A hipster ballet company called gloATL seized the Woodruff Arts Center plaza over the weekend, fusing classically modern dance with the funky groove of OutKast. The site-specific event, called āRapt,ā felt like a cultural watershed moment for Atlanta.
Meanwhile, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta the Atlanta Symphony played to tradition with Beethoven.
Atlanta choreographer Lauri Stallings has a burgeoning national reputation and a devoted local following, especially after she teamed up with Atlanta Ballet and Big Boi (from hip-hopās OutKast) to produce āBig.ā Stallingsā latest project is gloATL, where classically trained dancers get more limber with modern forms.
From the start of āRapt,ā the conventions of proscenium-theater dance were obliterated. The performance started at dusk outside. At opposite ends of the open space, two women danced their way to the middle ā Virginia Coleman and Toni Doctor Jenkins ā with no music.
The crowd of spectators had no idea where to look or what was happening. Thus one crowd circled around Jenkins on the plaza, unaware that another crowd formed around Coleman, who was coming up the hill from Peachtree Street.
When the company of about 15 dancers finally gathered, to a storm scene from Vivaldiās āFour Seasons,ā another realization took hold: āRaptā was about shaping the body to rhythm ā a very plastic aesthetic ā rather than to the contours of the melody.
Indeed, Stallingsā joyous choreography appeared so free-form and improvisatory that the clean geometry of the architecture all around ā Richard Meierās old High Museum, Renzo Pianoās newer additions, Roy Lichtensteinās cartoonish āHouse IIIā ā seemed to give āRaptā its backbone. Video and lighting projections by Adam Larsen and Ryan OāGara helped envelope the show.
The showās eight pieces moved us from classical Europe to 21st-century Atlanta, from the plaza toward Peachtree. The hour-plus performance ended with a dance party on the lawn to music celebrating the city, from OutKastās āThe Way You Moveā to Ray Charlesā āGeorgia.ā
Saturday night, in Alpharetta, the ASO settled into routine with an all-Beethoven concert. Thereās plenty of life in the old masterās music, although Hugh Wolff conducted a rather dowdy version of Symphony No. 7, and the violas were out of tune.
But their reading of the Piano Concerto No. 3 was refreshing and wholesome, thanks largely to Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen, making his ASO debut. Pohjonen plays with a luminous virtuosity and detailed, crisp ideas. He shaped phrases delightfully in the finale. For the duration of the concerto, at least, the ASO matched the bright-future euphoria of āRaptā ā where tradition doesnāt shackle creativity, it propels it higher.
PERFORMANCE REVIEWS
gloATL's "Rapt" at the Woodruff Arts Center. www.gloATL.com Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. www.atlantasymphony.org
Pierre Ruhe blogs about the arts at ArtscriticATL.com.
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