Venue: Orpheum
Theatre Reviewer: John Jane |
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Conductor:
Tania Miller |
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Maestra Tania Miller and the Orchestra opened the dance-themed program with the appropriately titled overture, Richard Rodgers’ Shall We Dance from the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1951 musical ‘The King and I’ in which Anna teaches the King how to dance this simple but charming polka. Series Host Christopher Gaze arrived on stage, to immediately entertain the audience with a well rehearsed recitation of ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ before introducing the rest of the program. Gaze explained in his introduction that Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Buffoons, an excerpt from The Snow Maiden, is better known today than the opera from which it came. The orchestra’s sprightly interpretation was exactly what was needed to set everyone’s feet in motion. Next, the audience
was treated to a bonus in the form of student dancers from the Goh Ballet
Academy, Fei Fei Ye and Noah Long interpreting the electricity of the
pas de deux from Act Two of Swan Lake, adding sparkle and color
to the orchestra's interpretation of Tchaikovsky's classic work that has
become the very definition of classical ballet.
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Maestra Miller seemed to understand the unique personality of Anton Dvorák’s Slavonic Dance No.5. - considered to be Dvorák’s breakthrough work. Though short, this was an elegantly shaped performance. Next we heard Saturday Night Waltz and Hoe-Down. Aaron Copeland often implemented folk and traditional music in his compositional style. As a result many of his tunes could stand on their own, as in these works from Rodeo. Saturday Night Waltz was reminiscent of a Dimitri Tiomkin score from a western movie soundtrack. Hoe-Down is full of the warmest and most idiomatic verve and may be Copeland’s most inspired work. Linda Lee Thomas is regarded as one of Vancouver’s most eclectic musicians and more often seen as a piano accompanist to the Vancouver Chamber Choir. For Jacob Gade’s Tango Jalousie, Ms Thomas, with her elegant partner Lucio Grave, demonstrated why she is known locally as ‘La Reina del Tango’. The couple displayed a teasing, sure-footed tango that was full of unassuming sexiness. Many in the audience looked old enough to remember fifties American crooner Frankie Laine’s original ‘Jalousie’, although a more recent version was used in the British film “The Full Monty”. Would any program
anchored to a dance theme be complete without a waltz by Johann Straus? The orchestra rounded out the afternoon by giving an encore with the liltingly charming Carousel Waltz by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. © 2003, John Jane |