© Christopher Helton 'Carmen' reviews Montgomery Ballet reviews more Pamela Gaye reviews

Metaphysical exploration haunts the design of both choreography and set. Lazar in Lost seeks to define that which causes us to desire, then by that power, deconstruct ourselves, and in following our relationship to love. As a woman, Carmen performed by Ginny Smith in overpowering brilliant red costume that seemed to shimmer as liquid upon the stage, seeks empowering love, but one thwarted by insecurity; as lover, Don Jose performed and deftly partnered by Ian Morris, is first torn by layers of jealousy, then by those of paranoic disbelief. Sparse set designs of walls that have begun to topple, destroying their solid foundation, symbolically frame the work. We are all grounded at birth, yet set to construct ourselves through law and desire on foundations not so secure that they soon begin to show signs of wear or else crumble. Created by set designer Seay Earehart, the almost eerily life-like walls frame earthy syncopated undulations by corps dancers Abigail Maruna, Colin Hislop, and Kianna Neller. All blend together to produce an unfathomably torrid Carmen in the heart of America’s South.

Questioning the fragility of the heart, while offering a vision of hope, Lazar creates for dancer Alex Giuffre, dressed in shimmering gold, an antithesis to the distraught heroine. As calm in the eye of the temptress-created storm, Guiffre’s solo preludes the destruction of Carmen herself.. Fraught with eye-opening eroticism, Carmen performed by Jennie brazenly conquers each member of a male ensemble, taunting at the same time her female rivals.

Flanked by the daring sets of designer Seay Earehart, Lazar’s choreography uses the tale of Merimée as its base, pitting together an ensemble of men dressed in form-fitting trousers in nifty offcenter angles against the more classically-nuanced movements of an expressive female ensemble, marking a new brand of sweep and high energy hitherto not seen in these parts.