page 10
daily nebraskan
monday, november 10, 1980
Feld Ballet dances a pure, not faultless, show
By Penelope Smith
Thursday night the Feld Ballet evoked the sense of
ambivalent detachment that tends to form from pure, but
not faultless, entertainment.
"Harbinger," the first piece of the evening, was a
definite disappointment. Created in 1967, it is indeed
a harbinger for a fine choreographic style to come, but
carries all the uneasy symptoms of Feld at 24, still search
ing for a choreographic mode.
It exemplifies a Feld still under the influence of George
Balanchine. Mature Feld utilizes a loose-limbed jazz tech
nique integrated with a flowing, classical vocabulary.
In "Harbinger," there is still a hint of Balanchine tension
without the exact estimation of force and cutting preci
sion that makes it choreographically valid.
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Photo courtesy of Lois GreenfieldThe Feld Ballet
The Eliot Feld Ballet performed Nov. 6-8 at Kimball Recital Hall.
At its best moments "Harbinger" displayed an un
dulating whimsicality and expert handling of a large corps
that would become a Feld trademark. Such sections as
the Ferris wheel movement of a woman by two partners,
to a hypnotic continuous series of notes in the score,
come immediately to mind.
The work was not enhanced by a watery rendition of
Prokoficffs "Concerto No. 5 for Piano and Orchestra,"
missing a lot of the volume and tension. At times the
movement and music were badly integrated lo the point
of parallelism.
"Anatomic Balm," in contrast, had a flashy efficacy
that exemplifies Feld at his best. His time on Broadway
shows through with a joyous glittering theatricallity.
The dancers, in pristine white and rainbow hues, flowed
from a sensuous free slow-motion stroll to a melodramat
tic. "He" done her wrong" Hailing that was perfectly in
tegrated with a ragtime score.
Felds' dancers were in their stylistic clement. Nothing
was really sustained nor was there any stress on virtuosity
in the classical ballet sense. What came across was a high
energy broadway sense of entertainment that left the
audience breathless and enthused. Of special note was
the performance of Christine Sarry. Sarry has an excep
tional presence that can vary from Chaplinesque to Perils
of Pauline, equally delighting the audience and herself.
The final selection of the evening, "A Footstep of
Air" was a foray into Feld's playful tongue-in-cheek
sense of humor.
He made a successful poke at the pastoral clement in
so many classical ballets by gaily tripping over the fine
line between the bucolic and the ludicrous. He further
marked the sheer delightful absurdity of the work by
choreographing it to the Celtic folk song arrangements of
Beethoven and using costumes that looked like the result
of a crazed and colorblind Celt's taste in plaids.
The more blatant mime pauses were picked up more
quickly than the more subtle choreographic humor of the
piece. Consequently, there were stretches of uneasiness
where people weren't sure if it was proper to laugh or
not. A great deal of this was no fault of Felds, but rather
one of errocnous indoctrination of the idea that ballet is
art, and that no matter how terrible or ludicrous one may
find it, one should never laugh because art and artsts are
terribly serious.
The Feld Ballet cannot be faulted for its performance
or its energy, but there was a vague feeling of superficiali
ty that was not worthy of the democratic ovation given
by the audience.
Daytime TV cures bedridden adults
1 think that one of the functions of day
time television is to give adults who are
bedridden with illness something to do. It
does for sick adults what the traditional
"mommy" did for sick children: Fnticing
them into downing bowls of hot soup and
dark
taking plenty of aspirin, and keeping an
eye on them.
More importantly, it takes the place of
those activity kits that little kids were
supposed to have (I never had one myself,
but I have often heard that such kits exist),
with things like Tinker toys and puzzles
and models that one could do mindlessly.
Instead of Tinker toys and puzzles, though,
television offers game shows, soap operas,
etc. These shows are the networks way of
rubbing a little intellectual Mentholatum
onto your virus-infested chest.
Take, for example, the average daytime
game show. But don't think of it as a game
show , instead think of it as the "Pack Up
Your Troubles in Your Airsick Bag and
Smile, Smile, Smile Fun Activity Kit." The
game show has a simple task; to cheer you
up, to tell you that you should hurry up
and get well soon because the world is a big
and wonderful place. The host, be it
Richard Dawson or Wink Martindale or the
ageless Bob Barker, comes out smiling.
The contestants enter. First, our
challenger, a student at UCLA and aspir
ing actress, Ms. Francis Olive, careens
around the curtain and smiles at the host.
Then, our champion, Mrs. Olive Francis, a
housewife and mother of two (two what? I
always ask) who has won $9,750 so far, sits
in her chair and smiles. Then everybody
wins some money, and smiles some more.
It's a lot like a Get Well card, in that it
gives you a misleading picture of what
awaits you when you do get well, what
probably made you sick in the first place.
Soap operas work on the recuperating
adult with reverse psychology. Think of
them as the "Misery Loves Company
Activities Kit." To a flu-ridden adult, a
soap opera comes out and says, "Sure
you're sick, so what? Count your blessings.
Bozo, and look what's wrong with us!
"Mandy is pregnant by either Phillip or
Dave. She wants to keep the baby, but
Dave doesn't. She would marry Phil, who
does want the baby, but who's to say that
the curious straight jacket in his wardrobe
isn't something he really should be wearing
all the time?
"You should be glad that all you are is
sick. I mean, you could be living in the
same town with us!"
You don't have to like daytime tele
vision, but you have to appreciate how
effective it is with illness. A couple of days
ago I thought I was on the verge of death.
Vultures were holding a lottery for rights
to my house. But after just two days of
daytime television. I told myself. "No
body is this sick." and jumped back into
the swing of life.
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UPC to feature
drama, dance at
both unions
The University Program Council
will sponsor Sense The Arts this
week at both the Nebraska Union
and Fast Campus Union. In addition
to the following schedule, more
attractions are expected.
Monday, Nov. 10
All day: Visual display hv the
Lincoln Quitters Guild.
X:00 p.m. Regency Suit "Dessert
Theater," Two new experimental
plays, f'onh Sale and Three Cawhovi
Three by UNL theater graduate stu
dent Dale Wilson. Admission: SI. 50
UNL Student Donation. $2 Non
Student Donation
Tuesday, Nov. 1 1
10:00 a.m. Main bmnge Jek
Kelly Juggling and Comedy.
1:30-2:30 p.m. Main Lounge Ne
braska School of Gymnastics.
X'OO p.m. Regency Suite Dessert
Theater.
Wednesday , Nov. 12
9:00 a.m. Main Lounge Stained
glass artwork by King Glass of
Lincoln.
2:00-3:00 p.m. Mam Lounge UNL
Dancers.
4:00 p m. Main Lounge Nebraska
School o Gymnastics.
Continued on Pae 1 1