"Looky" looky!

I was fortunate to catch a performance of the Mark Morris Dance Group last night at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. My younger brother, Dallas, has been dancing with MMDG for about a good four years or so. They make visits to Cal Performances twice a year, usually (September and May) and I've always taken advantage of the unique opportunity to see Dallas dance when I get the chance.

It wasn't so easy at first. I didn't think I'd be sophisticated enough to enjoy such high-brow entertainment as a modern dance company at first. I recall my first experience watching Mozart Dances and what made going at first to the show was just looking for Dallas. I'm not sure the music or dancing captivated me as much as seeing my own brother on stage performing in front of such a huge crowd with such an impressive group.

When MMDG returned for their holiday performance of The Hard Nut, I immediately became a huge fan of their work. That's probably the case with most fans of Mark Morris, in my opinion, because their version of The Nutcracker is a riot, and the climax of the first act with the snow falling on stage and all, just did it for me.

Kari and I then planned a getaway to Seattle in May of 2008. While there, among other things, we visited Dallas at the Paramount Theater and took in a performance of MMDG's L'allegro.

Each time I can see and almost feel how much more confident Dallas is with his dancing.
And there was one number before intermission last night - Looky - that caught my imagination in much the same way that The Hard Nut before it did. I saw an expression of confidence, joy, and inspiration in his eyes from my seat on the front row of the left tier (despite the electric grand player piano in front of me) that I've never seen before.

The performance after the intermission was another West Coast premiere entitled Socrates. It was the featured picture in today's S.F. Chronicle for the review of this weekend's performances in Berkeley.

I am very proud of Dallas and his accomplishments as a dancer. I will always look forward to catching his next performance of whatever MMDG is doing. What a true inspiration you are, Dallas.