DANCE REVIEW : Chilean Folk Works: Authentic to Synthetic

Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Chile brought an impressive cultural legacy and a confusing point of view to Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Sunday.

Sponsored by Ambassador Foundation, this company of 32 dancers and musicians appeared in suites evoking the regional diversity of that South American nation. Unfortunately, the incomplete and often inaccurate program notes sometimes left only local Chilean-Americans sure of exactly who and what they’d seen.

Moreover, even non-specialists could tell that the performance incorporated everything from authentic traditional dances to the most synthetic contemporary choreography.

The suite from Rapa-Nui (Easter Island) proved the most problematic, opening with a display of the kind of nude-look leotards and weightless, linear jumps (with pointed toes) that belong to the world of pseudo-primitive ballet. Soon, however, this dubious pretense gave way to genuine Polynesian costumes (including Tahitian-style sarongs) and unison group dances of exciting rhythmic drive, though the execution here remained mostly dutiful.

Some of the mainland repertory also raised questions about the company’s artistic stance. How much of the strangely uneven “La Chamantera” dance drama, for instance, represented a modern choreographer’s fanciful depiction of folk culture rather than actual folk dance?

Accompanied by vibrant drums and brass, the carnival finale reached a high plateau of spectacle with its glittering short skirts for the women, grotesque masks and swirling capes for the men--all presumably from the Chiloe Archipelago at the southern end of Chile. However the finest dancing came early, in the elegant, extended “Huasos” suite, with extremely rapid and intricate unison footwork performed by 16 dancers wearing enormous spurs on their boots.

It would be unfair, however, to remember Ballet Folklorico Nacional de Chile primarily as a dance ensemble. After all, the curtain for many of the suites rose on instrumentalists and vocalists: four female singers and three or four male singer/guitarists, sometimes supplemented by a drummer or accordion player.

These artists and their colleagues on brass provided the highlights of the program, from the sophisticated layering of men’s and women’s vocal lines in the opening song to the contributions by soloists.

Ximena Rodriguez brought great sweetness of tone to an early song-set. Later Jose Luis Hernandez developed an electric rapport with his audience in alternately fervent, comic and tongue-twisting songs that included--what else?--”Viva Chile.”