Dance review | PNB audience has a "Ball" at Twyla Tharp premiere

Dance review |

On what looks to be a dark sidewalk, a punked-out man performs a sort of urban danse macabre; as the music zings and plucks, his movements are brisk and twisty and he shivers in the cold light. Behind him, as if in a dream, appears a couple in 18th-century attire, dancing a classical pas de deux seemingly softened and romanticized by memory. The lights fade on the dream couple, so gently it's as if they're going to heaven before our eyes, and the shivering man's focus changes: he will go with them, to that more beautiful place.

This is Twyla Tharp's "Afternoon Ball," a world premiere that was the centerpiece of a remarkable evening of Tharp work at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Set to Vladimir Martynov's "Autumn Ball of the Elves," a minimalist composition for string orchestra both monotonous and startlingly lovely, it's an unexpectedly emotional work that reveals its choreographer's romantic leanings. Charlie Neshyba- Hodges, a former Tharp dancer and guest artist with PNB, attacked the lead role with both fierceness and stillness, bringing detail to every moment; at one point, his hands seem to be having an argument with each other. Kaori Nakamura and Olivier Wevers (whose sliding fall was a thing of beauty) joined him on the sidewalk, fellow street people dancing in their own gritty, makeshift worlds; Ariana Lallone and Stanko Milov brought their elegant line to the role of the dream couple.

"Afternoon Ball" has the kind of gear-shifting quirkiness and oddball beauty we expect from Tharp; "Opus 111," the evening's other world premiere, stood in contrast, all pattern and lyricism. Danced by six couples to a lush, pastoral Brahms score, it melded ballet, modern and folk dance into a kind of flowing joy. Arms swayed gently to and fro; feet casually flexed in a walk; lifts grew from strolls as partners made space for each other, fitting together like two halves of a whole. Though the construction of the dance was intricate, simple moments stood out: the beauty of a pair of matched jumps by Lucien Postlewaite (newly promoted to principal) and Jodie Thomas; the bouncy swagger of Kiyon Gaines and Rachel Foster; the earthy joy of Lallone and Milov as they rolled together on the floor.

The evening concluded with Tharp's 1982 ballroom work "Nine Sinatra Songs," with the company dressed in Oscar de la Renta and whirling under a giant mirror ball. Louise Nadeau and newly promoted soloist Seth Orza shone in a brassy, snappy "That's Life"; Maria Chapman and Anton Pankevitch, in "One for My Baby," wittily conveyed the weight and dizziness of being at the end of a long, long night. "All Tharp," though, was over all too quickly; these dances are the sort you want to hold on to, watching again and again.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com