The Jazz Dance Workshop

What more could one ask for: well-built girls in revealing costumes, talented dancers of both ballet and modern, imaginatively choreographed dances, and good music. The Jazz Dance Workshop has been one of the best things around Harvard theatre for a long time. And they keep getting better.

The most silent improvement in this spring's show, produced by Radcliffe Grant-in-Aid, is the substitution of the Jazz Dance Quartet for recorded music. The quartet occasionally slides into a commercial vein, but most of the time it plays good jazz and adds a lot to the show (especially in contrast to the corny folk music that accompanied the first set of dances). Pianist Peter Larson has a good feel for the consonances of large chords and his playing is always solid, though sometimes a little too standard. Steve Brown plays flexibly on sax and flute, and some of his choruses, especially the uninterrupted fast passages, are quite imaginative. Bruce Vermeulen plays solid jazz bass, and Hayden Duggan on drums provides the most driving, emotional playing of the group.

The opening folk-music dances were saved from the uninspired musical background and the below-average chorus work by the brilliance of Eric Lessinger's ballet dancing. Together with Ilsa Koretsky, he exhibited impressive technical ability, and his portrayal of God in "The Creation" awed the entire audience.

The Jazz Quartet began playing in Act II, and then things really began to swing. Ron Porter and Pat Wynn opened with some very funny comedy dances that provided a striking contrast for their deadly serious "Manha Carnival." Backed by exciting drum work, the couple danced artfully and emotionally as they portrayed the destruction of man by woman. The Jazz Dance Workshop has a remarkable ability to treat untouchable subjects in a tasteful manner.

By far the best part of the production is Act III, Bluesette. Sondra Forsyth is wonderfully touching in the title role, as a girl who loses her nice guy lover Bernard, gets seduced by Benito the tough guy, but returns to Bernard when Benito is shot by Babe, his old girl friend. The story line isn't so hot, but the dancing is terrific. Even the chorus--which is usually the weak spot in JDW shows--looked good, especially in dramatic scenes like the entrapment of Bluesette. Ron Porter was his usual tough self, as Benito. Eric Lessinger, as Bernard, was a little to effeminate in his white ballet slippers, but perhaps that's the way the nice boy was supposed to look. And Shannon Scarry was excruciatingly seductive as Babe.

It is a pity that such a great show had to end with such a whimper as the finale of popular dances that for some reason was tacked at the end. Aside from that, however, this is a really fine show. It is a pleasant surprise to find so much dancing talent among Harvard undergraduates, so many good-looking Cliffies in Jazz Dance "costumes," so much ability, spirit, and emotion in a Harvard show.