REVIEW: Boston Ballet’s ‘Winter Experience’ anticipates the bloom of spring
Warm up with the beauty of Boston Ballet’s Winter Experience.
Boasting two world premiere performances, the Boston Ballet masters two bright, thrilling, and contemporary performances with an enchanting classic ballet in four scenes. These performances provide much needed thrilling warmth as the world anticipates the bloom of spring.
As part of its 60th season, The Boston Ballet presents Winter Experience including the world premiere of To Be One, the return of Petal, and the world premiere of Mikko Nissenen’s Hungarian ballet Raymonda live and in person at the Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, March 3. The production is two hours and 15 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.
The world premiere of To Be One and the return of Petal are bold and unfold with finesse. To Be One boasts Helen Pickett’s sharp and vigorous choreography with Brandon Stirling Baker’s pristine lighting to brilliantly capture each dancer’s sheer athleticism to the urgent and anticipatory dance rhythms by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson.
Sara Marhamo Kirk’s shimmering and translucent garments add a modern lucidity bathed in luminous shifting color backdrops. Lauren Herfindahl, Sage Humphries, Kyra Muttilainen, Chisako Oga, Alainah Grace Reidy, Graham Johns, Ángel García Molinero, Yue Shi, Gearoid Solan, Schuyler Wijsen, and Patrick Yocum perform to piano and violin-infused rhythms with at times short, pithy and lithe movements. The energy became so intense that at one point, the collective dancers seem like they are competing with each other in a lively circle.
Steeped in Brandon Stirling Baker’s vibrant colors and a sonic, violin-tinged score which evokes a soothing, building joy, Helen Pickett’s flourishing choreography make Petal an elegant and radiant journey. Amid consistent and warm colors, the agile and jovial cast leaps and spins breezily to form into intriguing pairs. Pickett’s scenic colors transform from brilliant yellow to a warm orange to a bold pink while allowing Nete Joseph’s pastel costumes to remain distinctive on each landscape. Kaitlyn Casey, Lauren Herfindahl, Abigail Merlis, and Chisako Oga seem to thrive with the athletic support of Henry Griffin, Graham Johns, Ángel García Molinero, and Lawrence Rines Munro. Lifting them up and guiding them to the chiming and urgent rhythms of Phillip Glass, John Cocteau, Susan Marshall and Thomas Montgomery Newman’s Elizabeth Chooses a Career, each pair learns how to support each other in order to grow. They float, tumble, sway, and spin as each female learns to soar.
Mikko Nissenen reimagines Marius Petipa’s original choreography for the world premiere of the classic Raymonda: A Ballet in four scenes. Set in medieval times, Raymonda is a magnificent and royal affair featuring a large cast and Robert Perdziola’s exquisite and meticulously detailed costume design ranging from guards in chain link silver armor and black boots to blue, gold, and black feathered costumes to white and gold garments with refined floral sleeves. My’Kal Stromile stands out with large black petal sleeves and a red sash as Master of Ceremonies.
There is a fanciful spark to this intriguing love story filled with beauty and grace to the whimsical and sophisticated harp infused score by Alexander Glazunov. The elegant cast performs a captivating waltz surrounded by Nicholas Kostner’s whimsical marble set pieces.
Viktorina Kapitonova, who has depicted the title role in Boston Ballet’s Cinderella, is the perfect fit for delicate, fair, and confident Raymonda. Her rhythmic entrance is a balance of grace and boldness intensified by a spicy Hungarian clap. The Vision scene is a particular highlight. Maria Rubin as La Dame Blanche rises from the misty haze in an intricately detailed white gown. Kapitonova has endearing chemistry with Lasha Khozashvili as fiancé Jean De Brienne and Brandon Stirling Baker’s atmospheric lighting creates a silhouette in orange as they entwine into a tender embrace.
The full company is a triumphant celebration in gold crowns, though Raymonda does run a little long in presentation. A quick paced array of mostly variations demonstrates the refined cast’s joy with sweeping sparkle. Some of the highlights include Daniel Durrett, Sun Woo Lee, Ángel García Molinero and Gearoid Solan in a technically impressive performance, Lia Cirio takes the stage in a complex and exuberant performance, Kapitonova as Raymonda performs a display of jubilance and elegance in playful leaps, and Lasha Khozashvili ‘s variation is highlighted by extraordinary leaps.
As part of its 60th season, The Boston Ballet presents Winter Experience including the world premiere of To Be One, the return of Petal, and the world premiere of Mikko Nissenen’s Hungarian ballet Raymonda live and in person at the Boston Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, March 3. The production is two hours and 15 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.