About
the
Company
::
Reviews
Red
Light
/
Green
Light
Teaming is perfect match in mixed-media creativity
by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin American-Statesman, November 4, 1999
Smart, expressive, edgy fun. That's what Ariel Dance Theatre and Walter Thompson Orchestra delivered Saturday night with their collaborative multimedia performance. Their fusion of live music, dance, film and visual art was a clearly articulated invention and a cleverly complex work. ``Red Light/Green Light,'' which continues through Sunday, is Andrea Ariel's latest piece of progressive modern choreography set to a quartet by Thompson. Taking her cue from the children's game of the same name, Ariel marvels in movement while challenging the notion of linear time. The ensemble of two male and four female dancers sometimes alighted across the stage in rapid motion, sometimes moved with machinelike precision, sometimes remained suspended from movement altogether. Woven together in fuguelike fashion, the varied tempos of the dance seemed to symbolically collapse the notion of time altogether, creating a fusion of hard and soft motion. For the second piece, Thompson conducted a 12-person orchestra of musicians, dancers, singers and actors in one of his signature ``sound painting'' pieces based on his unique system of conducting, which provides a vocabulary for improvisational performance. With an appropriate Halloween-related theme, Thompson presented ``Nosferatu Reanimations,'' which drew on the silent vampire films of the 1920s for inspiration. (This weekend, ``The News,'' a piece influenced by current events, replaces ``Nosferatu.'') Himself a piece of choreographic energy, Thompson led his multidisciplinary ensemble through a 45-minute program that blended spoken text, movement, music and singing, as well as the actions of the lighting designer and a film artist, into a fragmented but artistically cohesive work that rolled together the melodrama, mirth and myth of the vampire legend. True to her own collaborative multimedia creed, Ariel transformed the cavernous Covert Buick Building cum performance space into a striking arts environment, inviting 10 visual artists to create site-specific exhibits for the venue. Too many cooks can spoil the multimedia soup. It's a danger both Ariel and Thompson know well, for while they mix a multitude of media, they keep the edges sharp and clean. Ariel Dance Theatre and Walter Thompson OrchestraWhen: 8 p.m. today through Saturday; 3 p.m. SundayWhere: Old Covert Buick Building, 501 W. Fifth St.Tickets: $10-$12Information: 454-TIXS
BYLINE:
Jeanne
Claire
van
Ryzin
DATE:
November
4,
1999
PUBLICATION:
Austin
American-Statesman
(TX)
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Life
and
Arts
PAGE:
E4
Copyright (c) 1999 Austin American-Statesman
