Women wore their finest minks, and students wore their Sunday best. The patrons at the Center for the Arts Friday and Saturday nights were dressed to the nines for two rare appearances by dance legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The CFA presented two sold-out performances of "Solos with Piano or not ... An Evening of Music and Dance." Pianist Pedja Muzijevic accompanied Baryshnikov for the first act of the evening.
The entire program consisted of entirely new choreography, including Eliot Feld's "Yazoo," which premiered two nights before Baryshnikov's Friday performance in Holyoke, Mass.
In Baryshnikov's first piece, Cesc Gelabert's "In a Landscape," Baryshnikov utilized unusual movements with his arms and legs, outstretching his limbs to emphasize John Cage's melancholic music. Repetitive bending of his right arm and Muzijevic's expressive playing, coupled for a tender and communicative performance.
Muzijevic, whose piano was situated stage right, was small in physical presence but filled the stage with expansive sound. Baryshnikov's performance was atypical and avant-garde in that it seems more like an interpretive dance than a traditional one.
Over the past 40 years, Baryshnikov has made his name synonymous with dance. Born in Riga, Latvia in 1948, Baryshnikov earned acclaim in the dance world, and choreographers soon began creating ballets exclusively for the young and inspiring dancer.
After defecting to the U.S. from the then Soviet Union in 1974, Baryshnikov became even more of a star in the American Ballet Theatre's productions of "The Nutcracker," "Don Quixote" and "Cinderella." he has also branched off into writing and acting, currently guest starring in the finale season of HBO's "Sex and the City."
His current tour - including his Buffalo performances - is in support of the long awaited Baryshnikov Arts Center, set to open in New York City this spring. The center will provide a "creative home for a vibrant international community of emerging and accomplished artists from different art forms," according to Baryshnikov's biography.
But audiences probably didn't come out in the bitter January night on account of Baryshnikov's acting history.
The third dance, and perhaps most breathtaking, was Lucinda Childs' "Opus One," in which the 55-year-old bravely donned red shorts. For anyone else, it would have been more than daring, but for Baryshnikov, who is in remarkable shape, his outfit highlighted his every movement and muscle.
Somber and thoughtful in his movement, Baryshnikov's eloquence was highlighted by Muzijevic's beautiful accompaniment. He displayed the graceful leaps and pirouettes that made him famous.
After intermission, Baryshnikov moved in a different direction. Without Muzijevic accompanying him, he danced to recordings of early American jazz, such as "Court Street Blues" and "My Walking Stick." In high contrast to the first act's more classically themed pieces, the second act brought with it wild Elvis-like moves, shimmies and shakes. He even playfully slapped his own rear at one point.
In Eliot Feld's "Mr. XYZ," Baryshnikov used various props such as a walking stick, acting as an old man. Much of the evening reflected the movements and emotions of an aging man, as he seemed to poke fun at his own age.
With songs like Leon Redbone's raspy "I Ain't Got Nobody," he playfully danced with a dressmaker's mannequin, amplifying his character's loneliness. Throughout the last portion of the dances, he remained in a wheeled office chair, coyly balancing the chair between his legs.
Department of Theatre and Dance students Laurie Frantjeskos and Josette Salvatore accompanied him onstage at one point, picking up the flowers he gracefully dropped to the ground.
An enthusiastic crowd quickly gave the dance icon's performance a standing ovation, but perhaps for different reasons.
Amanda Covard, a senior psychology and sociology major and dance instructor, remembered more than Friday night's performance when she stood for him.
"I gave him a standing ovation for a lifetime of incredible dancing," she said, "not necessarily for tonight's performance."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
