The Michigan Daily-Thursday, May 8, 198-Page 7
ANNARBOR CIVIC BALLET
Local talent, ambition mix well

By ELLEN RIESER
Ann Arbor Civic Ballet celebrated its
silver anniversary with two perfor-
mances in Power Center on May 4th.
The company's productions are
especially interesting to watch, both for
the originality of the choreography and
for the opportunity they provide to see
local dance students before many of
them leave for professional careers in
the dance.
The evening performance began
with Wind-Bourne, choreographed by
Lee Ann King-Shankland. Set to
Haydn's Surprise Symphony, the ballet
suffered from an overconcern with
symmetry. One would have enjoyed a
stronger contrapuntal element to the
ensembles. Nevertheless, the ballet
was danced well by the corps. Marci
Margeson, Robin Lyle, and Lee Ann
King-Shanklund, who performed the
trio, gave a particularly fine perfor-
mance.
A PAS DE DEUX from Raymonda,
staged by Marjorie Randazzo, was the
second piece on the program. Pamela
Rutledge danced the character ballet
steps strongly and with spirit.

Christopher Watson, who danced with
Miss Rutledge, was a considerate par-
tner-however his solo work was
strangely subdued. It did not appear o
to be a question of technique: Mr. Wat-
son's line was generally correct
throughout the pas de deux. Never-
theless, his jumps lacked ballon and his
feet were lax in many places.
The third ballet performed was a
scaled down selection of some of the
dances from Coppelia. With a piano on
stage a la Jerome Robbins, the dancers
performed czardas and four of the solos
from the third act of Coppelia. The solos
were performed gracefully and the
piano accompaniment was well suited
to the style of the dances. However, this
approach was not successful for the
czardas. The two dancers performing
the czardas, Lee Ann King-Shankland
and Guy Bala, seemed lost in what is
normally danced by an entire corps
against a full orchestra. Leslie Bundy
Hosbein, a former Ann Arbor Civic
Ballet member who is now dancing with
the Long Island Ballet Company, roun-
ded out Excerpts from Coppelia with
"Variation de Giselle". Miss Hosbein's
technique was strong and she showed a
lyrical feeling for the music.

Aurora's Wedding, a festive ballet
derived from the third act of Sleeping
Beauty, was the final ballet of the
evening. Composed of one virtuoso
variation after another, the ballet
demands considerable solo work. It is a
challenge for any company to mount,
let along a small civic ballet. Elaine
Abbrecht danced the Silver Fairy
variation extremely well, beaming at
the audience while cheerfully executing
numerous difficult beats and jumps.
Ann Arbor Civic Ballet imported a
pas de deux team for the roles of Aurora
and her prince; Birute Barodicaite and

William McClain respectiiely. It was
an unfortunate choice as the guest ar-
tists did not dance well. Miss
Barodicaite was insecure in her balan-
ces and there was too much overt
"placing" by both dancers. Perhaps in
the future it will be possible for local
dancers to take these difficult roles.
There are many promising dancers in
the company and one looks forward to
watching their progress from year to
year. Given the excellence of the rest of
the performance with the local dancers,
it was a pity that the section featuring
guest artists was so weak.


VA4AT TIE UCLTIMAE*4'LE7T WOTP
FVR T4E MOVIE TI+ATS RESELI"V,
ovOtrfi eWraWCOMPLETELY
I#AIAAti rAV

House OKs first balanced
budget in over a decade
(Continued from Page 6)
MEANWHILE, THE Senate con- Before final passage, the House voted
tinued work yesterday on its Budget 289-127 to reject an amendment that
Committee's proposed $612.9 billion -would have eliminated "recon-
balanced 1981 budget, which favors ciliation," a key enforcement provision
sharply higher defense spending and that orders House and Senate commit-
deeper social program cuts than either tees to propose $9 billion in savings by
the House or the Carter plan. June 15.

01980 BRIGHTON PRODUCTIONS, INC.


- "AVAILABLE AT YOUR FAVORITE STORE"
iird* 1 ~ if t do o obF s at rr" y +Yo <. "+ . ". s. Atr .- ou,,,, ,,eA r