DANCE REVIEW : Bulgarian Troupe Opts for Spectacle

Onstage at Ambassador Auditorium on Sunday, two dancers of the Pirin Bulgarian National Folk Ensemble move slowly forward, holding an embroidered handkerchief between them at shoulder height as they venture individual and cooperative tests of balance. This is a prenuptial dance--with nothing less than the stability of the relationship at risk.

While swinging a scarf in his free hand, the man hangs off the handkerchief in a deep back bend and, a little later, the woman executes a series of stately turns for him. Three men encircle them and briefly dance between them while the pace accelerates. Soon, a big drum is pounding away as the man displays traditional Bulgarian prowess in knee drops, the woman in vivacious prancing steps and the male trio in coordinated balances on one foot . . . .

Choreographed by Nikolai Tavetkov, “A Game Before the Engagement” allows you to sample the characteristic evolution from slow to fast and from simple to complex in Bulgarian folk dance--as well as suggesting the way such dances weave individuals into an age-old social fabric. Most of the time, however, Pirin cuts directly to the most virtuosic passages, sacrificing context and even coherence for spectacle.

Throughout the program, we see a phalanx of 16, 20, 32 dancers hurtle towards the footlights in a flurry of immaculately produced folk steps, but with scarcely any hint of the form or function of folk dancing. Sometimes the company choreographers offer brief clips of actual dances. Sometimes they completely synthesize their sources. Either way, we’re very far indeed from village culture--and from the sensibility that informs the sublime choral interludes.

When the Stefanov Women’s Chorus sings, the high-pressure, kaleidoscopic stylization of Pirin suddenly yields to a leisurely, trusting approach. Yes, somebody actually believes we can appreciate Bulgarian folk singing, so the songs and vocal techniques make their effect without the drastic editorial intervention inflicted on the dances. What a relief.

Obviously, the 1990 Grammy Award for Nonesuch Records’ “Le Mystere de Voix Bulgares” set the seal on American infatuation with the distinctively open-throated fervor of Bulgarian women’s singing. Thus Pirin allows us prolonged immersion in the deep, slow melodies with their unusual higher, faster embellishments. Plus the unexpected outbursts of cooing, crying and shrieking. Not to mention the sudden softness and just as sudden harshness that adds up to a uniquely sweet-and-sour experience.

Before long, alas, the dancers return: professional to a fault and, apart from “A Game Before the Engagement,” never revealed to us as simply or intimately as the chorus in its ravishing humming song. Among the large-scale dance suites, the most palatable may be the forthrightly impressionistic ones such as Kiril Apostolov’s “Wedding Mood,” a kind of panoramic minimusical that doesn’t pretend to be folk dance but portrays village life through overlapping theatrical images.

In any case, the clash between subjective and documentary stagings gives Pirin a split personality. In this country, a taste for more authentic folk performance has developed since the company’s last North American tour nine years ago. That taste has helped bring the Stefanov Chorus new fame but it also makes the dancing increasingly suspect. Even in Los Angeles (especially in Los Angeles), you can find far more enlightened alternatives.