Stravinsky | The Sleepless Critic

REVIEW: Boston Ballet’s exhilarating ‘Winter Experience’ glows in anticipation

Posted on March 12 by The Sleepless Critic

Especially amid winter’s bitter isolation and bleakness, one cannot help but anticipate the crackle and rising glow of spring. Through these two bold works, Boston Ballet shows how to appreciate the wonder of winter and glow in spring’s glorious awakening.

Boston Ballet’s Winter Experience continues live and in person at Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, March 15. The production is one hour and 50 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Boston Ballet’s ‘Le Sacre Du Printemps’ Photos by Liza Voll
Dancers: Ji Young Chae, Viktorina Kapitonova, Lia Cirio, Seo Hye Han, WanTing Zhao, Haley Schwan, Chisako Oga, Chyrstyn Mariah Fentroy

With a wealth of expectation and powerful expression, Boston Ballet’s wondrous Winter Experience features a visceral pair of complementary works infusing innovative ballet which envisions the intensity of the season as well as the increasing promise of spring in Jorma Elo’s bold classic Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) and Crystal Pite’s contemporary favorite, The Seasons’ Canon.

Boston Ballet’s ‘The Seasons’ Canon’ Photos by Liza Voll
Dancers: Schuyler Wijsen, Daniel R. Durrett, Henry Griffin, Jeffrey Cirio, WanTing Zhao, Tyson Ali Clark, Lia Cirio, Lasha Khozashvili, Viktorina Kapitonova, Haley Schwan

Boasting Jorma’s Elo’s sharp and versatile choreography, Le Sacre Du Printemps depicts rich beauty as dancers shift and sway to Stravinsky’s commanding score that ebbs and flows from tender to thunderous. With incredible choreography by Crystal Pite and exhilarating music by Max Richter, The Seasons’ Canon finale remains one of the most amazing pieces that I have ever witnessed from the Boston Ballet.

Boston Ballet’s ‘Le Sacre Du Printemps’ Photos by Liza Voll
Dancers: Schuyler Wijsen, Daniel R. Durrett, Henry Griffin, Jeffrey Cirio, WanTing Zhao, Tyson Ali Clark, Lia Cirio, Lasha Khozashvili, Viktorina Kapitonova, Haley Schwan

Stravinsky’s Le Sacre Du Printemps is a striking exploration of a ritual dance believed to usher in the spring season. Adorned in Charles Heightchew’s vibrant sequined burgundy costumes as a band of brimming color rises amid a black layered latticed backdrop, dancers slice the air, trot, tick and lunge in pas de deux and in groups delivering unruly yet synchronized grace in their athletic, sharp and intimate steps.

Stravinsky’s powerful drum and horn-infused rhythms ebb and flow from soft and mischievous to urgent and rebellious which reflect in the dancers as they intricately link and divide and in Brandon Stirling Baker’s symbolic and transformative lighting. Pairs form daring and unique patterns as well as mirror each other as Stravinsky’s wielding drive animates dancers from rigid and mechanical to surprising to occasionally humorous within its more spontaneous moments to haunting as the dance intensifies.

Under a gleaming, crackling and morphing gold light by Jay Gower Taylor and Tom Visser, the Boston Ballet unveils a vision like none other with The Seasons’ Canon. Crystal Pite’s intricate and meticulously detailed chorography to Max Richter’s version of Vivaldi’s mesmerizing The Four Seasons makes The Seasons’ Canon a superlative experience. An incredible vision in every sense of the word, The Seasons’ Canon is innovative and unique as dancers pulse, sway, and tumble with intricate fluidity and precision while methodically spilling onto the stage. Moving like one sinewy organism as if waking from hibernation and molding into magnificent shapes, the sheer exactitude and congruent nature of these movements cannot be overstated. An exciting, uplifting and commanding piece with bursts of energy as the landscape transforms into shades of silver, orange, and gold, is exquisite in every season. It is a haunting and brilliant performance sure to stay with you long after the piece has ended.

Boston Ballet’s ‘The Seasons’ Canon’ Photos by Rosalie O’Connor and Brooke Trisolini
Dancers: Sangmin Lee, Chisako Oga, Ji Young Chae, Jeffrey Cirio, Daniel Rubin, Sage Humphries

Boston Ballet’s Winter Experience continues live and in person at Citizens Bank Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts through Sunday, March 15. Click here for more information and for tickets.

REVIEW: Boston Ballet off to a brilliant ‘reSTART’

Posted on November 4, 2021 by The Sleepless Critic

Boston, it’s time to reSTART.

Embarking on a journey from beloved local landmarks to overseas to inside the Boston Ballet studios, Boston Ballet’s reSTART amps up the excitement of their highly-anticipated return live onstage in time for the holidays.

With a versatile lineup that includes recently filmed jazz-infused contemporary dance, classic tales, traditional dance, and a season preview as well as a full range of costumes including street wear by Yin Yue and Jens Jacob Worsaae and Judanna Lynn’s spectacular royal fashion, Boston Ballet’s virtual reSTART, available through November 7, delivers an elegant and dynamic show for dance lovers everywhere. Click here for more information and for Boston Ballet’s full season.

Boston Ballet in Yin Yue’s A Common Movement, photo by Brooke Trisolini; courtesy of Boston Ballet

Over the past year and a half, the renowned Boston Ballet has become much more than a force onstage. It has been inspiring to see this sophisticated and athletic company in various settings, using creative and unconventional methods to evoke their passion for their extraordinary work. Lighthearted, romantic, and refreshing, Boston Ballet’s season premiere reSTART demonstrates a brilliant new season to come.

It all starts right in the city of Boston. Renowned contemporary choreographer Yin Yue delivers jazz-infused spirit into the Boston Common as fifty dancers brighten this beloved October landscape in A Common Movement. In comfortable and modest attire, the dancers come together in a joyful and sweeping dance as horns blare creating a vintage vibe under a peerless sun. With catchy tunes performed by Quincy Jones and Alice Coltrane, these charismatic dancers take over the Common with a swift beat in a smooth, mischievous, and calibrated performance enhanced by a slick dance by Maria Alvarez, Louise Hautefeuille, Lauren Herfindahl, Sangmin Lee, Ao Wang, and Patrick Yocum on the Boston Public Garden Foot Bridge.

Haley Schwan and My’Kal Stromile in Yin Yue’s A Common Movement, photo by Brooke Trisolini; courtesy of Boston Ballet

Clever choreography and digital technology bring together pairs Ji Young Chae and Tyson Clark and Haley Schwan and My’kal Stromile in an unexpected way for a fascinating performance in the Public Garden.

Boston Ballet delves into a classic tale with fantasy flair featuring Soo-bin Lee and SeokJoo Kim, a stunning duo as they perform a deeply romantic Pas de Deux in an excerpt from Romeo and Juliet. Angelically adorned in a halo of ribbons and flowing gown by Song Bohwa and Hanna Kim, Lee is a vision in an idealistic dark forest. Despite a hint of foreboding, Prokofiev’s score is uplifting and glorious as Lee and Kim enchant each other building into bursts of joy, seeming to move as one into an embrace.

Addie Tapp and Lasha Khozashvili in Jorma Elo’s Ruth’s Dance, photo by Brooke Trisolini; courtesy of Boston Ballet

From classic tale to classic dance, another highlight of reSTART features Bach’s soothing, piano-driven rhythms as Addie Tapp and Lasha Khozahvili perform a tender and delicate dance as Khozahvili quite literally sweeps Tapp off her feet.

Muses take on full form as Paul Arrais beguiles inspiration as bold and fresh faced Apollo in a pivotal classic work which first brought choreographer Balanchine and composer Stravinsky together. What is particularly captivating about Balanchine’s choreography is the mechanical synchronization between muses Lia Cirio as majestic Terpsichore, Viktorina Kapitonova as mysterious and foreboding Calliope, and Chryrstyn Fentroy as jubilant and charismatic Polyhymnia. Their dance is meticulously precise as they rhythmically pivot in unison, at one point forming a beautiful silhouette until each have a chance to portray their own distinct chemistry with Arrais’s mesmerizing Apollo. They join together, hinging onto each other and one might wonder who is in control.

The Boston Ballet kicks off their new season with virtual reSTART continuing through Sunday, November 7. Click here for more information and a closer look at Boston Ballet’s new season.