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May 2, 2024 | Latest Issue
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Richard Owen
The Setonian
Arts

Caracas ballet combines classic and modern dance

By Richard Owen | November 10, 1993

The Ballet Nacional de Caracas deftly moved from the classical to the modern in a visually and artistically captivating performance in Spaulding Auditorium last night. Authentically rendering classical styles in compelling solos and duets in the first two sections, the performance took a sharp and bold turn in the final section presenting a contemporary Venezuelan backdrop with an unusual fusion of modern and traditional choreography. Brilliantly donned in multi-color lycra and fluorescent capes, a core group of three men and four women started off the three part performance with the highly methodical and seemingly ill-suited excerpts of Handel's "Water Music" and "The Royal Fireworks." Despite the stilted style and continual cadencing of Handel, the young dancers presented one flowing scene after another, interspersing solo dance numbers with provocative duets, commanding a high level of grace and elegance. Set to the Viennese like music of Venezuelan composer, Teresa Carreno, in the second part, the initial group was joined by two more couples.

The Setonian
Arts

'Fledermaus' delights audiences

By Richard Owen | November 1, 1993

Western Opera Theater, a touring group of the San Francisco Opera, put its best foot forward with a cast of excellent young singers in a performance of Strauss' comic classic "Die Fledermaus" Thursday night in Spaulding Auditorium. While the performance of the three act operatic comedy about love and infidelity did suffer from the lack of an orchestra (the orchestration was simplified for two pianos and did not include the overture), the talented soloists were able to preserve the majestic quality of the score and keep in step with the comic banter of the dialogue. The story of Fledermaus (or the Bat) based on Le Reveillon by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevey, is set in three acts and portrays an elaborate scheme to entrap a philandering husband, Eisenstein, on the same evening he is to serve an eight day jail sentence for socking a police officer. With elaborate backdrops of turn of the century Vienna, the comedy moves from Eisenstein's living room in the first act to a ball in the home of a fictitious prince Orlofsky in the second to the fated jail in which Eisenstein is to serve his sentence in the third. A complex trap is set by Frank Falke as revenge for a prior practical joke played on him by his friend Eisenstein, and involves inviting Eisenstein, his wife Rosalinda, his chambermaid and the warden of the Jail to the Orlofsky ball where they are forced to interact under assumed names and identities. Rosalinda, disguised as a Hungarian countess, is the only one of the four aware of the plot and deftly seduces her own husband who unwittingly falls prey to her charms thinking that he is the seducer. The truth only erupts later that night at the jail when Eisenstein runs into the warden, Rosalinda and her former lover who was mistakenly incarcerated in Eisenstein's stead earlier that night.

The Setonian
Arts

Georgian choir delivers folk music tradition

By Richard Owen | October 11, 1993

Yesterday afternoon in Rollins Chapel, the Rustavi Choir, an 11-member all-male ensemble, performed a delightful and accessible musical collection of authentic Georgian folk songs and hymns. The a cappella choir, clad in colorful Georgian costume, cleanly jumped from solemn and harmonic hymns commemorating rituals and special events to playful and melodic folk tunes, altering their voices and manner to perfectly render the demands of each song. "For Georgians, singing is as natural as breathing" claims Erkomaishvili, the choir's founder and artistic director.

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