The San Francisco Ballet has become, perhaps, the world's premiere company, and it shows nowhere more than in Repertory Program 4, entitled "Sound In Motion." The depth and breadth of this program ranges from the almost slapstick "Con Amore," to the multidimensional, pulsating ensembles of "Silver Ladders," culminating in the entire vocabulary of dance as shown in "Etudes." Helgi Tomasson has done with the San Francisco Ballet what James Levine has done with The Metropolitan Opera. He has assembled a company that brings the highest level of performance not only to the major roles but the smallest individual and ensemble parts and the orchestra itself.
The program opens with "Con
Amore," choreographed by Lew Christensen. This is a comic piece
patterned after the Opera Buffa made popular by Rossini, and danced
to three of his overtures. It's divided into three scenes and was
inspired by 19th century dance engravings. It opens in the camp of
the Amazons where the captain, Evelyn Cisneros, is putting her troops
through their drills. They have flowing white skirts, her two
Lieutenants have swords, and the soldiers, muskets. The Thief, David
Palmer enters looking like a Pirate, and is captured. He jumps,
spins, kicks, and twirls his way to the Captain, but is taken captive
anyway. He throws out his chest, and puts himself at their mercy. The
Captain takes a liking, though, and he manages to survive. Scene Two
is danced to the "IL Signor Bruschino" Overture and is
chaotically hilarious. At each of the knocks, a different suitor
knocks and enters to entice the Mistress, as her husband and the
previous men hide. The characters from the first two Scenes mingle
with Elizabeth Miner's Amor in the Third Scene as chaos reigns and
all live happily ever after.
The reason we chose to see this
particular program was because of Helgi Tomasson's "Silver
Ladders," danced to Joan Tower's music of the same name. It was
everything we hoped for. The dramatic opening shows Claudia Alfieri,
Peter Brandenhoff, and Michael Eaton on silver ladders halfway up to
the ceiling behind a scrim. They slowly descend, spread their arms
like birds, and leap and fly around the stage. The guys lift the girl
high in a pyramid and carry her around. We have a group of ten
dancers, in silver tops and short black skirts, and six black clad
men. The multi-layered ensembles pulsate in black and silver, front
to back, up and down, and side to side. We have an amazingly sensuous
pas de deux. Lucia Lacarra seems boneless as Roman Rykine lifts her
over his head and rolls her over his back. He holds her so that her
back is against his front, her legs are folded up and you can't
really tell how she is being supported. There's a lovingly fluid
tension as he tosses her in the air, catches her, and lifts her
upside down. He spins, kicks, and leaps to a vibraphone solo, and she
flies into his arms and enfolds him with her legs in this exquisitely
layered celebration of love and movement.
The program concludes with
"Etudes" choreographed by Harald Lander to music by Knudage
Riisager after Carl Czerny. This celebration of dance is a series of
classical studies that show the ballerina from the very beginning at
the bar, through every stage of development. The gold curtain rises
only around a single ballerina who dances to a simple run of a
musical scale. The entire curtain rises on two columns of ladies. The
stage is dark and only their legs are lit as they move in cumulative
groups of three, until the entire group of twelve are moving their
legs. The back is lit and we have a group silhouetted at the bar
against the background. There's an elegant solo as Joanna Berman
dances on pointe, with her feet turned inside out. We have groups of
12 ladies in white, fourteen ladies in black, and twelve men in light
blue. We move from simple basic scales, to the organization of small
groups, ensembles, and soloists. There is a czardaz type number with
leaps, twirls, and running splits, as dancers move across the stage
from right rear to left front, left rear to right front, then criss
cross. The tension builds relentlessly to the pulsating, rhythmic
climax of thirty-nine dancers.
Emil de Cou led the orchestra in
this outstanding program by America's premiere dance company, The San
Francisco Ballet. The season continues through May 9, including Helgi
Tomasson's "Giselle" from April 8 - 18 at the War Memorial
Opera House in San Francisco.
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