San Francisco Ballet
Program 1 – “The Joy Of
Dance”
War Memorial Opera
House, San Francisco
February 4th,
2017
The curtain rose to
reveal a gorgeous impressionistic tableau of blues, greens and oranges. Lauren
Strongin ran towards Angelo Greco and with a sky-high staccato lift, Haffner Symphony was off and running.
Moments like this one, of
exuberant elation and luminescent artistry, sang from the War Memorial Opera
House Sunday as San Francisco Ballet closed the first program of their 2017
season. Aptly titled, “Joy Of Dance”, this first triple bill welcomed Jiří
Bubeníček’s new work Fragile Vessels
alongside two returning compositions: Justin Peck’s In the Countenance of Kings and Haffner
Symphony, by Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson.
Set to Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, Tomasson’s Haffner Symphony was a lovely choice to
open the program. A four-movement suite for one lead couple, three featured
pairs and a corps of six, Haffner
Symphony demonstrates the breadth and possibility that neo-classical
choreography possesses. While certainly beautiful and elegant, so often
neo-classical ballet can look overly placed and perhaps even a little cold at
times, but this 1991 composition has an invigorating spirit, while maintaining
the technical acuity that the form demands. Freedom soared in the upper torso
and arms; gooey pliés seeped into the floor; surprising and inventive batterie
sequences abounded. Strongin and Greco led the ballet with confidence and charm
both in their duet choreography and in the sections where they each had the
chance to shine independently – she, in the lengthy adagio phrases that
informed the second movement; he, in the varied turns (arabesques, fouettés and
outside pirouettes) that peppered Haffner
Symphony’s third chapter. And together, the directional shifts and echappé
portion of their final pas de deux dazzled.
Designed by his brother Otto
Bubeníček, the setting for Jiří Bubeníček’s Fragile
Vessels was all about grandeur and scope – flowing material draped from the
rafters and oversized sweeping arches intertwined upstage left. And ensconced with
Jim French’s lighting, the entire set looked sun-kissed, like it had been ever
so lightly blanketed in gold. As Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 arpeggiated, bodies similarly rose and fell,
cresting through the space. Arms twisted behind heads, legs swiveled –
statuesque poses emerging in every corner. An examination of the strength,
subtlety and range of the human experience, this one-act ensemble ballet
creates an intimate container where raw emotion is expressed through
avant-garde, sculptural choreography. And this was especially apparent in the
lengthy middle section – a penetrating trio danced by Dores André, Joseph Walsh
and Wei Wang.
Dores André, Wei Wang and Joseph Walsh in Bubeníček's Fragile Vessels Photo © Erik Tomasson |
With simmering
intensity, the pas de trois began on the floor and then moved to standing
through a series of picturesque poses. As they cycled through these unexpected
contemporary lifts and shapes, their relationship was in a constant state of
flux. Sometimes all three performers moved as a unit, sometimes the formation
was two together and one alone and occasionally, André, Walsh and Wang all
danced their own distinct choreographic material. By exploring these various
aspects within the pas de trois structure, Bubeníček made room for the
narrative themes to radiate and resonate. You could see times of belonging and
times of isolation, instances of being known and then quickly being forgotten. Near
the end of the movement, jealousy and anger even made their way into the story.
And in the final image, a collective and collaborative curved pose, it seemed
that the three had reached some semblance of harmony and compromise.
With a combination of revisited
motifs and new phrase material, Fragile
Vessels left its audience with some astonishing imagery in its final
chapter. Jennifer Stahl’s miraculous solo centered around the spine, turning in
towards it and then outward into space. Wang, Francisco Mungamba and Carlo Di
Lanno toggled between canon and unison in a brief, but memorable vignette. And
an emotive pas de deux between Stahl and Di Lanno expertly wove through the
entire cast like the route of a maze.
Program one closed with
a shining star from 2016’s season – Justin Peck’s In the Countenance of Kings, set to a glorious score by Sufjan
Stevens. The full cast begins upstage center, carefully arranged in a cluster
formation. Slowly, they peel away leaving Mungamba (The Protagonist) lying
alone in the center. In a sublime solo, he stands and discovers his
surroundings. As one of the dancers who interpreted this role last year, Mungamba
was absolutely stellar, but on Sunday, he was on a whole other level, inspired,
superb. With a sense of community and togetherness, the corps enters the scene,
travelling around as a group, gently framing and energizing a number of
featured pas de deuxs.
In the Countenance of Kings has so many noteworthy moments, a few warranting
special mention - Strongin and Henry Sidford’s luscious duet; Isabella DeVivo
and Mungamba’s sparkling emboîté and sous-sus turns; the athletic, shifting
temps leveé sequence; the ensemble’s wave at the front of the stage; and the
women’s unison work towards the end of the ballet. What a brilliant return from
last year and a remarkable start to 2017!
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