September 11, 2002

By Rita Felciano

TWO MAJOR ANNIVERSARIES , a triple bill of ballet's most beloved icon, and a quartet of promising new companies are indicators of just how well Bay Area dance is faring. The honors of fall season opener go to the Oakland Ballet (Sept. 13-14, Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakl.; 510-465-6400). With nine premieres over three programs, artistic director Karen Brown has raised the bar – and then some. This company pays its respect to the past but resolutely pushes into the future. This season the company will be accompanied by live music: Turtle Island String Quartet for a world premiere by Charles Anderson, the Oakland East Bay Symphony for Lew Christensen's haunting Jinx, and Melody of China for the reprise of Michael Lowe's charming Bamboo.

On this side of the bay, San Francisco Performances opens its dance season with a return of the wild man from France, Angelin Preljocaj, and his Ballet Preljocaj (Oct. 3-6, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, S.F.; 415-478-ARTS). In 2001 he challenged himself by using the works of two major European composers, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Stockhousen's Helikopter, in which the strings evoke whirring helicopter blades.

As for the two anniversaries, Alonzo King's Lines Ballet celebrates its 20th (Oct. 10-20, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), and Savage Jazz Company its 10th (Oct. 17-20, Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, S.F.; 415-345-7575). Lines showcases three guest artists: virtuoso dancer Rasta Thomas (in a King premiere), flamenco master La Tania (in the 1991 Cante), and Pharaoh Sanders, accompanying Ocean. Reginald Ray Savage's extraordinary dancers take on Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, as interpreted by the equally extraordinary Marcus Shelby.

Swan Lake is the world's most beloved ballet. This fall brings three different views of the prince, who, at the turn of a leg, betrayed the love of his life. No doubt the most grandiose will be the Petipa-Ivanov version by the Bolshoi Ballet (Nov. 6-10, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph, Berk.; 510-642-9988). This will be a hard ticket to get and is almost guaranteed to be stunningly danced by the newly revitalized 226-year-old company. The myth of the bird-woman has also generated two more-recent, rather radical interpretations. Mats Ek's 1987 Swan Lake for the Cullberg Ballet (Oct. 23-27, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) has been called a "psychosexual cartoon for the post-feminist age" – so bald and barefoot swans and a mother-obsessed prince shouldn't come as a surprise, nor should daring theatricality from a company that traces its roots back to German expressionism. Australian Dance Theatre's Birdbrain (Oct. 11, Stanford Memorial Auditorium, Galvez between Memorial Way and Serra, Palo Alto; 650-725-ARTS) flies high (at times literally) on techno music and speed without a touch of romanticism.

Because so many artists are vying for your time and entertainment dollar, going to see smaller dance companies won't be easy. Among the lesser known but promising companies are Randee Paufve and her 12-member Paufve Dance (Sept. 20-22, Dance Mission Theatre, 3316 24th St., S.F. 415-826-4441). For InExhale, Paufve, skilled, brainy, and at times quirky, premieres Seven – based on the seven deadly sins – and, among other works, reprises BloodTongueSeverTatterRend, the quintet with which she introduced her new company a year ago.

Mary Carbonara Dances, with guest choreographer Heidi Schweiker, introduces Carbonara as choreographer. (Sept. 13-15, Dance Mission Theatre). While Carbonara is best known as a fleet and expressive performer, her choreography – mostly for small units – has popped up periodically in showcase performances. Dwellings is an opportunity to test herself, with the help of eight performers, in an evening of her own work, which includes three world premieres.

Company C (Sept. 20-21, Cowell Theater) is making its professional debut. The brainchild of former New York City ballet dancer (and Contra Costa homeboy) Charles Anderson, this is an ambitious undertaking: a 12-member ballet company performing the work of its artistic director. Anderson, who had a company in New York, will present five pieces, one of them a world premiere.

Janice Garret's Ostinato, as performed by her new powerhouse Janice Garret and Dancers, left most of us breathless at this year's West Wave Dance Festival. Two weekends and at least one premiere (Dec. 5-14, ODC Theater, 3153 17th St., S.F.; 415-863-9834) tell us that the peripatetic Garret finally has come home.

With luck and a modicum of support from us, the dance-goers, any of these four companies just might become the next ODC/San Francisco or Joe Goode Performance Company.