THE NEW YORK TIMES

Ballet: Caracalla Dancers Make a New York Debut

To call a ballet, variously, “The Bullet of Glory” or “The Thunder of Glory” is to give it the sturdy ring of propaganda. And the full-evening narrative piece presented by the Caracalla Dance Company of Beirut in its New York debut on Thursday at Carnegie Hall did resemble a political cartoon. It was, however, a cartoon painted in broad strokes and bright, bold colours, Conceived by the company’s director, Abdul Halim Caracalla, and inspired by the 1916 Arab revolt against the Turks, the two-hour dance may have been a a little long-winded for the Western divertissement-length attention span. But it had many in the audience un-self-consciously cheering on the heroes and murmuring in horror over the antics of the villains.

And they were antics. The villains were nattily mustached soldiers who puffed on cigarettes, joined in the numerous village frolics and hanged two Arabs with equal glee. There was a “foreign actress” - the only female cigarette smoker on stage - who was sympathetic to the cause and enticed the Turkish soldiers with “special champagne” and the energetically seductive dances of her all-girl “theatrical troupe”. And then there were battalions of villagers and saber-twirling Bedouins who, led by a mysterious type in dark glasses and a swirling cape, stole ammunition and blew up trains with the greatest of good humour.

The 32-member company was founded in 1972 by the equally good-humoured choreographer, who in addition to his folkloric credits, is a former pole-vault champion of Lebanon and has studied Martha Graham technique, Devotees of both unadulterated ethnic and modern theatre dance might have been disappointed by the choreography, which mixed both and managed to be neither.

But Mr. Caracalla wove exciting line dances for the men and an amusing ballet for cafe habitués and their chairs into the flurry of fast-moving processionals that made up the piece. Though the props included a cannon, there was no scenery, and the accompanying traditional music was for the most part recorded. But the costumes, said to come from Bedouin marketplaces, were colourful and the dancers lively, good-looking and most engaging.

Jennifer Dunning
17 May 1980