Rubies, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Fearful Symmetries -- San Francisco Ballet Performance Review
Rubies, Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Fearful Symmetries
San
Francisco Ballet Performance
February
2, 2016
This was a very enjoyable night at the San Francisco
Ballet. Each of these three ballets succeeded
quite ably as standalone performances and they complemented one another very
well for a balanced, pleasing contrast. Rubies, choreographed by George
Balanchine, is what you think of when you think of ballet. It opens with perhaps ten or a dozen dancers
in dynamic red costumes arrayed in an arc against a black background studded
with small points of light that mimicked jewels or stars. That arresting opening scene brought applause
from the audience. What followed was a visually
gripping virtuosic display of physical skill and polished technique. The music was by Stravinsky and was well
suited to dancing and the ballet followed the music with grace and
elegance. The configurations were
interesting and the use of the space on stage was well thought out. There was a balance between ensemble segments
as well as duets and solo performances. Everything
about this ballet worked superbly well.
It was a thorough delight.
Drink
to me Only With Thine Eyes, choreographed by Mark Morris to music by
Virgil Thomson, started with a solo piano performance by Natal'ya Feygina with
the grand piano sitting in center stage, where it remained throughout the
performance as part of the set. I'm not
sure that was the best place for it. There
was no other set. The music, strictly
solo piano, was performed right on the stage with the dance. The lighting was very simple and the dancers
were clad in these baggy, white sleeping gowns. It made the performance feel a bit like a
rehearsal or a practice session. The
dancing was interesting and complemented the music. It had a very different character from the
earlier ballet, Rubies. I don't have a very good vocabulary for
describing dance so it is hard for me to verbally differentiate the
styles. I would need to see them several
times to be able to do that, but the Mark Morris choreography had a distinctive
character that was interesting to watch.
It was vivacious and spirited. If
they had put a little more thought into the staging and had a little more money
for costumes other than those pajamas, it might have been more visually impressive. But even with these limitations, it was
solid, well constructed, well presented performance. I lay a bouquet at Natal'ya Feygina's feet.
Fearful
Symmetries, choreographed by Liam Scarlett, was strikingly different
in style, and perhaps for that reason, the most interesting of the three. It opened with a solo performance by a female
dancer that made use of unusual movements of the shoulders and upper body. The lights were modernistic and a little
blaring. The music by John Adams was
energetic and upbeat. It had a softness
and a smoothness to it that suited the ballet.
It moved and the dance moved with it.
The dance had vigor and energy. It
was stimulating to watch. The movements
were very different from traditional ballet style. Again, I apologize for my verbal poverty in
being able to describe these movements and styles of dance. There was more use
of the head and shoulders, upper body movements, rolling around and crawling
around on the floor. There was strong
interaction between the sexes. The guys
and girls were touching each other, looking at each other, the guys were
lifting the girls, carrying them, twirling them, throwing them, and some of the
movements were sexually suggestive, which was nice and very unusual in a
ballet. There were several strong solo
performances: the opening segment by the female and a later one by a barechested
male. The different ensemble configurations
used the stage space in interesting ways, and it ended with a distinctly
separate duet section that was very nicely done. I heartily recommend this one. The whole evening was very refreshing and
enjoyable. I'm very glad to have seen
it.