(upbeat music) - [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by a grant from Consolidated Foods Corporation, with additional funding from the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.

(bell ringing) - Hi, I am Bob Edwards.

There used to be a courtroom here, a couple of centuries ago, before the old building was torn down and the new building was built, before there were any theaters in Charleston.

But it was more or less on this spot, 246 years ago, that the first ballet ever seen in America astounded the local gentry.

Harlequin and Scaramouche, starring an Englishman named Henry Holt, who afterwards set up a dancing school down the street and taught the local debutantes how to boogie.

And it must have worked, because 30 years later, the first course in dance notation in this country was being advertised in the Charleston newspapers.

Now, as far as I know, no one who took that course bothered to write down that first ballet.

But this year in Spoleto, the ghost of Henry Holt mugs again.

Comedia is back in town, with a finesse the 18th century never dreamed of.

(energetic piano music) "Clowns and Others", choreographed by Sal Aiello and danced by the North Carolina Dance Theater.

(energetic piano music) - Oh, Clowns, everybody, it's so typecast with the kids in the company.

Each clown is different.

They have their own little characteristics and style.

And the role that I play in it is a bratty kid with a lollipop that won't give anybody a lick.

(gentle piano music) (audience laughs) Everyone has interesting, it's happy moods of clowns, and sad moods, and group clowns that are just joining together and breaking up.

- Everyone's always loved the circus.

I like clowns.

And dancers are very much the same to me.

They put on those faces.

As a dancer myself, I used to put on the makeup when I wasn't very happy, and had a stomachache, and still went out and danced.

And it's a bit that way in our lifestyle.

And the ballet evolves from day-to-day situations of clowns, day-to-day situations of dancers, and it's kind of just mixed together into a big bag of fun.

Not all fun, it's not cute.

It's not all cute.

It's kind of a mixture.

- [Director] Yeah, do that.

- [Sal] We might take Women.

We might take some of Women, if you prefer.

You wanna do Women now, you wanna see Women?

- [Cameraperson] Could we do that?

- Ladies, could we do Women now?

♪ Sound may be the warmest thing he's found ♪ - [Bob] This is "Women", choreographed by Oscar Araiz with music by Grace Slick.

♪ Ready your body for love ♪ ♪ There is no gravity here ♪ ♪ Look up ♪ ♪ The roof is gone ♪ ♪ And the long hand moves right on by the hour ♪ (dramatic music) ♪ If it sounds good when you hear it ♪ ♪ If it looks good when you see it ♪ - [Dancer] It's really hard to describe.

It's very sad.

Some women are sad, some are strong about their feelings, and some are trying to give too much.

But it's a real interesting piece to dance because it depends on our own mood that night, how we project that evening in the piece.

♪ In my ear ♪ ♪ In my ear ♪ (dramatic music) ♪ Spanish wind keeps telling me ♪ ♪ How it feels ♪ ♪ How it feels to sing free ♪ ♪ And it keeps blowing on me ♪ ♪ And it's showing me ♪ ♪ Another way ♪ ♪ Another way to listen ♪ ♪ And if you hear ♪ ♪ Oh, if you hear ♪ ♪ The wind is singing ♪ ♪ Like someone singing for your love ♪ ♪ The more it sings ♪ ♪ The more you know ♪ ♪ Horns and strings and time will show you ♪ ♪ Show you ♪ ♪ Show you freedom ♪ (Spanish singing) ♪ If it sounds good when you hear it ♪ ♪ If it looks good when you see it ♪ ♪ If he feels like a good man when you touch him ♪ ♪ When you come near it ♪ ♪ I keep thinking about the way ♪ ♪ You keep appearing in my ear ♪ (dramatic music) (Spanish singing) ♪ And if you hear ♪ ♪ If you hear ♪ ♪ The singing silver wind ♪ ♪ And if you see ♪ ♪ You think I'm just about to leave ♪ ♪ You can follow me ♪ ♪ But I'm already gone ♪ ♪ Don't tie me down ♪ ♪ I want to run ♪ ♪ Give me the sun ♪ ♪ Don't tie me down ♪ ♪ I want to run ♪ ♪ Give me the sun ♪ ♪ And if you see ♪ ♪ You think I'm just about to leave ♪ ♪ You can follow me ♪ ♪ But I'm already gone ♪ ♪ Give me the sun ♪ - I came from the Royal Winnipeg Galley about a year and a half ago, and when I was offered the position I said, North Carolina, wow, you know, that must be somewhere far away and warm.

And it's warm, but it's certainly a center, and not far away from anything, or it seems that everything comes to where we are.

We seem to be engrossed with- In the last three weeks, I have seen 30 choreographers works, and I'm gonna have to go to New York City to get a rest.

Really, it's amazing because Lar and I danced together in the same company years ago.

Yeah, Harkness Ballet.

I haven't seen him since then, and tonight I'm gonna see him for the first time in years.

- [Lar] In the outset, I do create a problem, and my object is largely to solve the problem.

And by event of time and association with music, I reach for that solution.

(slow choral music) - [Bob] North Star by the Lar Lubovitch Company (slow choral music) - North Star and other works of that period have taken their shapes from shapes that exist in nature.

And there's a relationship between three works because of that, and the particular shape in nature that North Star refers to are astral shapes, shapes in the sky.

Actually, I call it a group of mythic constellations.

It doesn't relate specifically to shapes we know of, but it derives from shapes that exist and imagines these shapes.

I've sort of created a mythic galaxy, then explore some of the constellations spinning within that galaxy.

- About heavenly bodies moving in space.

And my role is more or less the center, just the vortex of a universe, of a galaxy.

So things are, I take it, the stars are swirling around me, and I'm causing these things to happen in a celestial way.

Oh boy.

What's gonna be particularly hard about this situation is the stage is raked.

Very raked.

So most of the moves that I take a chance on, I'm gonna have to be very careful.

The focus of this solo is usually very high and lifted, because it's about the stars and galaxies moving.

But, in this situation, it's hard to focus up very high.

All in all, this is gonna have to be very careful.

Certain things are gonna be easier though, because your weight is back, that way you can just lean back into it and sail around.

But then other things like this, for instance, just the force of gravity's gonna take me down.

So, that's gonna be hard.

Let's try that again.

If I try and aim upstage, maybe I'll go upstage.

Another hard part will be the feet.

It seems to have been a ballet company here, and they dance with rosin on their shoes so that they won't slip.

So when we're dancing barefoot, it tends to make our feet raw.

So, that's a conflict.

It is nice to see the sky.

That part will help a lot.

- Its origin was, like the rest of North Star, from Aida, the opera.

My particular solo was I was originally a maiden sacrifice in the opera Aida.

They were gonna throw me in the fire.

I was probably drugged, hysterical.

A lot of mixed emotions happening all at once in my body.

And so the solo had that sort of emotionality to it.

And the actual movement in it is sort of irrelevant.

I mean, it is a set pattern and I improvise as far as time goes, I can speed it or or slow it, but what makes it what it is, of course, is the emotional imagery that I find, and I try and dig up all the craziness I can.

A lot of dark emotions, a lot of celebrating emotions, but more, there's lots of ways to go about it.

I was recently teaching it to Nancy so she's my understudy, and we found all kinds of wonderful things to use.

The beginning of it is all very strong stop action.

In other words, it's pumped and sharp, a breath stopped movement as you can make, right from the very center of your gut, and you have to hear your breath, just screaming.

(Laura gasping) Do the whole thing for it to really show, for it to be effective.

And Lar keeps reworking that, and reworking it and saying, you know, "Harder, more, more from the gut."

You know, it has to show in the rib carriage, which keeps it very strenuous, but also very effective.

So that it reads, you know, 200 rows back, or whatever.

And I think of it as being electrocuted in slow motion, like, you know, 3000 volts.

And I have to psych myself up for that beginning part before I go on the stage.

Number of images I use.

One is seeing the labyrinth of heaven, like a door opening, and the energy of the universe hitting me in the face.

And then I just run on with all that.

And in other words, it's something being done to me, something bigger than me, a source higher than myself coming through me.

And that seems to help a lot.

Rather than me making it happen, it's an amazing thing happening to me.

And then the music breaks, and there's a space, and then it's like, if you were being electrocuted, then that release and suddenly you're out of your body.

And what an amazing experience to be whole again, and weightless, and those sort of feelings.

And that begins, it's a very spiritual feeling.

I mean, physically you've gone from like, gripped, gripped, a lot of tension, a lot of pounding, to sudden release, and it feels like your molecules are spreading apart.

It's quite an incredible sensation.

(slow organ music) And I go from feelings.

I just ride from feelings, instincts.

Sexual feelings, celebrating feelings.

They're profound feelings, really, to put a word on 'em doesn't sound quite right, 'cause they're very strong flavors without names.

A lot of different colors and flavors, a lot of them personal, just coming from, you know, deep in my primordial self.

(intense music) - [Dancer] In relation to hers, well, Lar sometimes talks about Laura's.

The whole opening is a big body, more or less.

There are two people playing the legs on one side, the right leg, left leg, two people playing the left arm, right arm.

I play the center or the torso, and Laura's offstage, and she's playing the brain, more or less.

So this is one way of approaching it.

So in her solo, she's acting out the synapses of the brain.

You see, that's getting very literal with it, which it isn't at all.

I mean, someone will see something totally different, and that's right, that's the way it should be.

But that's one way of looking at it.

In my solo, to differentiate from that, is one of the torso moving, and finally drawing all its parts out to it.

Galaxies, or legs, or arms, or whatever you wanna call it.

(slow choral music) (audience applauds) - [Lar] Yes, I do fantasize about pleasing audiences.

Yes, I do like to please audiences.

Yes, I love success and popularity.

I love people excited over my work.

I love them enjoying it.

I'm touched by that and I want that very, very much.

(audience applauding) I am not after psychological probing, but I do think that there's a psychological purging which takes place through the process of making a dance.

Whether or not this purging exists for an audience member is probably related simply to what they bring to the piece and what their needs are.

But there is a psychological purging where I feel cleansed because I finally got it out.

I often have the feeling that the piece exists before I've done it, and that my object is to discover it.

And upon discovering it, I have a feeling of inevitability.

When all that is finished and tied together and done, I feel free of it and and free to move on.

- [Announcer] This program was made possible in part by a grant from Consolidated Foods Corporation with additional funding from the ETV endowment of South Carolina.

(upbeat music)