The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 27

Who goes to the ballet? finesse's Ibllfflcfc sBfiock I Asms mmuM O'Neill Salomon Healy Southey Af I Grasping the nettle: Annabella Sciorra and Wesley Snipes in 'Jungle Fever' Dally Messenger chief editorial adviser, 'Dance Australia' magazine RECENTLY I did some research Into the question of "Who goes to the The subscription lists indicate that there are quite a number of people who don't come from Toorak. A lot of people save up and go once a year because they love It. I'm In the fortunate position myself of being able to go to the opera, ballet and theatre often. It's my Job to go. Of the ballets, my outright favorite is 'La Sylphlde', with 'Coppelia' as my favorite muslc-for-pleasure ballet.

Susan Jaffe is the dancer that holds me spellbound while Rosetta Cook of the Queensland Ballet is also wonderful. My favorite Australian male dancer is David McAllister. Kevin O'Neill florist I GO to the ballet quite often and always take out a subscription. I buy a group of four seats every year so I can take friends. Apart from enjoying the ballet.

It gives me a chance to entertain during the ballet season. I also like to support The Australian Ballet I don't go religiously but I do see most performances say four or five out of six. The vitality of the dance Is what I enjoy. I don't really have a favorite ballet but because of my own tastes I prefer the more flamboyant, spectacular ones such as 'The Merry Widow'. Edward H.

Pask archivist of The Australian Ballet I HAVEN'T missed an opening night in 30 years. I go to the ballet because I want to be entertained, I want to relax, and I want to escape from everything that's happening outside. Apart from opening nights, for the rest of the season I like to watch from the wings. I feel at home there. My favorite ballet is undoubtedly 'Giselle'.

It's the pinnacle of what 19th Century ballet Is all about 'Giselle' is closely followed by 'La Sylphlde'. The two together are wonderful. My all-time favorite dancer was Margot Fonteyn and the greatest of all time was Yuri Soloviev. To me, ballet is a religion. Greg Healy, Melbourne Football Club footballer.

NO, I don't go to the ballet. In fact I've never been. I think I'd remember it if I had. I've only seen it on television. I think it was a performance of 'Swan Lake'.

It's a good art, though. Ballet dancers are finely tuned and very dedicated athletes. I wish I could stretch like them. They are very fit but have a different sort of fitness to footballers. Ours Is an aerobic type of fitness theirs is about elasticity.

And If you asked Rudolf Nureyev to get up after. Dermott Brereton had gone through him, I don't think he could. Or Brendan Crockett South Yarra medical practitioner I HAVE been to the ballet in the past though I'm not a consistent attender. These days, I don't go to more than one a year, if that. It really depends upon the program of performances.

I like to go to something lighter than the heavy classical ballet One gets sick of the Bol-sbol doing 'Swan Lake'. It's all so technically perfect it puts you to sleep. Last time I went to the Kirov, I sat there for about an hour thinking, "someone's got to make a But no one did. My daughter studies ballet and sometimes we go together. Mandy Salomon comedian TX7HEN I was small I used to go to the VY ballet but I stopped when I was about 14 and started going to dance parties of my own.

I studied ballet myself from the age of four to 12. 1 even met Margot Fonteyn backstage and Rudolf Nureyev. Turning around in a miikbar in Adelaide at the age of about 14 I walked Into what I thought was a wall of stone and It turned out to be Rudolf Nu-reyev's body. Going to the ballet hasn't been a priority for years but I was thinking just recently that I must go to see some classical ballet. I think it was probably seeing 'Coppelia' on the ABC that made me think that.

My favorite ballet is 'La Sylphlde' and my favorite dancer was Margot Fonteyn. When I was young I wanted to be Margot Fonteyn but one day when I was in a bank, I decided I could make more money as a bankteller. That then became my ambition. David Loader principal, Methodist Ladles College OH, I would have loved to be a dancer because I love movement My wife and I subscribe to The Australian Ballet program every year, going to about five performances. I enjoy movement and music and the two come together in ballet It Is relaxing and stimulating at the same time.

One of the memorable ballets I've seen was 'Equus'. That was very dramatic and emotive. But I like anything a mixture of classical and modern. When The Australian Ballet trials something like 'Ned Kelly', I applaud that and when they put on a traditional program I am also happy. I used to have trouble with their corps de ballet not dancing in synch but they've got over that.

Sir Robert Southey former chairman of The Australian Ballet I GO to the ballet a great deal, probably 20 or 30 times a year. When I was chairman I was often on duty and it was unusual that I was not at a first night It was before World War II that I first began to go to the ballet An uncle of mine was terribly Interested In it and used to take me along. I've never looked It's very difficult to name a favorite probably my two favorites are 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Giselle'. Classical ballet means more to me than modern dance. Without being too analytical, there is a very ancient instinct to dance.

In the specific case of the ballet it communicates youth and Joy. Ballet is a product of physicallty, music and design. Australians are good at all those things and that's why The Australian Ballet is among the top companies in the world. The Australian Ballet It currently performing at the State Theatre In two triple-bill Mason. Until 29 October.

KEITH CONNOLLY TALKIES SPIKE LEE'S 'Jungle Fever1, now screening In Melbourne, Is the frontrunner of a new wave of films about American blacks made by young black directors over the past year. Some 13 features highlighting a diversity of Afro-American life, culture, problems, attitudes and animosities are products of this remarkable outpouring. How many of them will reach our cinema screens remains to be seen, although some of those that don't may at least make the video shelves. But Mario Van Peebles' scarifying 'New Jack City', a larger-than-life expose of black drug dealers, opens here on Thursday, rated while John Singleton's youth drama 'Boyz the Hood', Joe Vas-quez's 'Hangln' With the Home-boys', a chronicle of life In the Bronx, and BUI Duke's caper yarn, 'A Rage in Harlem', are scheduled for early next year. 'Jungle Fever Is a hard act for them to follow.

In It, Lee grasps the nettle of black-male, white-female relationship (the other way round is much less bothersome) that Stanley Kramer canvassed as long ago as 1967 In 'Guess Who's Coming to but virtually undisturbed since. This time, architect Wesley Snipes has an affair with his Italian-American secretary Annabella Sciorra. One big difference between the two films is that, in 1991, Sciorra's working-class family is, to put it mildly, considerably less sympathetic than were Katharine Houghton's well-to-do liberal folks, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Spike Lee may not be the most subtle, or skilful, film-maker at work In the US today, but he has demonstrated, particularly in 'Do the Right Thing' and, now, 'Jungle Fever', that few surpass his ability to provoke and confront. Nor can he be accused of either glorifying his Afro-American subjects, or sweeping their deficiencies under a sometimes-tatty carpet.

In 'Jungle Fever', Lee also attacks bigotry in several dimensions, contrasting and equating the holier-than-everyone egotism of some black religious fundamentalists and the thick-skinned racism of urban Italo-Americans (John Tur-turro switches from the bigotry of his 'Do the Right Thing' role to one of painful-learner). The film ends with a passionate cri de coeur about youth and drugs, parts of which are echoed and resoundingly enlarged upon In 'New Jack City. Snipes stars in both. But whereas he Is seen in 'Jungle Fever' searching a nightmarish crack palace for his addicted brother, In 'New Jack City' he plays the murderous head of a gang that runs such places. The two roles could hardly be more diverse.

Snipes' Nino Brown in the latter film is a monster who recognises the mass potential of crack and builds an empire upon it, destroying everything that stands in his way. Director Peebles (like Lee, he also plays a lead role in his film) pushes harder for sensation than his contemporary. Parts of 'New Jack City' verge on parody of gangster films, in the vein of Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in America'. Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the new black directors are very young. The fact that there are no prominent females among them says something about the patchy nature of this breakthrough, as does the absence of highest-level studio executives with power to 'greenlight' projects.

JOHN Singleton, writer-director of the oddly-named 'Boyz the Hood', a stark drama that has been praised for Its uncompromising observation of the black community, is 23, while Matty Rich, director, writer and producer of the acclaimed 'Straight Out of Brooklyn', a no-frllls look at life in a Brooklyn housing estate, is a ripe old 19. utner upcoming talents Include Robert Townsend, who attracted attention for his satirical blast at black role stereotyping in the 1987 'Hollywood Shuffle'. He directed, co-wrote and stars In 'The Five Heartbeats', about a black pop group. Joe Vasquez wrote and directed 'Hangln' With the Homeboys', a one-day-in-the-life chronicle of a no-hoper quartet of blacks and Latins in the Bronx. A British-US co-production, 'A Rage in Harlem', directed by actor and TV director Bill Duke, features Forest Whitaker and Gregory Hlnes in an adaptation of a caper yarn by Chester Hlmes, author of celebrated 1970s black movies 'Cotton Comes to Harlem' and 'Come Back, Charleston Blue'.

Already-established Michael Schultz ('Car Wash', 'Caron Copy', et al) has the recently-released 'Llvin' Large', about a black media star. Topper Carew's 'Talkln' Dirty After Dark' is set in a black comedy-club. Charles Lane's cop spoof, 'True Identity', is the vehicle for British comic Lenny Henry's Hollywood debut. Director Wendell B. Harris stars in his 'Chameleon Street', playing a facile character who goes crazy trying to meet the demands of white-dominant society.

New York commentator Armond White has described 'Chameleon Street' as "the most morally daring, stylistically insolent film by any US film-maker in recent The fact that so many black Americans are now able to make films about their own people Is, of course, a great step forward, although, perhaps inevitably, there are riders to this welcome progress. One can't help wondering, for instance, how many of the films are tailored to fit mass-audience preconceptions and genre requirements. But American cinema certainly has come a long way from the days when the only blacks employed behind the camera were laborers (and there were precious few of those) and on-screen depictions were either vilely racist or disgustingly patronising. The great D.W. Griffith had a lot to answer for on both counts.

Seminal to cinema history though it is, his 1915 epic 'The Birth of a Nation' honored the Ku Klux Klan and displayed the most outrageous anti-Negro bias, while his 1922 mystery-comedy 'One Exciting Night' initiated that subsequently omnipresent movie figure, the terrified black manservant. With a few honorable exceptions, such as William Keighley's 1936 folk fable 'Green Pastures' and Clarence Brown's 1949 version of the William Faulkner novel 'Intruder in the Dust', blacks continued to be at best Idealised or patronised, and regarded most often as figures of fun or utility. Significantly, not until the civil rights movement began to moke inroads into community attitudes in the 1960s were black Americans treated as rounded personalities. This also led to the appearance of the occasional black director, such as Melvin Van Peebles (father of Mario) and his ironic movies reflecting the contemporary black situation ('Watermelon Man', 'Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song') and "Blaxploitation" movies like Gordon Parks' 'Shaft' series. Hollywood isn't noted for balance.

In recent times, we've seen an over-compensatory tokenism, probably just as offensive, that exaggerates the percentage of black Judges, civic officials, police chiefs and academics in US life. LATTER-day race-consciousness undoubtedly played a part In the current surge of black film-makers. The fact that Afro-Americans, who constitute barely 1 2 per cent of the US population, are among Its keenest film-goers may have been a factor, too, as well as the across-the-board popularity of performers like Eddie Murphy. (Murphy Is said to be a mite cynical about all this. He taunts whites with quips like: 'What If It's just burnt cork and you've been tolerant for There Is a difference, however, between films enthusiastically taken up by black fllmgoers and not all are, Including several recent productions of a more serious stamp and "crossover" movies (those that also find a white audience).

Excellent US box-office figures indicate that the Lee films and 'New Jack City' and at least some of the new crop may be expected to follow suit, as did Reginald Hudlin's 'House Party', a black variant on the 'Beach Party' movie, which grossed $26 million from a $2.5 million budget. It will be Interesting to see how closely, or otherwise, Australian audiences follow this trend. Will the next Miles Davis please stand up i 'I One Sunday lunch that goes too far if After the death of the great jazz musician last week, is there anyone who can fill his shoes? Leonard Feather looks at the candidates. MORE than any other musician of his generation, Miles Davis epitomised change. He ushered in one revolution after another: from hard bop to the magisterial collaborations with Gil Evans' orchestra, from chordal to modal music, and on to electronic jazz fusion.

Davis who died last weekend in California, of complications from pneumonia, liver disease and stroke continued to surprise until the end. Nobody will ever play like Miles again, which raises a central question: Who can assume his leadership role in challenging the boundaries of jazz and in inspiring change? It's a tough assignment. For one thing, predicting the future in any art form is difficult, but it is particularly true In the case of jazz, because almost every new movement has sprung up without warning. But there is a second issue. Davis grew up in a very different time, when fame was based on aesthetic determination rather than potential profit.

Today a musician of modest ability can with the power of a record company, a press agent and a manager behind him go from unknown to superstar almost overnight The next artist if any, in terms of a Miles Davis-like impact may play almost any instrument may be of any race, may be male or female and may possibly be the product of Japan To-shiko Aklyoshi remains a significant force Internationally or any other country, since this is now beyond question a world music. A few artists in the United States show signs of having significant potential though none is off to the dramatic start that Davis made. Wynton Marsalls The obvious choice, but not necessarily the most promising. After a Lttl Ik'i Xmmm-ii m. Epitomising change: Miles Davis ushered in one musical revolution after another; tions, at the expense of answers.

The play, written by someone who has had considerable acting experience himself, has a vitality which had the MTC opening night at Russell Street right there with It, until Wally and Neil went too far over the wall. It has an energy In the cheeky, crazy tradition reminiscent of plays by Barry Oakley and Barry Dlckins and the Pram Factory way of taking life apart. Directed by another actor, the very vigorous Frank Gallacher, It is played by the cast with a fine flair for comedy, even allowing for the lessenlng-off of the other characters and the over-exposure of Wally. The set, designed by Richard Roberts, and lit by Jamieson Lewis, by imaginative use of the small stage space, provides an Ideal battleground for the gathering of three generations at a ritual that ends In wreckage rather than reassurance. There should be less war In the form of words served at lunch, and more warmth, especially on Sunday, the day of rest pain in the neck despite his protests that his motive Is pure, to arouse In Nell some sense of moral responsibility.

It is this indulgence by Wally which is both the blessing and the curse of the piece. Jn the first half, the play, with the freshness of being a contemporary Australian reflection, dances along at a pace, providing some very funny lines, and thoughtful observations. But after Interval, the descent of the lunch into group therapy goes over the edge, with Wally being too dominating at the expense of the other characters. As well, the work takes a rocky turn from naturalistic farce into surreal fantasy, taking an unworthy slap at Christianity along the way, as well as presenting us with some improbable surprises. It would have been better If the writer bad sought resolution and redemption for his characters In a more challenging way than going for a complete breakdown of real-Ism.

It Is as though the author has given too much attention to ques 'Sunday Lunch', by Bill Gamer, MTC at Russell Street, until 2 November. ONCE upon a time, having lunch together on Sunday was the highlight of the week. It was the time when the household was united, and relaxed, when the affairs of the world could wait for a while, when the family came first Then came the '60s, which brought with them much new freedom, but at a price. They enabled us to be more ourselves, but they have also required that we take responsibility for who we are, and what we do, especially to each other. In Bill Garner's new play, both Innocently and Ironically titled 'Sunday Lunch', the central theme It bow people decide which psychic baggage to bring along with them after the youthful release from regimentation which the '60s gave.

The piece, which crackles with sardonic one-liners as social commentary, shows how the Journey of self-discovery can turn Into a minefield It we try to hold too much to the past Particularly, certain males are Inclined to want to remain like Peter Pan, even though their lives have moved forward historically. The result at seen In 'Sunday Lunch', can be both comic and painful. This It especially true of the main person, Wally Major, played for outrage, despair, defiance, deviousness and all arms and legs by Bruce Spence. Wally Is prisoner of his generation. He hat found freedom, but does not know what to do with It So he drinks, dresses like down-end-out poet of hit time, delivers long discourses on the meaning of life, and rages against the fading of the light of hit youth.

In bit remarks on the background to the work. Garner, who came through the radicalism of Melbourne la the '60s says: "I think xmum THEATRE one of the questions the play raises Is whether or not the moral positions you took 20 years ago, which seemed to be absolutely right at the time, remain appropriate. I mean, what things should you hang on to and what things should you discard?" The play takes place during a mad-time lunch at the renovated Inner suburban home of Sandra (Janet Andrewartha) and Neil (Gary Day). The only other man In It Nell, It not too stable, either. The previous night he had been out on the town, which has led to Sandra deciding once and for all to leave him, after lunch.

Neil rides the razor's edge between Sandra's disappointment with their life, and being babied still by hit mother, Queenle (Gerda Nicolson), a kind of Granny Davis with a voice like a laser, and brain to match. To her, Neil can do no wrong, yet at the tame time in ber eyes be Is doomed. Queenle Is there at lunch, too, as It Wally, who bat gate-crashed It and, later, two members of the latest generation, Wally't daughter, Bess (Klmberley Davenport), and a friend, Christina (Tammy McCarthy), who It the voice of Christian youth. The lunch centres around Wally't convulsions as he proceeds to drink copious amounts of Mescal and contemplates suicide, laud Malcolm Lowry, and alternate between exhilaration and despair, proclaiming the virtue of good old guilt end generally being a wilful several significant mentors who have helped In her wide-ranging education. Her carreer has been highlighted by several admirably diversified albums.

Among them: Twyllght', for which she wrote words as well as music; 'In the Year of the Dragon', with bassist Char-He Haden and drummer Paul Motian, and recently a widely praised sextet session, The Nurture r1, with sldemen from the Miles Davis and Branford Marsalls groups. John Clayton This Los Angeles musician has long shown the earmarks of greatness. A brilliant composer-arranger and gifted bassist he has credits that Include several years each with the Count Basle and Amsterdam Philharmonic orchestras. He later formed a partnership with his younger brother Jeff on saxophones and Jeff Hamilton on drums. In recent years the three co-leaders have been partners In a big band.

Despite the problems Inherent in keeping a large orchestra together, Clayton, now 38, has maintained a steady personnel lineup that enables him to do justice to hit arrangements. Jane Ira Bloom Bloom hat been a recording artist since 1978, but at 36 she hat not attained recognition commensurate with her ability. Her Instrument Is the soprano saxophone, which has produced relatively few significant figures: Sidney Be-chet John Coltrane, Steve Lacy. Her bright sound, adept use of execution and finesse of phrasing nave established her as one of the soprano originals. a technique and Intelligence that could establish him as a major role model.

Branford Marsalls Now 31, the oldest Marsalls brother has displayed expertise on tenor and soprano saxophones and as a composer. he too seems uncertain about dlrec- tlon. After leaving Wynton's group to form his own quartet in the mid-'80s, he surprised the public (and horrified Wynton) by joining Sting's band for two -tours. He has also appeared as a come- dlan In several movies, most notably 'Throw Mama From the Train' and 'School Delfeayo Marsalls After studying record production at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Delfeayo found himself In fast company, working on a jazz cruise In a band headed by the veteran cornetlst Nat Adder-ley. Playing with world-class musicians, be earned an ovation at every show.

A 17 he produced an album of piano solos by his father, Ellis. After went on to produce albums by Harry Connlck brother Branford, British, saxophonist Courtney Pine, Polish pianist Adam Makowlcz and others. The skill he has shown In dealing with these diverse artists may be reflected in his playing, which Is already marked by technical excellence, an Inventive mind and frequent touches of humor. Oerl Allen The 34-year-old pianist from Mlchl-gan hat developed steadily while going through 1 series of phases, from soul tnd pop to Miles and Monk. She has had decade in tne spotlight, Marsalls who will be 30 this month has shown no slniue sense of di rection.

Believed at first to be a be-bop1. 31LJ revivalist he later I took to playing trib- utes to Louis Arm-1 strong. New Orleans street parade music and blues variations with avant-garde touches. He seems to be In search of an image. i Where Miles let his music speak for Itself and disliked interviews, Marsalls, for all his brilliance, speaks with an arrogant tense of authority that III befits hit musical Indedslveness.

Still, he has Liquid lunch: Bess (Kimbeney Davenport) consoles Waly (Bruce.