nacre is Resplendent in 'Christmas Oratorio'

Nacre Dance Group celebrated the holidays with Charles Weidman's rendering of Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" on Sunday at Universal Preservation Hall. 

“The Nutcracker” ballet dominates the holiday dance season. But there is another dance creation that deserves to be revered each December too – Charles Weidman’s “Christmas Oratorio.”
 
Created in 1961, the work is inspired by Bach’s cantata of the same name in which angels extol and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in both tender and joyous scenes. And in the hands of Nacre Dance Group, an ensemble from Saratoga Springs, this rarely seen gem inspired a holiday mood.
 
The dance likely doesn’t hold a place in the pantheon of great works of holiday art, likely because of its religious nature. Yet Nacre, which is also performing its version of “The Nutcracker” next weekend at The Egg, “Christmas Oratorio” has become a staple. And this year, Nacre’s Artistic Director Beth Fecteau staged the late Weidman’s work at Universal Preservation Hall.
 
The stage was slightly too small for the number of dancers — in red and blue – to maneuver smoothly. Yet it didn't matter much as the dance as, seen on Sunday afternoon, was one that stirred emotion both for its brilliant marriage between music and dance and the depiction of wide-eyed adoration.
 
Fecteau’s clean staging was in three parts, the nativity, the life of Jesus including his death and the final glorious celebration.  
 
The dance began with two sets of angels, one group calling out to herald and another embracing the impending birth. The sense was light and jubilant with the dancers bouncing with small footwork, gently tapping wrists as if releasing a fairy dust, and appearing to fly as they perched themselves in arabesque.
 
What followed was Joseph and a pregnant Mary’s futile search for a room and then the adoration of the shepherds who followed the star. The narrative was crystalline, and touching, even for nonbelievers.
 
The second half fast-forwarded to Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion; and then came one of the dance’s most beautiful moments – a stirring duet between Katie Mebert as the lamenting human figure and Erin Calhoun as the encouraging angel, Echo Air. As Mebert's head and body was bent in distress, Calhoun’s luminescence, pointing the way, offered hope.
 
The finale was generous with the entire ensemble of 16 swept up in the resplendence inherent in the triumphant singing. It carried the audience along to the last tableau – all the angels standing still, raising their arms to splendor.
 
Of course, this dance could scare off those who are not Jesus devotees. But it shouldn’t. “Christmas Oratorio” was a jubilee that stimulated a smile – just like “The Nutcracker.”