SF Ballet This weekend: Balanchine Menu: The Prodigal Son stands out. Contemporary Ballet: "Fusion" succeeds!
My season subscription ends, and so this weekend I did a double decker...First, Balanchine, "The Prodigal Son", a production which got good reviews in NYC. Having never seen this Biblical story adapted to ballet, I was interested, and found it engaging. The music was composed by Sergei Prokofiev and the choreography is by Balanchine. The Scenic and Costume Design was by the artist Georges Rouault. It had its world premiere on May 21, 1929 in Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris, France. Its NYC premiere was in February 1950 and in SF in March, 1984.
The other Balanchine pieces were the Stravinsky violin concerto and" Diamonds", composed by Peter Tchaikovsky, and like the other two pieces, choreographed by Balanchine. Its world premiere as "Jewels" was in NYC Ballet in 1967 at the NY State Theater, and in SF on January 30, 1987. My birthday. Due to my jet lag, I kept dozing off during this piece.
Sunday was a surprise and the final in my series of Contemporary Performances, which I found more compelling as it was full of surprises, and inventiveness. "Fusion" was choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, and its premiere was in April 2008 in the SF Ballet, at the War Memorial Opera House. Composers are contemporary: Graham Fitkin and Rahul Dev Burman. It juxtaposes the dancing of the whirling dervishes and their exotic female counterpart, and males in hard edge jeans and minimal t shirts, in an abstract jazz dancing, the dancing of which becomes a "fusion"... it was fascinating. The play is with being on balance and off balance.
"Salome" was a world premiere with the composer, Frank Moon, unknown to me. The choreographer was Arthur Pita. It was its world premiere. It starts with a limo on stage, and a host mother and father who offer their daughter men who appear to be hostages, as she tears off their shrounds. The mother chooses one, but in the end, after much erotic and somewhat violent dancing by both the daughter and the young man, he refuses the girl and spits at the father, and will suffer John the Baptist's outcome, with a beheading, the head delivered on a plate to the young woman. They all depart in the limo and the dance, what there was of it, ends.
The final dance was based on John Adam's "Fearful Symmetries", and choreographed by Liam Scarlett. I saw this piece last year, in its premiere in January 27, again to celebrate my birthday and enjoyed it. This one seemed an improved version, and plays out against a backdrop of light tubes, a hard edged street life romance of sorts. It ends softly with a duet dance. The original piece is based on "The Tyger" by William Blake.
https://youtu.be/9OXyculex58
The other Balanchine pieces were the Stravinsky violin concerto and" Diamonds", composed by Peter Tchaikovsky, and like the other two pieces, choreographed by Balanchine. Its world premiere as "Jewels" was in NYC Ballet in 1967 at the NY State Theater, and in SF on January 30, 1987. My birthday. Due to my jet lag, I kept dozing off during this piece.
Sunday was a surprise and the final in my series of Contemporary Performances, which I found more compelling as it was full of surprises, and inventiveness. "Fusion" was choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, and its premiere was in April 2008 in the SF Ballet, at the War Memorial Opera House. Composers are contemporary: Graham Fitkin and Rahul Dev Burman. It juxtaposes the dancing of the whirling dervishes and their exotic female counterpart, and males in hard edge jeans and minimal t shirts, in an abstract jazz dancing, the dancing of which becomes a "fusion"... it was fascinating. The play is with being on balance and off balance.
"Salome" was a world premiere with the composer, Frank Moon, unknown to me. The choreographer was Arthur Pita. It was its world premiere. It starts with a limo on stage, and a host mother and father who offer their daughter men who appear to be hostages, as she tears off their shrounds. The mother chooses one, but in the end, after much erotic and somewhat violent dancing by both the daughter and the young man, he refuses the girl and spits at the father, and will suffer John the Baptist's outcome, with a beheading, the head delivered on a plate to the young woman. They all depart in the limo and the dance, what there was of it, ends.
The final dance was based on John Adam's "Fearful Symmetries", and choreographed by Liam Scarlett. I saw this piece last year, in its premiere in January 27, again to celebrate my birthday and enjoyed it. This one seemed an improved version, and plays out against a backdrop of light tubes, a hard edged street life romance of sorts. It ends softly with a duet dance. The original piece is based on "The Tyger" by William Blake.
https://youtu.be/9OXyculex58
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