In Honor Of Harrison

[Guest guest]

'The way she moves'

 

Ballet Theatre honors the late George Harrison as part of Cleveland,

Ohio appearance

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/8157928.htm

By Elaine Guregian

 

Beacon Journal dance writer

 

 

LLast season, American Ballet Theatre came to Cleveland to launch a

new dance series at Playhouse Square. Performing Giselle, one of the

most enduring story ballets, it proved that there was plenty of life

left in that standard work.

 

When the company returns today for a four-day run at the State

Theatre, it will bring a mixed program, a tasting menu, if you will,

of three works from its extensive repertoire.

 

Tops for audience recognition will be Within You Without You: A

Tribute to George Harrison, set by four choreographers to songs by

the former Beatle. David Parsons has set My Sweet Lord, while Ann

Reinking took on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Natalie Weir set both

I Dig Love and Within You Without You and Stanton Welch used Isn't

It a Pity and Something.

 

The concept is similar to the Joffrey Ballet's Billboards project,

which was a commercial success. The Harrison effort has earned the

company mixed reviews.

 

Gillian Murphy, who danced the role of Myrta in last season's

Giselle, will be featured tonight and Friday in Antony Tudor's

Pillar of Fire, a ballet with the choreographer's trademark emphasis

on psychology. The company gave Pillar of Fire's world premiere in

1942 and introduced a new production in October.

 

Murphy calls the Harrison ballet, for 17 dancers, ``pure

entertainment and fun,'' while Tudor's ballet is an introspective

work about relationships, danced by a small ensemble.

 

Pillar of Fire concerns three sisters and the choices they make in a

repressive society. Murphy will dance the role of Hagar, the middle

sister. She hopes to marry and have a family, but when her sisters

interfere to distract the man she loves, she visits a house of ill

repute. After this, she is a social outcast. But the man she loves

(called ``The Friend'' by Tudor) returns and convinces her that he

will stand by her.

 

Tudor chose for Pillar's music the score Transfigured Night, written

in the last flush of Romanticism by Arnold Schoenberg. The score's

rich chromaticism and anxious turns of mood are the aural

counterpart to Tudor's study.

 

``The psychological aspect gives you so much to think about,''

Murphy said. ``One thing I love about it is that each character is

portraying a real person, rather than a fairy-tale character. It's

the type of role that a dancer could do for an entire career,

because you find new layers and nuances.''

 

Murphy, who will turn 25 in April, has enjoyed a steady ascent

through the company's ranks. She came to the company as a corps

member from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1996. She was

officially promoted to soloist in 1999 and principal dancer in 2002.

 

``I was actually quite lucky, because sometimes people either get

promoted so quickly that they have to restabilize after that or else

they don't get promoted and that's frustrating. I've been very

fortunate and I'm very happy,'' Murphy said. ``It's also a constant

challenge with the repertoire. It's very diverse. There's always

something to work on and think about or look forward to.''

 

One current challenge is in the final work of the program, a group

of dances excerpted from Marius Petipa's full-length ballet

Raymonda. On Sunday, Murphy will dance the leading female role in

Raymonda (Divertissements) with Angel Corella.

 

 

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Elaine Guregian is the classical music and dance writer for the

Akron Beacon Journal. She can be reached at

eguregian or 330-996-3574.