They fly through the air with the greatest of ease

Transit Space

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"Diavolo," writes the company's Artistic Director Jacques Heim in his program notes, "is a fusion of many different movement vocabularies such as everyday movement, ballet, contemporary, acrobatics, gymnastics, martial arts, and hip-hop." On stage, that translates into genre-bending theatre pieces that are a mashup of dance, Olympic-class athletics, and circus arts that are sometimes thrilling and always mesmerizing.

The Diavolo difference is readily apparent in a skim through the biographies of the company members. Pretty much everyone has the usual training and professional experience in traditional dance, but many do, indeed, have backgrounds in acrobatics, gymnastics, martial arts, and hip-hop—not to competitive cheerleading and circus arts as well. Diavolo company members are clearly skilled multi-disciplinary athletes as well as artists.

Transit Space

The program Diavolo brought to St. Louis this past weekend consisted of two works: "Transit Space" (2012) and "Trajectorie" (1999). Each ran around 40 minutes and while the two were very different in overall tone, they both touched, to varying degrees, on what Mr. Heim describes as Diavolo's primary themes: "human struggle, fear, danger, survival, chaos, order, deconstruction, destiny, destination, faith, and love." That's a tall order but then, this is an ambitious company.

"Transit Space," writes Mr. Heim, "explores themes of feeling lost, finding a sense of purpose, and coming together." As the piece opens, the company members walk onstage in urban street clothes to the sounds of city traffic. Several are carrying what would be skateboards if they had wheels. The sound changes to hip-hop music with voice-overs speaking of urban loneliness. On the words "I want to move," the dancers carrying the skateboards slap them down and use them as platforms for athletic and break dance moves. Then the dancers move upstage, the lights come up all the way, and we see four convex wood and metal constructs that are basically simplified versions of the ramps used by skateboarders and urban stunt bikers.

The metal ramps are detachable, creating eight separate pieces that (as shown in the video accompanying this review) are rapidly recombined into a number of playing spaces. Dancers leap, slide, tumble, and do just about anything you can think of on them in a dazzling display of athleticism. Throughout it all, actors on the soundtrack give voice to the many moods of urban life. The piece hits an emotional peak when all of the dancers join hands in the center of the stage on the words "as long as I have you, I don't have fear" and the stage goes black. Point made, and very effectively.

Trajectorie

The big set piece for "Trajectorie" is a half moon-shaped, rocking wooden stage with a scrim on the front. As the work opens, a lone female dancer does a lyrical "shadow game" routine with another dancer seen only in silhouette. As more dancers enter the action becomes more animated, and before long the hemispherical stage is rocking and rotating while dancers slide on and off, dash back and forth, and even leap into space, propelled by the stage. Those leaps produced some audible gasps from the audience as the dancers flew through the air and were caught expertly by their teammates.

There was a bit more classical ballet in "Trajectorie" (although not very much) and more moves that were reminiscent of martial arts (tai chi in particular) but otherwise it shared with "Transit Space" an emphasis on virtuoso movement of all kinds. Unlike the newer work, though, "Trajectorie" ends not with a crescendo and climax so much as a slow diminuendo. Towards the end of the piece the other dancers disappear, one by one, behind the rocking centerpiece until, at last, we're back to the solo female dancer of the beginning. Then she, too, slowly disappears behind the construct.

Mr. Heim says that the work "shows the transcendence of the human soul against all odds", but to me there was something of an elegiac feel to those final moments that was more surrender than transcendence. But maybe I'm over-analyzing it. Or, perhaps, there's less difference between transcendence and surrender than I think. Either way, "Trajectorie" is a reminder that art lives, for the most part, in ambiguity.

If what we saw this weekend at the Touhill is any indication, Diavolo is an innovative, hard to classify, and possibly even unique dance company. It is, in short, the kind of thing Dance St. Louis has been bringing us for many years now. May they continue for many more.

The Dance St. Louis season continues with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at the Fox April 25 and 26 and concludes Memorial Day weekend with the 7th Annual Emerson Spring to Dance® Festival at the Touhill Center. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

Chuck's Choices for the weekend of February 28, 2014

As always, the choices are purely my personal opinion. Take with a grain (or a shaker) of salt.

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Dance St. Louis presents the acrobatic dance troupe Diavolo Friday and 8 and Saturday at 2 and 8 PM. "Diavolo—one of the West Coast’s most prominent dance companies and a designated cultural treasure of the City of Los Angeles—makes its way to St. Louis for a thrilling, playful and gravity-defying performance. Composed of modern dancers, athletes, gymnasts, ballet dancers, martial artists, actors and stunt performers, Diavolo pushes the boundaries of dance through its dynamic movement and signature use of colossal set pieces, including skateboard ramps, a 15-foot staircase, an 18-foot aluminum and steel spinning wheel and a giant cube that turns into a pyramid. Created in 1992 in Los Angeles by Artistic Director Jacques Heim, the Parisian innovator who choreographed Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show KÀ, Diavolo cleverly mixes together dance, acrobatics and architectural engineering into a powerful, awesome and thought-provoking production." The performance takes place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the UMSL campus. For more information: dancestlouis.org.

My take: I've never seen the group before, but the promotional videos look pretty exciting—something of a mashup of dance, athletics, and circus. And the Touhill is a comfortable and well-appointed venue.

Photo: Joan Marcus

The Fox Theatre presents the musical Jersey Boys through March 2. The musical is based on the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. "This is the story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty!" The Fox Theatre is at 517 North Grand in Grand Center. For more information, call 314-534-1678.

My take: "There's a contemporary swagger present in the Fox Theatre's current production of 'Jersey Boys'," writes Tina Farmer in her KDHX review, "that slides smoothly into the history of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The combination works well, resulting in a smart, snappy production that thoroughly entertains. Openly addressing the influence of perspective and self-interest, the show also avoids self-reverence, even as it keeps the conflict light." Note that this is not a musical revue but rather a legit book musical about the group's rise to fame and subsequent breakup, so you get some substance with the musical nostalgia.

The Presenters Dolan present Marissa Mulder: The Songs Of Tom Waits Thursday through Saturday, February February 27 - March 1, at 8 PM as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival. " Marissa Mulder kicks off our Cabaret in a New Key shows, featuring performers who are pressing the edges of the form. With MD Jon Weber and her entire New York-based band, Marissa encounters the songs of Tom Waits, in a beautiful, crystalline distillation of their power and beauty. Will Friedwald of The Wall Street Journal says that Mulder projects and amplifies her soul through these songs, virtually defining what cabaret is supposed to be. Each of the souls lucky enough to hear the unmissable Ms. Mulder reaches the same end." The performances take place at the Gaslight Theater, 358 North Boyle. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

My take: Both Ms. Mulder and her show—which premiered last March at New York's Metropolitan Room—come highly recommended. "Far and away the season's best cabaret show," wrote Stephen Holden in the New York Times, "it is everything the genre can be but almost never is." "Mulder's voice has a retro 1930s and '40s quality, but it al ranges from ethereal to unselfconsciously coquettish," wrote Stephen Hanks in Cabaret Scenes. "Her unaffected mezzo soprano sound is like sweet Tupelo honey dripping slowly off a spoon into a hot cup of tea." Note that the Gaslight Theatre does not have a parking lot, so showing up early is advised if you want to have a chance of finding a spot on Boyle near the theatre. You can always stop by the adjoining West End Grill for a drink or dinner before the show, after all. That's what I usually do.

The Performing Arts Department at Washington University presents the classic comedy You Can't Take it With You Friday and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM through March 1. Performances take place in the Edison Theatre in the Mallinckrodt Student Center on the Washington University campus. For more information: pad.artsci.wustl.edu or call 314-935-6543.

My take: "The show breezes along, and right past, the bleak realities of the period with a joyful self-indulgence," writes Tina Farmer in her review for KDHX. "And, as pithy as the title may seem, there is, after all, a genuine truth hiding underneath the straightforward statement...The youthful and enthusiastic cast does a splendid job referencing the style and patter of the period, at least if the movies I've seen are any indication. They move confidently, with faced paced, clipped dialogue and an abundance of sight gags that kept the audience chuckling along." The script is one of Kaufman and Hart's best, an unabashedly sentimental hymn to all non-conformity. Few things are more fun than a good production of it, and this one sounds like a winner.

Held Over:

Photo: Jerry Naunheim, Jr.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Other Desert Cities through March 9. “Things get bumpy when promising young novelist Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs to get her family's approval of her newest work - a tell-all memoir dredging up long-kept family secrets. Daring her conservative parents to oppose her, Brooke draws a line in the sand, and when it is crossed, the result threatens to undo them all. Politics, lies and regrets collide in this biting, sharp and fiercely funny Pulitzer Prize finalist.” Performances take place on the mainstage at the Loretto-Hlton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves, MO. For more information, call 314-968-4925 or visit repstl.org.

My take: This production has gotten very good press so far. In her review for 88.1 KDHX, for example, Tina Farmer says it's "an intense and deeply personal examination of love and family loyalty that twists audience expectations and still manages to deliver a surprisingly satisfying resolution."