Dance Reviews

Jul 9, 2004 - Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company enchants, what else, at the opening of Reno's Artown

By Jack Neal

Mixing the ancient with the new, the Asian with the American, the gifted Lily Cai puts her charming company of six lithe young women through exhilarating, supple dance that is nothing less than enchantment.

The Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company opened Reno's tenth annual Artown July festival Thursday night (7/1/04) at the Wingfield Park Amphitheater before several thousand fans. In less gifted hands an evening of so much sweetness can become cloying. Not so with Cai and Company.

My only complaint for this exceptional event was the time delay in beginning the program (announced for 7:30 p.m. in some releases, but set for 8 p.m. in others). caused by introductions of Artown supporters. Not that recognition isn't warranted, only that it might have started a bit earlier so that Thursday's large audience wasn't kept waiting as much as it was.

The late start - 25 minutes (8:25 p.m.), when coupled with the need to arrive early to get the best seating locations, plus the delays in the Lily Cai presentation itself (over 45 minutes in a program that contained no more than 45 minutes of dance) - pushed the program's final curtain to nearly 10:00 p.m. That's a long stretch for people who arrived as early as 5:30 p.m. Forty-five minutes of dance is skimpy. It's saving grace is that it was a terrific 45 minutes.

Opening with "Bamboo Girls," an upbeat engaging piece of hip-swinging undulation with intriguing manipulation of the large hats with bamboo fringe each dancer wore, the first set was a delight and a tease for what was to come. Lily Cai not only choreographs she designs her company's costumes as well. Cai's costume designs are danceworthy, lovely creations with classic simplicity. Her costumes reflect the same elegant taste as does her choreography.

"Candelas" by candlelight and the music of Mahler is a Lily Cai signature piece and visually gorgeous, haunting even, in every way. With vague touches of lighting beyond candlelight (all of the company's superb lighting designs are by Matthew Antaky) luminous transfixiation is the work's path to the soul.

"Silk Cascade" is a dance spinoff on the abstract impressionism of American painter Jackson Pollock. Pollock's use of paint splashes is the piece's inspiration. Set to the contemporary sounds of John Adams's music, Cai whips her charges into a frenzy of abstract patterns in black and white and vivid color. Nearly 200 ribbons are used in this swirl of Pollockesque dance design. It's triumphant, exhilarating and hypnotizing.

In spite of much dance and movement that is quick and energizing, it is the serenity of Cai's creations and the exceptional realization of her creations by her remarkably disciplined troupe that makes the experience with Lily Cai dance so very special and memorable.

It's never wrong to leave an audience wishing it had experienced more, rather than wondering why it had to sit through so very, very much. In spite of that age old entertainment axiom, one cannot help but wish there had been more dance to this Lily Cai presentation and less waiting. Fortunately, the wonders of the company's dance made the waits worthwhile.