A Happy Ending to a Tale of Snap Judgement

We weren't going to write a review of this weekend's Martha Graham performance, namely since we were seeing the last show. But after leaving the Zellerbach Theater on Saturday, we resolved that we had to send a big wet kiss on the mouth to the dancers from the University of the Arts who performed Panorama. We wrote that student dancers would fill out the troupe for Panorama, which calls in this incarnation for 33 dancers. We were a little off: all of the dancers were UArts students. When we first realized this early in the evening, we felt a slight twinge of doubt. We've seen some students take on large pieces with less than stellar results before, though admittedly none were ever based in Philly. But no sense fussing when we'd find out in twenty minutes.

We had no reason to worry at all. From Artistic Director Janet Eilber's introduction (which elicited strong applause, the only work that got such a reception during the first act, leading us to believe that everyone else was as excited to see this particular piece as we were) to curtain call, it was on. With hardly an exception the dancers were completely available physically and emotionally, and made even the most technically challenging bits (damn, that takes some abs) seem effortless. Being the sensitive type, our test of whether a performance really moves us is how much our eyes well up at curtain call. A tear very nearly escaped Saturday night. The sheer power of Graham's choreography coupled with the dancers' seemingly endless supply of energy and extreme competence blew everyone away.

Whenever the UArts dancers perform (and we'll be keeping a close eye out, believe us), run to go see them. We will never prejudge them again.