JACOB’S PILLOW OPENS 70th SEASON WITH RAIN AND SPARKLE

By JERRI CHAPLIN

PLANET VALENTI Arts

(BECKETT, Mass., June 29, 2011) — Rain dampened the new outdoor stage but couldn’t wash out the triumphant opening of the 79^th season of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and honored guests marked the opening of the renovated Inside/Out performance stage Wednesday evening, June 22. Free performances are held there every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 6:15 pm throughout the summer.

The Doris Duke Theater offered a much dryer setting and the dry wit and camp humor of Keigwin and Company. The dozen dancers led by Larry Keigwin, artistic director who founded the company in 2003, showed their expertise in four pieces spiked with gay cabaret and pop culture.

Sparkly, Spackly “Megalopolis”

First came a galactic spectacular in sparkly costumes, “Megalopolis.” The dancers’ high energy and nimble agility to the music of Steve Reich, a composer popular with contemporary dancers, showcased their stamina. The costumes spackled with gleam and glitter may prove a distraction to some.

Three men and two women dance the clever “Bird Watching” to the music of Joseph Haydn. This gender-bender has all the dancers in short, soft tutus, and incorporates a great deal of upper body work with an emphasis on bejeweled fingers. It takes simple movements such as arm swings and shallow knee bends and amplifies them into modern dance. The guys remove their tutus and put them on again several times in this active 2010 piece.

“Love Songs” is composed of three parts. The first features a tentative romantic couple biting their forefingers in timidity and moving across the stage in measured steps, all to “Blue Bayou” and “Crying” by Roy Orbison. The next two parts feature strong women exuding sexuality. Undulating spines and jutting hips move to Aretha Franklin’s “Baby I Love You” and “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You”). The first couple reappears, still unworldly, dancing to “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “I Put a Spell on You.”

Clueless Finale “Runaway” Comes Up Short, in Undies

All the dancers come together for the finale, “Runaway,” a bit of a mystery. There’s no need to “get” every bit of every piece but you like to have a clue. This one needlessly baffles. First, we see two women having their hair prepared for wigs and their short dresses zipped up. Their hair is sky high. Are they Barbies? Models? Vampire bait? The men are dressed in suits. They walk/run in a square pattern on stage or up the aisles into the audience. Eventually, most shed their clothes and the performers are in revealing underwear, beautiful bodies as moving sculptures.

The gratuitous use of a smoky haze only adds to the “huh”? factor. This effect, popular for years now, is overdone and overexposed.  Let’s aim for clarity of air and piece.

In all, though, audience members hooted approval throughout the performance and left grinning.

Romeo, Juliet, and an Interesting Twist

We all know the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet, so choreographer Joelle Bouvier takes an interesting turn by starting her version of Shakespeare’s classic with the death of and mourning for the title characters.

Performed for the first time in the U.S. by the 22 dancers of the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, this Romeo and Juliet reaches a new level of creativity and beauty. Performed to the rich music of Sergei Prokovfiev, Romeo and Juliet offers a spare, non-opulent view of the characters’ short lives and emotional deaths.

The costumes are contemporary and plain save for Juliet’s feminine white dress and gorgeous wedding gown. The men are in casual pants and shirts or open jackets. All dance barefoot. The set consists of a single ramp. Especially effective is a large white sheet, a canopy for their wedding until the sheet transforms into a marital bed and then floats off.

No place or time is suggested; we see the timeless universality of this story. At times we hear a loudly ticking clock marking the progression of time and possibly noting the many original play scenes here skipped. Many characters (Juliet’s nurse, for example) do not appear in this production.

Ballet Marries Modern

The unique choreography marries ballet and modern. All dancers are ballet trained but the choreography is well-served by the modern techniques, especially in the robust duel scenes between Tybalt and Mercutio. The dances between Romeo (Armando Gonzalez) and Juliet (Sara Shigenari) depict their meeting and growing love with leaps, lifts and arabesques.

Their fourth duet brings the finality of their deaths, a tragedy caused by misunderstanding. It is a deeply sad and emotion-provoking scene. The music, story, and beautiful dancers combine to create a “not a dry eye in the house” ending. From the opening scene where we see them as corpses to the end where they are corpses again, we have followed their love full circle.

Call (413) 243-0745 or see www.jacobspillow.org for more information about Jacob’s Pillow.

Jerri Chaplin is a writer who lives in Charleston, S.C. and Pittsfield, Mass. She is the author of Vertically Coastal, a book of poetry to be published this year by PLANET MEDIA BOOKS.

———————————–

COLONIALS HAVE THE “K” WORKING IN 5-3 WIN

By CHAP COOPER

PLANET VALENTI Sports

(NEWARK, N.J. Game of Tuesday, June 28, 2011) — Pittsfield Colonials pitching struck out 14 Newark Bears batters and the offense erased an early 3-0 deficit as the Colonials downed the Bears 5-3 in the first game of a four game series here.

Newark cracked the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning as a pair of Pittsfield errors led to two runs for the Bears and a 2-0 lead. Newark would add a run in the third on a Billy Alvino single to score Tim Raines Jr. to make it 3-0.

Pittsfield would get their first runs of the game in the top of the fifth thanks to the Bears defense when leftfielder Brandon Watson dropped a deep fly ball off the bat of Matt Nandin, allowing Peter Fatse and Jerod Edmondson to score to slice the lead to 3-2.

The Colonials would strike again in the sixth. A Billy Mottram double and an infield single by Johnny Welch put two on with one out. Two batters later, Chris Torres drove a ball off the wall in left to score both runners and give Pittsfield a 4-3 lead.

Pittsfield would tack on an insurance run in the ninth as Nandin singled home Torres for a 5-3 lead.

The win went to Chad Paronto (3-3) who earned his third straight victory going. He went six innings, allowing two earned runs while striking out a season-high tying seven batters. Rafael Lluberes, Matt Lyons, and T. J. Wink all tossed a scoreless inning to preserve the victory. Both Lyons and Wink struck out the side in their respective frames. Wink earned his first professional save with the effort.

Offensively, Chris Torres led the way for Pittsfield with two hits and two RBI on the day.

The series continues on Wednesday with Pat Moran (3-2, 5.93) on the mound for Pittsfield against Casey Gaynor (1-0, 12.60) For Newark. Pregame on pittsfieldcolonials.com will begin at 5:15 p.m. outside of a 5:35 p.m. first pitch. The Colonials return home on Saturday, July 2 for New England Sports Night at Wahconah Park. Fans who wear any item from their favorite New England sports team will receive $2 off admission. For tickets, visit pittsfieldcolonials.com or call (413)-236-2961.