No one told Chung-Lin Tseng that the world is in the midst of a major economic meltdown. For him, this is the perfect time to embark on a fundraising campaign to build his new company, Ballet Frontier. Tseng’s immediate concerns are two-fold: first, gain additional financial support for Ballet Frontier and second, promote next Friday evening’s performance, “An Evening of Ballet” to be presented at the W.E. Scott Theater. The drumbeats of today’s nearly 10% unemployment rate are distant whispers to Chung-Lin who sent out a handful of personal email invitations for this Tuesday evening special “preview” of the May 21st performance.
I arrived for the “preview” at 6:20 this evening. Chung-Lin was shuffling around the hallways, rushing past open boxes, tables, and various costumes, nervously checking his wrist watch, gathering music, and peeking around each corner to see that all the dancers were lined up and ready to go. Perched on long wooden benches across the length of a large airy dance studio where a select group of potential sponsors, patrons, and supportive artists from both Texas Ballet Theater and Dallas Black Dance Theater.
After a quick introduction, ten classically trained ballet dancers grouped in five pairs swept across the space in tandem with an artistic intensity that developed into spectacular overhead lifts. The artists brought an air of charm and elegance reminiscent of the court ballets of King Louis XIV. This animated and joyous piece titled, Mozart K379, was choreographed by Roy Tobias and set the elegant music of W.A. Mozart.
Tseng’s choreographic contributions were equally fabulous. His innovative movement concepts are a seamless kaleidoscope of natural and contrived phrases that perfectly parallel the music of both Tchiaskovsky and Mahler. He created a contemporary ballet aesthetic without the cliché of parallel legs, flexed feet and weighted lifts, which I found very alluring. Somehow, within this richly textured modern vocabulary lies a Jane Austin love story, easy, light, and sensible.
The highlight of this evening’s preview was a pas de duex created by Chung-Lin Tseng and performed by Kaitlyn Potts and Joamanuel Velazquez who colored this dance in an essence only the fresh dew of youth can arouse. The slightest twist and turn were enhanced with an invigorating extra verve – undoubtedly I would like to see this work a few more times.
When the dancing was over, the applause dissipated and the benches cleared everyone, was invited to meet and mingle with the dancers over light snacks. Was there someone among tonight’s guests with the means and desire to help fund Ballet Frontier? Time will tell. In the meantime, this performance is worth seeing for the excitement of its dancing, the display of power and elegance, and for a invigorating and rich reminder of how stunning the simplicity of ballet can be.
