Ballet West is a well-known dance company in Salt Lake City. On May,23 they were performing on the stage of Rose Wagner Performance Art Center. The third annual Innovation program had a fresh showcase for new and cutting edge choreography including three original works created by Ballet West dancers.
Such artists as Michael Bearden, Aidan DeYoung and Megan Furse premiered with the choreographers outside Ballet West. Helen Picket’s ballet has been recently presented by Boston Ballet, and she performed with Ballet West this time.
This dance performance was really hard for me to understand. As most of modern dances it consisted of few parts that were not related to each other. “Innovative” moves did not look innovative enough. Were they trying to show the time of innovations? I don’t know.
Five dance pieces looked amazingly beautiful but I think only the third short piece found a respond in my heart. I like abstract dance because they let us think on our own, use our imagination and feelings. The stage was full of shades and lights, long rolls of white paper were hanging from the ceiling and touched the floor. A beautiful girl came on the stage. Her strong short legs didn’t move but her torso. The upper body was moving from side to side, slow and almost unnoticeable in the beginning, and throwing herself from right to the left later. Her breathing was really hard and it was the only music we heard. Her heartbeat was the drums. A minute later there appeared few more people who were standing behind her next to paper rolls. They reminded me of a forest. Like trees they were silent, yet with every second they were following the girl’s tempo.
They mixed up together and as a flock of birds now were “flying” in “V” shape. Six strong dancers kept tension during the whole dance.
I may be completely wrong. The choreographer maybe meant something different but in this dance I saw a story of life. Big white paper rolls were a symbol of yet unwritten new life story, long roads that hasn’t been walked yet. The girl who finds friends and love dies in the end. Lots of arabesques and attitudes, clogging and contractions were to be seen in this dance. It felt like my heart stopped beating when the lights turned red and filled the stage with warm lights that created shades. The girl “fell in love”. The cuddle position every couple was in melt my heart. It showed the unity of human beings.
During the performance by the help of light paper rolls turn from white into yellow, red, blue, red again and finally black. While watching the show I was thinking how you can create incredibly beautiful things in the dance. Dance is a language of gestures. Through them we express feelings, emotions, the recognition of love, hate, indifference, boredom, passion and desire; the desire to show the world that meaning of the same precious things, one of which is dance. As for the modern ballet, it is something that can interest not only adults, but also our youth.
