My thoughts on the performance of “Love Stories of the Shahnameh” (Storyline & Naqqali by: Gordafarid, Choreography & Production Design: Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam, Dance Performance by: Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam & Miriam Peretz) at Cowell Theater at Fort Mason, San Francisco Saturday, October 13.

The dancers were exquisite in their technical abilities however, their movements where often too close to the surface, too much a direct reflection of the musical landscape. Looking at choreographers like Bejart, Morris and Akram Khan, you see that occasional frictions created by going against the grain of the music or developing it further than just a reflection of the music often serves to enrich the work.

I found the third segment to be the most refined. Albeit whirling heavy, it meshed very well with the music.

The narrator’s Naghaali style (dramatic presentation of epic poetry) suffered from a monotony of tone and lending itself almost entirely to the music of the rhyming verse. In my opinion it would have benefited greatly from dramatic punctuations and some sense of narrative chiaroscuro. Lack of theatrical voice projection was also a factor in painting her recitations with a broad, bland brush. Standing rigid – as if to highlight the beautifully designed costumes - and symmetrical movement of arms did not help to bring life to her presentation.

She was most successful in the third segment where she stepped out of that mold somewhat and upped the drama.

Heavy borrowing from the Flamenco is understandable and works very well but not when it is constantly present to serve as the thread that stitches the whole piece together.

The Persian music used for the dances - Chahar Mezrabs (allegro pieces) were too similar, monotonous and relentless except for the Bidaad by Parviz Meshkatian which remains arguably the best piece of tone painting in Persian classical music.

And I wish the transition between the pieces were given more thought to. The energy and the momentum dropped greatly between the pieces. After the dancers would leave the stage at the end of the piece, the narrator would enter from side stage and make her way slowly to the other side of the stage where she would stand for the duration of her narration.

As much I enjoyed Miriam Peretz’s dancing, there was something lacking in there for me that at first I could not put my finger on and it came to me later; the movements were there, there was intensity as well but what was missing was the Persian accent.

All in all there many moments to be enjoyed at the performance but alas, that night, the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts.