Arts & Entertainment
Guest artists Lisa Dalton and Mario Camacho perform “Trio For One” during Sunday night s “Dancing the Classics,” a
benefit performance for the UNL Dance Program at Howell Theatre.
Few witness magnificent dance
Program benefits
Howell Theatre
By Stacey McKenzie
Senior Editor
Two incredibly performed tra
ditional ballet worits and an in
tensely human contemporary piece
inspired a standing ovation Sunday
night for “Dancing the Classics,” a
benefit performance for the UNL
Dance Program.
dam-p
Unfortunately, the magnificence
of the performance was witnessed
by few people.
World-renowned dancers Patri
cia Renzetti and Meelis Pakri, both
of the Colorado Ballet, Mario
Camacho of the Martha Graham
Dance Company and Lisa Dalton,
solo artist, gave much to a sparsely
filled Howell Theatre.
Lisa Fusillo, head of the pro
gram, said, “I am extremely disap
pointed that the Lincoln commu
nity and the university community
were not better represented.”
Although tickets for the per
formance cost more than tickets for
a standard Howell Theatre produc
tion .Fusillo said that shouldn’t have
made a difference.
“You will never ever again see a
S12 price,” she said.
Most magnificent was the final
performance by Renzetti and Pakri.
A Pas de Deux from “Le Corsaire,”
showed off the dancers’ technique,
balance and beat. Called “bravura”
because it is meant to inspire bra
vos from the audience, the dance
allowed Pakri and Renzetti to fol
low through on the theme. Ap
plause was often aroused between
and even during each of the sec
tions.
Emotionally powerful was the
fourth performance “Trio For One,”
featuring Dalton and Camacho.
Two diagonal white boxes on the
stage floor outlined each dancer’s
space. After the dancers encoun
tered each other at the comers of
the boxes, they merged in one box.
The languid, sensual movement was
powerful. Part of a reading that
began and divided the performance
characterized it as “calm, complete,
connected — forever outside of
time.”
-«
I am extremely dis
appointed that the
Lincoln community
and the university
community were not
better represented.
Fusillo
Head of UNL Dance
Program
-ft -
The program opened with “The
Man Who Fell From the Moon,”
featuring Camacho, who danced
with strength and balance in a per
formance that featured slow, cau
tious movement. Choreographed
by Austin Hartel to the music of
Peter Gabriel, this dance hinted at
movement laced with fear. Cama
cho at one point arched backward,
as if shrinking from a greater power.
Next was Dalton, who performed
“Asleep in the Desert,” choreo
graphed by herself and Hartel to the
music of Billy Gibbons. This dance
incorporated sequences that re
quired incredible strength, balance
and eloquence. Throughout most
of the dance, Dalton moved about
the floor on her knees, pivoting and
rolling. At one breathtaking point,'
Dalton used the sheer strength of
her bent arms to balance her entire
body at a straight diagonal, feet
pointing toward the theater ceiling.
The third performance was a
Pas de Deux from “Giselle” featur
ing Renzetti and Pakri. The classi
cal ballet movement showed off
Renzetti’s delicate and poised ap
proach in a scries of lifts supported
by Pakri’s strong, guiding tech
nique.
Debut features lightheartedfolk beat
K.CVsleM/4'
“Heather Mullen”
Heather Mullen
eastwest records america
Heather Mullen’s debut album
could be described as light folk mu
sic. The LP, which shares the artist’s
name, relies heavily on poetic lyrics
and acoustic guitars to create musical
effects.
However, its subject matter is less
serious than the topics addressed by
most folk albums. Also, its instru
mentation, which includes electric
guitars and pianos, is more complex
than typical folk arrangements.
All this makes the album a refresh
ingchange from the 1960s-influenced,
somber, political folk music common
today. Mullen, who co-arranged ev
ery song on the album, has created a
work that presents a clear-eyed pic
ture of modem relationships without
praising or condemning them.
* Mullen sings every piece with feel
ing. She has a rich, alio voice and an
excellent sense of timing and pitch.
She’s a pleasure to listen to, whether
singing a sultry love song or an up
tempo ballad.
The first track, “Night by Night,”
addresses the simple theme of how a
romantic relationship is built. The
title is a play on the maxim of taking
problemsday by day. In thecut, Mullen
sings that the only way to maintain
love is to keep talking. This common
sense message is typical of the album.
Often, Mullen’s songs seem to give
advice that would be offered by a wise
older sister. This is particularly true of
“Be Who You Are.”
Mullen croons, “Listen real close,
real, real close to your hcari/Y ou have
the answers, all the answers in your
heart/lts never too late to listen real
close to your heart/Just be who you
are.”
The LP changes pace with the up
tempo “Movin’ On. In the cut, Mul
len describes her need to leave m iddle
class America and do something
meaningful with her life. Congas and
bongos provide a complex, African
influenced rhythm that accentuates
the vocalist’s feelings. A blues-tinged
guitar solo adds interest to the piece.
Mullen seems less sure of herself
on “How Do You Know (When
Dreams Come True).’’ The lyrics are
a series of unanswered questions like,
“When it is time to take a side?/How
do you begin to know what’s right?”
The best track on the album,
“Drinking the Rainwater,” returns to
the fascinating rhythms of “Movin’
On” to recreate the fleetingness of
time. The lyrics of the cut are particu
larly descriptive.
Mullen shows off her marvelous
ear with tracks like “You’ll Never Be
Alone," a ballad that gives the singer
a chance to improvise, something she
does beautifully. She sustains blue
notes without going flat, returning to
the melody with ease.
“Slipping Thru the Cracks 1990”
is the obligatory political song on the
album, and it seems out of place.
Perhaps correct, but uncrcative, the
lyrics blame the troubles of the 1990s
on the consumerism of the 1980s.
Mullen seems more comfortable
Heather Mullen
addressing personal relationships than
political ones. She sings about the
drama of every day life with uncom
mon honesty. She is an excellent
musician with a strong alto voice and
a good ear. In short, sne is an artist to
listen to now and to keep track of in
the future.
— Andrea Christensen
Courtesy of Ace Books
Underground
classic novel
re-released
“Stranger in a Strange Land”
By Robert A. Heinlein
Ace Books
By Bryan Peterson
Senior Editor
Those who have always wanted to
do a bit of time traveling now have the
chance with the release of the original
text of Robert Heinlein’s classic sci
ence fiction novel, “Stranger in a
Strange Land.”
Thanks to Ace Books, folks now
get a chance to “discover” and review
one of the most important books in the
field of science fiction.
First published in 1961, “Stranger”
became a cullclassic rivaled in under
ground popularity only by the works
of J.R.R. Tolkien.
“Stranger” won Heinlein the third
of his four Hugo awards and helped
further establish the genre of science
fiction as a legitimate field.
—
At the time it was printed,
“Stranger” wasconsidcrcd far too radi
cal for readers. Heinlcin’s editors in
sisted that more than one third of the
sizable novel be cut.
The resulting text was still lengthy
and provocative and the book soon
moved from underground status to
thatofapopular,award-winning book.
Now, Ace Books, with the help
and consent of Heinlein’s widow Vir
ginia, has released the book in its
original form, restoring some 60,000
words to an already sizable work.
The result is not as shocking to
today’s reader but docs give a much
fuller presentation of Heinlcin’s ideas.
“Stranger” is the story of Michael
Valentine Smith, a man orphaned and
raised on Mars after the first Earth
expedition to that planet.
A later expedition returns Smith to
Earth, and it is immediately apparent
that Smith is neither wholly human
nor Martian, but a blend of both cul
tures.
From the Martians Smith has
gained tremendous mental and physi
cal abilities. He commences to te^ch
his methods of meditation, control
over bodily functions and sexually
“growing closer.”
Smith’s attempts to lead humans to
spiritual ascendancy give Heinlcin
the opportunity to confront the read
ers of his time with the ridiculousness
of many taboos associated with nu
dity, cannibalism, religion and altru
ism.
With the re-release of “Stranger,”
a new generation of readers may be
come familiar with grokking, water
sharing, and Smith’s lingering mes
sage: “Thou art God.”
* •