Dance Reviews

Oct 28, 2003 - A.V.A Ballet Theatre scores with its heavy "Metal" ballet at the Hawkins Amphitheater

By Jack Neal

Attitude is what the A.V.A. Ballet Theatre's rock ballet "Metal" is about, and attitude it has. The troupe's recent rock 'em, sock 'em outing took place at Reno's Hawkins Amphitheater on Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5 (2003). October under the stars in the high Sierra's was beginning to get a bit chilly, but the Sunday performance I saw was blessed by a beautiful Nevada evening under a deep, deep blue autumn sky.

The setting and the dancing, a short and worthwhile program of just under one hour, aimed in a sensuous, even hot, direction was a decidedly positive experience.

That it was not totally successful is almost beside the point.

With such heavy-metal music as "The Argument," from the S&M CD Metallica did with the San Francisco Symphony, Celine Dion's "I Drove All Night," Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" and "Scream" from the movie "Scream" grinding suggestively into such hard-core dance numbers as "The Argument," "Reconcile," "The Guardians," and "Shut Up," choreographer Alexander Van Alstyne gave his troupe of seven very young ballerinas a lot of flailing, bumping and writhing, along with some (that's "some" as in not much) quite nice en pointe work.

The setting for all this was a large erector-set scaffolding that gave the black-leathered young women a chance to strut their stuff. It's difficult for barely post-pubescent girls to toss their hair about and generally look streetwise and sexy, as opposed to fresh and attractive, when none of them are, hopefully, streetwise sexy, and - hopefully - never will be (at least not in sense suggested by their movements).

Rachel Abare, Vanessa Abare, Alexis Alexander, Eve Allen, Miranda Gameros, Maegan Price and Nicole Shutt are "Metal's" dancers and they are a fresh, smart looking collection of youngsters well on their way to being good at what they do. That this troupe does not yet have the snap and sizzle of a Bob Fosse troupe is to say the obvious. The girls' parents would never stand for Fosse's brand of discipline and yet that kind of absolute demand on dancers is the only way dancers can become really brilliant at what they do. Brilliance of that kind must wait for a dedication to the art of dance that comes well beyond school-girl years, when the relationships and heartbreaks of growing up mold the artist into someone who really has something to say.

Nonetheless, Eve Allen is a standout in her solo number, "Shut Up." As is Nicole Shutt in her moment alone in "Reconcile."

Also included on the program, and placed dead center in its midst, were four refreshingly danced numbers choreographed by Lesley Bandy for her delicate and elegant, and even younger, Taniwha Dance Company.

And dance nicely the Taniwha dancersÝdid. "A Propos de Rien," danced by the pert and talented Le Nguyen, "Cornish Enigma," danced superlatively by Jacqueline Dory, and "Strange Brew" danced with elegance by Ramona Cachinero were each in their own distinctive way breezy, light and thoroughly enjoyable concoctions of dance.

It was a lovely evening of dance by exciting young performers who've been given exactly the right materials by their mentors, Alexander Van Alstyne and Lesley Bandy. That it does not yet hit the heights for professional dancers, it at least hits some of the heights for youngsters with aspirations.

For other A.V.A. Ballet Theatre recitals, concerts and events call 775-786-1221.