DANCE REVIEW : Ottawa Ballet Hits, Misses in San Diego Show

Boxing and Judy Garland--not your usual juxtaposition.

But there it was Tuesday night at Copley Symphony Hall in the Ottawa Ballet’s final dance.

Six of the company’s 12 dancers went the full nine rounds for nearly an hour in “Come Rain, Come Shine.” As three couples in a boxing ring portraying three flavors of love, they danced to a collage of classics by Judy Garland, tragic dropout from the school of hard knocks. Perhaps that’s the connection choreographer Francis Patrelle had in mind.

This little mystery at least gave the audience something to ponder, and the Garland songs gave them some Americana to admire, as the lightweight dance drama continued on and on.

The 1986 work is not a loser, but neither is it a knockout. Despite the pugilistic props (which aren’t necessary), the dance is an episodic show-biz showcase in traditional pas de deux fashion--prima dancers giving individual and partnered tour de force technical displays. Artistic director Frank Augustyn paired his dancers well and suitably matched the couples with the aspect of love they portrayed--delight, despair, desire--just as Patrelle had matched these aspects to corresponding emotions in Garland’s recordings.

So why did it seem so-so?

On the surface, the dance has a richly detailed vocabulary of movement, but without Garland’s passion constantly washing over it, the piece has little within to maintain or justify its length. And it takes itself too seriously.

The problem is not that dance cannot seriously relate to sport; the association is natural, particularly given the athleticism in the work of some contemporary choreographers, such as Molissa Finley. Thinking along these lines, choreographer Mark Morris took on philosopher Roland Barthes’ contention that wrestling is not sport at all, but theatrical spectacle, and created his parody “Championship Wrestling after Roland Barthes.” It can be done.

Unfortunately, though, the limited forces of the young Canadian company could not carry off “Come Rain, Come Shine.” This company lacks esprit, not talent, as if the driving force of inspiration were underpowered.

Like most dance companies, this one, which was founded in 1980 as the Theatre Ballet of Canada, must perform to develop, and through the trying on of styles, its overall character is being shaped. Such experimentation takes time and money, and one senses the small company has not yet found its legs in terms of repertoire.

Some of the styles the company has been trying on were shown to more favorable result in the program’s first half. Included were four brief and varied works--”Canto Indio,” a folk duet in ballet tradition; “The Front,” a play on light and shadow, both physically and psychologically, in stripped-down primitivism; Tomm Ruud’s sculptural “Mobile,” in which Frederick Ashton lyricism met the clever acrobatics of Pilobolus; and finally, David Parsons’ humorous “Sleep Study,” a work performed in San Diego by Parsons’ company in 1989.

“Sleep Study” was Ottawa’s most polished effort. Six sleepyheads, limp in their jammies, rolled over, twitched, cradled their heads, and did what we all do in slumberland. In unison, these moves are wickedly funny, as is the music, a fitting carnival lullaby by Flim and the BBs.

The one-night only program was presented by the San Diego Community Concert Assn., a nonprofit membership group that is part of the Community Concert System founded in 1920 to bring in companies without financial risk to either the performer or presenter. It’s worth noting that the association broke tradition by selling tickets to the public, and even sold tickets at the door.