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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1994)
ArtsiKentertainment Dance troupe creates new style with mutable, fluid interpretation By Paula Lavlgne Senior Reporter _ 4 * . _ In a halo of iridescent blue beams, a dancer walked into a strobe of white light from above. Other dancers joined her, as the unit created an eerie, alien environment of independently moving bodies in syncopa tion. This paradox demonstrated the power of the Bella Lewitsky dancers at the Lied Cen ter for Performing Arts Saturday night. Lewitsky, a renowned international cho reographer, said her dancers’ manipulation of space and time did not comply to any known style. In fact, she despises the word. “The word ‘style’ bothers me,” she said. “I like to be without style. Style means only nnft look.” Lewitsky said her art form was neither ballet nor typical modem dance. “I, as a company, have the purity of form to move into whatever the context dictates,” she said. She said the company’s techniques dif fered because the dancers performed bare foot, and the movement originated from the torso and not the limbs. “It’s very gutsy,” she said. “It does believe in right angles as well as curve. The ground is as important as the air.” Unlike ballet, the topic matter tries to be the period of which the piece was composed. “We’re newborn, against the 200-year old ballets,” she said. “There are very funda mental differences.” With those differences, The Bella Lewitsky Dance Company has received several com mendations and awards for its work. These awards include an honorary doc torate of fine arts from Juilliard in New York City. “It was lovely to receive it,” Lewitsky said. “My four honorary doctorates meant I was being accepted into a world which holds standards high.” Although Lewitsky’s dance has received such recognition, she said dance had become a little known art form in the entertainment world of movies and television. “It has a role to play that is overlooked," she said. Lewitsky said a PBS program called “Dance in America” gave some exposure to dance, but not as much as other arts. “It receives little exposure in commercial forms,” she said. “MTV outranks it in the I, as a company, have the purity of form to move Into whatever the context dictates. — Lewitsky choreographer trillions.” Lewitsky said the onl y way dance could be brought back to the mainstream was to start dance education at the elementary level. On Friday, she and several of her dancers trav eled to local elementary schools to give dance demonstrations. “People cannot love what they know noth ing about,” she said. “The first time you hear classical music, it might not be something hummable 1 ike hits on MTV, but you have to devote time to it.” Lewitsky said dance was unique as an art form because it allowed change and partici pation. She fully utilized these elements during the performances Saturday. Her first work, “Meta 4,” featured four male and four female dancers moving to the music of a string auartet. The hostile music and broken, angular movements made the dancers move 1 ike four black notes on a staff. “Impressions #1 (Henry Moore),” her sec ond piece, featured all female dancers in a celestial atmosphere they created on stage through the use of intermingling bodies in motion. The third piece, “Episode #4 (Turf)” was a territorial piece, featuring male dancers “fighting” for domination by using isola tionist movements and four wooden blocks as their property. “Spaces Between,” the final selection, was by far the most impressive. It was almost frightening, like a scene from an alien ab duction. The eerie mechanical sounds, liq uid lighting and pieces of glass suspended in the air added to the dancers’ manipulation of all physical elements. As if watching a painting or a musical score come alive on stage, the Bella Lewitsky Dancers succeeded in creating a moving piece of art. .1 W ( \l l\(,l K Dinner, movie for $ 1,300 As Valentine’s Day was coming up, I couldn’t help thinking about some of my misadventures in the dating world. I’m currently unattached. But some weeks ago, I had a chance to change that unattachment for awhile. It all started with an innocent radio ad I was listening to while driving on an Omaha freeway. The advertisement was for a local computer dating agen cy. Because the agency is a stickler for confidentiality, I can’t reveal its name here. But it isn’t especially hard to guess if you listen to KQKQ. I hadn’t really thought about a dating service before. It sounded like something only desperate people did (I was desperate, but that was beside the point). Besides, there were other ways to find dates— like school or a church group. But curiosity won out. And so, 1 found myself calling the service and asking, “Uh, do you, say, have anything for a 19-year-old college stu dent?” “Why, sure,” the answer came. “Could I ask you a few questions?” The receptionist briefly interviewed me and then asked me to come in and fill out a few forms. Upon coming out a few days later, I was given a barrage of information apparently meant to impress potential customers. According to my interviewer, the company was about 19 years old, the largest of its kind, and had a 92 percent successful-match rate. I would have to fill out a survey, answer some questions, and in time I’d get “referred" to a woman, which meant I’d get a number. The woman whose number I’d get, would get my number, but setting up a date would be up to myself and the lady. The survey I had to take consisted mainly of two parts: the fill-out form and a form that had you fill out boxes according to whether you agreed, strongly agreed, didn’t care, or dis agreed on a given statement. I wanted to fill the boxes in to make the image of a skull, a la Beavis and Butt-head. But of course, that would have been bad humor, and anyway I might have been matched up with someone I didn’t click with. And then the big question came: What did I need a computer thingee for? Wasn’t I man enough to get a date without one? (Phrased more politely, of Course). Aside from answering that question, I was having a good time. I wanted to get to the part where they match me up and give me a woman ’ s number. Unfortunately, there was a small setback. The dating service began acting businesslike. The interviewer asked me:Did 1 have a Visa? No. Did I have a MasterCard? No. My interrogator looked worried. And so did I. She then decided it was time to get the financial talk over with. I won’t go over what all my choices were, but the most basic plan con sisted of six referrals. How much would you pay for a dating service to refer you to up to six different women? I had $ 100 or so saved up for such a purpose. But my $100 was not enough. I could sell my car and still not have enough. The six-referral plan would set me back $1,300. Of course, since I didn’t have any credit cards, I could have a payment plan worked out for me, my interviewer said. I wanted to ask a few different questions. First, where did they get off charging $200 for each referral? Secondly, if I did pay, how would I be able to afford a date? And finally, why didn’t they tell me this before so I could have saved myself the gas? I found a way to ask the first question polite ly. It turned out I was paying for massive advertising, a large pool of clients and the company’s 20-year-old name. That made me feel a LOT better. Of course, 1 would have to look at my finan cial situation, I said. After my student loans came through and my scholarships came in, I would see if I could scrape together enough cash for the basic plan. I’d call back. I understand, my interviewer said. And so, I’m still single and unmatched. Any ladies who take pity on me can write me in care of the Daily Nebraskan. Otherwise, I’ll have to rely on more conventional ways to find dates. I guess I could try a church group again. Calinger li»sophomore news-editorial major and an Aits and Eatertaiament columnist. ‘Name of the Father’ reveals the true guilt In the Name of the Father “In the Name of the Father" is the true story of grave injustices that were committed under the cover of con flicts between Britain and the Irish Republican Army. Gerry Coni on (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a young Irishman in Belfast who enjoys playing cat-and-mouse with British troops stationed there. Unfor tunately, his mischief also angers the IRA, who threatens to blow off his kneecaps as a warning to other thieves and miscreants. Gerry’s father, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), manages to help Gerry escape to England where he meets up with his childhood friend, Paul Hill (John Lynch). Penniless, Gerry and Paul spend a night on a London park bench on October 5,1974—the same night that bombs explode at two Guildford pubs, killing five people and injuring many others. Due to the extreme pressure put on them to solve the bombings, British authorities enact the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which gives them the power to detain suspects for up to seven days without stating charges. Gerry, Paul and two other friends, known as the “Guildford Four,” are implicated in the bombings and tor tured by British police into confess ing. Several members of Gerry’s fam ily, including his father, are charged as co-conspirators in the crime. They are all f ound guilty of terror- I ism, and Gerry and Paul are sentenced I to life in prison. Gerry and his father are incarcerated together and have a hard time reconciling their differenc es. Gradually they come together and work on Giuseppe’s campaign for their freedom with British lawyer Gareth ( Pierce (Emma Thompson), who brings j to light evidence, covered up by tne British police, that shows their mno- c cence. v British authorities refuse to admit h to the cover-up, and Giuseppe dies . before they can get an appeal. Gerry h and Gareth finally manage to prove t< the innocence of the Guildford Four, ii but only after they have spent 15 years F of their lives in prison. f< Courtesy of Universal City Studios Daniel Day-Lewis, right, stars as Gerry Conlon, and Pete Postlethwaite stars as his father Giuseppe in “In the Name of the Father.” This film's ability to enrage the udience about the many injustices ommitted by the British legal system s just one of its many strengths. This show throws the audience into ne of the current “hot-spots” of the forld and forces them to look at the orrors of even a “civilized” war. The emotional insights into the earts of the wrongly accused charac ;rs are very well delivered by some itense acting. John Lynch, as Paul till, aptly demonstrates the futility ;lt by the Guildford Four as they are tortured into their confessions. Emma Thompson is not on screen very much, but she makes her pres ence known when she is. Pete Postlethwaite is excellent as Giuseppe Conlon. He plays a charac ter who is tom between his shame for Gerry’s deeds and a father’s love for his son. Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of his best performances as Gerry, a rebel lious kid who is in the wrong place and the wrong nationality. He is trauma tized by the torture and discrimina tion he is subjected to and comes close to breaking down. Lewis shows how Gerry finally comes to terms with his father’s Catholic moral ity and appl ies it to his disheveled life. “In the Name of the Father” is an emotional show that reminds us of the many atrocities that are committed in this “modern” world of ours. It re minds us to be constantly ready to fight against them. —Joel Strauch