MUSIC AND DANCE REVIEWS : Avaz Dance Theatre Reaches Too Far

As the 18th-anniversary concert by Avaz International Dance Theatre trudged ever closer to the three-hour mark, Saturday at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, questions about artistic direction loomed ever larger.

A potpourri titled “Dances and Music of the Iranian World,” the program scattered artifacts of a rich, varied culture to no evident purpose. Why strew nine classical/court dances (mostly solos) through an evening when the company isn’t strong enough to make its historical and geographical distinctions clear to someone raised outside this tradition?

Artistic direction involves artful programming as much as staging dances--and that’s where Avaz faltered. Founder/director Anthony Shay offered fine new pieces drawn from classical Persian sources (“Renge-e Quchani,” “Rags-e Shadi” and “Tak-Navazi), regional folklore (a rice-harvest dance from Qassemabad) and modern urban life (“Shateri.”)

Jamal, his collaborator on the latter two pieces, also contributed the choreography, music and costume design for one of the most memorable of the new court solos, “Usul-e Daireh”: a fusion of elegant, feminine movement filigree with bold, masculine drum-rhythm. But the program as a whole remained shapeless--eventually wearisome, too.

Besides Avaz, the performance featured master drummer Siamak Pouian, a percussion ensemble trained by him and a younger instrumental group trained by Loghman Adhami. Moreover, Shay gave himself showcases galore: song-sets, flute solos and a final dance. The result clearly pleased members of the local Iranian-American community--but would they have disliked something shorter, less repetitive, better organized?