Open to Interpretation

Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal

by Janet Anderson

Nicole Ravelli TOSS-UP: Ballet takes on a whole new meaning as this Canadian troupe pushes boundaries and jumps genres. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

It's a mouthful — Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal — especially since the troupe uses the term "ballet" in its most general sense, taking it to simply mean choreographed movement. They've shifted from a jazz-oriented look to one that's sleek and contemporary. With just 14 terrific dancers, two innovative works from two talented choreographers, great music and scenic effects, BJM had a full program and a very excited audience on opening night.

MAPA, choreographed by Rodrigo Pederneiras, artistic director of Brazil's hot Grupo Corpo, was the opener. The title is a wordplay homage to Brazilian composer Marco Antonio Pena Araújo, whose music accompanies the dance. Uakti, a Brazilian ensemble that builds its own instruments, contributed the soundtrack, creating sounds and rhythms using drums, tin pans, glass marimbas, conga drums, flute and even an electronic twang. The sound effect was galvanizing: Dancers simultaneously banged, thrashed and rippled from head to toe. Their body movements were grounded in the hips and balanced on wide-stepping knees with flat feet slapping the floor. It was double-time samba mixed in with capoeira and topped off with pure African movement.

The North American première of Rossini Cards from Mauro Bigonzetti, an Italian experimenter whose work is quickly going worldwide, completed the evening. A choreographic patchwork of comic interludes, dance tableau, solos and pas de deux, the dance was accompanied by the constantly changing music of Gioacchino Rossini. With the full troupe lined up in dark suits, the piece began with one male dancer slowly stepping forward and dropping straight down into the orchestra pit. That got everyone's attention.

It's hard to beat the choreographed whimsy of two dancers wandering around singing "yada yada" along with a Rossini aria. There was a funny dinner-table sequence with people nodding to the appropriate right and left dinner partners. Dancers rolled on the floor in pas de deux that had them so intertwined you couldn't tell one body from the other. A woman read and sang a dinner menu in Italian. Briefly, incongruously, a ballerina appeared, dancing on pointe. Just as it began to feel like fewer cards might have been better, everyone was back onstage, rushing around to thundering Rossini. One by one, they jumped off the stage and into the pit. Fin!

(j_anderson@citypaper.net)

Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal | Feb. 19 | Annenberg Center