Emotional precision carries dance troupe> Robinson ballet’s ‘Transgressor’ graceful

In ballet as in marksmanship, precision counts, but a dance can be a success even if every step isn’t perfect.

If the emotional note of a performance is clear and true, it can carry an audience over rough spots as fluid and undisturbed as a waterslide shooting swimmers into a pool.

The mood was that true last weekend at Ellsworth High School when the Robinson Ballet of Bangor performed “The Transgressor,” part of its spring show. The show, “Robinson Ballet Unplugged,” repeats this weekend in Orono.

Set to music by William Schuman and based on a ballet scenario by Anthony Tudor, “The Transgressor” is a dramatic, haunting fable. The atmosphere is effectively established in the first scene, when the young boy at the story’s center is rejected by his mother.

The terrible, inexplicable act of maternal casting out is choreographed beautifully by co-artistic director Keith Robinson. Dressed in virginal white, the Mother (Maureen Lynch) seeks protection in the arms of her Lover (Tom McGary) while her child, poignantly played by Lynch’s real-life 13-year-old son, Ian Robinson, appeals again and again for affection and is turned away.

This graceful orphaning is a moving, riveting sequence, and the rejection casts a lifelong curse over the boy. When he reappears, on the street where the rest of the ballet takes place, the Transgressor is an adult (a skillful Alexander Zendzian) still hungry for human contact.

He is mesmerized by every woman who passes by, from a prostitute in purple satin to a young evangelist in a black bonnet (the embodiment of grace as played by Rebecca Schweikert). He dances with each, but can have none.

When a woman in black at last attaches herself to the Transgressor’s back, the union ends in violence. A frenzied dance of remorse is not followed by any forgiveness. Innocence, in the form of a red balloon, is let go forever.

The arc of this drama is concise and complete against an artful set and costumes. The mood is dark, with the simplicity and weird vividness of a children’s story. A true group effort, the success of “The Transgressor” seems to come from a remarkable synergy among its large cast. Each performs with restraint and sensitivity, feeding the sense of swirling inevitability.

The show’s other major piece, “The Power of One,” is also about being alone and the stripping away of human connections. But dancer-choreographer Kelly Holyoke has created something more modern, moving the ballet company in the fresh new direction it has sought in recent years.

The piece begins with blue light and four chairs on a bare stage. One by one, the Self (Holyoke) bids writhing farewells to figures representing her Lover, Child and Friend, until she is left free of tangled relationships and glorious in her strength and independence.

With readings from Nicholas Sparks, Terry Lynn Taylor, George Eliot and Anne Morrow Lindbergh interspersed among sections, the piece has a slightly ponderous feel. Less touchy-feely ballet fans may flinch at the New Agey tone of the readings, on the comfort of friendship, the closeness of children to the angels and the need for women to find their own true essence.

The audience in Ellsworth erupted at the end, however, leaping to their feet. “We were a little nervous about the reception, because we haven’t done anything like this before,” Robinson Ballet producer Karen Hartnagle said. “We were overwhelmed that she got a standing ovation.”

Rounding out the program are “Morning Walk,” the opening dance, and “Orbit” as a closer. The first is a mix of lyrical ballet and modern dance with muted colors and simple harp music striking a crisp, autumnal tone. The latter, a sure hit for children, is a humorous, athletic number, with giant red and yellow balls playfully suggesting a beach or gymnasium.

A matinee at 2 p.m. Saturday will feature “Peter and the Wolf in the Big Apple,” a big-city, modern-day, jazz-and-tap version of the children’s story.

“Robinson Ballet Unplugged” will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Hauck Auditorium at the University of Maine, Orono. Tickets are $12 for adults and $7 for students. Tickets for the Saturday matinee are $7 for adults, $5 for children.