Dance REview
THE CUBA FILES
Presented by José Mateo Ballet Theatre. At the Sanctuary Theatre, Cambridge, through March 6. 617-354-7467. www.ballettheatre.org.
CAMBRIDGE — José Mateo’s concert “The Cuba Files’’ simultaneously celebrates the eclecticism of Cuban music and the resonance of a single choreographic voice. The scores range from Leo Brouwer’s stark, wistful Concerto for Guitar and Violin to Juan Piñera’s angular, episodic Trio Cervantino, with flirty, jazzy numbers bridging the two. The movement broadcasts the Mateo’s sly contemporary classicism, which appears even more organically sprung in this, the company’s 30th year.
It’s a brave pairing. On Saturday night, the program of two older pieces and one premiere — danced with brio and technical acuity in the intimate Sanctuary Theatre — highlighted how such diversity can reveal both the advantages and limitations of an aesthetic, no matter how refined. Mateo’s offerings at once caught your breath and left you yearning for more.
The new dance, “In Our Minds,’’ with music by Piñera, underlines Mateo’s understanding of the power of craft: how the interplay of structure, dynamics, and proportion begets meaning. Featuring two lead couples and a corps of nine, it explores the way our individual perspectives both blind and enlighten us. Mateo does this through pure movement, his metier.
Madeleine Bonn, in striking blue, eloquently transmits the theme. Partnered with Stephen James, she extends a bent front leg to straight, stretching it tautly from here to forever. Her movements emanate from her core, whether she’s arcing deeply over James’s shoulder as he holds her aloft or pushing full force from pointe into her metatarsal, bending light with a single foot. When she stands with her back to him, her arms reaching for his touch, you know she is tied to this man yet alone, in her own world.
The piece, like all of Mateo’s works, springs directly from the music: As Piñera’s score breaks into shards, for example, the choreography does too, not note for note but both on and between the notes, building, layering.
I look forward to seeing how “In Our Minds’’ matures as the dancers continue to perform it. I saw it early — six days before press night — and the parts didn’t quite cohere into enough of a whole to set it choreographically apart from the earlier pieces.
The other two dances, “Escape’’ and “Danzones Baléticos,’’ both from 2004, debuted in earlier Cuban-themed programs, all reflecting Mateo’s connection to his own Cuban roots.
“Escape,’’ a meditation on repression set to Brouwer’s score, features lead couple Angie DeWolf and Spencer Keith amid a somber corps of 14, all in shades of gray. Mateo’s skill at manipulating groups shines here, as he spins now glorious, now restricted geometric patterns out of changing dynamics, traffic, and density. Some configurations strike like a thunderbolts.
Keith astounds in “Escape’’ with his airborne leaps and crackling spins. DeWolf slices the space with precision pointework. An arm raised forward with flexed palm reappears and dissolves — it’s a leitmotif communicating hope in a barren landscape.
“Danzones Baléticos’’ is a pure delight, comprising vignettes set to music by five Cuban composers ranging from Coralia Lopez to Jacoba Rubalcava. The dancers go all out in this rambunctious, flinty compendium that at once spoofs and pays homage to everything from Americana stars and stripes to the smack of a kiss straight on the mouth.
THE CUBA FILES
Presented by Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre. At The Sanctuary Theatre, Cambridge, through March 6. 617-354-7467. www.ballettheatre.org.
Thea Singer can be reached at thea.singer@comcast.net.
