Morris and Mozart
Mark Morris Dance Group sightings in Australia have been rare – roughly once a decade. Following appearances in Adelaide (1994) and Sydney (2003), this estimable company makes its Perth Festival debut with performances of Mozart Dances (February 13-15).
Artistic director Mark Morris has never stopped creating a steady stream of musically sophisticated, remarkably diverse dances. Mozart Dances is a full-evening work he made in 2006 for 18 dancers, set to two Mozart piano concertos (No. 11 in F Major, K. 413 and No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595) which frame the Sonata for Two Pianos (K.448). With Morris, it's always all about the music – there are no gimmicks or heavy conceptual impositions. His dances reflect his own deep musical knowledge and eclectic musical taste, and derive their design and structure from his own insights into their scores.
In his own distinctive way, Morris is a true heir to the American modern-dance tradition. His dancers move with weight and clarity, the impetus for their intricate phrases emanating from a powerful, grounded center. At the same time, they are capable of elegant épaulement, remarkable lightness and fluidity. Morris himself (he still occasionally performs) is a dancer of rare and seemingly contradictory gifts, and his wonderfully personable company members reflect his multiple influences. While there are vast differences among his works, one can count on his dancers for a forthright clarity, a refreshing spontaneity, and a deep involvement with the music – no mannerisms or superficial gestures.
Mozart Dances, which had its premiere just before Morris turned 50, is certainly the work of a mature, confident choreographer with a powerful individual imprint. It combines guileless simplicity and a rigorously meticulous structure, and engages with Mozart's scores with grace and unforced elegance. Morris embeds and interweaves recurring motifs that ride along the musical pulse with a fascinating blend of subtlety and rigour. They reappear gently, without insistence, but vividly enough to establish a connective thread throughout the evening. Throughout, Morris’ relaxed, unforced approach, and his ability to incorporate breathing space into the choreography, allow extra clarity and refinement to emerge from Mozart’s music.
In the first of the three dances, the men make a momentary cameo appearance at the start and then cede the stage to the women. Leading the way is the amazingly fluent Lauren Grant – whose phrasing has an improvisational graciousness. The men take over in the middle work, and Morris presents them as figures of both elegance and mischievousness. One senses a commitment to refined breeding vying with an underlying athletic vigour and playfulness that often breaks through. Men and women finally join together in the buoyant third work. Morris deploys his forces with glorious finesse – side-by-side wedges of eight dancers give way to a series of inventive solos for each dancer that emerge gently from the ensemble. The work radiates a celebratory communal vigour.
In addition to his rich choreographic output, Morris has continued to direct operas, is a faculty member at the venerable Tanglewood Music Festival – and was the first choreographer to be named music director for the Ojai Music Festival (in 2013). He continues to be be amazingly busy and prolific. Though the company is based in New York City – where it has the luxury of considerable space in its own Brooklyn building, where it also offers a wide array of classes – Morris often creates works at such a pace that New Yorkers are left waiting to catch up with them while they've already had premieres on tour. His most recent creations include a lucidly lovely version of Handel's Acis and Galatea, and works set to Mendelssohn, Henry Cowell, Hindemith and a contemporary chamber arrangement of Le Sacre du Printemps.