DANCE REVIEW : Martinez Dancetheatre Mourns With Mahler at Keck

The relationship between dance and symphonic music is one that is as variable as any kind of marriage. Historically, there are choreographic success stories: Isadora Duncan bringing her charisma and deceptively simple technique to Beethoven or George Balanchine’s brilliant balletic form and innovative structure elaborating the sweep and design of Tchaikovsky.

This is doubtless the kind of ethos Francisco Martinez had in mind for his evening-length work, “I Took a Look at My Soul the Other Day,” set to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Lengthy, heartfelt program notes detailed what could be seen clearly in the first of two performances over the weekend at the Keck Theatre at Occidental College: The piece was about mourning and surviving in sorrow.

Sustaining an elegiac mood for 2 1/2 hours proved a daunting task, impeded primarily by a too-literal reading of Mahler’s romantically shifting moods. The company of 11 dancers seemed to struggle to keep up with these changes, often hitting the recurring tableau positions uncertainly, only to dash off in another direction when the taped music picked up speed. There were a few brief solos (the best by General MacArthur Hambrick), but, more often, dancers were evenly dispersed, performing unison or predictable canon movements; or in couples, with one partner sinking into passive weight or both reaching out. In between was a powerful reliance on grave pacing and staring warily into the distance.

An uneasy mix of grounded, concave postures and brightly presentational classical combinations was jarring, as if an emotion about to be born was rudely curtailed by a ballet class. These juxtapositions seemed to arise from choosing the most obvious interpretation of musical statements: A military-like trumpet sounds and dancers jump to vertical marching stances; violins soar suddenly and so do big leaps; an allegro section hits high notes, so dancers take tiny, light steps.

Unfortunately, Martinez hasn’t seemed to notice the strengths and weaknesses of his dancers. It’s not that you need exacting technique to embody grief--the bas-relief panels of contorted bodies (by Angelica Sotiriou) that hang onstage are both awkward and eloquent. But you certainly need clean edges and control to execute slow turns and exacting balances in a unitard. Otherwise, where elegant mourning is hoped for, there is bathos.