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New dance talents startle and delight

JENNIFER BREWER

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As Portland Ballet's artistic director Eugenia L. O'Brien explains, each Portland Dances! showcase involves a ''grand jeté of faith.''

Audience members willing to take this leap were rewarded on Saturday evening (also Friday) with an exciting venture into the unknown. Fascinating as a whole, the evening included many satisfying moments among a staggering 19 diverse compositions by local choreo-graphers.

The annual showcase is a platform for new works and developing voices. This year's program included almost exclusively modern dance -- aside from a satiric number on pointe, a light ballet and a belly dance -- to music ranging from medieval to classical to pop.

''Cleansing Fountain,'' by Portland Ballet's Nell Shipman with music by Elliot Goldenthal, was professional, polished and moving. In short red dresses, artistically strong dancers performed flowing movements with mournful evocation and lovely lines and shapes, juxtaposed with jerking gestures of anger.

Internationally recognized choreographer Esduardo Mariscal contributed the most eye-opening work, ''El Grito Del Tiempo,'' with music by Caleb Sampson.

This dream-like piece was a crazy circus of European-style theatricality, including operatic snippets sung by the dancers, a tattooed strongman posing on a table and a silver hoop hanging from the ceiling.

Mariscal used all the musical elements effectively, texturing the movement to complement the rich instrumentation.

Portland Ballet's Vanessa Beyland -- the production manager of Portland Dances! -- contributed a high-powered blend of Latin, jazz and modern in ''Bailar,'' to music by Rodrigo y Gabriela.

This enjoyable piece featured flowing lifts and innovative interlocking gestures among the five dancers. Megan Buckley stood out for her precise, light footwork, gorgeous line and smooth core movements.

''Slow Motion,'' by Michelle Bernier of Terpsicore Dance, featured artfully repeated motifs and thoughtful composition with creative use of silence. To music by Third Eye Blind, Susan Thompson-Brown showed excellent control and smooth shifts from flowing to angular motion.

''No Choice,'' to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's ''Carry On,'' demonstrated potential for choreographer Rachel Schwartz of Collective Motion and InnerMotion Dance Ensemble.

Schwartz worked creatively with the lyrics and the 1960s musical milieu. Militant kicking and punching were suspended when Josh Robinson presented the four female dancers with white flowers; the final pose included peace signs.

Andrea Michaud Tracy, of Portland Ballet and Kennebec Dance Centre, presented ''Secret'' to music by The Pierces. This was a tongue-in-cheek look at violence, with well-crafted robotic movement and cabaret smiles from dancers on pointe in long white tutus.

''Yes, it is ,'' by Magili Chapman Quinn of Artmoves Dance Company, demonstrated the depth that can be present in minor movements juxtaposed with stillness. Debi Irons and Joanna Patterson opened the jazz-singer piece (by Jamie Cullem) sitting back to back on stools, portraying romance and tension with subtle movements.

''Additive Inverse'' by Meredith Collins was a delight, with choreographic collaboration by dancers Ann Dubensky, Emily Hricko and Jessamyn Schmidt. To klezmer music by Yann Tiersen, Dubensky and Hricko interacted with creative and cooperative shapes. Dubensky's control was striking as she threw herself into apparently haphazard leaps.

Choreographer Irons, of Art Moves Dance Studio, and dancer Tegan Bullard both impressed in ''The Manly Dance'' to a John Coltrane jazz quartet. With remarkable stage presence, all Bullard's movements had intention and direction, and her leaps and hip and shoulder movements were beautiful.

In ''Loss,'' to music by B. Pheloung, Portland Ballet's Lesley Tunstall created a modern dance with very classical lines. Eight dancers portrayed struggle and loss, with coordinated formations and nice core movement.

Collective Motion's Robinson closed the evening with the lightly surreal ''Swept '' Following Victorian summer-home vignettes to Puccini, the piece quickly switched to music by Penguin Cafe Orchestra, dancers with beach towels and flippers, and a beach ball rolling onto the stage.

This piece was a good example of the work-in-progress element of the showcase. Perhaps not completely formed or articulated, it nonetheless suggested compositional potential, with a nice use of space, color and motif.

Combining untested with polished choreography is part of the nature of this performance. Keeping the showcase genuinely open to such a variety of creative voices is admirable, and deeply valuable to the dance community on both sides of the curtain.

Jennifer Brewer is a freelance writer, teacher, musician and dancer who lives in Saco.''No Choice,'' to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's ''Carry On,'' demonstrated potential for choreographer Rachel Schwartz of Collective Motion and InnerMotion Dance Ensemble.