Over the weekend, my friend and I went to see the Sarasota Ballet's "Life & Liberty" program. We went out to dinner at Lucile Pizza and Wine Bar and got to the Sarasota Opera House about an hour early. We had a glass of wine out in the courtyard, lingering and chatting, and about 15 minutes before the start of the show, I suggested we go inside and find our seats. When we went to an usher, she informed us we were at the wrong venue! We were supposed to the be at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall! Luckily the two spots are very close to each other, so we sped over there, and with the help of valet parking, we made it to our seats just in time. Whew!
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This piece was choreographed by the famous George Balanchine, and it first premiered in 1958. I thought the costumes were a bit gimmicky and too "on the nose" (pink tutus with flag-inspired tops is a bit too literal). But I did appreciate when the dancers marching on pointe. That is not easy! The piece was only about 30 minutes long, so it flew by, especially for the first "act" of a performance!
Here's a quick video:
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'Still Life' at the Penguin Cafe
I was very interested in seeing this piece. Since the Sarasota Ballet is housed in the same building where I work, I had seen posters of dancers dressed as animals (the zebra costume is quite striking), and I had to know what it was all about!
Sir David Bintley choreographed this piece, which debuted in 1988 (thirty years after the other one!). This piece is meant to reflect upon species extinction and conservation, which I think comes off very clearly. It is certainly not a traditional ballet when very few (if any?) of the dancers were on pointe. This was mostly modern dance, which I normally don't care for, but this creation is so unique!
The dancing starts with a cocktail party with penguin servers (so cute, especially when they hopped around!), which flowed into a ram (but female?) dancing with men in tuxes.
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Then we transitioned to the desert featuring the Texas Kangaroo Rat. This part was the most like modern dance (i.e. lots of laying on the floor), but it was very fun.
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After that, the Zebra came in, and he was joined by several women dressed in black and white dresses. At one point the Zebra was shot, and the sound was so jarring! (Later on in the show, there were more shots, but they were represented by bright jolts of light, which I liked better.)
The next segment was called "now nothing" and portrayed a native family of a father, mother, and child wandering in the darkness. This shows what the world would be like if all of nature were destroyed. I was surprised to see human representation (thinking all the costumes would revolve around animals), and even more surprised that the sheer bodysuits left little to the imagination (cue the nipples). This was a bit distracting and detracting, but I understand the messaging that came behind it.
In the end, the animals were walking into the darkness two by two. I thought the nod to Noah's ark was pretty obvious, so when the backdrop BECAME the ark and you could see the animals in it, I thought the literal presentation took away from the artistry a bit.
BUT my friend and I really liked this one, I think because it is so different from any other dance piece we've ever seen! Bravo!
Here's a video of this one, too:
If I learned another dance company was performing "Penguin Cafe," I would definitely go to see it!
