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Dance review: Ballet Austin’s “BelleRedux: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast”Jeanne Claire van RyzinUpdated February 18, 2015 | Filed in arts, dance, music, reviews, theater.

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With considerable panache, Ballet Austin premiered “Belle Redux: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast” its latestnew production at the Long Center on Valentine’s weekend.

Supported by a commission from the 3M corporation, “Belle Redux” marks one the most ambitious newproductions Ballet Austin has realized since 2008’s much-lauded “Cult of Color: Call to Color.”

And indeed on opening night the anticipation of “Belle Redux” was palpable, the enthusiastic capacity crowdat the Long Center eagerly applauding at every moment the movement paused.

A certainly not-so-Disney reimagining of the romantic tale, “Belle Redux” reunited Stephen Mills with one ofhis surest regular collaborators, composer Graham Reynolds. And it redoubled Mills’ collaboration with setand costume designer Michael Raiford.

Mills distilled the “Beauty and the Beast” fable down to its barest essence, abstracting the narrative. He gaveBeauty and Beast dopplegängers. Heintroduced a prologue/backstory distilled fromthe original 1740 novel version “La Belle et laBête.” And if the 90-minute two-act balletended with the anticipated romantic resolution,it did so under a haze of psychologicalambiguity, less “happily ever after” than acouple unleashing themselves from twistedconstraints.

This was, after all, a very adult “Beauty andthe Beast,” with turgid undertones, a stark setmore urban ruin than fairy tale forest and ascore echoing with haunting distortion.

Mills movement vocabulary merged theclassical with the new-found. Edgy and abrupt shifts of silhouette altered with moments of formal grace.Small, almost quotidian gestures by one dancer came in between sweeping dramatic movements by agroup.

Reynolds’ captivating score — a multi-layered edgy gem of pre-recorded finesse — contrasted electronicallyethereal sounds with blasting moments of percussive earthiness. A poignant romantic melody lacedthroughout, emerging with particularly heartfeltness in a string quartet midway through.

Nicely complemented by Tony Tucci’s very dimensional lighting, Raiford’s three-walled set mixed roughed-uptexture with mirrored affects (including actual funhouse mirrors), an adroit combination. Likewise thecostumes, which combined dark elegance with ragged luxury; some characters accented with masks orhoods, a sharp red line marking the bare face and torso of the Beast.



Yet for all the enthusiasm that clearly fed suchan ambitious creative collaboration, the zealresulted in a bit of an artistic frenzy with much— at moments too much — happening all atonce.

Moving set elements competed for attentionwith video projections. Choreography oftendidn’t differentiate much between differentcharacters. Overly acrobatic group liftssometimes weighed down the ballet’smomentum. And added characters andscenes left the plot more muddle thanorginatively reimagined.

And yet, the final pas de deux of Belle (dancedby Michelle Thompson who shared the role withAare Krumpe) and Beast (Edward Carr whoshared the role with Paul Michael Bloodgood),brought a refined elegance and emotionalimpact to the ending, made all the more visuallystunning as the duo wrapped themselves in redfabric that covered the floor, drawing the clothup with their feet.

Thompson and Carr were at the most nuancedhere too, their partnering dramatically seamlessand heartfelt.

That Belle and Beast had emerged transformed in the end was unmistakable. The journey behind thattransformation however remained a little less clear.

www.balletaustin.org

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Michelle Thompson and Edward Carr in “Belle Redux”

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