Sex, violence and ballet: Spectrum Dance takes a walk on the dark side

Donald Byrd wants to provoke you.

And he's selected not one, but two pieces with which to do it.

Spectrum Dance Theater premieres artistic director Byrd's re-staging of "The Miraculous Mandarin" and "Petruchska" at the Moore Theatre Saturday night.

"The Miraculous Mandarin" and "Petruchska" are based on Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók's works of the same name, with one slight difference: Byrd decided to put his mark on the Stravinsky piece by introducing his own spelling of the original "Petrushka." Byrd said he chose to present the two controversial ballets side-by-side because of their subject matter: "violence and misplaced desire."

He also warns that they are for adults' eyes only.

Murder, prostitution and torture occur in "The Miraculous Mandarin," where thugs use a girl to lure men into a brothel, and the exotic Mandarin, who repulses her, is one of the victims.

Sex and violence are jumbled together again in "Petruchska," starring three "puppets" — Petruchska, a tortured man; a woman; and a brute — all manipulated by a sexy dominatrix. Love, lust, seduction and rejection follow, then things fall apart.

"I'm really interested in these works that come from the first half of the 20th century that haven't been able to maintain a foothold in dance," he said.

Bartók called his piece "a grotesque pantomime." Ballets Russes' artistic director Sergei Diagahlev approached him in 1911 to compose a piece for the company's Budapest tour, which was canceled. But Bartók was so taken with the idea that he composed "The Miraculous Mandarin" anyway. It finally premiered in Cologne, Germany, in 1926, but was banned after one performance. It was presented in Prague a year later, but because of censorship in Europe, it was never staged again during Bartók's lifetime.

"Petrushka" enjoyed a different fate.

In 1911, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes premiered it in Paris. Despite the staggering violence, it was a huge hit, said Byrd. Audiences were attracted to many of the Surrealist aspects that it introduced, he said, but "it didn't stay in the repertory and never made it into the cannon."

Since his arrival from New York in 2002, Byrd has continued to innovate this 24-year-old contemporary dance company, which has grown under his leadership from an ensemble known for its feel-good jazz numbers to one that refuses to stop reinventing itself, whether it's presenting a ballet first choreographed by 19th-century masters like Marius Petipa or one that the artistic director has created himself.

This weekend stands out as one of the few times in Spectrum's history that the dancers will be accompanied by live music: Italy's Trio Diaghilev (the name inspired by the musical choices of the Russian artistic director) will make its U.S. debut. Spectrum's dancers met the musicians in Italy this summer after the company's appearance at the Spoleto Festival.

Byrd wanted to build "an immediacy" between the musicians and the audience, so he conceived the pieces so that the artists, along with their two grand pianos and large percussion section, would literally share the stage.

To showcase the trio, Byrd created a setting where about half of "Petruchska" takes place in a club with a mosh pit, he said. In "The Miraculous Mandarin," the musicians are "on stage but not seen."

Like last year's "Sleeping Beauty Notebook," the two are Byrd's re-envisionings of historical works. "My object was to investigate what might be relevant about these pieces to 21st-century audiences."

Knowing their history, will Seattle give these pieces a chance?

"I hope people will be a little brave and come out," said Byrd. "It's challenging, it's scary. Iraq is scary. The Middle East is scary."

But it's an opportunity to confront these emotions, he said.

"The theater is a great place for a public forum for starting to articulate those underlying issues that exist in the world.

"We need to, as a culture, look at work that is scary if we're going to survive."

Judy Chia Hui Hsu: 206-464-3315 or jhsu@seattletimes.com