Donald Hutera
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The small stage sometimes threatened to cramp the company's style, and at close to three hours the evening felt more than a little long, but there is no denying that Scottish Ballet brought a sensationally varied and rewarding triple bill to Dance Umbrella.
Stephen Petronio's aggressively sexy curtain raiser Ride the Beast is set to a handful of galvanising tracks by Radiohead. This episodic work demonstrates how capably the dancers straddle the divide between contemporary and classical vocabularies. The baker's dozen cast negotiate the buckling, collision-course choreography with killer grace, limbs slicing through spiralling turns as Petronio propels their endorphins into overdrive. They look tremendous in Benjamin Cho's outrageously scintillating costumes, even when seemingly pushed near to breaking point.
For MG: The Movie is a remarkable contrast. Dating from 1991, Trisha Brown's austere but resonant dance is both an experiment in form and a cryptic memory piece for nine searching souls. A stationary male dancer faces upstage, an anchor of sorts for an indefatigable female runner charting a course that varies in posture, direction and speed. Others roll or somnambulistically wander on and off to an Alvin Curran score that segues between a recurrent melancholic piano melody and machinery sounds. Fascinating.
Again the company shift gears completely in Pennies From Heaven. Designed by Antony McDonald, this high-style confection is Ashley Page's sweet-spirited yet ironic homage to the romance, glamour and determined optimism of the 1930s as preserved in films and popular song. Taking their cues from the lyrics of 17 vintage recordings, nine archetypal couples glide through the technical demands of his writing with swift polish and good-humoured charm.
The dancing is structured as a series of vignette-like duets set in a combination hotel lobby, bar and cinema foyer. McDonald's character-inflected Art Deco costumes - from Fred and Ginger elegance to crooning cowboys' garb - are a treat. Black and white film projections of scudding clouds, roiling surf or palm trees in moonlight lend further period flavour. Although this piece of balletic light entertainment is overstretched at 50 minutes, as a showcase for the virtuosity of Page's dancers it works beautifully.
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