Returning to Nazareth Arts
Center November 30 through December 5, Garth Fagan Dance introduced new dancers
and an already acclaimed new work and demonstrated again why they are
Rochester’s only performing arts group to receive annual plaudits worldwide.
I’m not sure that departed company icon
Natalie Rogers or the superb Chris Morrison can be replaced, but they are followed by some impressively fast-rising
new stars. In just two years, Keisha Laren Clarke and Guy Thorne have become
indispensable principal dancers. And Annique S. Roberts, who joined the company
only last April, is already dancing lead roles beautifully.
Momo Peter Sanno is also looking
wonderful, fully integrated into the difficult Fagan technique in little over a
year. Of the women, only the completely dependable Nicolette Depass has been
with the company more than two years.
Excepting, that is, the incredible
Sharon Skepple, who was very large in pregnancy when bringing on bouquets last
season at Nazareth. Back in shape, somehow, and looking maybe 19, Skepple
performed the impossible solo that Fagan made for her to open his 1999 Woza. With more dazzling control than
ever, she danced its better-than-6-o’clock extensions, long-held balances, and
convoluted twists of her rubber band body. I wonder how many in the
understandably gasping and applauding audience knew that Sharon gave birth to a
beautiful baby girl less than 11 months ago.
It’s nothing new that company seniors
Norwood Pennewell and Steve Humphrey continue to defy any aging process and, in
their 26th and 33rd years with Fagan, respectively, grow sleeker and more
accomplished. Bill Ferguson, the remaining longtime company stalwart, is also
dancing in top shape. And all of the above-mentioned dancers, plus Michelle
Hebert and the dynamic Kevin Ormsby, are featured in Fagan’s newest work, —-ing.
No, it’s not what you think — though
I know Garth must have a grinning awareness that his title looks like a
censor’s bleep. The three movements (of the four in Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in
B minor) are called “loving aims,” “caring flames,” and “healing pains and
lasting gains.” Thorne and Roberts lead the first section.
Pennewell opens the second in a
trademark daringly slow and sustained soliloquy resembling others that Fagan
has built on Pennewell’s distinctively controlled expressiveness. Then Clarke
and Roberts, Ferguson and Thorne dance loving same-sex couples, sequeing into
their male-female couples and back again, all not so much led by Pennewell as
inspired by him. The finale with the full company is brighter and more
high-spirited. Brahms would have been amazed but probably pleased.
The opening night program also featured
two of my favorite Fagan dances. It started with last year’s tribute to Fagan’s
friend Romare Bearden, DANCECOLLAGEFORROMIE, which I described in detail
last season. It looked every bit as good with mostly the same dancers, except
for new dancer Todd VanSlambrouck and apprentice Ryan Rose.
Then —-ing was followed by a rousing performance of Woza,Fagan’s first work with composer Lebo M after The Lion King. Annique Roberts danced technically perfectly in the
second section. But it seemed to me that she had danced to and with Guy Thorne
but didn’t really relate to Pennewell. The company attacked the irresistible
music with gusto, sparked by the incomparable Pennewell and Skepple.
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2004.
