Alive: Leaps and bounds

Leaps and bounds

Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak modern dance company bring cutting-edge choreography to Ruth Eckerd Hall.

By JOHN FLEMING

Ten years ago, when Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris formed the White Oak Dance Project, they envisioned it as sort of a guerrilla ensemble, a modern dance company that would gather together a small group of all-star dancers and new choreography, perform the works on a quick tour, then disband until the next time inspiration struck.

"I never knew it would run this long," Baryshnikov said last week, his Russian accent still thick 26 years after his defection. "I thought, "Let's try it and see how it works for a few months,' but here we are, 10 years after. It has been an amazing ride."

White Oak has performances Tuesday and Wednesday at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, with a program of recent works by cutting-edge choreographers. One of them is After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, a challenging new piece by Yvonne Rainer that Baryshnikov described as "a work in progress," since its official premiere won't be until next month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

It's the first dance work in 25 years by Rainer, a member of the avant-garde Judson Dance Theater, which redefined modern dance in the early 1960s. She left dance to pursue a filmmaking career. Set to music of Beethoven, Grieg and Ike and Tina Turner, the 45-minute work will be performed by Baryshnikov and the five other dancers in White Oak for this program.

"It's a collage of Yvonne's images," he said. "There's some spoken poetry. It's a sort of sociopolitical choreographic collage revisiting the '60s."

Also planned for the program are See Through Knot by John Jasperse; The Argument, a dance by Morris that has Baryshnikov swapping partners to music of Schumann; a duet for Baryshnikov and Raquel Aedo, Soft Center by Lucy Guerin; and Amy O'Brien's Vessel, featuring Aedo, Emily Coates and Emmanuele Phuon.

It's a typically adventurous program by White Oak, which has commissioned and premiered about 40 pieces, many by young, little-known choreographers. The company has also revived classic works by modern dance giants such as Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Jose Limon.

Baryshnikov's star power draws an audience beyond the usual fans of modern dance. They know him as a celebrity staple of the gossip columns and a movie star (The Turning Point, White Nights), a performer in TV specials with Liza Minnelli and Twyla Tharp, a pitchman for everything from dance wear to perfume.

He spoke with the Times a few days after Elian Gonzalez had been reunited with his father. In 1974, when Baryshnikov, then the greatest ballet star in the world, defected from the Soviet Union in Canada, he set off a cold war conflict that generated the same kind of massive media coverage. But he saw no parallel between his experience and that of the Cuban boy.

"I'm just happy that he's with his father," he said. "Being a father, I know what that was like."

Baryshnikov, who has never gone back to Russia, and dancer Lisa Rinehart have two daughters and a son. He also has a daughter from an earlier relationship with actor Jessica Lange.

With White Oak, Baryshnikov takes an idealistic approach to programming, putting the emphasis on creating new work instead of repeating popular dances over and over.

"We never keep pieces in the repertoire -- that's why we call it the project," he said. "It's always meant for me that we go from project to project. We are not like an institution that has a season at City Center in New York or somewhere else. We are just a group of people who finish one project and say, "Okay, what's next?' "

White Oak is also one of the few touring dance troupes that retains a commitment to live music, though in a limited way. A cellist and a pianist will perform for some of the works.

"Live music is a must," said Baryshnikov. "Of course, there are a lot of people who don't care. But there's nothing like a jam session between the musicians and dancers. Whether it's one instrument or a quartet or a small chamber ensemble or a full orchestra, that's what dance is about."

White Oak can afford its purist style because of the largesse of the company's patron, the late Howard Gilman, a New York philanthropist and heir to the Gilman Paper Co., based in St. Marys, Ga. Gilman's family owned a 7,500-acre North Florida estate called White Oak Plantation.

Gilman befriended Baryshnikov soon after his defection, and he suggested his plantation as a home for the modern dance company. At White Oak, he built an elaborate dance studio for the troupe to rehearse in splendid isolation away from the hustle and bustle of New York, where Baryshnikov lives.

Gilman died in 1998, but his foundation's backing for Baryshnikov is as strong as ever. "In our status, nothing changed," Baryshnikov said. "We actually worked on Yvonne Rainer's piece at White Oak for five weeks this year. Howard's foundation will keep supporting us."

Baryshnikov founded White Oak after his last hurrah in the ballet world, a nine-year reign as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre. Does he miss the classical ballet world of tights and toe shoes?

"Not at all," said Baryshnikov, who couldn't recall the last ballet he was in.

"I've been there. I have so much fun doing new work. Ballet is a very expensive form of dance. It's much more static. There is less new work. Because there are bigger stakes, you take less chances. You're much more cautious. And there aren't that many good classical choreographers -- very, very few, in fact -- and that's the sad part. Modern dance is so much more vibrant and alive than the world of classical ballet."

There's another consideration, too. Ballet is a young dancer's medium, and even Baryshnikov has been slowed down by injuries. He turned 52 in January.

"That's one of the democratic things about modern dance," he said. "Classical dance, if you're not a character actor, is for the young. In modern dance, you have the privilege to dance your age and not to pretend that you're a younger person. You dance what you are."

Two years ago, Baryshnikov marked his 50th birthday by performing a program of solos, but he gave a rather gloomy interview on the occasion to the New York Times.

"I never celebrate my birthdays," he said. "I really don't care. Anyway, this is the last part of my life. Life is over. That's it. . . . I think if I live for the next 10 years, I'll be happy. And it's nice that I'm still interested in what I do. I'm grateful to whatever there is for allowing me to do things. But life is over, for sure."

Last week, he sounded more reconciled to being a middle-aged dancer, pointing out that the great choreographer Merce Cunningham still performs from time to time, and he is over 80.

"The main thing is I never stopped working," Baryshnikov said. "Experience takes over as you age. It's not a Dorian Gray thing. You see the changes in your body, the wrinkles in your face. You go onstage and do your work."

Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak modern dance company bring cutting-edge choreography to Ruth Eckerd Hall.

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