Post-war South, distilled in dance
Michael Wade Simpson, Special to The Chronicle

Alonzo King's take on the post-Civil War South, in his world premiere, "Before the Blues" is like a Cubist Picasso nude -- a brilliant skewing of realism that leaves traditional form in the dust.

Where Alvin Ailey's famous "Revelations" has the gospel hits, the chain gang, sinner man, the church ladies with their hats, King offers nature sounds, abstract video images, scratchy field recordings from the Library of Congress and shirtless men in skirtlike culottes.