The Michigan Daily-Sunday, December 10, 1978-Page 7
'U'J
By ANNA NISSEN
The UniversJty ,of Michigan Dan
3ompany gavea beautiful performani
>f three outstanding new works and o
950 composition Friday night at Pow
ienter. The Company, comprised e
irely of dance majors, began workii
owards this production in Septemb
vhen Gary Lund, Laura Glenn; and Gi
dancers give life to new works'
ce
ce
ne "
er
m-
ng
,er
us
Solomons Jr., all nationally recognized
dance artists, held auditions through
the dance department for students to
perform their new pieces.
The program opened with the
premiere performance of
" Terranulluis Wrought,"
choreographed by Gary Lund. Seven
dancers in sleek green skin suits
For Elvin Jones,
the beat goes on
BY HILARY LEFF
When three fine jazz musicians all come from a single family, you
know there must be magic somewhere. In this case the magic is in the
Jones family, out of which came Hank, Thad and Elvin, all superb
instrumentalists. and each with a style all his own. According to
leading avant-garde drummer Elvin Jones, who is playing the Earle
this upcoming Monday and Tuesday, the music of all three brothers is
Ivery unique.
"I was totally self-taught," he continues, "beccause I couldn't
afford lessons and when I started, at age 12, there wasn't really
anyone I was listening to. . . I just always liked drums and I always
liked jazz."
And that is what started Jones off, some 39 years ago. Although he
began by himself, he joined his high school marching band in order to
play with other people. After doing his bit for the military Jones
returned to his native Detroit, where he played with tenor saxophonist
Billy Mitchell at the Bluebird.
"I WAS JUST a very enthusiastic, eager student of the art without
any style," he recalls. "After playing in Detroit for awhile, I went to
New York to audition for the Benny Goodman band, but I didn't make
it, so I started to work with Charles Mingus and Teddy Charles. I had
offers from people like Miles, but I thought they were frivolous, and
Mingus was sincere."
Sincerity ,is a word that comes up often in Elvin's conversation. "No
one is going to find a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow," he claims,
"so you have to be sincere in what you're doing."
This refrain is' also heard when discussing how he chose his
sideman. "I look for honesty and sincerity in my sidemen," claims
Jones. "If they have that then I think they can develop into good
musicians ." And he knows good musicians, because he has played
with some of the best. He spent six years as drummer for Coltrane,
and has done gigs with such jazz giants as Sonny Rollins, Tommy
Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, and Pepper Adams.
vitalize the stage with amoebic contor-
tions and floor patterns, writhing and
rolling to an African chant. Three red
clad dancers wheel in a jungle gym, ex-
ploiting the additional space it provides
by climbing the robes. and swinging
chim-like on the bars. The green dan-
cers then discover their red cousins and
the blue dancers who by then have also
entered the stage.
THE REDS are pinched, squeezed,
and lifted by curious hands of both
groups whose indifferent, independent
movement is, unfortunately, too unin-
The University of
Michigan Dance Company
Powe'r Center
"Terranuliius Wrought"
Gary Lund, c/wreographer
"The Exiles"
Joel Limon, c/wre'ierapher
"Muse'
Laura Glenn, cwreokrapher
"Acrylic-Flake Diagram"
Gus Solomons, chorexraph
tegrated and distracting. Finally the
reds reverse the situation and coax the
blues and greens into combat with each
other. Several of the blues and greens
try to brek away from the violence, but
the reds swing them around and back
into the brawl in a dancerly version of
"Red Robin, Red Robon."
The music, composed especially for
the dance by Terry Tilley, sounds like a
primitive, guttural purring as the slow,
fluid war continues and the wounded
are revived by blue and green survivors
who skip around them -in Ring-
around-the-rosie-like resurrection.
Then the red imps urge several blues
and greens to stretch lazily on the
jungle gym. The music shifts to a
monkish chant as the blues and greens
crack-the-whip in slow motion. This
emotionally stirring dance appears to
be a visual antithesis of "the meek shall
inherit the earth" beatitude.
THE SECOND piece, "The Exiles,"
is a dance of Judeo-Christian origin.
Choreographed in 1950 by Jose Limon to
Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber sym-
phony No. 2, it depicts Adam (Gary
Lund) and Eve (Laura Glenn) just af-
ter the Expulsion as they flee from
Paradise and look back regretfully.
Light rises from the east, as Adam and
Eve shamefully entwine green cords
around their bodies and vacillate bet-
ween lewd dalliance and bitter
repugnance. In mutual guilt, they slink
off to the left as light from 'the east of
Eden fades.
Limon's choreography is superb. It
emphasizes the use of the floor.wherein
the dust of man is composed. Lund and
Gleii contact the ground surface,
rolling and stretching prostrate upon it.
Lund leaps vibrantly to relieve what
might otherwise be considered tedious.
Glenn's scampering about on her tip-
toes, however, lacks the crisp vitality of
Lund's style. Perhaps this is inten-
tional, consistent with the Genesis and
Paradise Lost conceptions of Eve's
secondary brilliance. Even so, the dan-
Holiday Art Sale
Featuring Gallery Artists
Nov.29- Dec.22
Recept ion: HOURS
Fri., DeC-1 7-9 Tugs - F", 9 - 5
Saturday,12-5
764- 3234
FIRST FLOOR MICHIGAN UNICN
cing and choreography as a whole are
superb. a
"THE EXILES" presents man as he
is destined to live according to
Christian tradition, and the third num-
ber, "Muse," explores this saine theme
of man's desinty with secular
associations. Based on Virginia Woolf's
novel The Waves and choreographed by
Glenn, "Muse' assimilates group body
movements from, of all things, syn-
See DANCERS, Page 9
Wilson honored
A professor and a former instructor
at the University's School of Music
have been selected as outstanding
composers this year by the American,
Society of Composers, Authors and
PUblishers (ASCAP), the University
announced.
Prof. George Wilson of the Music
Composition Department and Jerry.
Bilik, a University graduate who taught,
composition here, are the recipients of
the award.
The awards demonstrate the
organization's "continuing commit
ment to assist and encourage writers of'
serious music," according to ASCAP.
Laurence Olivier's
1946
HENRY V
"The seductive power of pacing alone with its shifts and contrasts, in scene
after scene, have seldom been equalled in a movie."-James Agee. Breath-
taking color photography, a score by William Walton and a perceptive per-
formance by Laurence Olivier. One of the insurpassable Shakespeare films and
a vivid contrast to Olivier's black and white study of Hamlet.
Wed: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Thurs: HITCHCOCK' S29 STEPS
Fri: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
CINEMA GUILD
TUESDAY NIGHT OLD ARCH AUD.
7.00 A :20 $1.50
This Week at CINEMA II
WED. DEC. 13 Yves Robert-1967
ALEXANDER
"The reshest, By the director of THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH
4unniestrnO',eONE BLACK SHOE. After Alexander's nagging wife
sors, e Al . of many years dies, he gleefully abandons all of
the responsibilities that burden him as a res-
pectable citizen, causing bedlam in the little
farming community around him. This film is for
anyone who has ever tasted or longed for the
pleasures of irresponsibility.
At MLB 3
FRI. DEC. 15 JAMES BOND in 1965
THUNDERBALL
Agent O07's mission in this film: discover who hijacked two nuclear bombs in
a NATO aircraft over Europe and who is secretly holding them for a ransom
of 100 million dollars. He does just that with his usual finesse and savior-
faire. "The color is handsome. The scenery in the Bahamas, an irreisistable
lure. Even the violence is funny: that's the best that can be said for a Bond
film:"-N.Y. Times.
At Angell Hall, "Aud. A"
SAT. DEC. 16 Paul Mazursky 1974
HARRY &
TONTO ART CARNEY won the Academy Award for his
portrait of a feisty New Yorker who won't say
die when his tenement dwelling is torn out from
under him. Instead of relegating to the old folk's
home, Harry goes on. a physical and personal
odyssey that takes him from New York to Cali-
fornia and leaves you feeling not just good-but
great! "Mazursky's film just before AN UNMAR-
RIED WOMAN foreshadows that film's theme of
inner rejuvenotion of an immensely likeable
character. A perfect holiday treotJ With ELLEN
BURSTYN, C1I4EF DAN GEORGE, LARRY HAGMAN
and GERALDINE FITZGERALD.
Plus Short-A TALE OF TWO KITTIES-One of
Fs+ first Tweetie Pie cartoons with two cats named
Babbit & Catsello. Directed by Bob Clampett.
At ANGELL HALL. AUD. "A"
SUN. DEC. 17 Henri-George Clouzot 1955
LES DIABOLIQUES
An ingenious thriller set in provincial France about an elaborate murder
scheme planned by a schoolmaster's wife and his mistress. The problem:
the corpse keeps disappearing. Written for Hitchcock by Pierre Boileau and
Thomas Norcejac, authors of Vertigo, this macabre little tale twists and turns
its way to a surprise climax. With SIMONE SIGNORET and VERA CLOUZOT.
French with subtitles. At An ell Hall "Aud. A"
All f ims $1.50 SEE YOU NEXT TERM
Academy Award Double-Feature
LIFE OF EMIL ZOLA
The brilliant biography of the crusading French novelist and Dreyfuss Defender,
PAUL MUNI received an Oscar for best actor in this film. "It is at once the
finest historical film ever made and the greatest screen biography . . . there
is not enough space for a full inventory of its assets."--NY Times. With GALE
SONDERGAARD. 7 ONLY
MRS. MINIVER
GREER GARSON and WALTER PIDGEON star in this film about the growing
effects of World War 11 on the tranquil lives of the people in a small English
town. Ms. Garson received a well-deserved Oscar for her title role per-
formance. "Every episode is made a full experience, with rich and vibrant
overtones. The pulse of real humanity beats strong throughout the tilm."--NY
Times. 9 ONLY.
Elvin Jones
RECENTLY, JONES has done a good deal of touring both in the
States and broad. He has completed two live recardings in Japan, as
well as an album on the German MPS label which will be distributed
by Capital Records in the U.S.
His style is one of the most unique to be found among jazz drummers
today. This characteristic sound is due in part to the huge cymbals he
uses, as well as the way he plays them, striking them with the butt end
of the drumstick. But it is the complexity of the rhythms that first
catches one. Juxtaposing various counter-rhythms, switching between
cross rhythms and straight ahead beats, Jones creater a whirlwind of
sound.
He places emphasis on the left hand for maintaining the beat -ra
definite departure from the traditional jazz mode in which drummers
primarily use their left hand for spare accents. With his right hand he
accentuates the first and third beats of a four-beat bar, while his feet
often act in counterpoint to the snare. Finally, there is the unique way
his torn-toms are turned - lower than anyone else, and barely
muffled, causing them to create a thunderous roar.
AMIDST ALL this, Jones somehow manages to maintain a
continuous flow, providing support for his group: Pat LaBarbera on
sax, Roland Prince on guitar, and Andy McCloud on bass. On stage
they act as a single vessel, with Elvin at the helm. He is a majestic
figure, a physically imposing man, who throws himself into his
playing with palpable obsession. If one has never had the opportunity
to hear him before, it would be worth one's while to stop down at the
Earle and hear Elvin Jones, the father of avant-garde jazz
drumming.
WED-Yves Robert's ALEXANDER
TONITE AT
T&9
ANGELL HALL
AUD. "A"
CINEMA I
One Show-$1.30
Doubl.-$2.50
'jjIVEISITY CfUSICAL OCIETY
In its 86th year,
fitting climax to
seasons in the M
The Philadelphi
and six internati
make each conC
apaiL S
Soprano Victoria de los Angeles joins Eugene
Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra for an
evening of Bartok, Ravel, Hindemith, Mozart,-
Rossini and Wagner.
apaiL L27.
Pianist Alicia de Larrocha, Riccardo Muti and
the Philadelphia Orchestra present an all-
Beethoven evening: Symphony #6 (Pastoral), Piano
Concerto #3, and Overture to "Leonore" No. 3.
pLus
In honor of the Musical Society's 100th Season,
May Festival series subscribers will receive
tickets for a bonus concert on Monday, April
23rd. Victoria de los Angeles and A licia de
Larrocha will perform, in joint recital, music
-presen ts
Rest baLI
1
May Festival, 1979 will be a
one of the most brilliant
fusical Society's history.
a Orchestra, the conductors
ionally renowned soloists
ert an evening to remember.
1979
Riccardo Muti, Principal Guest Conductor of
the Philadelphia Orchestra makes his Ann Arbor
debut conducting Mendelssohn's Symphony #3
and Tchaikovsky's Symphony #S.
api L 98
Eugne Ormandy, the Philadelphia Orchestra
and the University Choral Union close the
Festival with the "Manzoni" Requiem of Verdi.
Featured soloists are Bulgarian mezzo
A lexandrina Milcheva; American soprano Alma
Jean Smith; Soviet tenor Zurab Sotkilava;
and Finnish bass Martti Talvela.
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