Ohio Contemporary Ballet (OC Ballet) offered an Emerging Choreographers Showcase at their studios on two evenings and an afternoon in March. As it happened, we went both nights. Let us describe the experience.

Seated on folding chairs before the performance, we saw that OC Ballet’s large studio space in the former automobile dealership had been fitted with a black backdrop and wings. A number of lighting instruments had been installed. This was more theatrical infrastructure than we’d expected for what was basically a studio showing.

Four of the ten OC Ballet dancers were new to us. What would their dancing be like?

 Of the three choreographers represented, we were only slightly familiar with one, Richard Oaxaca, who we’ve seen dancing (Marital Discord@CWRU – Cleveland Concert Dance)  and choreographing at Case Western Reserve University. We knew that he had done some high-level commercial dance for Disney and other cruise lines so we saw him as someone making a transition from commercial to contemporary concert dance.

His piece, Ebb & Flow (2022) is set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in F Minor – a conventional choice for modern dance choreography — and uses fairly conventional, though inventive, modern dance vocabulary. Conventional choices notwithstanding, Oaxaca’s piece gets off to an explosive start with all ten dancers bursting from the stage left wings in red and black costumes amid an initial flurry of baroque allegro notes. Contributing to this effect, OC Ballet’s sound system was  louder and clearer than we had expected.

The concerto’s middle largo movement begins on a contrasting note, with newcomer Katherine Chang and long time company member Kelly Korfhage reclining center stage.

The third movement, presto, brings the dance home. Energetic but not busy, it provides challenge and substance for the OC Ballet dancers to work with. Some of the lifts are merely inventive but others are show biz spectacular with higher-further-faster the apparent watch words.

We’ve long believed that modern / contemporary dance has moved too far away from the audience appeal of commercial dance and hamstrung itself in the process. Yvonne Rainer, we’re looking at you and your No Manifesto. (“No to spectacle. No to virtuosity. No to transformations and magic and make-believe … no to moving or being moved.”)

After a brief intermission, we watched the world premiere of Victory Lapse choreographed by Matthew Roberts, a piece that caught us unprepared. We had not read the publicity materials that announced that Victory Lapse was about addiction and recovery. We failed to notice the program note, a quote from 1 Corinthians 10:13, which described God helping us through trials to victory. We read but puzzled over the record album sized square sign that one of the dancers held up.

                                              Freedom

                                              Side A

                                              Recovery

                                              Side B

                                              Victory

We suspect that our puzzlement could have been avoided by ordinary diligence before the figurative curtain went up. We apologize to the choreographer and the dancers. We’ll try to be better prepared in the future.

For the third and final piece in the program, With the Changes, choreographer Janice Rosario deployed two winning strategies. First, she managed to use less unison movement in the ensemble sections while still maintaining coherence, a strategy which gave us more to look at. Second, she set her choreography to Vivaldi-The Four Seasons Recomposed by Max Richter in which Vivaldi’s rather over-familiar original sometimes remains recognizable but is transformed by phasing and looping into something fresh and surprising.

Rosario used less unison movement throughout her dance. It’s particularly easy to describe the ensemble’s final, single file entrance. Everyone is doing different steps, perfectly embodying Vivaldi’s sonnet, “nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath spring’s beautiful canopy.” We wonder if Rosario might have told the dancers to keep the rhythm and maintain spacing but make up their own steps.

Dancing to Richter’s version of the spring storm, two men performed energetic, risky movements in an ominous half-light. On Friday night it was Sikhumbuzo Hlahleni. Antonio Morillo was on Saturday night. Newcomer Mathis Joubert danced both nights.

Earlier in the dance, Kelly Korfhage makes a very beautiful adagio entrance to high, sweet violin notes   excerpted from Richter’s 2^nd (?) movement of the Spring Concerto. Would the entrance have been just as beautiful to Vivaldi’s original? Perhaps, but Lighting Designer Adam Ditzel’s half light provided the perfect setting for a magical moment.

Three choreographers, each different in his / her own way. New dancers, all more than promising. And new respect for OC Ballet’s studio as a performance venue.

Next up for OC Ballet, Fresh Inventions, a program of new works created by both new and old company dancers. Fresh Inventions is one of our favorite OC Ballet outings because it gives us a look at the dancers’ creative powers. 7:30pm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 4/25-27, 2024 at Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44102. “Choose What You Pay” offered online (cptonline.org), over the phone (216.631.2727 x501. Please note: The Box Office phones are open 2pm-5pm, Wed, Thu, Fri, & Sat. You can also purchase tickets online without any fees.) and at the CPT box office..

Ohio Contemporary Ballet performed Emerging Choreographers Showcase at their studios at 3558 Lee Road, Shaker Heights, OH 44120 on Friday and Saturday March 22 & 23, 2024. For more information about OC Ballet, go to OCBallet.org.

Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas