Catholic Saints: 1, Fado: 0

Christopher Williams possesses a rare gift for uniting visual and musical elements. His current performance at Danspace is divided into two parts. The first is the male counterpart to his hugely successful "Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins," and St Mark's church couldn't be a more perfect performance space: stained glass biblical renderings and a religious ambiance envelop the audience long before the dancers come onstage. The costumes by Michael Oberle and Williams belong in a museum. The minimal movement that Williams develops works to full advantage here: short, discrete dances illustrate each Saint's story. Pushing furiously against the turned backs of a male chorus, Nami Yamamoto as Saint Barbara displays both humor and pathos. John Kelly as Saint Anthony Abbott is the spookiest saint I've seen in ages. The music-performed live by members of The Anonymous 4 and Lionheart-is simply angelic and the use of puppetry is exquisite (it's clear that Williams' Parisian training at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq serves him well). There is, however, something mildly disconcerting about Williams' obsession with the grotesque.

Williams' "Portuguese Suite" was more disappointing. Set to a series of superb fado songs by Amalia Rodrigues, the performance is meant to illustrate, by way of the courtship and coming apart of two sailors (Williams and Andrei Garzon), the effects of the Catholic Church's mistreatment of homosexuals. It's a tall order to fill and one that this performance has a hard time meeting. The performance is sort of a downer. Again, the costumes and sets are exquisite. The chorus of wailing women does a fine job. When the two sailors kiss, the women drop a loud load of lemons from beneath their skirts to fine humorous effect. But the movement often lacks spark or vibrancy, especially that of the female chorus. More perplexing perhaps is the evident lack of chemistry between Willams and Garzon, which is a problem when attempting to depict a courtship. Williams' solo fares better: while past comparisons to Nijinsky in the press are far-fetched, Williams is a lovely dancer and by far the best element in his company.