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CALENDAR MONDAY, MAY 19, 2003 E5LOS ANGELES TIMES

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REVIEWSX-TRAORDINARY

NOW PLAYING AT THEATRES EVERYWHERECHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATRES AND SHOWTIMES

“‘X2’ IS 2 GOOD! Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Brisk and involving with a streamlined forward propulsion, it’s the kind of superheromovie we want. One of the unexpected aspects of ‘X2’ is the way its concerns seem to be uncannily relevant today.”

“X-TRAORDINARY!Thelma Adams, US WEEKLY

Director Bryan Singer aces an ambitious combo of character development,narrative muscle and mind-bending action.”

“X-TREME BLAST FROMFIRST FRAME TO LAST.

GerryShamray,THE CLEVELAND SUNFrom the exciting opening to the nonstop finale, these mutants display plenty of dazzle.”

“PUTS POP BACK POP ART!Michael Sragow, THE BALTIMORE SUN

It BLOWS VIEWERS AWAY with a BLAST OF KINETIC ENERGY.”INTOTHE

“2THUMBSUP!”EBERT & ROEPER

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie,ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

“STANDS SO WELL ON ITS OWNYOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE SEEN ITS PREDECESSOR!”

By Jennifer Fisher

Special to The Times

On a list of dance territoriesworth revisiting, the recent ex-periments of the Jazz Tap En-semble’s Lynn Dally and a hand-ful of border-crossing virtuososhave to be included. Her genre-mixing “Solea,” first seen atHighways a few years ago, wasbracing again in “DancingBlues,” Dally’s hourlong entry inthe C.O.L.A. series (showcasingwork supported by City of LosAngeles grants) Saturday nightat the Los Angeles Theatre Cen-ter. It was “we are the world” am-bitious, using lifetimes of studyand individual dynamism to cre-ate meaningful and entertainingdance.

Three of the four movementmavens in “Solea” appeared toadvantage earlier in the pro-gram, as well. To a scratchy Rob-ert Johnson recording of “Comeon in My Kitchen,” Liliana deLeon poured her flamenco la-menting into another variety ofblues, ending with a wonderfullyurgent crossing of the stage aseach hand took turns grabbingat something unseen.

John Pennington, usuallybarefoot for his classically modu-lated Modernism, donned shoesfor “Walkin’ Blues.” With his up-per body leading the rest in akind of graceful lurching andheartfelt toe-dragging, the piecebrought to mind one of Fred As-taire’s elegant “drunk” dances,often used as a lament for lostlove. Except that Pennington

wore a rough shirt and suspend-ers and added stomps and wa-vering “Elvis” knees.

Improvising a solo, “GetAway Jordan, Take Six,” tapperChanning Cook Holmes lookedso cool you could feel the breeze.In suit and fedora, he alternateda close-to-the-body smoothnesswith sudden stabs of footworkand well-oiled swivels thatstopped whenever he wantedthem to. Alongside the othertappers in group dances, Holmeshad the most varied persona, notfalling into Dally’s style: thestraight-up grin and decorativearms that float jazzily at eachside.

Charon Aldredge and Melin-da Sullivan joined Holmes for“Misterioso,” showing off Dally’sskill at tap dance design. Al-dredge produced dense, flutterysounds in her improvised solo,“Crossfade,” while Sullivan, withNamita Kapoor, looked terrificcombining tap and ballet lines in“Bach Suite.” De Leon seemedmost challenged here, as if Bachwere trying to straight-jacket fla-menco, and she couldn’t loosenhim up.

Jerry Kalaf’s recorded scorefor “Solea,” in which bharata na-tyam dancer Mythili Prakashalso sparkled, provided lots ofscope for cross-culture encoun-ters. Like all sharply aware, fullyembodied people, the dancersmade you think new thoughtsand wonder if there wasn’t a wayto revisit this optimistic, highlycharged version of cultural inter-action more often.

DANCE REVIEW

Where dynamism,meaning embrace

By Victoria Looseleaf

Special to The Times

It’s a toss-up as to who worksharder: dancer-choreographer-producer Deborah Brockus orthe dozens of dancers who per-form in her award-winning“Spectrum Dance in L.A.” series.In any case, it’s the dance com-munity that benefits, as evi-denced Saturday night at theIvar Theatre when Spectrum#15 played to a packed house.

And while not all 17 choreog-raphers triumphed, hits happilyoutweighed misses. AllanMcCormick’s jazzy septet,“Thieves in the Temple,” show-cased McCormick’s bravura bal-ancing and athleticism in thework’s premiere. In a similarvein: Olivia Gaugain’s new “El-ements” featured a female quar-tet in tribal mode; Pat Taylor’slatest, “Acknowledgment,” sawfour women vamping to JohnColtrane; and Brockus ProjectDance Company’s “Blue andOrange Is the Reason” surrealis-tically forayed into fabrics andoranges.

Patrick Damon Rago’s new“Four Inches to the Left” provedfresh and funny, with Rago occa-sionally partnering two women.Stellar solos included: Michael

Mizerany’s premiere “Feral,”stealthily danced by Jose Carca-mo, a fount of agility; and HollyMistine, all passion — on pointe— in Patrick Frantz’s flamenco-inspired “Farruca.” Also pointe-driven: Stefan Wenta’s elegantpremiere, “In D Minor,” with sixwomen moving in unison toBach.

Neo-cheerleading gave Man-dy Moore’s “Shy” a spunky gloss,while Paige Porter’s “Jolene”rocked as a dozen womenpreened, jungle-like.

For sheer outrageousness,Jacob “Kujo” Lyons, Jesse “LilCasper” Brown and Dan “TheMan” Nier aced their “The MainEvent,” a hip-hop, faux boxingbout. Another duel: Bob Boross’“Basie’s Bag” with two jauntytappers.

Less successful: TrishaBanerjee’s indulgent bharatanatyam solo, “Dasavatharam”;and John Castagna’s ill-con-ceived “Loss.” In addition: MariaElena Vazquez’s “Sevillanas”and “Soleares” wouldn’t qualifyfor Flamenco 101; Darryl Ret-ter’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t MyBaby,” exhibited bad Vegaslounge act tendencies; and Ran-dé Dorn’s arm-flailing “Satu-rated in Shelter” misfired to gos-pel wailings.

DANCE REVIEW

More hits than missesin wide range of talent

By Randy Lewis

Times Staff Writer

Tim McGraw doesn’t hide hisrespect for the pioneers of coun-try music and rock ’n’ roll. Songsin his 21⁄2-hour show Saturday atthe Arrowhead Pond in Anaheimmade earnest nods to such ti-tans as Hank Williams and ElvisPresley.

But his real passion is re-served for the stars of classic-rock radio.

Even before McGraw arrivedonstage, hits by artists from For-eigner to Foghat pumped overthe house sound system; once hedid get things started, he deliv-ered covers of the Eagles’“Witchy Woman,” the SteveMiller Band’s “The Joker,” theCommodores’ “Easy” and other’70 radio staples.

They sounded as sincere, andas uneventful, as the average barband’s versions, yet it’s clearthat the 36-year-old hunk fromLouisiana yearns to be more

than just a sex symbol or Mr.Faith Hill.

Once in a while he succeeds.“Red Ragtop,” the mildly contro-versial first single from his latestalbum, “Tim McGraw and theDancehall Doctors,” broachesthe subject of abortion, a topicthat clocks as much air time oncountry radio as reasoned analy-sis of presidential politics.

The Jason White song —McGraw doesn’t write his ownmaterial — suggests some realthought about a serious subject,unlike McGraw’s first big hit,“Indian Outlaw,” which on Sat-urday remained every bit as sillyas it sounded in 1994.

“Ragtop” traces the arc of ateenage love affair that lets pas-sion run its course, resulting inan unwanted pregnancy.

It implies rather than spellsout abortion as the solution, butit’s the song’s ending that’s thereal letdown. Years later, afterthe boy and his girlfriend havegone their own ways, he spots a

young girl in a convertible whoreminds him of his old flame, andsuddenly “I was back in that redragtop on the day she stoppedloving me.”

That’s simple heartbreak; amaster would have made theconnection with the offspringthe guy never had and exploredthe multiplicity of feelings thatwould have been raised.

In choosing songs, McGraw(who also played Staples Centeron Friday) too often stops shortof the richly layered likes ofBruce Robison’s “Angry All theTime” or Rodney Crowell’s“Please Remember Me,” excep-tions rather than the rule in arepertoire packed with romanticfantasies for his female fans, whooutnumbered men at the Pondat least 5 to 1.

That’s why, despite the mil-lions of singles and albums he’ssold over the last decade, there’sstill a sizable gulf separating himfrom the most creative of hiscountry and rock heroes.

David Kawashima For The Times

COWBOY CHARM: Tim McGraw mixes serious songs with classic-rock covers, romantic fantasies.

POP MUSIC REVIEW

McGraw has ’70s covered

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