Salvatore Aiello was theartistic director and choreographer for the North Carolina Dance Theatre beforehis death in 1995. His work, especially Clownsand Others (1978), is steadily gaining recognition under the care of hisballet master, Jerri Kumery. Diego Carrasco Schoch, a former leading dancerwith Milwaukee Ballet and member of Aiello’s company, joined Kumery to stageits Milwaukeepremiere. Seen in rehearsal, it’s a charming interpretation of Prokofiev’spiano piece, Visions Fugitives.Its humorous, highly theatricalepisodes in a carnival setting demand meticulous dancing and strong acting.
Sur_Rendered, by Luc Vanier of UW-Milwaukee’s danceprogram, is an intricate combination of contemporary ballet and motion-capturetechnology. The dancers will wear sensors on their bodies that will set largeanimations into motion before, behind and beneath them as they execute Vanier’s engrossing,fast-paced twists, thrusts, balances and falls. Rendered on my home computer,the gorgeously colored animations seem like living things. Vanier began these experiments 10 years agoto reflect how entwined we are with computers. Meanwhile, one graceful dancerperforms classical ballet with a pointe shoeon one foot and a boot attached to a curved base like a rocking horse on theother. It’s original and haunting.
Australian choreographerTim O’Donnell won last season’s international Genesiscompetition at the Milwaukee Ballet with a piece aboutinterpersonal relations called The GamesWe Play.Now 24 years old, he’schosen as his subject the painful questioning of the existence of the god ofhis upbringing. Set to Ravel’s famous music and titled Bolero, Let There Be Light,it’sa personal, risk-taking dance about (dis)belief. With the music, it builds toan impassioned physicality.
