Song and Dance

Once a year about this time, the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Radcliffe Dance Group get together to produce one of the few Cambridge musical bargains having a universal appeal. Although the quality of the two groups varies from year to year, their joint free-of-charge concert at Sanders Theatre is an event of note even on the off-years.

Thursday night was the first time Elliot Forbes has appeared with the Choral Society. Under his direction, the group soared through a concert of Bach, Gluck, Palestrina, and Polenc, the latter's "Litanies A La Vierge Noire" providing a peak of sheer emotion in the vocal section of the program.

Then the dancers, in variously colored skirts and leotards, performed three numbers with the chorus. In general, the group was best in such pieces as Delaney's "The River" and the folksong "Lily Munro" where freedom of movement and gesture left little room for awkward or stagy poses.

Left to perform without the chorus, the dancers alternated "show" and serious numbers. Amy Greenfield's "Jungle Drums" dance was easily the most spectacular feat of the evening. requiring amazing subtleties of rhythm and control. And "Le Petit Mal De La Jeunesse," a portrait of teenagers today, danced by Penny Carver, Elizabeth Theiler, and Tom Glick, took the entertainment honors. The trio slid, slunk, crumpled and twitched to the beat of a jazz ensemble and Mark Mirsky's narrative.

Stephen Addis' "Three Duets" (described as "Slim adolesence that a nymph has stripped") might have been stripped to two duets or even one, since the program was long enough already. Consisting of dances to flute and clarinet, the duets were too much of a good thing.

The Choral Society came back for six shorter numbers, including two charming German pieces, Brahms' "Der Brautigam" and Dvorak's "Das Voglein." Soloist Vivian Thomas performed capably in Moussorgsky's "Chanson D'Enfant," and Kodaly's "The Angels and the Shepherds" provided a nice finish to a long evening. Judging from Thursday night, this year is not an off-year for either singing or dancing at Radcliffe.