• Ballet through a video gamer’s eyes With its leaps and battles, ‘Aladdin’ resembles the classic Disney game BY COREY GARRIOTT THE GAMECOCK The Columbia City Ballet Company performed “Aladdin” in the Roger Center on Friday and Saturday. Although it’s best known as an Arabian fairy tale, as I watched the dancing, I couldn’t help viewing the ballet through the eyes of a video gamer. The company’s phenomenal in ternational cast, including Jose Serrano and Evgueny Tourdiev, had a new take on Player 1, “Aladdin,” and end boss “Vizier.” ^ In Stage 1, peasants and rogues pranced in the marketplace until Aladdin arrived. The rogues obviously fought in the same party; they were dressed alike in the familiar abbreviated vest and silk pants. Aladdin was clearly the rogue squad leader — his vest was a royal-purple hue. Aladdin was played by Serrano, who is quite the acrobat. Serrano can jump as high as Luigi, or at least Mario. His tornado spin earned applause throughout the night. The production was clever. While Aladdin led the others in a series of exercises, strong work ers toted four carpets in the back ground, inconspicuous in the background until the stage i # cleared. They were dropped on the ground and unrolled to reveal four scantily dressed gypsies smuggled into town. So the first challenge of Stage 1 was to flirt with the gypsies. Aladdin and three of his rogues I partnered with the girls for a se ries of dueling dances. The men and women executed harder and still harder moves and lifts, prob ably scoring millions of points, only to be interrupted by the royal parade. As in the game, he would go on to pursue the princess using mag ic powers discovered in a genie’s lamp, winning the princess’s hand just before Vizier was to marry her. Tourdiev was majestic in his role as the evil Vizier. It is strik ing how powerful male dancers have to be — he can lift and hold effortlessly, as if Ganondorf ex changed his desert boots for a pair of slippers. Tourdiev certainly PHOTOS 8Y AISHA AHKAWALA/THE GAMECOCK Top and above: “Aladdin” featured the gravity-defying, acrobatic jumps of an International cast. seems like Ganondorf of Zelda fame — he doesn’t seem to oper ate by real-world laws of physics. His jumps are way powered up; they have too much hang time. A Russian, Tourdiev is from Samara, Russia, and learned bal let at the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre before coming to the United States. As for Serrano, he trained in Puerto Rico and found his way to Columbia through the School of American Ballet in New York City. Stage 2, the Harem, was an ex cellent excuse for many of the troupe’s dancers without starring roles to have solo performances. Just like Parappa the Rappa, they leap and balance to the sound track. In the end, Aladdin and Vizier engage in a battle of swords. Aladdin hasn’t leveled up enough, so he lacks the hit points neces sary to succeed—so in a last-ditch effort, he summons the genie for one last wish to beat the game. In the ending sequence, Aladdin is held up as the maypole in the middle of several concen tric circles of dancers. In the ballet, choreographers Mazilier, Petipa, and Starrett fo cus a lot on concentric circles; Aladdin and his rogues run in cir cles through most of the first stage. Perhaps the circles explore a sci-fi theme — though it would tire your thumbs to spin the con trol pad for the whole play. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com CD REVIEW Mattea comes up short on‘Roses’ “ROSES" Kathy Mattea ★* out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY MARIANNE PARRISH THE GAMECOCK Kathy Mattea’s new album, “Roses,” is her first release for the Narada label. It includes songs about both spiritual and romantic love. She will be stop ping at the Newberry Opera House on tour to promote this latest offering. On “Roses,” she taps Celtic, folk and country music springs to interpret some rather un orthodox musical pieces. Mattea’s vocal style is reminis cent of Anne Murray, the 1970s songstress whose hits compila tion is advertised endlessly on late-night TV. With a deep, vel vety, sing-babies-to-sleep quali ty, Kathy Mattea’s voice mingles with the simplistic musician ship also displayed. Not that there is much oppor tunity for display, since the mu sic is all but trivial, but it is ap parent that these songs were cho sen for their lyrical content, not the profundity of their composi tion. After all, it is folk music. This record could reasonably be labeled as contemporary Christian, and many of the songs are about clinging to God or be ing tempted by sin. Many other religious images are also used to interpret spiritual life, but the strong thread of self-deprecation and tense, fearful longing for vin dication that is written in the lyrics of some tracks contrasts highly with the unassuming, calm mood of the music. All or the songs seem pretty se date, until you listen to the words and find some surprises. If you could take a song like “Till I Turn to You” and replace the words “Lord,” “God” and “Jesus” with the name “Kenny,” it would sound a lot less spiritual and a lot more like begging for domina tion. “Blind my eyes... break my stride ... tie my hands ... ” Overall, this S-and-M-type prayer does not sit well with the Celtic fiddles and mandolin, but that’s just one opinion. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@notmail.com Garrett CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 too much confusion. The seeds of spontaneity are germinated and fertilized, but it’s not chaotic. There is strong continuity and intention here. The middle of the album has a minimalist slant. The composition is unveiled and uncovered, ending with a sax solo by Kenny Garrett called “Just a Second to Catch my Breath.” It’s slow and sweet, but it sets your ears up to be bombarded by “Gendai,” a modem, quick, chal lenging piece that heightens the pace just before the three-part “Standard of Language,” which closes the record. If you want to get a feel for what’s current and relevant in jazz music today, this is a good, intelligent element to include. Skill; composition; and good, spontaneous interpretations are all evidenced on Garrett’s latest release. Cheers to “Standard of Language.” Comments on this story?E-mail zamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com I • •• • Thank You, Sponsors! ^ The 2003 University Housing Sign Up f Carnival was a huge success, thanks to you! i — " "■ ..n This year’s sponsors included: Gold Sponsors B 106.7 WTCB Carolina Alumni Association Carolina Collegiate Federal Credit Unior Residence Hall Association (RHA) Russell House Bookstore Sodexho Silver Sponsors Columbia Place Domino’s Pizza Sonic WEB Laundry Services Bronze Sponsors Target Additional Sponsors Included: Capital City Bombers Career Center Frankie’s Fun Park GoodYear New Orleans Riverfront Restaurant Regal Cinemas i (\ COUCcf