The music could have passed for American pop, with a few Asian accents, and the dancing had a fluid ballet quality.
Then the members of the Tucson Sino Taiji dance troupe, dressed in crisp white uniforms, snapped their large fans open.
Thwack!
The sound reverberated Friday night and startled many in the audience filling two-thirds of the intimate Berger Center for the Performing Arts.
It’s a safe bet that it was the first time most of the audience had ever seen Tucson Sino Taiji, whose dances are rooted in the ancient marshal art of Tai Chi.
It also was the first time many had seen the Korean Arirang Dance Group, the Philippine Mabuhay Cultural Foundation of Tucson choir, or the Tucson Youth Marshallese Choir.
In the intimate space of the Berger, these groups and about a dozen others were tour guides on a trip around the world with Reveille Men’s Chorus.
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It was an exhilarating, life-affirming two-hour journey.
You didn’t need a passport.
You needed an open mind.
That was the intent of Reveille choir’s “Dim Sum & Then Some.” Check your preconceived notions at the door and open your heart and mind to new experiences during a multimedia, multicultural feast of song and dance.
Reveille’s 24choristers were standing among the audience for the opening number “Come Travel With Me,” extending an invitation to visit China, Israel, Africa, Japan, Korea, South America and beyond. They closed the night back in the audience, singing the computer-generated “World Anthem,” which culled 193 national anthems into one united pledge, sung beautifully by Reveille chorister Joseph Gouge.
The chorus, under the commanding guidance of Conductor Linus Lerner, made it look easy, singing the West African folk song “Kpanlongo” in the native tongue, and backing up the Philippine Muguhay Cultural Foundation in the folk tune “Paruparong Bukid,” also in the native language. Throughout, Lerner produced crisp, fluid vocal lines that complemented every language.
Lerner wanted “Dim Sum” to truly send a message of diversity and unity, which is why he insisted his choristers perform in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Tahitian, among other languages. From the audience, it appeared the chorus pulled it off with little difficulty.
Lerner wove flashes of playfulness into a concert seeped in swooning majesty. Stealing a moment from the Gilbert and Sullivan music theater masterpiece “The Mikado,” he dressed a trio of male choristers as over-made-up geishas for “Three Little Maids From School Are We,” which prompted uproarious laughter and a few guffaws from the audience.
Lerner was a joy to watch, as he moonlighted leading a small ensemble helmed by a fine pianist in Kyungsun Choi. At one point, he brought the chorus to the front of the stage and led them in the rhythmic chants of the Samoan folk song “Minoi, Minoi,”while sitting cross-legged. The next moment, he bounded to his feet and fairly mamba-ed through a trio of infectious Latin dance tunes. His energy and passion were contagious.
The performance’s only clunky moments came from two solo dancers who accompanied the choir in four numbers to close out the evening. The pair was woefully out of sync. At one point, the male dancer bobbled his female partner when he lifted her during the Brazilian pop tune “Mulatê Do Bundê.” For a moment, it looked like he was going to drop her.
Other highlights included the amazing Philippine bamboo pole dance “Tinikling” with the Philippine Mabuhay Cultural Foundation; Reveille’s wonderful turn in Hebrew on “Ose Shalom” with the Ner Tamid Choir; and the Capoeira Malandragem performing its Brazilian-blend of martial arts and dance to the percussive blast of “Batucada.”
Review
Reveille Men’s Chorus “Dim Sum & Then Some” Friday at the Berger Center. Concert repeats at 8 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Berger, 1200 W. Speedway. (See truncated version of this review in Sunday’s ¡Vamos! section.)
