At The San Francisco Ballet, Repertory Program 5 opens with "A Garden"
by Mark Morris. It's danced to Richard Strauss' "Tanzesuite (after Couperin)."
The action is carried mostly by the men and the Pas de Deux. The set is simple,
a sky blue backdrop with some clouds. The men are in burnt orange tops, black
pants, and white slippers. The women are in flowing mid-thigh black dresses
over white leotards and slippers, for a fairly stark contrast of colors. Everything
is bright, lively, and lyrical, like the music.
It opens with two girls and two guys. More join in, a girl pirouettes
half way across the stage and back. There are constant entrances and
exits from the sides, like waves washing up on the beach. There are a
lot of lifts, turns, and kicks. They're not the highest, or biggest,
but they're some of the smoothest and most elegant, and they all fit
together like clockwork. There are a lot of reverse turns, and at one
point the guy lifts the girl and she does a reverse cartwheel over
his shoulder. Generally, the pas de deux's are very tender and romantic.
This is 18th century French music seen through 20th century German
sensibilities, and the choreography follows suit perfectly. Morris
captures the ideal marriage of modern movement in classical form.
It's fluid, deceptively athletic, and wonderfully understated. "A
Garden" is a joyous celebration that captures perfectly this
most elegant piece of music by Richard Strauss.
The World Premiere of Helgi Tomasson's "Chi-Lin" bridges classical ballet and Chinese mythology. Helgi finds that space between. It's choreographed on Yuan Yuan Tan and four men to music by Bright Sheng. She's the Chi-Lin, a creature that embodies both the male and female. The night Confucius was born, the Chi-Lin brought his mother a book of wisdom. This, along with the other three animals, the dragon, the tortoise, and the phoenix, represent the four elements and four directions. A computer generated film clip of four coins representing them is projected on the screen at the beginning, as we're sucked into the vortex.
The stage resembles a temple as we see the characters appear through a scrim.
There are four vessels with fire, two on each side of the stage. The coloration
of the costumes of the principals is a tarnished brass, or gold, taken from
the coins. Tan's movement is slow and sensuous, like Tai Chi. Yuri Possokhov's
Dragon is power and strength with high jumps, double turns, and thrusts up and
out. The Tortoise is strength and endurance. In their Pas de Deux, Damian Smith
lies on his back and lifts Yuan Yuan straight over him. She stretches out and
makes swimming motions with her arms in an exquisitely beautiful scene.
Five women give what Claude Monet called "envelope" to Parrish Maynard's
Phoenix. He's crisp and lively, as they follow and court him. They finally surround
him and he thrusts his arms up. Four men with flags of the four coins join the
Chi-Lin. This is simply spectacular as she does deep back bends and turns. She
kicks her feet out and they whip her around. They carry her on the flag poles,
she leans back and kicks her leg up. She does arabesques straight up as her
toes touch her head. The men throw the flags back and forth. The guys leap past
her, cartwheel to the sides, and roll back. They lift her and pass her around
with a lot of undulating arm movements. The other animals return, lift the Chi-Lin
high in a sort of pyramid. She does a deep backbend, and fireworks shoot up
from the four vessels at the side in the stunning conclusion of "Chi-Lin,"
the newest work of Helgi Tomasson.
San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer Joanna Berman has announced
that she will retire following the 2002 season. Mark Morris
choreographed "Later" as a tribute to her. It's an eleven
and a half minute solo to Schubert's "Impromptu in B-flat."
There's the piano on the left side of the stage, and Berman. She
interacts with it a bit. There are some staccato kicks out to the
side, then up. Schubert in the key of B-flat has an incredible
poignancy and Morris captures it with turns and sweeping gestures
that say farewell everywhere. This is classical ballet infused with
modern movement, and she glides on pointe with big arm movements. Her
kicks are generally not high, but numerous and smooth. Night falls as
"Later" concludes with Joanna Berman in a grand lilting
gesture to the piano at the side, looking away from the audience and off-stage.
The evening concludes with "Black Cake." It's choreographed by Hans
van Manen to music of Tchaikovsky, Massenet, Stravinsky, Mascagni, and Janacek.
It opens with a grand ballroom scene to Tchaikovsky's 5th. It picks up speed
with pirouettes, sweeping lifts, and turns, as the music crescendos. It's all
very rhythmic. There are three pas de deux's in the middle. Lorna Feijoo kicks
high, turns, and slides to the floor, as Guennadi Nedviguine raises her, she
leans back to the floor, and he spins her and lifts her over his shoulder. As
the second couple come out, they look back and leave. It's sharp jazz rhythms
now. Cyril Pierre carries Muriel Maffre on his back, and they jump straight
up and down. He walks on all fours like a dog as he grovels at her feet, then
picks her straight up. She crouches and he dribbles her head like a basketball.
Everything's exaggerated as he drags her off with great difficulty.
The third couple, Lucia Lacarra and Stephen Legate are dramatic and
theatrical. She spins, kicks high, and falls. He rushes across the
stage and sweeps her into his arms. He lifts her high, she flattens
out, kicks her leg straight up, down, and she falls into his arms.
Everything's an exaggerated melodrama now. It's back to the ballroom
for a talking, laughing cocktail party. Muriel Maffre is hilarious as
she staggers, drunk, away from the crowd as only a ballerina can. The
waiter walks across the stage, and the entire group follows, leaning
in unison off to one side, then back to the other, before he refills
their glasses. This is like Fred Astaire, Lawrence Welk, and W.C.
Fields meets the ballet in this outrageous climax to Program 5 at the
Opera House. Three more programs remain, concluding with Helgi
Tomasson's "Giselle" May 3-12 at The San Francisco Ballet.
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