The New York Times-20080124-Reflections on Time and the Relationships It May Never Heal- -Review-

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Reflections on Time and the Relationships It May Never Heal; [Review]

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At her best, Karole Armitage marries the fluidity and dynamism of certain contemporary European ballet choreographers with an austerity and classicism that bring to mind George Balanchine, or Merce Cunningham, in whose company she danced. At her worst, the marriage fails, succumbing to a fussy preciosity.

Both tendencies are in evidence in Connoisseurs of Chaos, which had its premiere Tuesday night at the Joyce Theater and completes The Dream Trilogy, begun in 2004 with the ravishing Time is the echo of an ax within a wood. After seeing this shimmering, dreamlike work, many New York dance fans celebrated Ms. Armitage's return from Europe to start a permanent company, Armitage Gone! Dance; many of those same fans were bewildered by the stillborn follow-up, Ligeti Essays.

Now comes Connoisseurs of Chaos, completing her disquieting meditation on time. This work for six dancers is set to Morton Feldman's quietly devastating 1981 composition, Patterns in a Chromatic Field, performed live by the pianist Andrew Russo and the cellist Felix Fan, and abbreviated by about 15 minutes to fit the hourlong dance (which would probably not have pleased the meticulous composer). Stillness is perhaps the largest player in this mystical, disorienting music, making it a challenging choice; cello and piano punctuate an oppressive, almost cruel emptiness. Only sporadically does the piano open up onto fields of lyrical beauty. Always, its companion pulls it back down.

But Ms. Armitage also likes to punctuate space: a dancer's leg lashes out sharply, or a curving arm rises slowly into the blackness above. And she probes cruelty, using torqued, fleet bodies to do so. Connoisseurs is nonnarrative, but relationships are suggested throughout, and they do not appear to be nurturing ones.

In a striking duet William Isaac places a hand on Megumi Eda's head. She sinks, defeated, and he spins away, his body rigid. Only when she rests her hands on his shoulder does his tension ease. But he melts into himself -- or into a memory of himself -- and not her.

At another moment Ms. Eda, Frances Chiaverini and Mei-Hua Wang whirl their hands in tight circles as if miming their intention to dance. When two male dancers aggressively intrude, Ms. Eda calmly rebuffs them. It is a respite, however brief, from a particular type of chaos.

Connoisseurs features the same collaborators as the trilogy's previous installments. The lighting designer, Clifton Taylor, has created a finely shadowed universe, and Peter Speliopoulos's costumes, particularly the women's high-necked, belted leotards, evoke the austerity of Balanchine's leotard ballets.

Unlike those ballets this one has a set, by David Salle: a video on the back wall periodically illuminates the darkness. Early, slow-moving vortexes add to the sense of uneasily shifting relationships, but the inclusion of recognizable images (bare trees seen through blowing curtains and later, disastrously, the dancers themselves) unravels the work's concentration and delicacy.

At a certain point, sadly, the choreography comes undone on its own. Ms. Armitage increasingly repeats herself, with diminishing returns, and the work's power comes too heavily from the music. You are left with the resonant memory of earlier sections, and those are strong enough to leave you wanting more.

Armitage Gone! Dance performs through Sunday at the Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, at 19th Street, Chelsea; (212) 242-0800, or joyce.org.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Megumi Eda and William Isaac performing in Karole Armitage's Connoisseurs of Chaos. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREA MOHIN/THE NEW YORK TIMES)