Saturday, February 4, 2023

Where Are We? --- Day 12/38

Walk: SF Opera House

Distance: 4 miles


Remember when you used to get kind of lost watching a ballet?  Dancers all over the stage, but what were they trying to tell us?  Luckily there was a story to the ballet so you guess those ballerinas trying to wedge their big feet into small shoes were Cinderella's stepsisters, or the wildly spinning black swan was up to no good.  But that was then..

Now...the San Francisco Ballet is celebrating its 90th Season! with a festival of premieres by nine contemporary choreographers.  And there is rarely a storyline in sight.  Intentionally.  The 'new wave' it seems is unconcerned with stories and focused on non-stop, thrillingly precise, demandingly courageous (Ciwt needed to hold her breath during some mid-air catches) free form.  Solo performances are random throughout the ballet and short lived; no more nearly stopping the action so that an artist like Nureyev can leap again and again, round and round the stage.  

It is taking Ciwt a while to get 'with the program.' To her, some of the new dances go on a without particularly engaging her.  But then there was a new Bolero dance that will be impossible to forget whenever she hears that piece of music.  She assumed no dance could enhance Ravel's compellingly perfect score.  But, she was wrong.   So onward to who knows where with San Francisco Ballet.




No comments:

Post a Comment