Well, here goes my first attempt at a ballet review. Last night I went to see Ballet Memphis perform Stravinski's ballet abstracted from a Russian fairytale. That it was "Rites-of-Spring" Stravinski, the instigator of modernity in music, should have hipped me to the fundamental fact that this would not be classical ballet. I was expecting Orientalism, exotically beautiful, in all its rich layers of (colonizing) fiction. I was expecting silk and color and grace. Ha. Again, Stravinki should have clued me in.
The Ballet Memphis is a modern ballet group. This means that the movements are based on classical ballet, but this has been adulterated with modern ideas about choreography. The choreographer, Mark Godden, has won multiple awards, including an Emmy for Best Performing Arts Film. Alas, I am no fan of this style. To me, dance philistine that I am, the punchy arm movements and the staggering footwork looked more like Tae-Bo than ballet, and the costumes, aiming for an ultra-contemporary minimalism, were a foot shy of the elegance needed to pull this look off (see the top picture for an effective version of this kind of costuming).
All in all, I enjoyed going. I had a kick-ass seat, and it was fun to just go out (a little sad, though without Gilligan to come home to). However, for the Nutcracker, I'm getting a ticket for the Moscow Ballet performance and I think I'll give Ballet Memphis a miss from here on out.
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