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San Francisco BalletMay 2003 San Francisco, Opera House by Renee Renouf |
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Imaginal Disc Composer: Matthew Pierce Choreography: Julia Adams Scenic Design: Benjamin Pierce Costume Design: Christine Darch and Benjamin Pierce Lighting Design: Lisa J. Pinkham Dancers: Leslie Young, Ruben Martin Julia Adam can be counted on to choreograph appealing oddities and Imaginal Disc is no exception. She draws heavily on the idea of caterpillars into chrysalis into butterfly. Men in kurta-like tunics over blue, leap in a manner reminiscent of Graham, but also inch along with forward and backward undulations like caterpillars. In the meantime, a white curtain, which occasionally silhouettes the women holding it aloft, moves forward, horizontal, steadily. At some point, the men begin to disappear, sliding undernearth it in best Paul Taylor fashion. Finally, the women, dressed in white, which seem to be white hobbles, drop the curtain entirely and form an initiatory circle around Leslie Young. The women hobble and stretch on point, doing something looking like an attitude, the knee isn’t raised, but the leg stretches out from the knee. They exhibit a fleeting, resemblance to Tanagra figures. It is now the men’s turn to hold the white length, echoing the slow movement towards stage front. They abandon it, letting it float over the girls; it's something you have expected for quite a while, but can’t guess just when. Next follows the struggle under the white cocoon, right? The filmy stuff undulates; gradually everyone emereges from the layers but Leslie. When she pops up, she has two lengths, one on each arm from wrist to elbow –the butterfly has wings! She tests them, flies with thems, flirts with them, saying a prayer with her new apparatus. There is a sweet encounter with Ruben Martin. When he supports Leslie, you get the idea of wings and the body of the genus lepidoptera. Throughout the work there is play, discovery, and certainly a light mood. Adam did very well by Leslie Young and she certainly returned the favor. It is an exposure and time front and center she deserves.
Le Carnival des Animaux
Costumes and Scenic Design: Sandra Woodall
Lion: Pierre-Francois Vilanoba This ballet could easily become an enduring favorite. Not only did Sandra Woodall surpass herself with the designs, but Ratmansky reveals a love of the ridiculous,inspiring the dancers to their best foolishness, stamping, skittering, leaping, pecking, pawing and swooning their way through the delightful Saint-Saens score. The sense of fun was never stronger or better. Maffre quivered through her jellyfish costume, complete with the little wisp one sees in that water creature and she collapses magnificently. Vilanoba stamped and roared effectively, bluster and brute before getting pecked into retreat, and then joined the men as the black ooze behind the jellyfish. Feijoo managed to surpass her considerable classicism with minted goofy takes as the Elephant, a veritable Queen of Hoot, reveling in the opportunity. Kristin Long’s take on the Cockerel was the eternal yin-yang balance; Legate's white cock was the appealing call. Peter Brandenhoff and Paul Magierek were provided with splendid flips to their costumes. But the crowning moment came when Brandenhoff inspected the expired Swan, who had swooned and wilted amidst a beautifully articulated group of swans, both genders, silhouetted on the floor with port de bras in exquisite formation. Brandenhoff lifts the head to determine the state of the bird. ‘She’s dead; okay, let’s get her out of the way.’ As Swan was dragged off stage, the audience, which had chuckled and laughed, practically guffawed. Everyone romped their way at the end, each with their different accent. I can hardly wait to see it again.
Tu Tu
Dancers: Kristin Long, Gonzalo Garcia Ravel’s piano concerto has more than a touch of jazz to it. With would be bare midriffs for the women, the men in striped trunks, Stanton Welch exhibited another of his facile choreographic essays. There were places where his love of the grand jete in a la seconde, face to the audience and with shoulders slightly hunched, was manifested within the first two or three minutes in the assignment he gave to Kristin Long. She absolutely ate it all up with gusto and assurance. The same can be said of Gonzalo Garcia, who matched her with ease. Welch has both a romantic and a dramatic flair and is given to the sweeping choreographic declaration where Wheeldon, in contrast, works more carefully, closely and with greater restraint. This ballet was effective with the emergence and fading into upstage center shadow. Maffre emerges from this nether world to stretch her long, elegant line, to work with a port de bras which slithers down the side of the body before it assumes a classical position. It is quite a juxtaposition of intimate connotations and classical framework for the periods, semi-colons, colons and exclamations choreographically. Parrish Maynard is provided with something similar, making scarce demands on him, but certainly displaying his remarkable fluidity. Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith also appear and disappear, working closely together. As usual, it is difficult to get an emotional reading from Tan; for all the fabulous line and technique, her face conveys little emotionally, and the interaction with her partner also seems minimal.
There are moments when Stanton Welch provides each dancer with something compelling, but the in between, perhaps because of the demands of the music, seems like steps linked together bridging the gap for the brilliant sequences, of which there are several. I will have to take a second look. I also think switching the program order might be an improvement.
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