Walpurgisnacht Ballet. Image found here. |
At the very end, the music was very energetic and aggressive, and when they dancers came on stage, they had their hair completely down! I've never seen that before! I don't know how they could see anything with their hair in their faces as they jumped and spun around the stage. One girl actually fell, but she got up quickly and recovered as if nothing had happened, so good for her.
I liked this piece, but it was not particularly memorable for me. But the main dancers, Violeta Angelova and Ted Seymour, danced very well together, and some of the lifts were particularly impressive. Allynne Noelle also did a great job on this piece (and throughout the rest of the night); I'm surprised she's not a soloist!
A Midsummer Night's Dream. Image found here. |
A scene from Romeo and Juliet came next. This was a very romantic piece, although it was a little too sexual for me. We know this story of young love and innocence lost, but the dance doesn't have to be so literal: Natalia Magnicaballi had her legs wrapped around Michael Cook's waist; she was on her knees with her face at level with his crotch; they were rolling around the floor embracing each other. We get it. And again, because we were sitting so close, we could notice things that other people in the audience may not have seen. For example, when the two were dancing together, their hands were wobbling as they were trying to stay in position. But I did enjoy all of the lifts, and some of the moves were pretty amazing!
Then other dances joined in, representing the two families (Capulets and Montagues). Each side was wearing a different color (those in green reminded me of Peter Pan or Robin Hood), and I half-expected them to start snapping à la West Side Story. I did like how, even though this was only one scene from the full ballet, you could understand the full story, unlike the previous piece.
Emeralds. Image found here. |
While I can't say this was my favorite ballet performance, I did enjoy myself, and I liked that I could get a taste of several ballets all at once. Now I want to see a full performance of Jewels! Next time!
P.S. As much as I love the ballet, every time I go, no matter what company, all I can think of is the dancing ostriches and hippos in Disney's Fantasia.
No comments:
Post a Comment