Ivy Lin's love of ballet began in high school when at the school dance she quickly realized she had two left feet. One always admires things one cannot do, and so Ivy began to attend dance performances to marvel at the grace and beauty of bodies in motion. Ivy's day job is a biology teacher and after a long day in the classroom she loves to unwind by watching dance. She also enjoys theater, opera, pop and classical music. Ivy has her own blog (www.humbledandoverwhelmed,blogspot.com)
An exploration of the two central movements – a pair of contrasting pas de deux – in Balanchine's black-and-white masterpiece, Stravinsky Violin Concerto.
Judging by the enthusiastic audience reactions to this program one might have to rethink the modern/ballet divide. Maybe there’s only two types of dance – good dance and bad dance.
It's possible to have nothing but admiration for Mark Morris as a choreographer, yet his actual dances I often find pedestrian with a limited vocabulary. The works are interesting to see once, to see what he can do with classical music that has no obvious dance rhythms, but I rarely want to see them again.
The program notes include a quote by August Bournonville that says, "The Dance ... is essentially an expression of joy." And in this short but sweet program the company proved that it can still give a master class in showing the joy of The Dance.
If the audience response was not very enthusiastic, it's because Ratmansky's Sleeping Beauty four years after its premiere still comes across as more of a museum piece than a living, breathing ballet. This is a Beauty that never really wakes up.
Perhaps ABT's disclaimer in the program notes should have simply said: "When you watch Le Corsaire, prepare to be both offended and entertained. We hope you'll be more entertained than offended."
