March 9, 1970
The N. C. Essay
Page 4
PEARL LANG N PeRFORMANGB
He.'
How do you watch a dance per
formance? What do you look for,
what do you watch, what do you see?
The lights dim, the music
begins, the curtain opens. You are
relaxed and open, energized and
ready. Do not grab, do not begin
to sift the bad from the good, or
choose what you like from what you
do not like. Just relax, and accept
what is being offered to you.
So. Within the first few mo
ments you will absorb a complex of
light, music, movement, space, move
ment designs and quality in space.
Then - the shapes of the individ
uals, colors, costumes... Eventually
you become personally caught up in,
involved in, the emotion and the move
ment of the dance.
Shore Bourne. Varicolored swift-
moving gulls. Gliding, sweeping
across the open air. Defining
space. Defining themselves. First
the group, brightly, and then - the
pearl. Quick sighs of a mellow
young girl on a Sunday afternoon;
light white satin wet with a blue-
green rainbow.
Bur something is wrong. The
faces. They are somewhere else,
not involved in the here - and - now.
The bare movement must speak for
itself; no emotional motivation
supports or lends dramatic import;
the dancers appear to be personally
detatched from what they are doing -
even Miss Lang.
The coldness pervades the cur
tain calls. Maybe the dancers do
not like what they are doing; maybe
they do not like to perform; maybe
they do not like to perform in
Winston-Salem....
Broken Dialogues. Colors again -
this time deep, dark blues and greens
and purples with angular patches of
light. Couples, solemn and darkly
preoccupied, accompanied by elec
tronic sounds.
Telephone conversations, with
plastic' telephone receivers!
Humorous, clever adaptation of
familiar postures and gestures.
Individuals get all twisted and con
fused around the lines of communi
cation. All sorts of people - show
girls, playboys, housewives; these
human beings look pretty ridiculous,
but what they are experiencing is
real.
Now, troubled couples. Part
ners hanging one another up, actu
ally, physically. Carrying one
another as burdens. Trapped.
Getting all involved. Tied in knots.
Supporting one another. The
choreography is taken from gesture
and imagery, and it does success
fully speak for itself. The dancers*
ever-present facial indifference is
almost appropriate. (On a few
dancers, the faces come alive; two
men, and Georgiana Holmes).
F'ieoe for Brass. Dancers ooz
ing and out of gigantic pipes, as
if they were the. Innards of a huge
sewage system. Then, dancing with
the pipes, relating to the pipes.
Gushing - or bursting forth strongly.
Interesting movement; but. I'm
getting a bit exhausted at this
point. The program so far has held
to one dynamic level: one of strength.
The audience, as well as the dancers,
need something soft and emotionally
(not just physically) engaging. My
attention has wandered from the pipes,
and I just don't want to experience
anymore. I'd like to receive
something more substantial than
mere images or the vicarious exper
ience of movement - I need something
I can take home with me.
Shirah. "Suggested by an
Hasidic parable." Shirah means song,
in Hebrew. The parable is quite
lovely, and we are ready for a sensi
tive, dramatically fulfilling dance.
However - quickly I realize that this
piece simply requires more concen
tration than I have to give at this
point; I already have been saturated
for the evening.
A spring, a mountain, the heart
of the world, time...each element of
the story is represented in the dance..
the dance is telling the story. The
lack of subtlety bothers me. Per
haps Miss Lang could have used the
parable as a take-off point for her
dance, rather than having retold the
story.
Final curtain...unplanned moments
of delight as each time the curtain
downs, you can see Miss Lang's feet
^camper to the wings - running, a simple
Matthb'/s Rhcital Friday
(Cont. from page I)
Matthews received bachelor of
science and master of science
degrees from the Juilliard School in
New York. He was a student of Irwin
Freundlich for six years at Juilliard.
Freundlich is also a member of the
faculty at the School of the Arts.
As a graduate student, Matthews was
a teaching assistant at Juilliard.
He studied with Friedrich Wuhrer
at the Hochschule for Musik in
Munich, Germany under a Fulbright
Grant. He also studied with Guido
Agosti at the Accademia Chigiana in
Siena, Italy, where he was awarded
the Caseela Prize for piano playing.
He remained in Europe for five
years concertizing in England, Scot
land, Scandinavia, Holland, Germany,
Austria and Switzerland.
In 1963 he returned to the United
States and taught at Skidmore College
in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Before
coming to Winston-Salem, he was a
member of the music faculty at the
University of North Carolia at Chapel
Hill. He performs frequently in solo
recitals, chamber music programs and
as soloist with orchestras.
motion, not presented, but just
happening, and the audience gets a
peek...
Spring Tours Begin Today
(Cont. from ipage I)
The cast includes Cynthia
Darlow of Hampton, Va. as Eve;
Charles Whiteside of Detroit, Mich,
as Adam, and George Falkenberry of
Selma, Ala. as Snake.
Pianist is Toni Hoffman of
Asheville. Karen Templeton of
Baltimore, Md. is in charge of cos
tumes and properties, and Steven
Evans of Glen Burnie, Md. is assis
tant stage manager.
The schedule of drama perform
ances to be given, at 9 a.m. and
1:30 p.m. each day includes:
March 9, Hildebran High School
at Hildebran and Pleasant Gardens
High School at Marion; March 10,
Owen High School at Swannanoa and
Erwin High School at Asheville;
March 11, Hendersonville High School
at Hendersonville and Brevard High
School at Brevard; March 12, Pisgah
High School at Canton and Tuscola
High School at Waynesville;
March 13, Swain High School at Bryson
City and Franklin High School at
Franklin.
Ballet performances will be
given from April 27 through May 7
at high schools in Knightdale,
Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Bailey, Tar-
boro, Robersonville, Kinston, Trinity
and Randelman.
Modern dance performances will
be given from May 11 through May 15
in Wilmington, Holly Ridge, Richlands,
Newton Grove, Dunn, Wilson, Creswell
and Plymouth.
The School of the Arts orches
tra will tour high schools from
April 6 through April 10, schedule
of towns to be announced later.
Fall and spring tours by the
School of the Arts are arranged by
the State Department of Public In
struction. Music and drama per
formances are sponsored by a grant
from the Mary Babcock Foundation,
and dance performances are sponsored
by the North Carolina Arts Council.
The purpose of the tours are
three-fold:
They offer free performances to
public school children who might not
otherwise have an opportunity to see
dance, drama and music of near-pro
fessional quality, especially in
schools of rural areas.
They give advanced students at
the School of the Arts the kind of
touring experience they will have as
professional artists in the future.
The tours also serve to bring
the School of the Arts to the atten
tion of talented students throughout
the state, for whom the school was
founded by an act of the 1963 legi
slature.