By MARTY CLEAR and JOHN FLEMING
Published March 25, 2004
When a performing arts company combines dance, theater and acrobatics, the tendency these days is to call it a Cirque du Soleil wanna-be. Diavolo Dance Company certainly falls into that category. Even its own press materials compare Diavolo to Cirque (and to Stomp).
But even if Diavolo is a Cirque knockoff, it's one of the best. Jacques Heim, who founded the company in 1992, has been tapped to choreograph yet another Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.
Diavolo isn't a mere Cirque clone, though. It's much more dance-oriented than Cirque, and has garnered some serious acclaim from dance critics, who have cited the company's humor, physical power and striking visual style. The company gets pigeonholed with the myriad neo-circuses largely because it infuses acrobatics into its choreography.
Local audiences can check out Diavolo for themselves when the company returns to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Ferguson Hall at 8 p.m. Friday. Ticket prices range from $19.50 to $35.50, plus service charge. Call 813 229-7827 or go to www.tbpac.org
- MARTY CLEAR, Times Correspondent
German pianist to perform Brahms concerto
German pianist Peter Rosel, above, is the soloist this weekend with the Florida Orchestra, playing the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, with Stefan Sanderling conducting. Rosel has had a close association with the eminent conductor Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, performing with them as a soloist in more than 200 concerts on tours. Sanderling studied conducting under Masur in Leipzig, Germany. The program also includes Hindemith's Symphonia Serena and Haydn's Symphony No. 39. Performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday at Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater; and 8 p.m. Monday at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa. $21-$45. 813 286-2403; www.floridaorchestra.org
