Steel and Rain

REVIEWS

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Trey McIntyre, arriving with the title “Choreographic Apprentice to the Houston Ballet,” is obviously a new face to watch, judging by his Bartok ballet “Steel and Rain. Mr. McIntyre used all five movements of Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4, played here by another distinguished group of musicians, the American String Quartet (Peter Winograd, Laurie Carney, Daniel Avshalomov, David Geber). Margaret Tracey, with Miranda Weese and Kathleen Tracey, were the three women in red leotards, for a scene in silhouette, who acquired partners: Nilas Martins, Arch Higgins and Albert Evans. Mr. McIntyre’s strong suit is his capacity to surprise. His sensibility is classical, but he can insert a karate chop into a phrase or have a dancer drop to the floor with an irreverence that destroys more symmetry than dignity. Ms. Calvert, always full of pizazz, was the leader of a female corps in blue in the second movement, which was contrasted with a duet for Margaret Tracey and Mr. Martins. Mr. McIntyre has a way with a pas de deux, especially in his imaginative lifts. The last two movements, which eventually unite the seven principals, finally leave Ms. Calvert alone onstage. By then the choreographer seems to have lost some direction, but not necessarily steam.”

THE NATIVE

“McIntyre’s Steel and Rain has a theatrical power and meaning that none of the above mentioned (Diamond Project Choreographers) even approached, let alone achieved.”

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

“Nobody seems to know anything about Trey McIntyre except that he comes from Texas, but there’s nothing provincial about Steel and Rain, a cool, slightly antiseptic, extremely well made dance that looked even stronger the second time we saw it.”

NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

“The very next triumph came with an equally severe but exciting Steel and Rain by Houston Ballet choreographer Trey McIntyre.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

“On first seeing . . . Steel and Rain choreographed by Trey McIntyre to Bartok’s ‘String Quartet Number Four’, made the strongest impression.”