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The Michigan Daily Tuesday, April 7, 1981
Page 7'
WHO'S LA TEST:
We waited three years for this?
Dance Theatre 2, Ann Arbor's only professional modern dance company,
performed their spring concert last weekendPictured above are some of
the company in a more tranquil moment.
Dance Theatre
2:
It hurts to watch
y JULIE EDELSON
The music that accompanied the
dancers of Ann Arbor's local group,
"Dance Theatre 2,'" was delightful:
Stravinsky, Schumann, Vivaldi and
Bach. It excited the senses and was as
soothing as a lullaby. Unfortunately, it
was the only truly colorful aspect
present in the company's performance
Saturday night, as the group lacked the
essentials for a genuinely professional
performance.
THe basic intentions of the dancers
were honorable. They performed
smooth, easy movements, perfected
etudes, lithe leaps and clever body con-
tortions. In one scene, the dancers piled
on top of each other to create a
somewhat bizarre form. In this in-
novative tactic, the simple costumes
also helped to accentuate the dance
steps.
NONETHELESS, the dancers lost
themselves in redundancy as each
piece progressed. Except for the first
piece, "Scribble Sketch," the dancers
were exceptionally long and the
choreography was routine and
repetitive.
In "Morningside," a carefree, happy
dance, the constant emotion didn't'
sustain the audience's attention for the
piece's duration, as jits repetitive
movements easily became boring.
Only in the more creative sequences
,were the dancers truly able to perform.
tn "Down Under," a Star Wars journey-
through-time-and-space type
movement, the company finally
managed to convey an eerie sense of
mood.
IN THE accompanied pieces, though,
the dancers did not keep time with the
music. Often, they were less lively than
r their accompaniment. For example,
"Short Threads" could have been a
refreshing piece had the dancers blen-
ded with the enlightening Spanish
castanet music.
The company did not do justice to the
potentially exquisite dance steps. In-
'stead, the steps were automatic: feet
flexed in unison, plies, lunges, and
backward contractions. Sadly, their an-
tics became monotonous.
Christopher Watson, one of the
group's directors, exemplified all the
,traits of his company. Extremely
gawky on stage, he moved as if con-
strained by his large physique, lacking
the essential technique necessary. to
prove himself a professional dancer..
His extensions were merely adequate,
and he portrayed practically no
emotion.
THE OTHER director, Kathleen
Smith, was, thankfully, far better. Her
ballet training was apparent from her
faultless technique: beautifully pointed
toes and graceful arms combine with a
genuine feeling for the dance, making
for a fine performance. The rest of the
troupe could learn from her!
Dance Theatre 2 did have one in-
teresting technical innovation that ren-
dered them slightly above average. The
performed part of the show in total
silence, creating a subdued,'tranquil ef-
fect.
Nonetheless, the overall performance
was a disappointment. The dancers
displayed a wide range of capabilities.
Some were far superior than others,
leading to a disjointed performance.
'They also_' displayed constant
amateurish traits such as thecinability
to sustain and hold arabesques. One
dancer fell right in the center of the
stage!
It is really a disappointment that this
group is considered the best of Ann Ar-
bor's local dance talent. It could be due
to the fact that they lack competition
from other local groups. Or, maybe my
expectations were too high for a local
group and I expected them to transcend
the local level. Whatever the situation,
they are not worthy of their reputatioi'.
Daily
Classifieds get
Results -
Call 764-0557
By FRED SCHILL
Listen carefully to this album and you
will hear a constant rumbling and
shaking, a rattle in the foundation that
only John Entwistle could create. It is
the sound of The Who falling apart.
Face Dances is a sagging compost
heap of mixed metaphors, fragmented
thoughts, treacherous vocals, and
jagged moralizations. It is a ram-
shackle tenement in which The Who
have allowed the waste products of
Pete Townsend's mind to gather and
stagnate in steaming puddles. It stinks.
TOWNSEND OBVIOUSLY recorded
all of his meaty material on his own solo
album last year, leaving the scraps to
be lapped up by The Who. They don't sit
well on the stomach, and Roger Daltrey
particularly does not seem grateful for
Townsend's magnanimity.
Daltrey plods lamely through gunk
like "Another Tricky Day," glumly
reciting rhymes like "Break out and
start a fire ya'll/It's all here on the
vinyl" with all the fervor of a stock
market report. He babbles "Don't Let
Go the Coat" with the inscrutable con-
fusion the lyrics demand, crooning
some of the dreck with Billy Joel
pseudo-importance.
And even when Daltry appears to
give a damn, the nursery rhymes
Townsend has given him to sing are
humiliating. He sounds silly singing
shit like "When I say I love you, you say
you better" while back-up vocals
sweetly coo "you better, you better, you
bet." Oh yeah? Or else what? The lyrics
limp along gimpily, dragging lines like
"I showed up late one night with a neon
light for a visa" enigmatically through
the mud and boasting, "I still sing a
razor line everytime." Bets?
HALF OF THE time he doesn't sound
like Roger Daltrey, and its hard to
blame him considering what he has to
put up with. I'd go incognito too. One of
his finest moments is the Police
imitation, "Did You Steal My Money?"
a sparsely-arranged inquisition that
you really don't want to hear much
about. Still, the overdubbed vocals
Artists' books
at East Quad
The Residential College will present
an exhibit of artists' books by Univer-
sity students and professionals today
through Friday in room 124 EastsQuad.
Coordinator Ann Savageau says the
exhibit "spans visual art and
literature." Artists' books provide an
inexpensive method of obtaining art
compared to museums, and is intended
to broaden the reach of the medium and
interest faculty members in the artists'
work, Savageau said.
The exhibit will run from 11 a.m. to 7
p.m. each day. In addition, there will be
a reception Wednesday from 6:30 to 8
p.m., in the same locale, to be followed
by a symposium on artists' books.
Featured speakers include Art
School doctoral candidate Barbara
Tannenbaum and RC Professor Ken
Mikolowski. Mikolowski also operates
the Alternative Press, which publishes
literary and artistic paraphernalia.
bouncing from wall to wall and
Daltrey's tinny, incisive vocals
pleasantly and judiciously balance En-
twistle's sonic, shattering bass.
In fact, Entwistle's bass work is one
constant stroke of genius. Almost
single-handedly keeping the songs
moving, Entwistle contribut s brillian-
tly beckoning bass riffs thativary from
frolicking bounciness in "Cachs Cache"
and "Another Tricky Day" to softly
booming bursts in the self-penned "The
Quiet One" and "You." Lyrically, he is
not immune from mediocrity; "The
Quiet One" contains the original obser-
vation that "Sticks and Stones may
break your bones/But names will never
down you." Imagine Roger Daltrey
singing that and try not to feel despair.
It ain't easy.
But this is not an easy album to listen
to, particularly for those of us who
believe that The Who have been
arguably the most consistently ex-
cellent rock band in history. Oddly, this
abrupt downfall does not stem from the
death of Keith Moon. New drummer
Kenney Jones plays with the same
boisterous rowdiness Moon was famous
for, and his exhilarating work in "Daily
Records" is one of the highlights of the
album.
NOR IS THERE any reason to
believe Moon's death has so
demoralized Townsend as to
emasculate his renowned musical
virility. Townsend's solo album was
superb.
This catastrohphe of a record was not
caused by Moon's death, but rather by
Townsend's sudden inability or un-
willingness to write tolerable material.
The stuff that isn't downright vapid
tends to be t'ritely moralistic; the
diatribes against exhibitionism and
kids who stuff girlie magazines down
their jeans (horrors!) in "How Can You
Do It Alone" render a promising theme
ineffectively trivial. Even hisbest guitar
work is in Entwistle's tunes.
Townsend's finest effort is easily
"Daily Records," which is blesped with
NDVIDUAL THEATRS
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The New Village Bell presents:
l ANN ARBOR I
ai~ subtitled
jerky, bobbing vocals that are
thematically consistent with the
neurosis of the song. Opening with the
brilliant lines, "This could be suf-
fering/This could be pleasure/I'm
unaware of any difference," the song
explores adisturbing musical identity
crisis that may explain the confused
lack of content that is Face Dances. .
Certainly it is the most honest of
Townsend's compositions, for it in-
volves his recognition that he is on the
cusp of very different musical ages. "I
just don't know how to wear my hair no
more/ No sooner cut it than they cut it
even more," Townsend moans, and this
is the confusing indecision that
paralyzes Face Dances. For his own
sake and ours, I hope he finds some an-
swers.
i
/ 1I 1 fil k
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