Indigo in Motion- Post-Gazette review

Friday, November 01, 2002

By Jane Vranish

Last night, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre dished up an encore presentation of “Indigo in Motion,” a scintillating jazz journey where you could take the “A” train from the Stanley Theater (now the Benedum Center) to the Hurricane to Lou’s and back again.

A world-class celebration of jazz and ballet, this is a signature production for the company, one inspired by Pittsburgh artists Ray Brown, Lena Horne, Billy Strayhorn and Stanley Turrentine and brilliantly interpreted by Pittsburgh artists from PBT and the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild.

“Indigo in Motion” opened with “…on the spot,” a piece that played this side of the blues and wrapped it in a ribbon of sophisticated movement by choreographer Kevin O’Day. It proved to be a low-key, bittersweet performance since Turrentine and Brown had passed away since its premiere. Saxophonist Houston Person filled in with a smooth and smoky sound, standing solo but tastefully backed by a recording of the Ray Brown Trio.

Then the Benedum exploded with color in Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s bracing tribute to the ageless Horne. Vivian Reed was not only a look-alike for the songstress, but a star in her own right, seriously relaying Horne’s surprisingly turbulent history in and out of Pittsburgh, along with an occasional nimble kick. But it was her effortless song stylings that sold this show within a show — a bright “Old Friends” to start, “A Fine Romance” that was a fine matchup between Lauren Schultz and Terence Marling and a quartet of men (Aaron Ingley, Dmitri Kulev, Christopher Rendall-Jackson and Alan Obuzor) who would “Come Runnin’ ” and leapin’ and spinnin’ at Reed’s beck and call. And, of course, an incomparable “Stormy Weather,” where the music simply stood on its own.

The jazz turned red hot for “StrayLifeLushHorn,” where Dwight Rhoden’s dazzling kaleidoscope of choreography had as many layers going as John Wilson’s fabulously edgy Strayhorn soundscape. Rhoden also tossed in a trio of large wheels, one of which became Erin Halloran’s precariously wonderful spinning dance on a dime. As a result, the audience just didn’t know where this dance would take them.

But the dancers were certainly prepared this time, particularly in the opening “Lush Life I,” where popping turns and poking lifts were placed just so. They also caught on to the low-slung fun of Rhoden’s zoot suit walks and the interplay of rhythm between torso and legs. Later the men grabbed the spotlight when they joyously erupted in the fiendish syncopations of “Schwiphti.”

Although the intimacy and sensuality of the jazz idiom were explored so well in numerous duets sprinkled throughout “Indigo,” it was up to Ying Li and Steven Annegarn to truly capture the improvisatory feel of jazz in “Something to Live For.”

With Annegarn’s expert partnering, Li could skate on the tips of her toes, almost as if bending a jazz note, and could shape a phrase like Maureen Budway’s way with a lyric.

The piece ended, like it had to, with a careening version of “Take the A Train,” a whiplash of movement, light and sound that closed, after this lush dancing life, with the men balancing on one leg.

Jane Vranish is a free-lance dance reviewer.