Now I've heard of Yuri's work a bit and was kind of curious to see it since he is SFB's resident choreographer. Honestly.....it was huge let down. It did have some very pretty moments that were unexpected in the use of certain movements but on a whole the piece felt like a newbie choreographers exploration in pushing the boundaries of classical ballet which a lot of choreographer's do however his felt like a classroom exercise (personally I've taken numerous classes like that) with movements that felt overly contrived and were in there just because they were "cool tricks" and movements that looked sloppy and rushed. It may partially have to do with the dancers not being very clear but I felt it was the choreographer's weakness that caused that to flail arms and do weird body twists that were an obvious take from swan lake just "modernized" plus the music was just there was a random backdrop, had nothing to do with the choreography.
Now Tomasson's Nanna's Lied I was very curious to see because I've heard of it so often and had never seen it.
It's a very interesting piece. Not quite what I was expecting; I was thinking it was gonna be a modern day interpretation but instead it was a bit of a period piece. It's the story of a girl named Nanna and her loss of innocence. Tomasson isn't an amazing choreographer who wows you but he is good and can evoke feelings and does the story justice by implementing the right movements to spur the right emotion. I didn't care too much for the way it started for it starts off bare and almost randomly, it just jumps into the story, I wanted more of a journey with Nanna. but my friend with me discussed it and he said, "I got it, it was a very simple beginning. It starts off with a girl a new big city who doesn't know her way around. Then some prostitutes come by and invite her to join them but she says no. then a guy comes along and takes advantage of her"
Which is the basic storyline. Sarah Van Patten is a gorgeous dancer, not the most emotional but is adept enough to where she evoked the right feelings with her movements.
There was one dance scene where it felt like an obvious "filler" because Nanna (Sarah Van Patten) dances around and for the most part it just seems like choreography with some random emotion filled movements as opposed to telling the story of her emotions. But the piece ended on a good note.
Now I was highly anticipating seeing Artifact Suite for I am a huge Forsythe fan (almost anybody who knows and appreciates ballet in today's world is a fan of his, he is today's version of Balanchine by changing the dance world and having a influence on every modern day choreographer)
The first half is a tad jarring, the dancing is actually a bit slow (Forsythe is usually frentic) and I surprisingly didn't care for it too much. Perhaps I can blame the dancers this time (wow I sound mean! haha) but the 2 main couples who danced center stage were a bit of a yawn. I could barely see half the movements due to the shadows caused by the lighting and they just seemed to be executing movements as opposed to really stretching and pushing the boundaries. I was actually more interested in the corps since they were doing interesting arm movements guided by a "drill instructor" in unison in different formations across the stage. Now the jarring thing is randomly a dark black curtain would slam down loudly in the middle of a section only to go up again revealing a new formation of the dancers. Then there was a long pause where even the house lights dimmed back on. then the second half....ahh yes! The Forsythe I knew and loved. Frentic movements that almost put you in a trance after a while (it had that effect on me! it was a glorious wonderful weird sensation where I felt the dancing would go on forever and I had no problem with that) interesting formations combined with beautifully simplistic movements that charmed you.
Elana Altman who was "drill instructor" had some moments where she dances by herself in more modern style choregraphy and I felt like she was too balletic, a typical view of a ballet dancer who tries to do "modern" dancing, it produces a strange almost awkward effect.
Nonetheless the ballet was wonderful and satisfied me at the end and had a most glorious ending that crescendoes and then releases. Wonderful
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