Previous and current in dynamic dialog: Boston Ballet’s ‘Carmen’

Boston Ballet persistently, and thoughtfully, presents such a spectrum of labor. Every of the corporate’s packages presents a brand new approach during which the previous and current of live performance dance are in dynamic dialog. Carmen did so in a approach that reminded us of the artwork kind’s treasures that we might have left behind, and subsequently the way in which that such treasures could be reshaped and repurposed to maintain shining all of the brighter.      

The 2-act program started with Kingdom of the Shades, an excerpt of La Bayadère (1877), with choreography from Florence Clerc (after Marius Petipa). The work was atmospheric, soothing and even meditative. Its starting set the tone, with an extended line of dancers repeating the identical touring motion phrase – till they stuffed the stage with three diagonal strains of dancers. Benjamin Phillips’ glossy, utilitarian design set them at numerous ranges in house (highest, larger and on the stage itself). Their unassuming white tutus and ethereal material infused a way of purity and poise. 

Their motion matched these qualities; even by way of executing the identical motion time and again, they by no means signaled fatigue. Their tastefully low arabesques and restrained penchés weren’t precisely the peak of kinetic virtuosity – however that solely served the serene sense right here. 

I mirrored on how the values and requirements of efficiency have shifted over time. Because the expertise of the physique that’s ballet has developed over the centuries, we’ve upped the ante on athleticism. But, maybe we’ve misplaced a few of that satisfying understatement, the sort on provide with this work. Concord was the secret. 

Different sections within the work, if for not as lengthy, employed the identical motion mantra strategy – with dancers settling into repeated vocabulary. Transferring in vertical strains (downstage to upstage), they prolonged their physique’s shapes and pathways by way of their veils. En pointe with arms in fifth en haut (raised overhead), their lifted sense had them feeling like a refrain of otherworldly beings – very classical in high quality, certainly.   

A pas de deux and three solos additionally graced us. Yue Shi, supporting his companion Viktorina Kapitonova, superbly embodied the rating’s crescendo and decrescendo. Kapitonova’s high quality, like a feather floating in a mushy breeze, additionally made Ludwig Minkus’ mushy, dreamy rating splendidly tangible. 

The three soloists (Lia Cirio, Chisako Oga, and Ji Younger Chae) danced absolutely within the spirit of the work. They carried out with all of the requisite technical power, after all. But, extra so, they let the motion itself and the ambiance at hand do the work. “Pushing it” would solely really feel misplaced on this work. At factors, I may even really feel a way of pleasant play of their efficiency. 

For viewers members who would stroll out of the theater to one million notifications, signaling who is aware of what sort of private life craziness or unbelievable world information, such ease and calm could be the soul balm that we didn’t even know we would have liked. One thing dazzling, one thing pure, one thing soothing — a balm certainly, and a present in its personal approach. That’s not one thing to be absolutely forgotten as we convey the artwork kind ahead.

The second act introduced a brand new one thing, fairly completely different in each tone and magnificence: Jorma Elo’s 2006 modern reimagining of Carmen (from Roland Petit’s 1949 premiere). Aesthetically creative and kinetically daring, it’s an exemplary reshaping and re-envisioning of a classical story ballet for the 21^st century. Fairly than the gritty streets of 19^th century Seville, the story performed out on a contemporary trend runway. Carmen (Ji Younger Chae) was a mannequin somewhat than a manufacturing unit employee. Don José (Jeffrey Cirio) was a enterprise mogul somewhat than rogue soldier, and Escamillo (Tyson Ali Clark) a Components 1 driver somewhat than bullfighter.  

Manufacturing design introduced us proper into this world of fame and fortune, of journal centerfolds and flashing cameras. The purple coloration palette in Joke Visser’s costumes paid homage to the long-lasting imagery of matadors and flamenco. But, infusions of purples, golds, and even earth tones widened our lens and playfully challenged our psychological pictures. Vivid lights, hung low and shone proper into the viewers, mirrored the blinding illumination of the runway – and even evoked the sense of being below a vital public gaze (lighting design by Mikki Kunttu). 

Elo’s motion improvements – at each the ensemble and singular physique stage – additionally shone by way of. Dancers shifting out and in of highlight, coming into and out of shadow, felt each visually and thematically wealthy. Vivacious ensemble sections had a crowd shifting round Carmen: giving the texture of flattering, but additionally unrelenting, consideration from followers. 

The dancers stayed notably tenacious by way of lengthy sections of extremely quick, athletic vocabulary. Crisp accent gave the sensation of sharp castanet claps. The motion vocabulary, as a complete, rode the resonances and the energetic energy in Rodion Schedrin’s rating (after Georges Bizet). 

A part of me did crave extra rooting into the stage, motion of a extra uncooked and earthy stage. Maybe the excessive power at hand, and the sensation of fame’s freneticism, required a extra elevated bearing by way of the physique. Elo referred to as upon the dancer’s voices at one level, having the ensemble joyfully exclaim collectively. That was additionally one thing that I wished extra of; I puzzled what it may have contributed as a motif somewhat than a one-off. 

Elo’s constructing of the three most important characters, and the way the dancers portrayed them, felt extra solidified. Separate sections provided a large spectrum of qualities and emotional resonances. I considered the phrase “we comprise multitudes” – and these three did certainly. Chae, particularly, introduced these different textures to full life – with equal components spunk and charm. 

Such complicated emotional life defies the generally reductive labels of hero, villian…and fewer savory ones slapped on ladies who dare to observe their very own passions. Carmen, as a story, has boatloads of uncooked potential as an instance that complexity in being human – an illustration maybe extra aligned with fashionable sensibilities than these of Petit’s time (and definitely Bizet’s). Elo’s model, and the way Boston Ballet introduced it to the stage, commendably capitalized on that potential. On the identical time, it constructed upon the custom of this story performed out on levels – indispensably so, one may argue. 

We are able to construct upon such basis of the previous – with what we’ve realized, with what we’ve modified for the higher. To reject both custom or modernity outright solely denies us the magic that may occur after we convey their treasures collectively. Thanks to Boston Ballet, and all dance firms on the market, who proceed to just do that. 

By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.