The Scandalous Ballet Of 1912 -- Chamber Dance Re-Creates Nijinsky's `Faune'

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The Chamber Dance Company, performing Vaslav Nijinsky's "L'Apres-midi d'un Faune," Alwin Nikolais' "Imago Suite," Doris Humphrey's "Water Study," Ted Shawn's "Mevlevi Dervish" and Shela Xoregos' "La Loie"; 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Meany Theater, University of Washington, Seattle; $7-$10, 206-543-4880. -------------------------------

The feral eroticism still comes through. Even under the bleaching light of a rehearsal hall, the sensuality and beauty of Vaslav Nijinsky's "L'Apres-midi d'un Faune," as performed by the Chamber Dance Company of the University of Washington, are intense.

When "Faune" first opened, it caused riots in 1912 Paris. Newspapers called the dance bestial and shameless. Police were called to stop further performances. In the ballet, which is not more than 12 minutes long, a faun startles a group of nymphs, which causes them to drop a scarf. The faun picks up the scarf, cradles it and spreads it out beneath him. The dance appears innocent compared with the many variations of simulated sex in modern plays, opera and ballet. The final thrust of the faun's hips as he lowers himself onto the scarf, an act that was scandalous to the 1912 audience, probably won't raise an eyebrow in 1998.

What does startle and excite in Chamber Dance's meticulous re-creation of this piece is the originality, the pioneering inventiveness of the movement. It's clear with "Faune" why Nijinsky, the great dancer whose short career as a choreographer ended with mental breakdown and 30 years in a sanitarium, is recognized as one of the first modern choreographers. Classical ballet steps are jettisoned in the piece. The barefoot dancers move in angular shapes along planes, mimicking the paintings on a Greek vase, or the bas-relief carvings of a frieze. The dancers' hips and shoulders are swiveled to flatten the body. Movement is interrupted by sudden frozen stillnesses that suggest intense feeling.

Hannah Wiley, director of Chamber Dance and head of the UW dance program, mounts an evening of historic dances each year. The seven dancers in the company, currently in the master of fine arts program, are mature professionals who have worked with many major modern-dance companies. Along with guest performers, this skilled group re-creates historic works, and dances them with precision and feeling. "We spend seven months rehearsing," Wiley says.

In the past, because Nijinsky's idiosyncratic notations were thought to be indecipherable, performances of "Faune" were approximated from photos and tradition handed down by dancers. In 1987, however, scholars Ann Hutchinson Guest and Claudia Jeschke cracked the code. Chamber Dance is one of only five companies in the world performing the original choreography.

Lois Rathvon, former chair of dance at Cornish and an expert on dance notation, helped to reconstruct both "Faune" and "Water Study," by Doris Humphrey, also on tonight's program. "These are good, solid pieces," Rathvon said. "They're like great paintings, timeless. Except in dance we don't have the canvas to look at. The notation helps us to see it."

Tonight's program has several historic interconnections: Rebecca Malcolm dances a tribute to Loie Fuller, one of the great forerunners of modern-dance performers, who dazzled Europe in the 1890s by using masses of textile and new lighting effects. Fuller was a great inspiration to Isadora Duncan, whose return to classical Greek imagery is thought, in turn, to have influenced Nijinsky. Alwin Nikolais' 1963 "Imago Suite," which will be performed in full, follows Fuller's lead in creating extreme lighting and costumes that distort and expand the dancer's shapes.

Also on the program is Ted Shawn's"Mevlevi Dervish." This dance requires nonstop spinning, and dancer Leslie Partridge says she still staggers when she walks away from it. Dancer Kara O'Toole, who had first been thought of for the role laughed and shook her head ruefully. "It makes me dizzy just to watch it," she said.