Constructing a world inside a dance: Boston Ballet’s ‘Winter Expertise’

Boston Opera Home, Boston, MA.
February 25, 2024.

World-building is usually mentioned within the artwork types of literature, movie and tv – but are there worlds of their very own in live performance dance as properly? This critic defies anybody to say that there aren’t. None of that could be a revolutionary concept, but sometimes works of dance artwork reveal simply how a lot is feasible inside world-building for dance. Such works stuffed Boston Ballet’s Winter Expertise. 

Scenic design, lighting and costuming design did heavy lifting to form and contour the worlds staking their declare to the stage. But, serving their goal to the fullest, these design parts framed and highlighted the middle of all of it: the motion – typically soothing, typically bracing, at all times fascinating. With this system presenting two up to date works and a classical ballet, Winter Expertise additionally underscored that every one of those ideas can maintain true for classical and up to date work alike.  

Lights rose on the world premiere of Helen Pickett’s To Be One, on gentle blue partitions (idea and creation additionally by Pickett, lighting design by Brandon Stirling Baker) and an ethereal rating (by Mikael Karlsson). Three partitions of scrims – as excessive because the wings – shaped the stage’s perimeter, with the proscenium forming the fourth wall (we within the viewers on the “fourth wall,” certainly). 

Dancers in white (costume design by Sara Marhamo Kirk) moved by means of dynamic, thrilling vocabulary. Spacious lengthy traces moved alongside round joint paths. Spines curved and straightened, executing a kind of up to date ballet “fall and get well.” This motion was seemingly the fruits of assorted choreographic instruments and buildings, shaken up after which settling into place to cohesively combine and meld. 

The dancers’ rock-solid command of the motion, together with their stellar musicality, fabricated from all that extremely visceral – tingles up the backbone and all. They danced with a sort of assured cool, a suave energy. At occasions the tempo and depth felt driving and relentless; I’m at all times one to advocate for moments of softening, away from such excessive velocity and energy. 

But with slower, gentler sections afterward, it hit me that the work was solely extraordinarily musical. Because the rating crescendo-ed and decrescendo-ed, so did the motion – and fantastically so. With sections shifting to one thing extra allegro after which adagio, in flip the partitions additionally modified shade: from a shiny orange to a mellow lavender. In every mode – at every depth – a world of shade, sound, and motion invited us to come back savor its fruits. 

Pickett’s Petal (2008) adopted – a piece of a equally riveting world of its personal filling the stage – the entire home, actually, with its waves of shade and sound vibrating (I guess) to the final balcony seat. One may argue that it was too comparable: three partitions of backlit scrim, pretty minimalistic costumes in strong colours, extremely musical motion vocabulary in the identical stylistic vein. 

I questioned about Pickett’s longer-term course of right here; with one work a world premiere and one from sixteen years in the past, had been these works variations on a theme? Had been they unrelated, and simply how she’s been creatively drawn? What was the programming rationale for presenting two works back-to-back of such comparable aesthetic and idea? I had questions. 

But, wanting from the lens of world-building, one may think about that we had been maybe touring to a brand new nook of this onstage world. In any case, the motion was so stunning and the aesthetic so satisfying that these questions didn’t distract me all an excessive amount of.

The ensemble introduced the identical robust suave to this piece. Three ballerinas, dealing with upstage, tapped a pointe shoe behind them and slyly appeared to the viewers – their timing and musicality impeccable. A horizontal line of dancers throughout the stage reached one arm up, stepping and rolling hips in the identical path. They didn’t power a factor, and why would they? Their motion uncooked materials and artistry toolbox had been greater than sufficient to enthrall.

Specifically, the motion had a stunning verticality, but additionally rootedness proper into the stage – like flowers, immovable but at all times rising in the direction of the solar. With a singular brightness and sparkle, the work felt like a go to from spring. One thing contemporary and vigorous was within the air, identical to when buds begin to pop and birds start singing once more. 

That felt like an attention-grabbing alternative for a winter program – and a really welcome one, actually, with us within the throes of (it looks like) countless New England winter. The final part of the piece even felt like the primary fiery days of summer season, the ensemble dancing with a brand new velocity and abandon. Ah, it’s coming certainly – not quickly sufficient, however hotter days are forward. 

The second act introduced Raymonda, reimagined by Mikko Nissinen and with extra choreography from Florence Clerc and Alla Nikitina. This was a quintessentially classical ballet in fairly fashionable packaging, two approaches coming collectively to appreciate one thing supremely satisfying. 

Outdated movie-style, a display inside a projected image body launched the ballet. The image body theme continued when that scrim rose, with half of a white image body over and round one half of the stage area (scenic and costume design by Robert Perdziola). Just some flowers and ribbons adorned the body. That was emblematic of the bigger world at hand: basic, elegant, minimalistic. Opulence wasn’t the secret – refinement was. 

Lighting (by Brandon Stirling Baker) was comfortable and only a contact ethereal, the costumes with pretty touches of dainty adornment. Motion was simply as polished and chic. In each efficiency and choreography, characterization and verisimilitude reigned supreme over technical feats (although there have been these to get pleasure from, as properly). Much less was very rather more on this land of royalty, court docket politics, and goals of real love coming true.

Lia Cirio danced Raymonda, bringing her signature dazzling artistry to bear – with a feather gentle and wispy high quality, to not point out plain beautiful musicality. The rating swelled in bigger ensemble sections, the royal court docket of this world reveling within the sensory feast at hand. We within the viewers had been welcome to feast as properly. 

Part II, “Raymonda’s Salon,” introduced one thing extra somber and extra introspective. Motion eased, matching the longer, mellower notes of the rating (from Alexander Glazunov, tailored by Mischa Santora). A motif advanced of arms rising into a fragile form and spines then melting. This vocabulary embodied Raymonda’s ardour, pathos, and innocence. 

Part III introduced “The Imaginative and prescient”: with a ghostly Fairy Godmother determine (La Dame Blanche, carried out by Maria Rubin) pulling magical strings (one may think about) and Raymonda witnessing her Prince Charming. Yue Shi danced her prince, Jean de Brienne, with equal elements brio and sensitivity. Their pas de deux oozed with each sweetness and technical rigor. Sundown reds, oranges, and pinks within the backdrop deepened the romance at hand. As one other quite fashionable – and compelling – aesthetic alternative, the scene ended with them heart stage, in silhouette. That added thriller to their shut embrace. 

The “La Pageant des Noces, the Marriage ceremony Celebration” of Part IV was a celebration certainly, providing an extended string of solos, duets, trios, and a quartet. The aesthetic feast at hand continued, and a feast of motion qualities joined in: spritely and effervescent, stuffed with uncooked energy, and all the things in between. 

The entire court docket was there to have a good time, with us within the viewers capable of witness the individuality of every who danced. After an explosion of power all throughout the stage, they ended all collectively in tableau. The silhouette returned, the elegant design selections persevering with to the very finish. 

This was a world with its very personal assembly of the basic and up to date, one which I felt blessed to go to for all too brief a time. Helen Pickett’s works introduced me right into a equally unparalleled world, one in every of bursting shade and vitality. This (actual) world of ours can really feel overwhelming, and we now have new worlds like these to go to – the place we are able to restore and revitalize. Thanks to Boston Ballet for welcoming us in!