The Clark offers mediocrity, and that's being kind

Miro Magloire’s  "Quadrille" was performed on Sunday afternoon by the New Chamber Ballet at The Clark Art Institute.

One of the jobs of a choreographer is to make his or her dancers look good because no one wants to watch a dancer who can’t do what they are asked to do. It’s awkward for the dancer who struggles. As for the audience, it's unbearable.
 
Sadly, that was the case with the New Chamber Ballet. The New York City-based ensemble presented Miro Magloire’s “Quadrille,” a work that was to honor the paintings of Guillaume Lethiere. The event at The Clark Art Institute on Sunday afternoon was to celebrate the closing of an exhibition that explored the life and works of this little-known artist of late 18th and early 19th century. As seen at The Clark, Letheire’s paintings and drawings were outstanding depictions of Roman power and Greek mythology fueled by exquisite  portraiture.
 
Intoxicated by the exhibition, one expected something that could reflect the beauty and brutality that Lethiere handily displayed. But what one experienced with the New Chamber Ballet was a shaky, timid group of six women who looked like students who were brand new to the stage. But they were professionals who looked uncertain and flat-out fearful of the choreography they were asked to execute which comprised of impossible lifts that they were unable to uphold.
 
Thus, instead of relaxing afternoon witnessing beauty unfold, the audience is grinding their teeth, hoping no one gets dropped on their head. Needless to say, it was tough to watch.
 
Aside from their inability to embrace Magloire’s choreography, the stage was also an issue. It was so small that letting loose was also an unviable option. 
 
Aside from the unwieldy lifting, the dancers mostly knelt and waved their arms. At one point, near the end, they bursted forth in a tiny circle within a small circle. This was the only time that they looked self-assured.
 
It did appear that Magliore was aiming to portray the serenity and dangers hidden in the vast oceans. These waving dancers – dressed in iridescent leotards with what appeared to be fishnet jumpsuit overtop – undulated like sea creatures crashed about by wave that swirled around immovable rocks. But without the bodily instruments, Migliore’s vision drowned.
 
The company was accompanied on stage by cellist Thea Mesirow who played the Tania Leon’s “Four Pieces for Cello” and composer Alyssa Regent’s “Fortis Meam,” which was commissioned by The Clark for this occasion. The music did spark some interest as the composer called for the cellist to slap, tap and scrap her cello. But it seemed a horrible shame that The Clark, the epitome of refined taste and class, invested in something so halting and weak.
 
None of it was nearly enough to keep interest in mediocrity. The audience was left adrift, grateful for its end.