GroundWorks Dancetheater
Monday, January 28, 2008
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Dance Critic

The dance evolution in Cleveland during the past decade has been striking. Big ballet has given way to smaller companies that focus on diverse repertoire.

To wit: Playhouse Square played host to two of Cleveland's most dynamic contemporary troupes over the weekend. GroundWorks Dancetheater shared its probing spirit in the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre at the Idea Center. Verb Ballet's colorful eclecticism filled the stage of the Ohio Theatre.

Both companies presented world premieres that confirmed these groups' desire to replenish, expand and explore.

GroundWorks welcomed Israeli-born, New York-based choreographer Zvi Gotheiner to devise "Delayed," an intense study in symmetry and departure set to Terry Riley's "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band."

Six dancers step forth in searching gestures, move in unison patterns and engage in fleeting encounters. The aura is austere, the movement kinetic. To Riley's drones and fluttering sonorities, Gotheiner sends the dancers jogging and gives them fleeting solos and duets. It is a finely wrought excursion into the challenge of creating bonds.

The performance was a typical GroundWorks burst of smoldering brilliance, which pervaded Friday's concert. Gina Gibney's "Always," a charming and bittersweet salute to country-music singer Patsy Cline, also brought out the dancers' inherent urgency.

Amy Miller was boldly expressive, with colleagues Sarah Perrett, Mark Otloski and Damien Highfield splendid changing partners and savoring the juke-box roller-coaster of emotions.

Artistic director David Shimotakahara's "Know" portrays Leonard Bernstein's "Anniversaries" as a series of shifting relationships between two women. Miller and Felise Bagley imbued their meetings with subtle nuances and vulnerability.

Solaris, the faculty wind quintet at the University of Akron, played flutist George Pope's transcription of the Bernstein miniatures with invigorating personality. As an interlude, the group made a luminous thing of Nikola Resanovic's cascading "The Golden Canon.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: drosenberg@plaind.com, 216-999-4269

Title belies breadth of musical journey
`American Quintets II' by UA's Solaris has a wide ranging feel to it
Elaine Guregian, Beacon Journal

The Solaris quintet's new CD isn't marketed as world music. In fact, it's titled American Quintets II, but at times it feels like a journey to a far-off land. The joyfully curling, skirling lines of University of Akron composition professor Nikola Resanovic's Drones and Nanorhythms are borrowed from music of the Balkans, and they whirl as if under some ancient spell. UA professor Ralph Turek's Jam actually sets the musicians' feet to stomping and hands to clapping.

It's addictive listening from the UA woodwind quintet in residence.

Musicians on American Quintets II are George Pope, flute; James Ryon, oboe; Kristina Belisle Jones, clarinet; William Hoyt, horn; Lynette Diers Cohen, bassoon and guest Todd Ranney, baritone, who sings on arrangements of four songs by Stephen Foster.

This CD makes a good chance to catch up on some Ohio composers, including UA professor Daniel McCarthy and former Akronite Roger Zahab, who is now in Pittsburgh. It also includes several rags by Scott Joplin. The engineering quality on this Capstone Records label is excellent, with the exception of overly boomy acoustics on a couple of vocal selections. All around, this project makes a terrific showcase for this ensemble's polished and compelling musicianship.

Solaris and Ranney will perform pieces from the new CD at 3 p.m. Nov. 16 at Guzzetta Recital Hall of the University of Akron, 157 University Ave., across from E.J. Thomas Hall.

The group's membership has changed since the recording was made. Oboist James Ryon moved to Louisiana and was succeeded by Cynthia Watson. James Rodgers is the new bassoonist in the group. He succeeds Lynette Diers Cohen, who died last summer.

The Nov. 16 performance is part of the UA Kulas Foundation Concert Series. Tickets cost $10 general admission, $3 for students. Call 330-972-7895.

American Quintets II will be on sale for $15 at the concert. It can also be ordered by e-mailing gspope@uakron.edu.

American Record Guide - January/February 2001 - by Kilpatrick

"Solaris, in residence at the University of Akron, offers a nicely varied program of woodwind quintets new, standard, and transcribed. In this vibrant account of Samuel Barber's wonderful and often-recorded Summer Music, each event in the patchwork quilt of events is given thoughtful expression. It is a study in sonic sensuousness, each instrument exploring timbral variety, lines passing from instrument to instrument with only subtle changes of tone quality.

While Henry Cowell is a major name in modern American music, his Suite (1930) is not well known. A little Allegretto is a fleet study in major-minor interplay, the final chord juxtaposing both. An Allegro has syncopated figures over lyrical fragments and a sustained bassoon line. The almost two-minute Adagio Cantabile (longest of the four movements) explores polytonality, and the final Allegro Con Moto is a quirky bit of perpetual motion.

Two Solaris members contribute some fine arrangements, including flutist George Pope's settings of nine Anniversaries, originally piano portraits by Leonard Bernstein. In the first of two sets, 'For Felicia Montealegre' is gentle, poignant, and quite touching. 'For Johnny Mehegan' is buoyant, humorous, and about a half-minute long. 'For David Diamond' sounds like memories both wistful and intense, and 'For Helen Coates' gives me the impression that she and Bernstein had some jolly good times. The second set of five is just as varied and interesting. These are fine transcriptions of little-known works, and woodwind aficionados should seek them out.

In horn player William Hoyt's arrangement of Gershwin's Preludes, the sunny I gives spritely melodies to each player in turn. In II, the soulful tune is played by oboist James Ryon, the gently swinging one by bassoonist Lynette Diers Cohen. In III, the noodly melody is played by clarinetist Håken Rosengren and flutist George Pope.

Then there are three recent, original works. The title of Your Offending Kiss, by Roger Zahab (faculty member at both Akron and the University of Pittsburgh), makes you expect to hear something that justifies the title. Listening uncovers a few passages that seem indignant, but nothing more, so you go to the notes for an explanation. They're no help—it's a mystery! Another evocative title, Ancient Evenings & Distant Music (1971), also conjures images that aren't borne out by the music. It is a very nice set of variations on a theme by Jack Gallagher, professor of music at The College of Wooster (OH). Last on the disc is Nicola Resanovic's Golden Canon, a fascinating and beautiful work that develops great complexity while maintaining a basic tonality and theme.

It is a pleasure to listen to Solaris, whose members have wonderful tone quality, virtuoso technique, and excellent ensemble skills. Recorded sound is crisp and direct for everyone but horn player Hoyt, who sounds a bit more distant."