A ‘Chronicle' of Graham's Talent Dance
BY JOEL LOBENTHAL September 14, 2007 Graham didn't dance in "Diversion," and it is markedly different from the works she both created and in which she also starred at the time. It is light-hearted, for one thing, and it has no narrative, not even a fractured one. Here, Graham also used more balletic vocabulary in her works than she had originally; at one point in "Diversion" she even seems to reference Petipa's Rose Adagio. As she did for many of her works, Graham also designed the costumes for "Diversion of Angels," and here she color-coded her dancers. The Woman in Yellow is sunny, the Woman in Red is passionate and provocative, while the Woman in White absorbs all the emotional hues. Episodes are separate or concurrent, so that the schematic doesn't become over-determined. Norman Dello Joio's commissioned score is alternately restless, then pauses for reflection.
On Tuesday, Katherine Crockett and Blakeley White-McGuire were rock steady in their prolonged poses and balances, in which each resonates differently: White (Ms. Crockett) is settled and integrated, while Red (Ms. White-McGuire) smolders in stillness. As Yellow, Atsuko Tonohata understood the way her leaps were meant to have both balletic shape and Graham timing.
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