An Eclectic Mix Closes the Season
Wednesday evening’s performance by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet brought a wonderful close to our 2009-10 season. I invited a friend to accompany me, who had never before been to a ballet performance. What a broad spectrum of choreographic works to introduce her to! Twyla Tharp of course has always been one of my favorite choreographers (though I must admit my list of favorites is quite long…), and was the one name that my friend had heard before. Tharp’s Sue’s Leg was actually on the inaugural episode of PBS’s Dance in America series. How wonderful to finally see it performed live!
Slingerland brought me back to my contact improvisation days, when I took a Forsythe based improv class. Yes, believe it or not, improv derived from Ballet technique. I found myself watching for and recognizing some of Forsythe’s “modalities” that I remembered from that class I took long ago. Check out this YouTube playlist and see if you recognize any he may have used in choreographing Slingerland: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=089D0AB405F01404
Perhaps some of you recognized Noir Blanc from seeing Momix in one of our previous seasons. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet commissioned this work by Moses Pendleton, who later used this piece to develop Lunar Sea for his own company.
It’s always great to experience works by choreographers who I am unfamiliar with, and as the first time I have seen anything by Jorma Elo, I have to say I am now intrigued and hope to see more of her in the future.
Prior to the performance I had the honor of accompanying Jean-Philippe Malaty, Executive Director of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, to a masterclass at Portland Ballet. He connected with those young students from the start of barre exercises. For an inside look at the masterclass be sure to watch the video clip on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/portlandovations?ref=ts#!/video/video.php?v=514130097831&ref=mf and check out the image gallery.
I hope that you enjoyed this wide-ranging performance as much as I did, and would love to hear your reactions.
Island Eye says:
Of course, I enjoyed this wide-ranging performance.Thaaaaanks!