Luna Negra, Turtle Island Quartet, y Pacquito D'Rivera - Una Fiesta Elegante por los Ojos y Oidos

Chicago based Luna Negra Dance Theater and the Turtle Island Quartet with musician Pacquito D'Rivera provided a sumptuous concert of live music and dances in the University of Colorado's Macky Auditorium on September 28, 2010. The dances were set to both Turtle Island's and D'Rivera's playing and to recorded sound tracks. That music was a mix of cool and hot jazz, as well as contemporary pop and classical works, and the dance a fusion of Latin, Modern, Ballet, and maybe some hints of B-boy breaking, Hip-Hop and Freezing. And the performance of it all was virtuoso in every respect.

The concert, in three sections, opened with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's "Nube Blanco," a work which itself was as diverse as one can imagine. "Nube Blanco" opened with a solo male dancer who used stillness, adagio movement, and explosive body slaps, palmadas, and zapateados to totally capture the audience. The work then introduced six women and six men, whose movement and their own palmadas, zapateados, and voices took over the stage in a series of ensembles, merged ensembles, duets and solos that carried through any number of mixed dance modalities, rhythms and tempos. Lopez Ochoa knows just how long to leave any modality or sequence there, and demonstrated that she knows a myriad of places to take the work next without losing its integrity. "Nubes Blanco" ended as it started with a solo - this time with a female dancer costumed as - guess what - a white cloud. One lovely part of this work was the subtle use of the sounds of dripping water and squeaking hinges in quiet moments, which gave the audience just moments of welcome respite.

The second section, "Danzon," used the Turtle Island Quartet and D'Rivera's clarinet, first in concert and then as accompaniment to a series of dances set on the company by Luna Negra founder, Eduardo Vilaro. For the most part those dances took on some or all aspects of Turtle Island's and/or D'Rivera's music, sometimes stretching segments a bit too long, but usually providing endearing music visualization. Of particular note were solos taken off of a bass background created by a large ensemble in "A Night in Tunisia."

It is easier to relate to the concert's final section, Vilaro's "Quinceanera," if you have Latin roots, or if maybe your own daughter and/or grandaughter had, or suffered through her own "Quince" - a party give on her fifteenth birthday to announce that she has "become of age." Said party can be filled with both joy and angst. Joy at it being about you, and angst about so many things - about becoming mature, about who will come to your party, and about whether or not one of those who do come will be one you want as your novio (boyfriend, or eventual bridegroom). Vilaro's choreography captures the angst in any Quince, and seldom any beauty or joy. He uses high heel shoes as symbols of coping with maturity, and often sets the men as novios who manipulate willing or too-weak-to-object girls, thus enhancing stereotypes of Latino males that are not always justified. Nevertheless the work is entertaining enough to forgive Vilaro for focussing on suffering and minimizing joy.

Donald K. Atwood

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