by Jack Anderson
Buglisi/Foreman Dance thinks artistically on a grand scale. As modern dance troupes go, it's a large one, with 17 dancers. And Jacqulyn Buglisi and Donlin Foreman, its directors, are admirably high-minded.
The directors and some of their dancers are former members of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and they share Graham's passion. Yet in no way do they slavishly imitate her. Rather, their program on Wednesday night at the New Victory Theater suggested that these performers and choreographers are honoring Graham by finding their own way.
Mr. Foreman paid tribute to the blues in his new "Mean Ole' World," for which Lisa DeSpain composed a rousing score lustily played by a combo called Catfish Corner.
Churning movements for a cast of 10 reflected churning feelings. Often the musical blues made everyone emotionally blue. A clever sequence in which dancers slapped one another's hands with varying intensity suggested states of playfulness, squabbling and reconciliation. It soon became clear that if the world was mean to them, these people would fight back.
A program note declared that "Sand," Ms. Buglisi's premiere, was inspired by the beauty of the desert. Jacobo Borges's set was made of sandy-colored and rough-looking curtains. And Ms. Buglisi devised forceful steps for three couples: Elizabeth Roxas and Kevin Predmore, Christine Dakin and Stephen Pier, and Miki Orihara and Mr. Foreman.
They often swept across the stage like windstorms to recorded excerpts from Philip Glass's String Quartet No. 5. There were also tender embraces and lifts in which the women towered on the men's shoulders.
Three dances came from the company's repertory. The most compelling of these was Ms. Buglisi's "Against All Odds (Quand Même)," a solo in which Terese Capucilli played Sarah Bernhardt. Wearing an imposing costume designed by A. Christina Giannini and Ms. Buglisi, Ms. Capucilli gestured in an extravagant but never overwrought manner.
The accompaniment included a recorded fragment of a tumultuous speech by Bernhardt in which she miraculously never seemed to take a breath. Ms. Capucilli's torrents of movements complemented Bernhardt's vocal virtuosity. But Ms. Buglisi also used an excerpt from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1. Given Bernhardt's temperament, a bold, flamboyant French composition would have been more appropriate than Rachmaninoff's Russian ponderousness.
Ms. Buglisi's ... "Suspended Women" ... showed 11 women struggling for independence, Ms. Buglisi combined part of a recording of Ravels Piano Concerto in G with a violin solo composed and played by Daniel Roumain...
Mr. Roumain also collaborated with Crispin Campbell, a cellist, in creating some of the music for Mr. Donlin's "Suite: Arms Around Me," a collection of heartfelt choreographic sketches showing communities forming and dissolving.
The company continues through Sunday afternoon at the New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street, Manhattan.
