful double-act since they first teamed up in "Spaced" -- a sitcom that sadly may never get a U.S. release due to an issue with music rights -- "Hot Fuzz" boasts a stellar supporting cast. Timothy Dalton takes a villainous turn as a smug supermarket owner, Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall are aviator-wearing detectives who joke more than they work, and Broadbent is the chief inspector who seems to always be finishing a bowl of ice cream or a plate of black forest gateau. Fans of Brit comedy will also appreciate the numerous cameos, including Steve Coogan, Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy (all three in one scene), Billie Whitelaw, Bill Bailey, Stephen Merchant, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by director Peter Jackson as a knife-wielding Santa.
With no signs of a sophomore slump, Pegg and Frost deliver thrills and smarts in "Hot Fuzz," which makes one wonder what genre they'll tackle next.

HOT FUZZ
****
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent
Rated: R, for violence and language
Length: 2 hours, 1 minute
Playing at: Fiesta 5, Camino Real

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 20, 2007 11:25 AM

ARCADE FIRE
"Neon Bible"
MERGE RECORDS
After their monumental, romantic debut "Funeral," Canada's Arcade Fire seem to have reached inside themselves for their more muddied follow-up, "Neon Bible." There's still beauty here, but it's of a dark, velvety variety. Songs such as "Windowsill" and "My Body Is a Cage" start small and build outward, yet rarely find a catharsis.
Only "No Cars Go" hearkens back to the sound of "Funeral," with piles of strings and brass and a frontal drum assault. Win Butler's lyrics remain dour, but look for that ever-elusive transcendence. On "Neon Bible" that lights seems even further away.


OF MONTREAL
"Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?"
POLYVINYL RECORDS
"C'mon mood, shift back to good again!" sings Kevin Barnes on Of Montreal's eighth full-length album. Main man Barnes manages to do so, as he mashes together disco-rhythm riffs with a psychedelic's penchant for layered vocals and flowery instrumentation. This helps to cover lyrics of depression, suicide and rejection in a very jolly way. Recorded in Norway and Barnes' hometown of Athens, Ga., the album is more a Barnes solo project than previous works. The album's centerpiece is the 11-minute "The Past Is A Grostesque Animal," a rambling rant about, well, who-knows-what, backed by Neu!-like electronics and a looping, cooing male chorus. If this is Barnes truly going off the deep end, then listeners will feel inclined to dive in, too.


THE FALL
"Reformation Post T.L.C."
NARNACK RECORDS
This is The Fall's 26th official album in a 30-year run that has seen only one constant -- lead vocalist Mark E. Smith's caustic voice and enigmatic lyrics. The 2006 touring band -- three good-to-go Yanks and one Greek wife on keyboard -- unfortunately are undone by a studio recording that can't match the sonic palette of 2005's "Fall Heads Roll." So we get a bit too many muddy jams, such as "Fall Sound" and "Systematic Abuse," the obligatory cover (Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever"), and studio goofs, "Insult Song" and the interminable "Das Boot." If only more songs sounded like "Coach and Horses," two minutes of tight riffery and time-travel lyrics. But, alas, they don't. Now don't worry, with The Fall, wait a year and the next album may be a masterpiece.

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 20, 2007 9:58 AM
"He's unlike any composer. He's just…very British."
Martin Herman, a professor of composition and electronic music at Cal State Long Beach, is not speaking of Elgar, Holst or Vaughan Williams. Instead, he's singing the praises of George Martin, Beatles producer and arranger. Though the Fab Four wrote the songs, it was Martin who provided the backing and arrangements for "Eleanor Rigby," "She's Leaving Home," "A Day in the Life" and many more.
On Saturday at the Arlington, the Santa Barbara Symphony will showcase the music of The Beatles in "The Classical Mystery Tour," the third Pops concert of the season.

A Beatles tribute band, led by Jim Owen as John Lennon and Tony Kishman as Paul McCartney, will perform some of the group's biggest hits, backed by the orchestra, under the baton of Richard Kaufman. Because Owen and his bandmates insist on sounding as close to the originals as possible, they sought out someone to play the "fifth Beatle," a composer who could transcribe Martin's arrangements for the orchestra.
"Jim came to my office," Cal State's Herman says. "I hadn't met him before. Just before he arrived I saw a man outside my window and I thought, 'Wow, that guy looks like John Lennon.' It turned out to be Jim."
Owen told Herman about the project and how Apple Records wouldn't release Martin's original scores. After signing on, Herman spent several months with his ear stuck to speakers, working out 20 Beatles songs, reconstructing Martin's arrangements for "Strawberry Fields Forever," "I Am the Walrus" and others.
Herman says his arrangements hew as close to the originals as possible. "I sometimes doubled a viola or horn, so that a musician doesn't just sit there," he says. "And certain instruments are beyond the budget and availability, like the accordions on 'All You Need Is Love,' but this is as close as you'll get."
Like others in the band, Owen is a veteran of the tribute band Beatlemania's original run, though he initially started as George Harrison. None of the members have gone so far as learning to play left-handed -- like some Paul impersonators -- and no one has resorted to plastic surgery, but Owen and the band are sticklers for finding the original instruments, or at least recreations of them.
"Rickenbacker reissued the kind of three-quarter-scale rhythm guitar in the '90s that John used to play," Owen says. "You plug that in to a Vox amp and you're most of the way there with the sound. Then you just have to know how to play."
"The Classical Mystery Tour" is Owen's baby, and he funded the first few shows in 1995. It took a few years for popularity to spread, but now the show has taken the group on tour across the nation, and to Canada, Europe and Korea.
Kaufman, who has conducted the show with other orchestras in other cities, describes the performance as just like the records, but "live, and a little bigger."
The evening also includes other gems of 20th century pop culture: John Barry's James Bond theme, George Clinton's "The Shag-Adelic" off the "Austin Powers" soundtrack and "English Dances" by Malcolm Arnold.
But The Beatles form the bulk of the evening.
"The last time we played with the Dallas Symphony," Kaufman says, "the orchestra ended the evening dancing on stage."

THE CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St.
Cost: $30 to $65
Information: 963-4408 or www.thesymphony.org

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 20, 2007 9:56 AM
"You can see as many live bands in Austin in one night as in two weeks in Los Angeles," says Peggy Jones, the programmer and founder of Sings Like Hell, the Americana music series that has reached its 10-year anniversary at the Lobero.
To make it 10 years, though, Jones has had to live in the center of American music. Since 1999, she has made the bars and clubs of Austin, Texas, her office. Her work hours have become 5 p.m. to closing time.
Any band worth their sweat passes through Austin, and Jones helps divert some of the best to Santa Barbara. The result is Sings Like Hell's broad menu of Americana.

A 10th anniversary? Pretty good for a former PR-firm head who started programming small concerts at her home in Los Olivos. When popularity dictated a larger venue, Jones decided to bring a different culture to the Lobero, which, up to that point, she says, was just a little stuffy.
"There was no place where singer-songwriters could get an airing," she says.
Now the Lobero is attune to the sound of a bluegrass band as much as a symphony, and much of that is Hell's doing.
"By my second year, I knew the audience," she says. "They want to hear new stuff, but not 'new music.' ''
The second half of Hell's 21st series balances new acts and returning favorites. Corb Lund & the Hurtin' Albertans lead off the series tomorrow (see adjacent story). In May, Jones brings in Jesse Winchester and Tom Rush, who are the reasons she became interested in the singer-songwriter scene in the beginning. Also returning is Jimmy LaFave, an acclaimed Dylan interpreter and songwriter. He'll perform with his band, and Joel Rafael will be joining the show.
The Alejandro Escovedo Band, an alt-country favorite, performs in August. In 2003, Escovedo nearly died from complications of hepatitis C, but he has returned to rock with abandon. "Heaven wasn't ready for him, but Hell sure is," the season's press release says.
Some musicians pass through Hell and become so popular Jones can't bring them back to the medium-size venue. This happened, she said, with bluegrass fiddler Alison Krauss, who played in the 2003 series. Jones predicts the same fate will meet The Lovell Sisters, who play in July. Jones caught them at the usually low-key Folk Alliance in Memphis and was blown away.
"This year's Folk Alliance conference was better than (Austin's) South by Southwest," she says. "I think I saw the future of country music with The Lovell Sisters."
The John Cowan Band, which ends the season, also bears watching. As an ambassador of "newgrass" or "thrashgrass," depending on whom you ask, Cowan makes his Santa Barbara debut in September.
"Bluegrass is the heavy metal of trad music," Jones says. "Everybody solos, everybody trades leads, everybody plays loud and everybody plays fast."
Information and a full schedule of the 21st season can be found at www.singslikehell.com

Posted by Ted Mills at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Theatre UCSB's spring dance concert features the work of faculty choreographers and cream-of-the-crop seniors in its six parts. At left is a scene from "Bone Whispers," choreographed by Tonia Shimin. PHOTO COURTESY OF THEATRE UCSB
April 13, 2007 9:37 AM
Looking at the title of Theatre UCSB's spring dance concert, "From the Backbone Forward" -- opening tonight at UCSB -- one might wonder where the phrase comes from. It's not from a choreographer's advice or a movement technique, oh no.
"I thought that was a good way to describe all these pieces," artistic director Stephanie Nugent says. "In one way, we're all moving forward (artistically). But it's also a way of talking about the movement of a dancer through space."
Themes of birth, development, and heritage flow through the six pieces comprising "Backbone."

In "Relative Memory," advanced student Chelsea Retzloff's musings about her grandparents, history, and DNA influence her choreography.
"Both my grandmothers died when I was young," says Retzloff, who is one of two UCSB seniors represented in the show. "I get inspired that they're a part of me. Though I never knew them, they still guide me."
In the work, six female dancers solo, with each solo based on the one before it.
"It changes when it gets to the new person," Retzloff says. "It's similar, but different."
In this sense, she says, it reflects how families pass on physical and emotional traits.
In "Inc.," Retzloff's classmate Victor Fung explores his life away from dance, with influences from his friends' lives in the world of big business. Set to clarinet and vocal music by Michael Lowenstern, "Inc." presents the external and internal worlds of the businessman in a cutthroat world.
While Fung's dichotomy exists within the individual, Tonia Shimin's lies between the new world and an older, archetypal one. Her "Bone Whispers" incorporates video projection and a score by Steve Reich and faculty member Leslie Hogan.
"At Last It's Clear" comes from artist-in-residence Keith Johnson of Cal State Long Beach, and utilizes the full UCSB dance company. Non-narrative and conceptual, Nugent, the artistic director, says Johnson's work is momentum-driven and kinesthetic.
"At the end," she says, "I feel like (the title) is like a false statement. It'll never be clear . . . but the middle section is a moment of great clarity."
Johnson's work uses music from Arizona-based composer Kris Hill, who has worked with the choreographer in the past.
Nancy Colahan's "Inflorescence" came to her through a love of gardening, which influences the vibrant costumes, as well as the idea of creative and artistic flowering.
Lastly, Nugent's "Stop Searching -- Your Mouth Is Full of Feathers," is based on a song by Iva Bittova, whose violin and vocals provide the music. Nugent says the song's "neither here nor there, neither wet nor dry" lyrical device caused her to think about culture and our need to search for answers.
"We're all looking outside, searching for something," she says. "The whole time it's inside of us. We've eaten it."
Nugent presented the work before at UCSB, in 2001.
"I wanted to do it again," she says. "The dancers all have a very different sense of character. It's my second shot, a chance to do it stronger."

FROM THE BACKBONE FORWARD
When: 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday,2 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $17 general, $13 students and seniors
Information: 893-3535 or www.dramadance.ucsb.edu

Posted by Ted Mills at 07:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 13, 2007 12:00 AM
It could be argued that the Estonian capital of Tallinn should evoke the same response in music lovers as Prague or Vienna. The Tallinn Conservatory gave the world at least one famous living composer, Arvo Pãrt. The city also produced the musical Jãrvi family, including Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conductor Paavo Jãrvi, who brings his baton to the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday night, in an event sponsored by CAMA.

Conducting runs in the Jãrvi family. Paavo's father, Neeme, helped launch Pãrt's reputation in the West. Paavo's brother, Kristjan, leads Vienna's Tonkũnstler Orchestra. His sister, Maarika, broke family tradition and became a flutist.
Jãrvi's father educated him early in all kinds of music.
"I think natural curiosity can be taught," he says. "My interest came from my father's belief in the infinite possibility of music."
Early on, Paavo learned to read scores through his father's eyes.
"He would point out the melody to me and say, 'This is the melody, but listen to what is going on underneath.' ''
The family took in operas and symphonies, while Paavo joined various rock and jazz bands. He still professes a love of British prog rock, such as Genesis and Yes. His childhood friend, Erkki-Sven Tũũr, now a composer, formed one of Estonia's best known prog outfits, In Spe.
After attending the Tallinn School of Music, Paavo moved to the United States with his family, and studied under Leonard Bernstein at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.
Bernstein was the first conductor to really popularize the music of Danish composer Carl Nielsen, whose Symphony No. 4 -- "The Inextinguishable," Jãrvi is conducting Tuesday.
"Nielsen is not well known here yet," Jãrvi says. "But it will come. America is a bit conservative in these matters. Nielsen has a unique, recognizable language, it's unlike any other. His processes, but not his sound, are similar to Prokofiev, in that his work is immediately recognizable."
Also on the program is Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," a favorite of Jãrvi's and his first recording after joining the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
"It's so over-the-top," he says. "It was written only six years after Beethoven's death, but that made me realize how forward-looking and out-of-this-world it is."
Jãrvi is often quoted as saying that one doesn't really become a conductor until 50. Now 44, he still believes he is learning.
"I know I haven't reached that point," he says, adding that 50 is just a number, a temporary dividing line. "It's a clear point. I listen to myself 10 years ago and hear the difference. I hear somebody who is preoccupied in making things sound right, perfecting the surface. And I thought at the time I knew what I was doing."
That time spent learning a broad range of composers and works comes back later in life, Jãrvi believes, as refinement.
"If you only conduct one Bruckner symphony, you don't know Bruckner. Knowing the others will add to your experience. I can tell when I'm auditioning a violinist, for example, whether they know all of Sibelius when they are playing a solo, or just that piece. That's the level of understanding I am after."

Posted by Ted Mills at 01:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TED MILLS, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 12, 2007 9:08 AM
Choreographer Ohad Naharin provides a spectrum through which we watch the world anew. In his dances, the pedestrian and even the private and unconscious become poetry, leading to equal parts laughter and rapt silence. Behind it all, there's an intelligence in the career-spanning "best of" work "Minus One." Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de MontrËal brought this 90-minute piece to Arlington Theatre on Monday night.
Santa Barbara has seen some of these works before, performed by other companies in other years. But they have usually been one piece among other choreographers' work. "Minus One" gave us a full evening to explore Israel-born Naharin's world, and never once did the man repeat himself or repeatedly hammer themes. This time, too much was a good thing.

Naharin has a reputation for his chair work, and during the opening number (formerly a part of his "Minus 16" and "Anaphaza"), it was no surprise to see the entire company -- nearly 25 people -- sitting in a semi-circle, dressed in black suits and hats.
This number was based around "Echad Mi Yodea," a traditional song for Passover that this evening was gussied up by experimental rock group The Tractor's Revenge, and Naharin added a set of movements to every new verse (and like "The 12 Days of Christmas," there are many, many verses).
By the end, the company had taxed their bodies and their powers of recall, with most of their clothes thrown in a pile in the middle of the circle. Having seen this piece performed before, I can add that it doesn't lose its simple, primal power -- half child's game, half existential struggle.

A short interlude followed for a group of women dressed in skivvies, and a tick-tock rhythm. Set in low light, Naharin's work played with the shallow visible depth of the space to create the illusion that this line of dancers stretched beyond vision to the left and right, possibly out into the street.
The first duet of the night morphed from this piece, with a man and woman in some sort of romantic entanglement set to a plaintive guitar-and-voice version of "Greensleeves." Originally titled "Passomezzo," the work contains some of Naharin's most idiosyncratic movements, from crouching tippy-toes to pushing the other dancer around like a floor mop. Beneath the irony lies something like tenderness and humanity and an understanding of how imperfectly relationships work.
Paul Smadbeck's Philip Glass-like marimba music accompanies the beefcake and loincloth drama of "Black Milk," a tale, it seems, of individual against group, and of myth versus reason. (Or maybe Naharin has none of that in mind.) What we get is five remarkable dancers and a constant creative pulse that makes full use of their billowing garments and aerial prowess.
Into this quasi-seriousness waded a woman in black pony girl gear on stilts, who lip-synced a mambo number into a radio mike as part of a piece called "Sabotage Baby." Fans of David Lynch must have been pleased, as it seemed like a mashup of at least three of his movies. She even disappeared, leaving the last note playing, much like "Mulholland Dr." "No hay banda ," indeed.

Next, 15 dancers came onstage, donning black suits and hats, dancing side by side and engaging in narcissistic and self-indulgent violence. Then each took a solo, and this turned into the audience participation part of the evening, as each performer selected an audience member dressed in red to come onstage for a dance.
In contrast to that moment's good humor, the following series of female solos, backed by Arvo P0x8art's "Fratres," ached with sadness. In a series of elliptical scenes, these women, dressed in black corsets, succumbed to a betrayal of their bodies and gravity-heavy resignation. When they should have connected to the ground with their feet, they often ended up flat on their backs or trying to lift their heads.
P0x8art's music, scored for eight violoncellos, combined with these agile bodies, was the most beautiful work of the night. That this and the silliness of the finale, a romping free-for-all set to a house music remix of "Over the Rainbow," comes from the mind of one man aptly shows the genius of Naharin. Taken together, the whole is greater than the sum -- in fact, we left begging for more parts.

Photos by David Bazemore

Posted by Ted Mills at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Led by artistic director Gradimir Pankov, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens debuts Monday at Arlington Theatre with a reimagined version of Ohad Naharin's 'Minus One'

Ted Mills, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
April 6, 2007 9:52 AM
'If a dance is good, then it will be appreciated," says Gradimir Pankov, artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. "It's that simple."
After 50 years in the dance world, Pankov has returned to the most basic of philosophies. But it's a thought he says he shares with Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, whose "Minus One" comes to the Arlington on Monday.

"I'm 68 now, and since 1966 I've worked without rest," Pankov says in a still-thick accent that speaks of his birthplace in Macedonia and his years in Europe before coming to North America. For 10 years he danced for companies in the former Yugoslavia and Germany, then retired to take over the artistic directorship of Nederlands Dans Theatre II, the National Ballet of Finland in Helsinki, Sweden's Cullberg Ballet and Ballet du Grand Théatre de Genéve in Switzerland.
Now, and for the foreseeable future, he says, he is the director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, a position he has held since 1999.

"I first visited Montreal in 1985," Pankov says. "I turned to my wife and said 'I could live here.' '' Many years later, Pankov was set to leave his Geneva company and move into teaching. But he was invited to direct in Montreal. "My wife remembered what I had said. You see how destiny is?"
Destiny might have also had a hand in Pankov's first meeting with Naharin. In 1986, they met at a dance festival in Holland, where Naharin's work was being performed by a small New York company.
"We talked over dinner," he says. "Ohad and I shared similar ideas about dance. It shouldn't be about (putting forth) an intellectual idea. It should be about the relationships between the dancers and each other, or about their own selves."
This relationship led to Naharin creating the work "Perpetuum" in 1992 for Pankov's Geneva company. It was set to waltzes by Johann Strauss, but was full of Naharin's flamboyant good humor. Fast forward a few years, and Pankov asked Naharin for a work for his Montreal company. Pankov could name many highlights from Naharin's body of work -- why not a show of highlights? "Minus One" was born. The title doesn't allude to the fact that anything is missing, however.
"It could be 'Minus 30,' '' he jokes. "Honestly, I don't know what it means. Ohad knows what it means to him."
Not that "Minus One" means an artist is recycling and resting on his laurels. Each piece has been revamped and reimagined and works the company's range more than many contemporary choreographers.

"Ohad's choreography is very physical," says Callye Robinson, an Arizona-born dancer who has been with Les Grands since 2003. "You use every part of your body. Ohad makes you question your intentions. He wants you to know where your movement is coming from, what is initiating a movement. He's not interested in pictures or poses."
And when Naharin is rehearsing, Pankov is usually nearby, ready to collaborate on the lighting and stage design, or making sure his dancers are OK.
"(Pankov) has a very definite direction for the company," Robinson says. "He knows the types of things we should be doing."
"Look on the Internet," Pankov says, "and you won't find a similar company with as vast a repertoire, from classic to contemporary, from ballet shoes to bare feet."
Apart from Naharin, Les Grandes Ballet has premiered works by Jifií Kilián (one of Pankov's longest collaborators), Christopher Wheeldon and Les Ballet's own homegrown artists, whom Pankov has been cultivating.
Like the rest of the company, Pankov works nine-to-five, Monday through Friday; sometimes later. But, he says, Montrealians are generally strong workers who love to achieve.
"I love Montreal," he says. "It's dynamic like NYC. There are so many companies here. Quebec has a very European mentality. It's a very open-minded, cosmopolitan city. I feel like I haven't left Europe."

[SIDEBAR]
A grand class
When Les Grands Ballets Canadiens arrives for its first Santa Barbara appearance, dancers will have a chance to attend a masterclass hosted by the company's ballet master, Pierre Lapointe.
Hailing from a small farming town in Quebec, Lapointe started dance in college, which is considered late. He spent his first professional years at Pacific Ballet Theater, now known as Ballet British Columbia, then joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.
Lapointe has spent 24 years with the company, the first four as a dancer. "I don't miss performing," he says. "My last appearance onstage was on a Friday, and on the following Monday I was rehearsing the dancers as ballet master. I haven't had the time to miss dancing since."
The masterclass is open to all intermediate and advanced dancers in the community, though co-sponsors Santa Barbara Dance Alliance and UCSB's Arts and Lectures invite the general public to sit in and observe.
Lapointe's teachings are based on his Royal Academy of Dance training, along with years of experience. "It's about developing musicality and muscle length, about moving through space," he says.
Dancers will work on the mind-body connection. "When there's a level of difficulty, the apprehension goes up," he says. "When there's more enjoyment, the freer the dance gets. The mind controls the body. You have to convince yourself to succeed."
And beyond that?
"Dance is not something outside of reality," Lapointe says. "It's about inner truth and sincerity."

LES GRANDS BALLETS CANADIENS
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: Arlington Theatre, 01317 State St.
Hours: $42.50 to $52.50 general, $27.50 UCSB students
Information: 893-3535 or www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu
? ? ?
PIERRE LAPOINTE MASTERCLASS
When: 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Gustafson Dance School, 322 State St.
Cost: $15 dancers, $5 observers
Info: 966-6950 or www.sbdancealliance.org

PHOTOS COURTESY OF UCSB ARTS & LECTURE

Posted by Ted Mills at 01:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)