Emotion in motion

Festival Ballet's Evening of Passion

by Johnette Rodriguez

It is clear that Festival Ballet's title for their upcoming performance, "An Evening of Passion," rings true with choreographer and artistic director Mihailo ("Misha") Djuric. Rehearsing his dancers last weekend for the Rhode Island premiere of two original works, he is a bundle of nervous energy. He tossles his reddish-brown hair with his fingers so often it almost stands on end; his blue-green eyes sparkle with the intensity of his concentration; his fingers tap his knees as he hums to himself.

Djuric is taking the three male dancers of Magnificat, set to Bach's chorale piece of the same name, through a difficult passage. Timing must be especially sharp, so that two of them can lift the third above their heads and lower him in a pose reminiscent of Christ coming off the cross. But even after the moves are executed with precision, Djuric kicks off his clogs and steps in for the lifted dancer, acting out the way in which he envisions the internal pain will express itself in the dancer's body and face.

"Think of those pictures you've seen where He's in the Virgin Mary's lap," Djuric advises. "Don't make it too ballet, keep it slower, hold the feeling."

And as Djuric himself comes out of the lift, his body language speaks a weight-of-the-world weariness that he expects the other dancer to project. Two-and-a-half years after he first saw his dance performed by Ballet New England in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he was then artistic director, Djuric is more convinced than ever that the piece has an important message to convey.

"It's about doubting and believing," he explained. "It's about spiritual meaning and that constant questioning we do, `Am I on the right track?' "

Djuric was inspired to set a dance to Bach's music when it reminded him of Renaissance and Baroque paintings in the Yugoslavian churches of his youth. Though the paintings he thought of were religious images, it was the faces and gestures of the peasants in them that stuck in his mind. He tracked down some of the paintings in books and almost immediately began to imagine movement sequences based on them.

Djuric also wanted to draw on the Balkan folk dances he'd performed in his native country. Thus, Magnificat contains stylized quick-steps, in which the feet twist back and forth in a three-count; heel-stomps with the arms held up Zorba-like; walking circles with one hand on the floor; and even a series of Balkan-like leaps by guest artist Paul Thrussell, a principal dancer with Boston Ballet.

Though there are visions of angels, crucifixion and prayerful supplicants to God in the piece, Magnificat also features sections that are light and cheerful, especially a sequence with three female dancers, whom Djuric, in a run-through of the entire 30-minute work, reminded to act "happy, like a fresh breeze."

Those juxtapositions underscore Djuric's intent for the piece, that it represent the universal push-pull of questions such as, "Is there a God or not? Are we believing we are having a hard time or not? Who is responsible for our actions?"

In the second piece for "An Evening of Passion," Djuric explores a different theme in a different style. Soledad, set to the tango-infused music of Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola, looks at, in Djuric's words, "loneliness and loss -- it reflects on the past and expresses the sadness of the losses in our life."

Alexandra Koltun, a principal ballerina with Boston Ballet who trained with the Kirov Ballet, will join Paul Thrussell in this piece, and she will portray the Woman in Black. Behind and around her, couples effuse in hip-swaying, tango-like movements, performing on and around a cafe chair between them. Koltun melodramatically drags her chair behind her in a physical metaphor for her aloneness.

Again, in rehearsing this piece, Djuric asks for more emotion from his dancers: "You're in love, not conversation."

He leaves his seat at the side of the studio to demonstrate a move, as he says, "Whatever you do, try to make it look natural: completely free, no order, no government, no laws." The irony of what he has said makes Djuric's eyes twinkle and a mischievous smile play round his mouth, as he returns to his chair and clicks on the Piazzola once more.

It's obvious he will put every ounce of passionate enthusiasm he can muster into his dancers, so that they in turn will stir the audience as they present "An Evening of Passion."

Festival Ballet will perform on November 21 and 22 at Rhode Island College. Call 353-1129.