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Alexandra Tomalonis
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The Black Watch

By Alexandra Tomalonis
Special to the Washington Post
November 12, 2000

Military marching bands send soldiers into battle, salute heroes and victories, and provide comfort in defeat. They can also be very good theater.

The Drums, Pipes and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch and the Band/Choir of the Prince of Wales’ Division (presented by WPAS) gave a rousing Veterans Day concert Sunday afternoon at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. Although the marching was necessarily constrained by a stage slightly smaller than the average parade ground, these soldier musicians presented a spectacle as interesting to the eye as it was to the ear.

The Black Watch is an artistic descendant of Renaissance spectacles and Jesuit horse ballets--huge, splendid entertainments that used pageantry as both theater and propaganda. Founded in 1739, it shares some characteristics with 18th century ballet as well in its use of patterns and repertory of steps matched to specific rhythms.

All of the pipers and drummers must learn to dance as well as march (and fire machine guns; it’s a fighting regiment), and a small group of dancers performed a Highland fling and a traditional Scottish sword dance. The dancing, typical of Western European folk dances with its rigid torso and fleet footwork, has inspired choreographers from Bournonville to Balanchine, and the military precision with which it is performed brings it closer to the ballet than folk tradition. Drum Major Brian Alexander, resplendent in his feather bonnet and carrying both claymore and staff, was as magnificent as a danseur noble, whether leading the marches with measured tread or standing, motionless as a mannequin, at the side of the stage.

It’s probably impossible to compete for attention with a bagpipe’s sweetly dissonant, plaintive wail, but the Prince of Wales’ band and choir joined, and alternated with, the Pipers and Drummers in spirited medleys of historic battle songs as well as folk tunes from around the British Isles.